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saddles
No More "Bullpen Failure"
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The Rangers open this series 12.5 games out of first place. Even the most optimistic of the fans and the media have given up hope at this point.
All is not lost. There is hope for this team going forward. I am not sure if they can put together a championship team in just one offseason, but more success is not that far away.
So what went wrong this season. I think you have to go back to the offseason to begin this discussion. The TV revenue being in jeopardy dealt us a blow. Not knowing how much we would have in revenue caused Ray Davis to tighten the purse strings somewhat. We still went over the luxury tax threshold, though. On the other hand, I think any extra money would have been spent of the rotation, and that was the one area that turned out to need it the least. I don't imagine they would have spent any additional money on the offense.
The biggest blow to the season was all of the injuries. With the down seasons that Garcia, Heim, Taveras, and Semien had, every other bat was needed. Losing both Jung and Carter for very big chunks of the season was devastating. Other than those, I think the most damaging injury was to Josh Sborz. There have been so many 7th innings this year where he would have been a tremendous help.
Now, what about those down seasons from Garcia, Heim, Taveras, and Semien. I guess you could throw Lowe into that mix as well. Although, I think what we got from Lowe and Taveras both, are about all that should be expected. Maybe Heim belongs in that category as well. He has been underwhelming offensively, for close to a full year, now. The Rangers seem to have realized that already and signaled as much when they traded for Carson Kelly. Semien had a down year, but you could look at his history when we signed him and see that those kind of years were coming from him during his contract with us.
All five of those guys cannot be replaced in one offseason. Semien makes too much for them to even consider that before 2026. I can see the Rangers not trading Heim or Taveras, but simply making them bench players. Lowe has no place on the bench due to him only playing 1B. If they move on from him, he would certainly be traded.
The question is, do the Rangers want to spend the money it would take to upgrade at catcher and 1B? They have a lot of bullpen help to acquire. Some want them to spend on starting pitching. They cannot afford to do all of that this offseason. They may have to try some internal options in some of those spots. Do they trust Huff to become the regular catcher? Can they open up 1B for Foscue, Duran, and Crim to battle each other for? Would Huff be an otion there, if he isn't trusted to be the starter at catcher? Are they satisfied with an outfield and DH combo of Smith, Langford, Carter and Garcia? Or will they save money by trading Garcia and mixing in guys like Foscue, Duran, Crim and Huff for DH and other duties?
The one big way to have have money for other areas is to trust the five returning starting pitchers to form next year's rotation heading into Spring Training. DeGrom, Mahle, Bradford, Gray, and Dunning have all had success in a rotation in the not so distant past. Of course, there needs to be backup options, but spending big money on bringing in another starter may not be financially feasible. The alternative is to sign two or three guys like Urena or Nick Martinez to serve as rotation options out of the bullpen. What will help the most next year is that we will finally have some real options at AAA to make starts in the big leagues if there is an injury. Having Leiter, Rocker, Teodo, and Garcia ready in AAA will be a big help for rotation depth. Santos, Bratt, and Rosario may be ready for that role in the second half of the season.
The one area where we are not ready with interanl options is the bullpen. The needs for free agent signings for the pen are many. If Sborz is helathy they still need three more otions for the late innings. Those three pieces plus the two pieces needed to serve as swing men, means we are going to have to acquire at least five bullpen pieces, but we may actually need six or seven.
Another thing that has gone wrong is the front office has made some bad decisions. Hopefully, they will learn from them. I don't think CY is leaving any time soon, so I sure hope he has learned. They need to do a better job of team building, trading and drafting.
All is not lost. There is hope for this team going forward. I am not sure if they can put together a championship team in just one offseason, but more success is not that far away.
So what went wrong this season. I think you have to go back to the offseason to begin this discussion. The TV revenue being in jeopardy dealt us a blow. Not knowing how much we would have in revenue caused Ray Davis to tighten the purse strings somewhat. We still went over the luxury tax threshold, though. On the other hand, I think any extra money would have been spent of the rotation, and that was the one area that turned out to need it the least. I don't imagine they would have spent any additional money on the offense.
The biggest blow to the season was all of the injuries. With the down seasons that Garcia, Heim, Taveras, and Semien had, every other bat was needed. Losing both Jung and Carter for very big chunks of the season was devastating. Other than those, I think the most damaging injury was to Josh Sborz. There have been so many 7th innings this year where he would have been a tremendous help.
Now, what about those down seasons from Garcia, Heim, Taveras, and Semien. I guess you could throw Lowe into that mix as well. Although, I think what we got from Lowe and Taveras both, are about all that should be expected. Maybe Heim belongs in that category as well. He has been underwhelming offensively, for close to a full year, now. The Rangers seem to have realized that already and signaled as much when they traded for Carson Kelly. Semien had a down year, but you could look at his history when we signed him and see that those kind of years were coming from him during his contract with us.
All five of those guys cannot be replaced in one offseason. Semien makes too much for them to even consider that before 2026. I can see the Rangers not trading Heim or Taveras, but simply making them bench players. Lowe has no place on the bench due to him only playing 1B. If they move on from him, he would certainly be traded.
The question is, do the Rangers want to spend the money it would take to upgrade at catcher and 1B? They have a lot of bullpen help to acquire. Some want them to spend on starting pitching. They cannot afford to do all of that this offseason. They may have to try some internal options in some of those spots. Do they trust Huff to become the regular catcher? Can they open up 1B for Foscue, Duran, and Crim to battle each other for? Would Huff be an otion there, if he isn't trusted to be the starter at catcher? Are they satisfied with an outfield and DH combo of Smith, Langford, Carter and Garcia? Or will they save money by trading Garcia and mixing in guys like Foscue, Duran, Crim and Huff for DH and other duties?
The one big way to have have money for other areas is to trust the five returning starting pitchers to form next year's rotation heading into Spring Training. DeGrom, Mahle, Bradford, Gray, and Dunning have all had success in a rotation in the not so distant past. Of course, there needs to be backup options, but spending big money on bringing in another starter may not be financially feasible. The alternative is to sign two or three guys like Urena or Nick Martinez to serve as rotation options out of the bullpen. What will help the most next year is that we will finally have some real options at AAA to make starts in the big leagues if there is an injury. Having Leiter, Rocker, Teodo, and Garcia ready in AAA will be a big help for rotation depth. Santos, Bratt, and Rosario may be ready for that role in the second half of the season.
The one area where we are not ready with interanl options is the bullpen. The needs for free agent signings for the pen are many. If Sborz is helathy they still need three more otions for the late innings. Those three pieces plus the two pieces needed to serve as swing men, means we are going to have to acquire at least five bullpen pieces, but we may actually need six or seven.
Another thing that has gone wrong is the front office has made some bad decisions. Hopefully, they will learn from them. I don't think CY is leaving any time soon, so I sure hope he has learned. They need to do a better job of team building, trading and drafting.
