The Texas Rangers have plenty of needs this offseason. Finding the one player that feels like the right player at the right position is a tough proposition.

The Rangers could use a center fielder to compete with Evan Carter. They’ll obviously need more relief help, though they have their closer in Jacob Latz. Texas will need at least on starter, and re-signing either Cal Quantrill or Jordan Montgomery isn’t off the table.

There are also the financial considerations. The Rangers are unlikely to spend big this year with a new collective bargaining agreement to be negotiated and more than $100 million wrapped up in four players. The fits are going to have to be less extravagant than the money paid to players like Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo.

So where is the right fit? It’s a starting pitcher who could push or replace either Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker next season.

The Free Agent Fit that Makes Sense

For the Rangers, that player is left-handed starting pitcher Trevor Rogers.

Texas has a couple of left-handers in the rotation in MacKenzie Gore and Cody Bradford. But Gore is only tied to the Rangers for one more year and Bradford can start or relieve. Texas is not locked into keeping him in the rotation.

Rogers is the type of starter that could be signed to a multi-year deal that won’t break the bank. He made less than $10 million last season with Baltimore. A starter with a career record of 34-48 with a 3.88 ERA could next $12-15 million per year in free agency. For a starting pitcher that should be a workable number for Texas, especially since more than $60 million will come off the books in 2027 when deGrom and Eovaldi are free agents.

Rogers went 10-11 with a 4.03 ERA in 30 starts last season. He struck out 157 and walked 39 in 169.2 innings. The year before he went 9-3 with a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts that netted him ninth place in AL Cy Young voting.

As for the fit, he has qualities the Rangers will like. His fastball run value per Statcast was 15 and in the 94th percentile. That four-seamer averages 93.8 mph and is his bread-and-butter. But he uses that to set up his other pitches.

Combined with a change-up, a sweeper and a sinker, he had one of the highest chase rates in baseball (35.6%), which was in the 92nd percentile in baseball. He keeps his walks low (5.6%), which was in the 92nd percentile. He does this without a massive strikeout rate (22.5%) and whiff rate (24.4%). He doesn’t induce a lot of ground balls, but his barrel percentage and his hard-hit percentage were close to 75%.

Those are qualities that will play in Globe Life Field and good reasons why he’s the right fit if the team wants to get a veteran starter on a multi-year deal.