Last night, the Texas Rangers filled a much-needed to be filled hole on their roster for 2025 and beyond.

Texas announced the signing of veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-year contract worth $13.7 million.

Higashioka’s contract will add $5.75 million to the team’s payroll in 2025 and $6.75 million for the 2026 season.

In 2027, the contract features a mutual option that both Higashioka and the Rangers will have to accept for $7 million.

If the Rangers choose to decline that option and buy out Higashioka it will cost them just $1 million.

With the signing of Higashioka, the Rangers 40-man roster is now at 39 players ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings.

Last season with the San Deigo Padres, Higashioka slashed .220/.263/.476/.739 while setting career highs in home runs (17) and RBI (45) in 88 games.

Obviously, it’s not clear what the plan is for the workload behind the plate for Higashioka’s tandem with Jonah Heim but there is no doubt finding the right backup catcher was just as important as anything this offseason.

Since the start of the 2022 season, Jonah Heim has caught 405 games which is the sixth-most in Major League Baseball.

The $5.75 million added to this season’s payroll is perhaps the most interesting part of Higashioka’s signing.

We know that Rangers ownership would like to get the team below the luxury tax, especially with the uncertainty of the TV deal but we aren’t sure exactly what the budget is or isn’t.

However, based on very rough estimates, it could be reasonably guessed that the budget may be somewhere between $20-30 million.

With the need to add another starter, 2-3 bullpen arms, and possibly another bat it was fascinating to see more than $5 million go toward a backup catcher.

However, the saying “you get what you pay for” comes true here and this shows that the Rangers valued highly finding the right backup catcher.