ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A day after the Texas Rangers sent past Gold Glove and Silver Slugger first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Washington Nationals in a trade for left-handed reliever Robert Garcia, they and free agent designated hitter Joc Pederson have agreed on a contract, a person with knowledge of the deal said Monday.
Two more potential Seattle Mariners 1B targets off the board
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement is pending a physical.
The Rangers will be the third team in three years for Pederson, who rebounded from a sub-par 2023 season with San Francisco to hit a career-best .275 with 23 homers and 64 RBIs last season with Arizona.
The deal with Pederson and trade of Lowe have been steps toward Texas making slugging corner infielder Jake Burger the club’s primary first baseman. Texas acquired Burger, who has experience at DH, in a trade with Miami this month.
Lowe hit .265 with 16 homers and 69 RBIs this year for the Rangers, and ranked sixth in the American League with 71 walks. He hit .302 in 2022, then was a Gold Glove winner during the team’s World Series championship season in 2023.
The Nationals were in need of a first baseman and a middle-of-the-order bat, and this deal represents general manager Mike Rizzo’s first acquisition this offseason of a hitter with a track record.
The Rangers were World Series champions in 2023, but missed the playoffs this year.
Lowe, 29, is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time this offseason after making $7.5 million this year. He is a .272 career hitter in 686 career games since his big league debut in 2019 with Tampa Bay, which sent him to Texas in a trade four years ago.
Garcia had 75 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 59 2/3 innings over 72 appearances for the Nationals last season. Garcia has 97 career appearances, all over the last two seasons, and all but one of those games for the Nationals. He pitched in one game for Miami in 2023 before getting selected off waivers by Washington.
The 28-year-old Garcia is under team control through the 2029 season.
Texas acquired Garcia two days after signing free agent lefty reliever Hoby Milner to a $2.5 million, one-year contract. The sidearm thrower, who turns 34 next month, grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area watching the Rangers and still lives there.
The 32-year-old Pederson spent his first six full big league seasons as an outfielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was an All-Star as a rookie in 2015. The Rangers have some uncertainty in their outfield.
Pederson struggled in his final season in LA, when the Dodgers won the neutral-site World Series at the home of the Rangers in 2020, before signing with the Chicago Cubs as a free agent.
The Cubs traded Pederson to Atlanta during that first season, and he signed with San Francisco as a free agent each of the next two offseasons before joining the Diamondbacks last January.
Pederson had career bests of 36 home runs and 74 RBIs with the Dodgers in 2019. His best OPS of .908 came last season in Arizona.
The Bay Area native is a career .241 hitter with 209 homers and 549 RBIs. His second All-Star appearance came with the Giants in 2022.
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