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Texas Rangers acquire power-hitting 1B/3B Jake Burger from Miami Marlins

Published

1 year ago

December 11, 2024

Texas Rangers acquire power-hitting 1B/3B Jake Burger from Miami Marlins

The Texas Rangers, looking to get back to being an elite offense, agreed to acquire corner infield bat Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins for three prospects late Tuesday night, three people confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal initially reported that the Rangers had acquired the infielder, who has averaged about 31 homers the last two years with the Marlins and White Sox. The Rangers are sending infield prospects Max Acosta, Echedry Vargas and pitching prospect Brayan Mendoza to Miami in the deal.

Burger, who turns 29 in April, brings pure power on the cheap to the Rangers lineup. In addition to hitting 63 homers over the last two years, he also falls just six service days shy of being a Super Two arbitration player, meaning he will be paid under $800,000 in 2025 and the Rangers will control him through 2028. He was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox and is close friends with Rangers’ pitcher Dane Dunning.

He could also give the club some flexibility for making another trade to potentially create more payroll flexibility. Left-handed hitting first baseman Nate Lowe is set to make $10 million or more in arbitration in 2025. But Burger could also simply be plugged in as a right-handed hitting first baseman or as a DH and also gives the Rangers additional insurance at third base where Josh Jung has dealt with a number of injuries.

For his career, Burger has equal splits against lefties (a .794 OPS) and right-handers (.787), but his splits tilted towards the reverse side in 2024 when he had a .799 OPS against right-handers and .678 against lefties.

He also gives the Rangers some insurance against the fastball. Burger slugged .645 against four-seamers last year, which ranked 11th in major league baseball, just behind Fernando Tatis Jr. and just ahead of Shohei Ohtani.

Vargas, who spent the whole season at Class A Down East, is the only one of the three prospects in The Dallas Morning News’ latest top 30 Rangers prospects rankings, checking in at No. 14. Acosta was once one of the Rangers’ top prospects, but bounced back with a nice year at Double-A Frisco before compiling a .934 OPS in the Arizona Fall League and was recently added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster. Mendoza turns 21 years old in January and spent 2024 with Class A Down East and Class A Hickory.

The deal also demonstrates the value of deep international scouting finds. While Acosta received $1.65 million coming out of Venezuela, Mendoza ($20,000) and Vargas ($10,000) were low-dollar signings from the international program.

The move comes on the heels of the Rangers retaining their most important free agent, Nathan Eovaldi, agreeing to a three-year, $75 million deal with the veteran starter.

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Texas

Texas A&M is reportedly close to hiring its new defensive staffer

Published

9 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Texas A&M is reportedly close to hiring its new defensive staffer

The staff shake-up continues amid CFP preparation, as Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is reportedly adding another to his staff.

Soon after the news that the Aggies were expecting to hire former Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported that former Rutgers co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Zach Sparber would be added to the staff in some capacity. Sparber is very familiar with new Texas A&M DC Lyle Hemphill, having worked with him at JMU and Duke.

It is an interesting hire, as similar to Travis Williams, Sparber is also coming off a defensive staff that was let go after bottom-of-the-conference defensive performances. However, before joining the staff at Rutgers, he helped James Madison’s team rank 21st nationally in scoring defense as the linebackers coach. While his official role has not yet been announced, his experience with Hemphill should help with continuity heading into next season.

No. 7-seed Texas A&M hosts the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes (10-2) in a CFP first-round game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Kyle Field. The game can be viewed on ABC/ESPN.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.

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How to get tickets for #7 Texas A&M vs. #10 Miami in College Playoff 1st round

Published

21 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

How to get tickets for #7 Texas A&M vs. #10 Miami in College Playoff 1st round

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The 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes hit the road for College Station for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The game is scheduled for noon ET (11 a.m. CT) with tickets still available to watch live.

How to get Texas A&M vs. Miami tickets for the best prices: Tickets for the Texas A&M vs. Miami playoff game are available on secondary markets Vivid Seats, StubHub, SeatGeek and Viagogo.

The lowest prices are as follows (as of Dec. 15):

Vivid Seats starting at $375
StubHub starting at $388
SeatGeek starting at $315
Viagogo starting at $345

The Aggies own the homefield advantage and are listed as 3.5-point betting favorites to play their way into the second round. Texas A&M won its first 11 straight games of the 2025 season before falling to rival No. 16 Texas (27-17) in its regular-season finale. The Aggies were battle-tested in going 7-1 in a Southeastern Conference that put five teams into the College Football Playoff field. They also join Miami as teams to beat Notre Dame this season, winning a 41-40 shootout back in Week 3.

#10 Miami (10-2) at #7 Texas A&M (11-1)

College Football Playoff 1st round

When: Saturday, Dec. 20 at noon ET (11 a.m. CT)
Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
Tickets: Vivid Seats | StubHub | SeatGeek | Viagogo
TV channel: ABC/ESPN
Streaming on: FuboTV (free trial) | DirecTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate)

The Hurricanes’ 27-24 win over then-No. 6 Notre Dame was the best line entry on the team’s résumé as the third-place finisher in the messy Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami rattled off four straight wins to close the season and showed the kind of explosive scoring offense required to stack up with Texas A&M, scoring 34-plus points in each of those four wins. The Canes closed the season with a 38-7 blowout win over then-No. 23 Pitt to strengthen their CFP case.

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14-year-old suspect in deadly North Texas shooting taken into custody in Dallas, police say

Published

1 day ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

14-year-old suspect in deadly North Texas shooting taken into custody in Dallas, police say

Updated on: December 15, 2025 / 10:07 PM CST
/ CBS Texas

The 14-year-old wanted in the deadly shooting of a man in Collin County over the weekend is in custody, police said.

Lavon police said Monday night that the teenage boy was taken into custody in Dallas without incident.

Police say the shooting happened Saturday night, just before 9 p.m. on Wellington Drive in Lavon, when an argument broke out between the 14-year-old suspect and a 24-year-old acquaintance.

Police say that the altercation turned deadly. The teen shot and killed the 24-year-old before fleeing the scene.

“A murder is a very rare thing in our city, so it’s shocking,” said J. Michael Jones, the Lavon Chief of Police. “And it’s even more shocking that this suspect is a 14-year-old.”

Community ISD confirmed the suspect is a student at Community Trails Middle School, where district leaders took extra precautions in case he is still in town.

Earlier Monday, Jones urged the suspect and anyone helping him to turn him in, saying, “I will find you. I will investigate you, and I will put you in jail.”

Lavon police thanked the community and several law enforcement agencies for their help with the investigation, including the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Louisiana State Police, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, the Community Independent School District Police Department, the Lavon Fire Department, and many others.

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