Sunday hops, 2-8-26.

A weekly compendium emptying the bench, with Rangers developments, rumors, and takes — and yes, a little TROT COFFEY.

(Photo by Brandon Wade/Getty Images)An

For the next two days, in the midst of which we’ll be photobombed by a Big Game™, I’ll be working on two stories that I’m planning to drop Tuesday morning, right as a group of 43 pitchers and catchers begin gathering in the clubhouse at 15850 North Bullard in Surprise.

The writing frequency in this space is about to pick up.

It’s time.

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In the meantime, with no paywall today, let’s get right to this week’s Hops.

Capital investment.

The Rangers have a permanent tie to Washington baseball — with one iteration of the Senators serving as forebear of the local franchise — but generally speaking, outside of the Cowboys sharing a division and storied history with the Commanders, that city’s franchises seem well off the map for DFW fans. Speaking for myself, at least, I just don’t think all that often about the Nationals, Wizards, or Capitals. They’re all pretty well down the list.

But in the space of two weeks:

• Gavin Fien, Devin Fitz-Gerald, Alejandro Rosario, Yeremy Cabrera, and Abimelec Ortiz go to the Washington Nationals for MacKenzie Gore

• Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell, and Dante Exum head to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, two first-round picks, and three second-round picks

The NHL trade deadline is March 6. How’d Caps defenseman John Carlson look in Victory Green?

Commanders free agent linebacker Bobby Wagner?

For that matter, longtime Nationals — and 2025 Rangers — lefty Patrick Corbin is still out there. Nathaniel Lowe, too, but Corbin’s the one who makes the most sense here.

Rangers in the WBC.

While I’m glad to hear Jack Leiter won’t pitch in the World Baseball Classic — what a huge honor it is that he was being considered, given where his career arc was a year ago — there are a number of Rangers players who will be leaving camp for a stretch while the WBC plays out from March 5-17 (with report dates well before that).

Those players, in a rough hierarchy of importance to the 2026 Rangers:

• LHP Robert Garcia (Mexico)

• OF Alejandro Osuna (Mexico)

• RHP Cal Quantrill (Canada)

• RHP Nabil Crismatt (Colombia)

• LHP Blake Townsend (Australia)

• RHP Austin Bergner (Colombia)

• RHP Daniel Missaki (Brazil)

• RHP Ricardo Velez (Puerto Rico)

Michael Young will be away from Rangers camp as well, serving as an Assistant Manager on Mark DeRosa’s staff (which included Skip Schumaker as Bench Coach before he agreed to manage Texas).

As for the irreversible departures . . . .

I’m very interested in the direction the Rangers’ player development program is headed, both on the pitching and hitting sides.

The organization’s Director of Player Development, Josh Bonifay, remains in place. Pitching leadership has its continuity as well, with Director of Pitching Analysis Todd Walther and pitching coordinator Jon Goebel still here. Conner Gunn remains Director of Offensive Initiatives and Strategies.

But Jordan Tiegs’s departure from his role as Minor League Pitching Coordinator a year ago, when he was added to Bruce Bochy’s staff as bullpen coach (and now serving as Schumaker’s pitching coach), was followed this offseason by Assistant Director of Player Development Sam Niedorf — who was heavily involved on the pitching side in particular — leaving to become Director of Player Development for the Astros.

Director of Hitting Cody Atkinson wasn’t renewed, and he is now an Assistant Hitting Coach with the Blue Jays. It’s the same role that three-year Minor League Hitting Coordinator Eric Dorton was promoted to fill on Schumaker’s staff.

None of the above is to suggest the player development program has taken a step back in terms of instruction. I would guess very few reading this knew a thing about Tiegs when he was hired away from Indiana State after the 2019 season, or about Niedorf a year before that when he came over from Team USA as its 18U National Team Coordinator. Maybe new Director of Pitching Strategies and Initiatives Stephanos Stroop, who was the Mariners’ Pitching Coordinator last year after three seasons in the same role with the Tigers, is a superstar. Perhaps Tyler Wolfe, promoted into the Hitting Coordinator position after three years as a hitting coach (Complex League squad in 2023, Double-A Frisco in 2024-25), is more than ready for the challenge and we’ll all be relieved he wasn’t hired away.

These are the moves we rarely hear about. They can have massive short- and long-term impact, though. The Rangers system, which has been divested of tons of prospect inventory in this multi-year buyers’ cycle, is ranked by most of the websites that operate in the space as a bottom-third group right now. Fair or not, there are some new folks in place to help lead the effort to revitalize things and get the most out of the players on the farm.

It’s important.

New numbers.

Leiter is switching his uniform number from No. 35 to No. 22, which had been worn by Jon Gray — and which was Jack’s father Al’s number for the final eight years of his MLB career, during which Jack was born.

Joc Pederson is changing from No. 4 to No. 3, which had been Leody Taveras’s number. Pederson has worn No. 3 once before — with the Diamondbacks in 2024, when he had a career year that he parlayed into the two-year deal with Texas.

Though he was worn No. 55 for half his career, Chris Martin is ceding the number to Schumaker and will now wear No. 31 instead — the number he wore when the Rangers originally brought him back from Japan in 2018. Mike Maddux wore No. 31 last year.

The state of the 40-man roster.

The 40 remains static:

• PITCHERS (23): Tyler Alexander, Carter Baumler, Cody Bradford, Marc Church, Jose Corniell, Luis Curvelo, David Davalillo, Alexis Diaz, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Robert Garcia, MacKenzie Gore, Jakob Junis, Zak Kent, Jacob Latz, Jack Leiter, Leandro Lopez, Chris Martin, Michel Otañez, Kumar Rocker, Winston Santos, Emiliano Teodo, Cole Winn

• CATCHERS (3): Kyle Higashioka, Danny Jansen, Willie MacIver

• INFIELDERS (8): Jake Burger, Ezequiel Duran, Justin Foscue, Cody Freeman, Josh Jung, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Josh Smith

• OUTFIELDERS (6): Evan Carter, Sam Haggerty, Michael Helman, Wyatt Langford, Brandon Nimmo, Alejandro Osuna

But there are unofficial reports that the Rangers are bringing RHP Ryan Brasier in on a non-roster invite. The 38-year-old product of Wichita Falls Rider High School and Weatherford College has pitched in nine MLB seasons, including very good ones in 2023 (Red Sox/Dodgers) and 2024 (Dodgers) before losing half of 2025 (Cubs) to a pair of injured list stays caused by groin strains.

The current list of NRI’s, as far as I can tell:

• PITCHERS (15): Robby Ahlstrom, Ryan Brasier, Gavin Collyer, Nabil Crismatt, Declan Cronin, Austin Gomber, Peyton Gray, Ryan Lobus, Eric Loomis, Patrick Murphy, Dalton Pence, Cal Quantrill, Josh Sborz, Trey Supak, Josh Trentadue

• CATCHERS (2): Jose Herrera, Cooper Johnson

• INFIELDERS (6): Jonah Bride, Cameron Cauley, Richie Martin Jr., Andrew Velazquez, Tyler Wade, Sebastian Walcott

• OUTFIELDERS (2): Trevor Hauver, Aaron Zavala

In addition to the recent minor league signings of RHP Austin Roberts and 1B Nick Pratto, which apparently didn’t have NRI’s attached to them, a few more showed up this week:

• LHP Blake Townsend, a 24-year-old Australian who had an exceptional 2025 campaign in High-A/Double-A/Triple-A with the Pirates after five seasons in the Mariners system

• RHP Mason Thompson, a 27-year-old Round Rock native who has pitched in parts of four big-league seasons with the Padres and Nationals

• RHP Austin Bergner, a 28-year-old who spent six years in the Tigers system (the Rangers continue to corner the market on minor league deals for pitchers named Austin)

• RHP Josh Hejka, a 28-year-old submariner who joined the Mets as an undrafted free agent and pitched in that system until a trade to the Phillies a year ago

Finally, Mike Rodriguez (@MikeDeportes) reports that the Rangers have signed OF Gilberto Celestino to a minor league deal, without clarification as to whether it includes an NRI. The 26-year-old has two years of MLB experience (though none since 2022) and has had a strong Dominican Winter League season, hitting .316/.418/.402 (.821 OPS) for Toros del Este, with 22 stolen bases (in 24 tries) over 48 games and nearly as many walks (32) as strikeouts (36).

Key dates.

• November 2 : Players with free agent eligibility actually became free agents, and the Rangers had an MLB-high dozen of them (Shawn Armstrong, Patrick Corbin, Danny Coulombe, Jon Gray, Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Chris Martin, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Dylan Moore, Donovan Solano, and Rowdy Tellez). There was a five-day window for exclusive negotiations between teams and their own 2025 players who had entered free agency.

• November 6 (five days after the World Series ended):

  • With the exclusivity window closing, free agents were first able to negotiate and sign with any team.

  • Deadline for players with opt-outs or player options in their contracts — and for teams with club options on players — to make their decisions. Rangers example: Joc Pederson exercised his $18.5 million player option for 2026.

  • Deadline for teams to tender Qualifying Offers to eligible free agents. Two key eligibility factors, both of which must be true:

    • The player must have spent all of 2025 with that team (which means players like Kelly, Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez, Ryan Helsley, and Devin Williams could not be QO’d since they were acquired after Opening Day).

    • The player must have never been tendered a QO before (which means players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger, and J.T. Realmuto could not be QO’d).

• November 10-13: General Managers’ Meetings in Las Vegas. The GM Meetings are often where the groundwork for lots of offseason player movement gets laid.

• November 18:

  • Deadline (3:00 Central) for QO’d players to accept Qualifying Offers.

  • Deadline (3:00 Central) for teams to add Rule 5-eligible players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.

• November 18-20: Owners’ Meetings in New York City.

• November 21: Deadline (7:00 Central) to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players for 2026. Non-tendered players immediately become free agents. The Rangers non-tendered Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim, Josh Sborz, and Jacob Webb, while agreeing to terms on a one-year contract with Sam Haggerty and tendering Josh Jung, Jake Burger, Josh Smith, and Ezequiel Duran.

• December 7-10: Winter Meetings in Orlando.

• December 9: MLB Draft Lottery (3:00 Central), with outcome announced on MLB Network (4:30 Central).

• December 10: Rule 5 Draft (1:00 Central).

• December 15: 2025 signing period for international amateurs closes.

• December 21: Closing of the window to negotiate with 3B/1B Sung-Mun Song (Korea) — signed with the Padres on Dec. 19.

• December 22: Closing of the window to negotiate with 3B/1B Munetaka Murakami (Japan) — signed with the White Sox on Dec. 21.

• January 2: Closing of the window to negotiate with RHP Tatsuya Imai (Japan) — signed with the Astros on Jan. 1.

• January 4: Closing of the window to negotiate with 3B/1B Kazuma Okamoto (Japan) — signed with the Blue Jays on Jan. 3.

• January 4: Closing of the window to negotiate with RHP Kona Takahashi (Japan) — but he’s going back to the Seibu Lions.

• January 8: Teams and arbitration-eligible players exchange salary filing figures. Negotiations may continue beyond this date in advance of a hearing.

• January 15: 2026 signing period for international amateurs opens.

• Early February: Arbitration hearings are conducted. (The Rangers once again have none.)

• February 11: Unofficial voluntary report date to spring training for pitchers and catchers (though some teams push this back by a day or two — including Texas, whose pitchers and catchers report this Tuesday the 10th).

• February 15: Unofficial voluntary report date to spring training for all other players (same caveat).

• February 20: Cactus League opener: Rangers vs. Royals in Surprise.

• March 20: Spring Breakout prospect game, Rangers vs. Royals in Surprise.

• March 25: Opening Night: Yankees at Giants.

• March 26: Opening Day for the other 28 teams (including the Rangers in Philadelphia).

This Week in Nestico & Pitch Profiler.

His explanation for the Carter pick:

Few have been as high on RHP Caden Scarborough for as long as I have. But Thomas comes close.

This Week in Roster Reconstruction.

• January 23 (just now seeing this one): LHP Blake Townsend signed to a minor league contract

• February 3: RHP Mason Thompson signed to a minor league contract

• February 3: RHP Austin Bergner signed to a minor league contract

• February 5: RHP Josh Hejka signed to a minor league contract

Farm stuff.

• Baseball America ranks the Rangers system 24th in the league (down from 19th a year ago and 3rd in 2024), suggesting that “[Sebastian] Walcott is one of the game’s elite talents, and righthander Caden Scarborough was one of the game’s bigger breakouts in 2025. But the system needs major rebounds from its near-proximity prospects to supplement the big league roster. Bounce-backs from the 2024 draft class would go a long way, too.”

• Baseball Prospectus’s Top 101 includes Walcott at No. 11 (and Fien at No. 59).

• Keith Law (The Athletic) ranks his top 20 Rangers prospects — if you subscribe to The Athletic, check out the story, as the depth on his breakdowns of each player is exceptional:

  • 1. Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B

    2. Caden Scarborough, RHP

    3. Jose Corniell, RHP

    4. Winston Santos, RHP

    5. AJ Russell, RHP

    6. Josh Owens, SS/RHP

    7. David Davalillo, RHP

    8. Emiliano Teodo, RHP

    9. Malcolm Moore, C

    10. Yolfran Castillo, SS

    11. Dylan Dreiling, OF

    12. Elorky Rodriguez, OF/2B

    13. Mason McConnaughey, RHP

    14. Jacob Johnson, RHP

    15. Paxton Kling, OF

    16. Cam Cauley, UT

    17. Izack Tiger, RHP

    18. Paulino Santana, OF

    19. Anthony Gutierrez, OF

    20. Owen Proksch, LHP

  • Owens is Law’s system sleeper, “as a shortstop much more than a pitcher or two-way player.”

  • As for his Nationals rankings, Law has Fien at No. 2, Fitz-Gerald (who “might be the biggest sleeper in a system full of them”) at No. 12, Ortiz at No. 16, and Cabrera at No. 18. As for Rosario, Law points to the mystery over the year-long delay in his Tommy John surgery, suggesting that “[t]here’s some reason he hasn’t had it, or can’t have it, and while the exact reason is none of our business, he’s a nonfactor until he’s on some path back towards pitching.”

• Kiley McDaniel (ESPN) offers his own Rangers top 10:

  • 1. Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B (No. 5 overall)

    2. Caden Scarborough, RHP (No. 99)

    3. Jose Corniell, RHP (No. 116)

    4. Winston Santos, RHP (No. 141; “should be the first prospect with no service time to be considered for call-up this season, though Davalillo, Leandro Lopez and Emiliano Teodo [all on the 40-man roster] are also in the mix”)

    5. Josh Owens, SS

    6. A.J. Russell, RHP

    7. David Davalillo, RHP

    8. Yolfran Castillo, SS (“underlying metrics suggest a 2026 breakout could be on tap”)

    9. Malcolm Moore, C

    10. Dylan Dreiling, LF

  • McDaniel has Fien No. 5, Fitz-Gerald No. 7, and Rosario No. 9 in the Washington system, with Ortiz as the first prospect in the system to make his 2026 MLB debut.

• Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Sam Dykstra (MLB Pipeline) identify one player for each team “whose talent stands out more than their immediate opportunity.” For Texas, it’s Teodo: “A shoulder impingement limited Teodo to just 30 innings and led to a 7.20 ERA, but he’s fully healthy again and could be a bullpen asset with three weapons. Signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2020, he sports a 97-99 mph sinker that touches 102, a tight upper-80s slider that falls off the table and an upper-80s changeup with fade and depth.”

TROT COFFEY!

• Mike Petriello (MLB.com) suggests that the Rangers could be facing one of the league’s four biggest declines defensively in 2026: “The lineup should be better with Marcus Semien and Adolis García out, with Brandon Nimmo in, and that’s clearly the goal here. On the other hand, the defense comes out on the short end of each of those moves. Wyatt Langford, for what it’s worth, exceeded most expectations about his fielding, and if that were to become his new normal, that would go a long way.”

• Jim Bowden (The Athletic) gives the Rangers a B grade and the Nationals an A- for the Gore trade. He predicts the Rangers are positioned to finish third in the AL West, and says the biggest question facing the organization is: “If they’re within striking distance at the trade deadline, will the Rangers have any financial flexibility to improve their roster?”

• Interestingly, Bowden believes Fien “now becomes [Washington’s] long-term answer at shortstop.”

• In a story ranking MLB starting pitchers from a fantasy baseball standpoint — based on his Stuff+ metric — Eno Sarris (The Athletic) includes Rangers starters as follows:

  • No. 13: Jacob DeGrom

  • No. 36: Nathan Eovaldi

  • No. 76: Gore

  • No. 85: Leiter

  • No. 105: Jacob Latz

  • No. 132: Kumar Rocker

• The Athletics claimed IF Andy Ibanez off waivers. The Dodgers had designated Ibanez for assignment after claiming OF Michael Siani off waivers — the same Michael Siani they’d DFA’d themselves only 13 days earlier when they signed OF Kyle Tucker. The Yankees had claimed Siani then, but dropped Siani five days later when they traded for RHP Angel Chivilli.

• RHP Daniel Robert returns to the Phillies on a minor league deal with a non-roster invite.

• New Giants manager Tony Vitello’s coaching staff not only includes Bench Coach Jayce Tingler, Infield Coach Ron Washington, and Bullpen Coach Jesse Chavez, but also features a promotion for former Rangers minor leaguer and coach Alex Burg. The 38-year-old will add Field Coordinator duties to his previous position as Catching Coach.

• The Dodgers hired David Dahl as Outfield Coach and Assistant Hitting Coach for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

• Mea culpa: last week I wrote that RHP Jacob Webb had signed a non-roster deal with the Red Sox. Different RHP Jacob Webb; the former Rangers reliever, of course, had signed with the Cubs in December.

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I’m also offering a permanent, lifetime, $1,000 subscription to the Newberg Report, which comes with all of the extras that 162+ subscribers get. Thanks to those of you who have already signed on for it!

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I’m basing the concept on something Joe Sheehan offers his subscribers:

Two stories Tuesday!

See ya then.