It has been an amazing year for the Texas Rangers’ star, Nathan Eovaldi. He has performed exceptionally well this season and has secured his second MLB World Series appearance. The fact that all of this transpired in his debut year in Texas is quite significant. However, this achievement wouldn’t have been feasible without the additional effort made by GM Chris Young.

In the competitive market, there are limited opportunities, and can not be let go. Notably, Young also understood the same and made a sacrificing effort to sign Nathan in the off-season, though it angered his wife. Nonetheless, it appears that taking the risk was indeed worthwhile.

A Christmas Eve Move From Chris Young That Shaped Texas Rangers Future

Festivities are there to be enjoyed. But sometimes, work is more important when it comes to the future. Chris Young believed the same and made an effort against his wife’s wishes on Christmas Eve. According to FOX Sports: MLB, he did this to sign Nathan Eovaldi. They shared, “Rangers GM Chris Young spent his Christmas Eve negotiating a contract with Nathan Eovaldi. His wife Liz wasn’t happy about it that day, but now jokes that it was worthwhile.”

Interesting! Though it was not the right choice on a festive day, seems the perfect move now. But it was not an effortless task, especially with injury concerns and high costs surrounding the player. Notably, the reason behind his move from the Boston Red Sox, where the 33-year-old spent some good years and expected to return to the Boston. But it was not the case.

Eovaldi understood it and explained the reason behind the move. According to cbsnews.com, the pitcher shared, “Again, we stayed in contact with everybody during the negotiation process, we let them know other deals that we were getting and just kind of trying to make sure that we kept that door open as long as possible. But it just came to that point where it was time to move on.”

The Texas native added, “Obviously, I miss it here. I had such an amazing time here in my career. Everything that we were able to do in ’18 and then, you know, the personal little achievements that I was able to accomplish as well, Boston always has a place near and dear to my heart.”

Though with this, the star player also expressed his happiness at his moving to his native state, where he can feel at home all due to family and friends. Well, he was correct, and his move to Texas has been very fruitful for his championship desire.

A Move to Texas on Christmas Eve That Checked All the Boxes

It did not work out for Nathan Eovaldi when it came to re-signing for Boston. One reason was the lack of acknowledgment during the contract negotiations, which led to the breakdown of the contract.

Eovaldi summed up as “I don’t know. It just, you know, baseball’s different, you know what I mean? Like, whether it’s going in a different direction, trying to pick up other pieces things like that, we kept them in the loop with everything that we wanted to do, and it was just unfortunate it wasn’t able to work out.”

The Texas Rangers saw the opportunity and offered what the player desired. The negotiations took place on Christmas Eve with Chris Young and ticked all the boxes. After that, Nathan Eovaldi signed a $34 million two-year contract, making it up $63 million with an expected $3 million in performance bonuses, containing a conditional player option for 2025.

Additionally, the deal also included a $250,000 bonus for winning a Cy Young Award, $200,000 for finishing second in the voting, $150,000 for third, $100,000 for fourth and $50,000 for fifth. It also included a bonus of $150,000 for World Series MVP and $100,000 each for making the All-Star Game, winning a Gold Glove, or earning League Championship Series MVP.

From the looks of it, Eovaldi is getting not all but many of these fulfilled after having a stellar season. Notably, he has a win-loss record of 12-5 at an ERA of 3.63 and with 132 strikeouts to his name. In addition, he has played amazingly well in the 2023 postseason with 36 strikeouts in five starts.

Valuing his caliber, the Rangers allowed him to lead the charge in the game and help them win their first World Series, along with a second to his name. Eovaldi did not disappoint and had a great ship with five strikeouts without any earned run in six innings pitched. This put the Rangers in a commanding shift to have their first title. This also proved Chris Young’s hard work and risky move exceptional.

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