The Texas Rangers are bringing back a key part of their 2023 World Series champion team.
Nathan Eovaldi has agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract with the Rangers, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
At 34 years old, Eovaldi was the No. 18 player and No. 8 starting pitcher on Yahoo Sports’ free agent rankings, thanks to a steady regular season track record and perhaps the best playoff résumé of any pitcher on the market. Working against him, in addition to his age, was an injury history that includes two Tommy John surgeries.
Eovaldi is best known for his contributions to both the 2023 Rangers and 2018 Boston Red Sox, part of a 3.05 career postseason ERA. He saved the Boston bullpen by throwing six innings of relief in the 2018 World Series, then led last year’s Rangers in playoff innings with 36 2/3.
Outside of that, Eovaldi has been solid by modern starting pitcher standards. He hasn’t posted an ERA below 3.00 or above 4.00 since 2019 and has made at least 20 starts in every full season since then. He benefited from a decent walk year, with the third-most innings pitched of his career at 170 2/3 innings.
The Rangers being willing to spend $25 million each on a pitcher’s age-36 through -38 season speaks to the demand for starting pitching this offseason. Blake Snell got $182 million despite having thrown more than 130 innings only twice in his career, while Frankie Montas got $34 million despite a brutal 2024.
The Eovaldi was part of a flurry of activity at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday. Two days after Juan Soto shook baseball with his $765 million deal, two of his suitors made major moves of their own. The New York Yankees landed Max Fried on an eight-year, $218 million, while the Toronto Blue Jays traded for Platinum Glove winner Andrés Giménez.