It's difficult to build a bullpen from scratch on a budget. Even tougher if you want to get particular about adjectives and details like "effective" and "successful." You've got to plumb the margins, exploit any advantages you might have.

For once, the whole living in Texas thing, might actually be one of those of advantages for the Rangers.

You could do worse than simply plucking all the available free agents who call North Texas home.

On Friday, they officially announced the signing of lefty side-arming offspeed specialist Hoby Milner, formerly of Fort Worth and now of North Richland Hills, to a one-year deal. Milner, eighth in the majors in appearances over the last three seasons, had been non-tendered by Milwaukee after making $2.05 million. To make room for Milner on the 40-man roster, the Rangers designated 2018 second-round pick Owen White for assignment.

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When Milner was in the final stages of talks with the Rangers, he happened to drop in for a workout at TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington, orthopedic specialist Dr. Keith Meister's facility where he ran into free agent Brooks Raley (who is rehabbing an injury), Danny Coulumbe and A.J. Minter. No sign of Flower Mounds' Colin Poche or Arlington's Chris Martin, but, hey you get the idea.

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"We're open to just bringing in the right fits," Rangers president of Baseball Operations Chris Young, who grew up in Highland Park, said during the winter meetings about mining Texas for bullpen help. "For the Rangers, the right players that fit our teams are one that we feel like can help us compete for the division and hopefully a championship.

"I will say, as somebody who grew up in this area, I know how much the Rangers meant to me. I know how much they mean to our fans, and I know what it meant for kids in the Metroplex who play baseball that have a team that they can be proud of. And certainly people who grew up here in the past have experienced that. So does that weigh into players decisions? I think it weighed into my decision to come home. And there's probably some aspect of that that does weigh into any player who is from maybe geographically this area, or grew up rooting for the Rangers. And my hope is that we put together a team that they continue to be proud of, and the next generation of of players that grew up in DFW will want to be Rangers one day."

Which are all very eloquent and somewhat long-winded ways of just answering a dumb question from a dumb beat writer. But even the dumb questions sometimes make sense. And when you've got as much work to do as the Rangers have to figure out in the bullpen, optimizing any element of the market is important. In signing Jacob Webb and Milner, who is expected to make about $2.5 million in base salary, the Rangers have tapped into the non-tender market.

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But they still need leverage arms. Kirby Yates, who still calls Hawaii home, is still sitting out there and would be a welcome addition at the back end of the bullpen. And there is no geographic bias where he is concerned. The problem with Yates is the cost. He was a bargain at $4.5 million last year; he'd probably cost double that this year.

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The idea isn't necessarily to find 2024's Yates, but to identify the 2025 version. Martin, who spent the last two seasons in Boston, has a 2.49 ERA and a 10-to-1 strikeout-to-walk rate pitching in leverage situations the last three years. He did miss some time with anxiety issues last year, but returned to make 19 appearances over the final two months. Minter, who grew up in Tyler, has a bit of closer experience with 15 saves in 2018 and 10 more in 2023. Last year, with Atlanta he dealt with a microfracture in his hip that robbed him of velocity and limited him to 39 games. He was throwing 96 mph in 2022; it had dropped almost two miles by the time he had surgery in August. He is expected to be ready for the start of the season.

Raley had a 2.74 ERA in 2022-23 before his elbow ligament gave out on him last year. He is expected to be ready around mid-season, which would make him a nice low-risk potential reinforcement. Poche, who had a 3.09 ERA over 131 games in 2022-23 with Tampa Bay, was limited to 37 innings last year by shoulder inflammation.

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Yeah, there is risk associated with all of them. Then again, that's kind of the nature of bargain hunting.

The point is: There are guys out there. And the Rangers don't have to look very far to find them.

"All things considered, being at home with a chance to win the World Series is a big part of it," Milner said Friday. "There's no better time to pitch for the Rangers."

And, yeah, in case you were wondering. ...

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"I'm pretty sure they could field a pretty decent bullpen just with the guys from around here," he said.

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