Moving on from Scherzer: 3 Texas Rangers free agents who won't be back in 2025 and why

Last season, the Texas Rangers shocked the world and won the World Series. This season, they shocked the world and missed the postseason entirely.

They're now entering a new era of Rangers baseball where there are a few routes for them to take, both include them rebuilding their roster entirely. They could go for a quick rebuild that looks something like the Yankees from a few years ago. This would include building around trades and free agency for the most part. Or they could opt to build through the farm.

Either way, they're going to need to make some changes to the roster. They have a few upcoming free agents set to hit the open market this Winter, but these three players, one being a future Hall of Famer, have likely played their final game with the Rangers.

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3 Texas Rangers free agents who won't be back in 2025

3. LHP Andrew Heaney

The Rangers likely aren't looking for a big rebuild. They have the talent that they could be aggressive in free agency for one of two years and put together a competitive team again. When they're putting together a competitive team, they're going to need to make each and every dollar count, only paying big money for players that make a huge impact.

Unfortunately, this likely means that Andrew Heaney won't be a part of the roster going forward. Heaney is set to enter free agency this offseason and he will likely be asking for much more money than the Rangers should pay for a player of his caliber.

Heaney wasn't horrible in 2024, but, to put it simply, he was just an innings eater during an uncompetitive season. The Rangers used him to go out there and take up innings all season. He wasn't out there dominating games in the way that the Rangers would have liked their starters to be.

Heading into the Winter months, the Rangers will be looking to add one or two starting pitchers to their rotation that are quite a big upgrade over Heaney. They already have a few solid pieces to build around.

2. OF Travis Jankowski

The Rangers have quite a few upcoming free agents this offseason. Their roster could look quite a bit different in 2025 than it did in 2024, especially with so many of these players in contract years struggling as much as they did.

One of the players that the Rangers will absolutely look to replace is their veteran outfielder/defensive sub, Travis Jankowski, who's a free agent after this past season.

On the year, the veteran slashed .200/.266/.242 with an OPS+ well below 100. He's never put up an OPS+ of 100 or higher in a single season. To call Jankowski a below average bat would be quite an understatement.

The Rangers just aren't going to win as many games as they would like to with a player like him on the roster. Jankowski had a decent 2023 season while being part of the Rangers' World Series run, but those days are in the past now. With him entering unrestricted free agency, the Rangers will look elsewhere to fill in their outfield rotation.

1. RHP Max Scherzer

And the last player on this list should be pretty obvious. Max Scherzer has likely pitched his last game in a Texas Rangers uniform.

Scherzer, 40, is set to enter free agency this Winter. He's made it clear that his intention is to continue playing, but it's tough to imagine that he'll be at the top of any team's wish list this offseason.

Scherzer wasn't bad last year, making nine starts and holding an ERA under 4.00. His WHIP was good at a 1.15 as well. But he's 40. Father time catches up to everybody and it's hard to imagine that Scherzer will continue to be usable in the big leagues for much longer. Plus, it's very hard to predict his market because he has been highly paid for so long.

Either way, if a team decides to bring him in, it won't be the Rangers. Texas has already made it clear that they're very interested in bringing Nathan Eovaldi back to their rotation next year. Jacob deGrom returned from injury late in the season and he looks to be a big piece of the rotation. Texas also has top prospects in Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker that they figure will be staples of the big league club going forward.

There's just no room for a 40-year-old Max Scherzer at this point.