DALLAS -- When Nathan Eovaldi first signed with the Rangers ahead of the 2023 season, he didn’t feel like a deal would come to fruition.
Starting pitching, as always, was a priority for Texas that winter, but at that year’s Winter Meetings in San Diego, the club signed Jacob deGrom and Andrew Heaney. Eovaldi felt like it just wasn’t a possibility to add another piece to that rotation.
But days after Christmas, he signed with the Rangers and the team would eventually win the World Series the following season. The Rangers then announced on Thursday that they were bringing back Eovaldi on a three-year, $75 million deal.
Eovaldi spoke on his return on Friday morning at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy.
“It was ultimately [president of baseball operations Chris Young’s] vision that sold me on that on coming here,” Eovaldi said regarding his first negotiation with the Rangers. “That vision of winning a World Series championship. When we negotiated and we were talking again this time around, it was that same vision that brought me back over here.
"When you’re a free agent, a lot of clubs will say a lot of different things. They’ll be in on you and then they’ll fall back. They want you and then they don’t. It’ll die down and then pick back up at random times."
Eovaldi said that Young and the Rangers were right there every step of the way throughout the entire process, from his declining his player option to reuniting on Tuesday.
Young has said all offseason long that bringing back Eovaldi was the No. 1 priority for the Rangers. It was a no-brainer for the pitcher that carried the staff to the World Series.
“[Young] is a former player, right?” Eovaldi said. “He understands, and he gets it. He's not that far removed. Going into the front office, he’s watching even more baseball, learning more about it. He knows what it takes to win any championship. He was able to do it as a player. He knows how important those little things are to what it takes to win.”
It goes without saying that 2024 was a disappointment for the Rangers. They failed to make the postseason, finishing third in the AL West, just a year removed from winning a World Series.
“We had a tough year last year, so at times, I felt a little worried that guys maybe didn't want to come back,” said second baseman Marcus Semien. “But he was the reason why we won the World Series the first time. He had an amazing postseason, and I'm glad that we have him back so we can try and do it again.”
To add to that, Young said he was never worried about how 2024 was going to affect the club’s free agent prospects this winter and beyond.
“We're not defined by one season,” Young said. “It's what we do moving forward. We have the most confidence that we're gonna keep getting better. We've got too many good players not to.”
“We were able to do it in 2023 and I don't feel a lot has changed,” Eovaldi said. “Obviously we had a down year last year, but you learn a lot from those losing seasons. You train harder, you work harder, you don't want to finish not in the postseason again. That's what it's about, pitching in October and going out there and competing and bringing home a World Series title.”
For his teammates, it’s almost more important to get him back for his off-the-field leadership.
That’s intentional by Young and the front office. Young believes a team is a collection of people who are defined more by their character than their talent. Eovaldi is the perfect example of that.
“I think there's a lot of value with Evo that people don't see,” said rotation-mate Jon Gray. “It's just they see this on-field guy, which is really good, but they don't see how good of a teammate he is or how well he can help with coaching. He's very good at mechanics, and he's helped me a lot when I was struggling. He's a guy who has been behind you and you won't find a better teammate. There’s a lot more there than just a guy who shoves. That does help, but there’s a lot to it. … Everything feels right. It was a good surprise.”