A postseason hero is suddenly on the market as Rangers cut ties with two-time All Star

Adolis Garcia once looked like the face of the Texas Rangers’ turnaround. Now he’s a free agent, and one of the most volatile bets on the market.

Texas is non-tendering Garcia, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. The 32-year-old was in his final year of arbitration and will hit free agency after a second straight step back at the plate. 

On the surface, the decision tracks with the facts. 

Garcia hit .227 with 19 homers, 75 RBIs and a .665 OPS in 2025, a far cry from his 39-homer breakout in 2023 and well below what teams expect from a bat-first corner outfielder. But the profile is more complicated than “washed slugger.”

Baseball Savant still loves the way the ball comes off his bat. Garcia’s 2025 average exit velocity sat in the low 90s with a hard-hit rate approaching 50 percent, and his Statcast percentiles remained strong in raw power and arm strength. FanGraphs paints the dip as more about approach and contact quality. His strikeout rate ticked down, but his walk rate crashed to around five percent, and he struggled against anything that wasn’t a fastball

Defensively, he was still a monster,  with +16 defensive runs saved in right field and a positive Statcast fielding grade, among the best at the position. That, plus his postseason track record — a 1.108 OPS, eight homers and 22 RBIs in the 2023 playoffs en route to ALCS MVP — makes him a very specific type of buy-low candidate. 

So why did Texas walk away? Money and timing, according to Cots Baseball Contracts. 

 The Rangers have already been living near the luxury-tax line with massive commitments to Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, and projections peg their 2026 tax payroll north of $200 million before replacing right field. Garcia was projected for a salary in the $12–13 million range in his final arb year, expensive for a below-average hitter whose game is built on aging skills. 

For other clubs, though, Garcia is a one- or two-year roll of the dice with real upside. A mid-tier contender that needs right-handed power and plus outfield defense like the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners, the Detroit Tigers or the Kansas City Royals can justify the bet if they believe they can nudge his swing decisions back toward his 2023 form. If the approach rebounds even halfway, the postseason version of Garcia is still in there, and that player changes series.