Texas Rangers talking to Todd Frazier

Texas Rangers rumors: Todd Frazier, a free agent third baseman who spent the 2018-19 seasons with the New York Mets, has been reached out to by the team about a possible one year deal, per Evan Grant.

Frazier, who turns 34 in February, is someone we have discussed as a possible Rangers target. He’s a righthanded bat who is a solid defensive third baseman, and he also can play first base. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t hit for a high average, but he draws some walks and has some power, and would help give the Rangers some righty pop in what is a very lefty-heavy lineup right now.

Frazier has been around a 2 win player each of the last couple of years for the Mets, despite not reaching 500 PAs in either season, and put up 21.0 bWAR from 2012-17 for the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, and the New York Yankees. He slashed .251/.329/.443 for the Mets in 2019.

Frazier would seem to be a potential fit for Texas even if the Rangers somehow were to manage to land Nolan Arenado from Colorado, something that seems fairly unlikely, since Frazier could play first base. Assuming Arenado isn’t an option, Frazier is probably the best free agent option at third base behind Josh Donaldson, who reportedly has a four year offer from Minnesota (though how solid that four years is, and at what AAV, remains to be seen).

Of course, I think we would all prefer to see Texas get Donaldson on a 2-3 year deal, but if that doesn’t come together, Frazier is a decent choice.