Winter meetings start this week. Rendon is probably out of the Rangers' reach, but that could be a good thing on the pitching front for someone like Ryu (whose age will be a limiting factor- a perfect bridge for the Rangers, however.). Josh Donaldson is next up FA at 3B:
2. Josh Donaldson
Donaldson will be 34 at the start of the 2020 season, and he will more than likely be the plan B for the teams that go after
Anthony Rendon, and fail to sign him. But for the Texas Rangers, he could be their plan A. Donaldson would be the perfect fill-in for the Rangers, as they wait on their young 3rd base prospects (
Josh Jung,
Davis Wendzel) to be major league ready at about the time Donaldson’s contract would be over.
In order to sign Donaldson, the Rangers would likely be competing with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and the teams that misses out on
Anthony Rendon. His deal could range between two to three years. A likely contract that the Rangers would probably happily give him would be a 3 year deal for $45 to $50 million with some sort of buyout available for the third year.
One strategy could be to stay out of the Rendon fight and go directly to Donaldson with a very positive offer if nothing else to show interest. (I don't like that strategy because you effectively end up bidding against yourself, but the need at 3rd is such that I would consider such a move.)