In the 10 days since we last engaged in this exercise, the Rangers went from getting crushed for a move they failed to make (losing out on Anthony Rendon) to receiving universal praise for delivering a different blow (trading for Corey Kluber).



After adding Kluber, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles to the rotation for under $36 million in average annual value collectively — marginally more than Rendon will get from the Angels by himself — it would stand to reason that the Rangers aren’t done for the winter from a payroll standpoint. They never would have signed Rendon without also addressing the rotation and in fact reportedly offered the third baseman something in the neighborhood of $33 million per year after agreeing to terms with Gibson ($9.83 million AAV) and Lyles ($8 million AAV).



On top of that, trading away Nomar Mazara (for Steele Walker) as well as Delino DeShields and Emmanuel Clase (in the Kluber deal) removes another $8 million from the...