This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- By this time in 2021, the Rangers had committed upward of $500 million to Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray in free agency. By the end of the first week of December 2022, the club completed a long-term deal with Jacob deGrom, and contracts with Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi reached their conclusion by the month’s end.

All those deals led to the Rangers winning the first World Series title in franchise history this past season, but the big spending is unlikely to continue this offseason.

• Here is one Winter Meetings goal for each team

That’s not to say that the Rangers won’t spend money to upgrade the roster. But unlike the past two offseasons, there aren’t many major holes in the lineup or the rotation.

“One of the things about our team is that we have a great returning core group and we're really looking for additions to kind of shore up the team, probably not spending at the level that we have spent in previous offseasons,” general manager Chris Young said in a Zoom with beat reporters. “We feel good about the resources we have to field a team that will have a chance to go out and compete for the world championship again.”

The infield is set for the foreseeable future with Seager, Semien, Josh Jung and Nathaniel Lowe. The outfield has Adolis García, Leody Taveras and Evan Carter, with big league-ready prospect Wyatt Langford waiting in the wings. The projected rotation has Max Scherzer, Eovaldi, Gray, Heaney and Dane Dunning.

For the first time in forever, it feels like the Rangers don’t really have much work to do in the offseason.

There’s one glaring hole that does remain, though, left by backup catcher Mitch Garver, who played most of his games at DH this season. He spent time on the injured list with a knee sprain but finished the year with a .270/.370/.500 slash line in 87 games. 

Garver will likely test the market, looking for a club that can give him more time behind the plate. That leaves the Rangers searching for a consistent designated hitter, which may come internally or externally. Justin Foscue, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the organization’s No. 6 prospect, is the ideal internal candidate, especially after his addition to the 40-man roster this winter. But that won’t stop the front office from pursuing elsewhere.

“It's going to be performance driven,” Young said. “[Foscue] has put himself in a great position to compete for an open roster spot, but there's no guarantee. I expect there to be competition for those spots, and we're going to continue to be open-minded in terms of improving the roster, whether it's bringing back somebody that was on the roster last year or finding good fits that complement what's a very good core offensive group going into next year.”

All that being said, Young's motto will no doubt ring true for as long as he leads the Rangers: “You can never have too much starting pitching.”

“Certainly, adding a starting pitcher is a goal of ours,” Young said. “And then addressing the bullpen. We have multiple spots in the bullpen where we would feel good about adding via trade or free agency. I think those are priorities for us. You certainly know how I feel about pitching. …

“But I think it really proved to be true over the course of last year. By having as much starting pitching as we did, it allowed us to deploy some of our guys in different fashions in the playoffs and into the World Series. It helped us win a championship. It's something that we're going to continue to look to improve and add depth.”