The Texas Rangers won the franchise's first World Series last season with a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now Manager Bruce Bochy's team is moving forward with goals of repeating, and a recent signing appears to be a positive one according to most analysts.

The rumor mill has the Rangers in hot pursuit of a fire-balling 27-year-old relief pitcher. Rumors of the Rangers pursuing two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani were deemed extraordinarily complicated.

On Thursday night, the Rangers officially announced their singing of Kirby Yates, a former All-Star for the Atlanta Braves who was signed to bolster the team's pitching staff.

Last season Yates pitched 60.1 innings and struck out 80 batters with a contending Braves team in Atlanta. Yates hails from Lihue, Hawaii and brings a bulldog mentality with his 5-foot-10, 205 pound frame.

Yates bats left and throws right. At age 36 Yates has swung over to the closer position at times, notching five saves for the Braves' bullpen in 2024.

The addition of Yates adds to what is a talented by ultimately far from elite pitching staff for the veteran manager Bochy and the Rangers. Last season the Rangers finished 18th in Major League Baseball in ERA, with a team total of 4.28, one spot behind the Detroit Tigers and one spot ahead of the New York Mets.

The Rangers finished fifth in postseason ERA as the staff's staff propelled it to a World Series title.

If Texas can improve the pitching staff with moves like this one throughout the rest of the offseason, the odds should become good for another deep playoff run.