DALLAS -- The Rangers stayed busy at the Winter Meetings, trading for corner infielder Jake Burger from the Marlins, the team announced on Wednesday morning.

Miami received a package of three Minor Leaguers in return: middle infielder Echedry Vargas, Texas' No. 17 prospect per MLB Pipeline, shortstop Max Acosta and left-handed starter Brayan Mendoza. Acosta was recently added to the 40-man roster to avoid Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft, so he would clear a 40-man spot.

TRADE DETAILS
Rangers get: 1B Jake Burger
Marlins get: 2B/SS Echedry Vargas, SS Max Acosta, LHP Brayan Mendoza

The move to acquire Burger comes after Texas had agreed earlier in the night on a three-year deal to bring back Nathan Eovaldi. Burger adds some thump to its lineup, coming off a 29-homer season with 76 RBIs for the Marlins in 2024. In 2023, he hit a career-high 34 homers with the White Sox and Marlins and recorded an .827 OPS.

“He’s an aggressive hitter that makes a lot of hard contact,” manager Bruce Bochy said on Wednesday. “The numbers show that. He’s just gotten better and better with his plate discipline, and he could do a lot of damage at the plate. And now I know it’s a [noticeable] difference from two years ago to last year with laying off some pitches. He’s just getting better. We're excited. He will make us a better offense and help get us back to where we were a couple years ago, being one of the best offenses in the game.”

President of baseball operations Chris Young said on Tuesday that the Rangers were looking to add a right-handed bat that could hit the fastball well, which is something the Rangers struggled to do in 2024.

“[We want to] look and see if there's the right bat that would complement our lineup and help get us back to being a really elite offense that we were in 2023,” Young said.

Burger is a former first-round Draft pick of Chicago, where he spent the first two-plus years of his career before being dealt by the White Sox to Miami at the 2023 Trade Deadline. Only Corey Seager (30) hit more homers than Burger in the Rangers' lineup last season.

“I think our positions are pretty much accounted for, so I think that there's flexibility with positional versatility and the DH spot,” Young said on Tuesday morning. “Rotating our guys through the DH spot has been something I've been very keen on doing. I don't like just having one specific DH. That said, we need to get back to being an elite offensive unit. Some of that is with our own guys. Some of it is maybe looking for the right bat to complement.

“I think there are a lot of good bats who hit right-handed pitching and can hit fastballs, too. We're staying open-minded and looking at any way we can to improve the club as a whole.”

The Rangers could use Burger at DH, though he plays both corner infield positions. All-Star third baseman Josh Jung is holding down the hot corner, though he’s been snake-bitten with injuries throughout his short career. Nathaniel Lowe has won a Silver Slugger Award (2022) and a Gold Glove Award (2023), but he's likely to earn a raise from the $7.5 million salary he made last season per SporTrac, if the Rangers are considering shedding salary.

Texas also has Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran as additional infield depth.

Bochy said the staff is currently having those discussions regarding how to get all of these guys playing time.

“I'd like to sit down with [Burger] and talk about that, about what his role would be,” Bochy said. “He's gonna be out there somewhere, whether DH playing some first, maybe picking up some games at third. We'll see. Right now, there’s nothing I can give you as far as where he’s going to be.”