The end of the 2021 season was a disappointment for the Los Angeles Dodgers and it only got worse after Corey Seager left the team in free agency to join the Texas Rangers.
The presence of Trea Turner on the roster helped alleviate some of the pain, but it was still quite the blow for the Dodgers to lose their best homegrown offensive player to come out of their Minor League System in quite some time.
In a contract year, Seager hit .306/.394/.521 with 16 home runs, 22 doubles and accumulated 3.8 WAR in just 95 games. It was the cherry on top of an exceptional two year run for Seager that included two back-to-back impressive seasons at the plate and a World Series title.
He was able to parlay all that success into a massive 10-year, $325 million contract with the Rangers. There was mutual interest between he and the Dodgers in getting a deal done, but the Rangers’ Godfather offer was enough to sway him away.
“Obviously, I think we’re all open, and it’s a two-way deal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He and his representation got a deal that they couldn’t refuse, and he and Maddie are happy over there. Obviously, any team is better with Corey Seager.”
The Dodgers made a push to extend him prior to the 2021 season, but a deal never materialized. Even though an extension never happened that year, Seager was hopeful that something could come together.
“You’re always hopeful,” Seager said. “That’s a long time ago, though. I can’t really remember how it went and I don’t want to go down that path.”
Corey Seager’s experience with the Rangers
The start to Seager’s Rangers career did not get off to a flying start.
The Rangers had a busy offseason in which the team spent $556 million to add Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Grey to the roster. However, they had a disastrous season with a 68-94 record, a last place finish in the American League West, and the mid-season firing of manager Chris Woodward.
Even Seager was not immune from the Rangers’ struggles in 2022. He hit a career high 33 homers, but his numbers fell across the board.
In 2023, the team’s fortunes completely changed and the season ended with Seager hoisting the World Series trophy. As Seager saw it, the team’s success last season had a lot to do with Rangers Executive Vice President & General Manager Chris Young’s sales pitch to him coming to fruition.
“Going into that offseason, listening to C.Y.’s (Chris Young) plan and how he thought it would go, the players they had and how he thought they would develop, he did an extremely good job,” Seager said.
“I don’t know if he ever thought it would be that fast. It just kind of clicked at the right time, got hot in the playoffs and it turned into that. That was his plan, so power to him on the ability to be able to see that, get the right people in and have it actually click.”
Things are not going quite as well for the Rangers in 2024. The team finds themselves playing below .500 baseball with the halfway point of the season approaching and they are trailing the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.
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