ARLINGTON -- On Monday afternoon, at a Rangers Winter Warm-up stop, Cody Bradford, unprompted, repeated a company line often echoed by Texas' president of baseball operations Chris Young: “You can never have too much starting pitching.”
Young heard the call.
The Rangers have acquired left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals in exchange for a package of prospects, the club announced on Thursday. Texas was in need of more rotational depth and paid a hefty price to acquire it with a package headlined by 2025 first-round Draft pick Gavin Fien.
Gore is under club control through the 2027 season.
A 2025 All-Star, Gore went 5-15 across 30 starts for the 96-loss Nationals last year, posting a 4.17 ERA in 159 2/3 innings. He had a 3.02 ERA in 110 1/3 innings before the break, but struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 49 1/3 innings afterward.
The southpaw has a dynamic five-pitch mix that includes a mid-90s fastball, a curveball, a slider, a changeup and a cutter, but he has been inconsistent in the second half throughout his career (3.87 ERA in first half vs. 4.91 in second half).
He joins a rotation that was the best in baseball in 2025 (3.41 ERA), headed by co-aces Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Some combination of Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz will likely round out the back end of the rotation on Opening Day.
If nothing else, this move confirms the Rangers’ desire to compete in 2026. Rumors have swirled throughout the offseason following the trade of franchise pillar Marcus Semien, but Young and Co. have repeatedly insisted that they want to be in contention, despite what has been a slight decrease in payroll.
Trading a package of prospects for a young starting pitcher hammers that point home.