The Texas Rangers made a late-offseason free agency splash, as the reigning World Series champions are reportedly bringing in former Philadelphia Phillies hurler Michael Lorenzen, according to the sources of Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
“Free-agent right-hander Michael Lorenzen in agreement with Rangers on one-year, $4.5M contract, pending physical, source tells @TheAthletic. Deal includes $2.5M in incentives, maxes out at $7M.”
With Blake Snell going to the Giants, Lorenzen and Jordan Montgomery, formerly with the Rangers, remained as the biggest pitchers available in free agency. But Lorenzen's search for a new team is now apparently over, with the veteran finding another home, this time with the Rangers, who won the 2023 World Series by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in the last Fall Classic.
Lorenzen is coming off a short stint with the Phillies, who lost to the Diamondbacks in last season's National League Championship Series. The right-handed pitcher went 4-2 with a 5.51 ERA across 11 appearances (seven starts) with the Phillies in 2023. He started the 2023 campaign with the Detroit Tigers, though.
He was traded by the Tigers to the Phillies for infielder Hao-Yu Lee before the the MLB tradedeadline. Overall in the 2023 campaign, Lorenzen gathered a 9-9 record and a 4.18 ERA, along with a 1.209 WHIP, plus a 4.46 FIP. He also earned an All-Star nod in 2023 on the strength of his solid work in the first half with the Tigers. (Lorenzen had a 124 ERA+ with Detroit and just a 78 ERA+ with the Phillies).
Despite his mediocre tenure with the Phillies, the Rangers are counting on a sound return on investment with this short deal with Lorenzen. Perhaps, if it wasn't for his poor numbers with Philadelphia, Lorenzen would have locked in a heftier contract in the offseason — and a longer one than the one he secured with Texas. Lorenzen did make quite an impression in Philadelphia uniform when he pitched a no-hitter in his home debut for the NL East franchise.
Nevertheless, Texas is going to provide Lorenzen a chance to boost his stock before he likely hits the waters of free agency again in 2025.
Lorenzen, who spent his first seven years in the majors pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, is joining a Rangers pitching staff that is going to miss the services of future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer for the first few months of the 2024 MLB regular season after he went under the knife to repair a back injury. Lorenzen also played with the Los Angeles Angels before signing a one-year deal with the Tigers in December of 2022.
The Rangers finished the 2023 season ranked seventh in the big leagues with a starters ERA of 3.96 and seventh as well with an fWAR of 12.6.
Fans react to Rangers landing Michael Lorenzen
Rangers get their #5 rotation starter/long reliever. Cody Bradford will get the first shot in the rotation but Lorenzen is a great backup if things don’t work out with Bradford as a starter pic.twitter.com/nH3lGUXX6b
— AllThingRangers (WORLD CHAMPS) (11-12) (@AllThingRangers) March 21, 2024
“The offseason is full of hindsight being 20/20, Monday morning quarterbacking, whatever you wanna call it, but man I did not have “Michael Lorenzen gets less than John Brebbia” on my radar as a possibility,” said FanGraphs' Jon Becker.
It remains to be seen where exactly the Rangers will put Lorenzen, but he could be someone they can use as a No. 5 starter.
Lorenzen is a perfectly average starting pitcher and we got him for dirt cheap. he should bump one of Heaney/Bradford to the pen, which needs a lefty and a long man. both of those guys have proven they’re effective in those roles. this is a GREAT signing
— Tim Harkonnen Jr. (@SnackPr0tein) March 21, 2024
“With the Rangers signing Michael Lorenzen, I think it’s safe to say we have the biggest💪team in MLB,” posted @RangersInsiders along with images of a ripped Lorenzen.
The Rangers will open their World Series defense with a three-game home series against the Chicago Cubs that is scheduled to kick off on Mar. 28.
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