Series Thread: Rangers Travel to New York For Three Games With the Yankees August 9-11

[saddles]

Bradford now has a 2.25 ERA this year as a starter and a 3.60 ERA overall this year.

He is our best starting pitcher for now.

 

[Kelleyman]

Bradford was impressive. Think h may be done coming out of the pen

 

[saddles]

Bradford was impressive. Think h may be done coming out of the pen

I had a guy on Twitter this morning tell me Bradford didn't need to start next year because he doesn't throw hard enough. Lol

It was the same guy who last year was always really down on Josh Smith. One of the many who were.

 

[Duane1952]

Garcia had a good day. 5 for 7. Hopefully he has found something.

 

[saddles]

Garcia had a good day. 5 for 7. Hopefully he has found something.

Yes, he sure did. So glad to see that.

 

[saddles]

From Evan Grant:

Taking a more long-range look, it was important for them to see Cody Bradford return to his early-season form. In his third outing back from a fussy stress fracture in a rib, Bradford pitched five sharp innings, allowing only a run.

“He prepares really well,” a relieved Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the split. “He gameplans, makes adjustments and works all four quadrants of the strike zone. He’s got a really good idea of what he wants to do and he does it. He’s just so focused.”

One key: He managed not to let Aaron Judge come to the plate with runners on base. In the opener, Judge came up five times, all with a runner on base, reached in four of them and drove in two runs. The hitter behind him, Austin Wells, drove in four more. Bradford takes copious notes on his starts. But he didn’t really need a stick ‘em to understand that the best hitter in the AL is doubly dangerous with runners on.

Instead, Bradford may have checked his notes in search of the pitcher who gave the Rangers real hope early in the season they’d developed an honest-to-goodness homegrown starter. They need one right now. They’ll need at least one next year with a slew of expected free-agent departures.

In early April, after winning the fifth spot in the rotation, Bradford rolled off three crisp starts, allowing just three earned runs in 19 ⅓ innings. He did it with exceptional command and advanced feel for pitching, despite a fastball that measures up as just average in terms of velocity. Then came the rib issue. It was slow to respond and cost him three months. When he finally returned 10 days ago, his first two outings were discouraging. He allowed three homers, including a grand slam to Tommy Pham, and eight runs to St. Louis and Boston.

He’d noted that he’d gotten off-line with his delivery, which made it difficult to execute his fastball into right-handed hitters. But he’d also not had much time to work on fixing that. Between mid-July and his start against Boston on August 3, he’d not thrown a bullpen, mostly because the Rangers initially planned to bring him back as a reliever, so there wasn’t the time between outings. After the Boston start, and with the Rangers in a pinch for starters, it became clear he’d return regularly to the rotation, so he was able to do the kind of prep he normally does.

“Getting back on line was one of the last things to come back,” Bradford said. “Knocking the rust off was important. I wasn’t able to get the fastball where I wanted it.”

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Bradford now has a 2.25 ERA this year as a starter and a 3.60 ERA overall this year.

He is our best starting pitcher for now.

He is a big piece to build around, IMO. I would like to see him and Dunning both finish the year as starters, and Lord willing, one of Leiter, Teodo or Rocker step up and seize a spot in the rotation next season. Outside of deGrom and Mahle, none of the other older SPs should just be handed a place in the rotation. Going into 2026, I'd like to see a rotation with a top 4 of Teodo-Bradford-Leiter-Rocker, and maybe Dunning or someone else as the number 5. Hopefully, we've been able to trade off deGrom's huge contract by then.

 

[jta4437]

He is a big piece to build around, IMO. I would like to see him and Dunning both finish the year as starters, and Lord willing, one of Leiter, Teodo or Rocker step up and seize a spot in the rotation next season. Outside of deGrom and Mahle, none of the other older SPs should just be handed a place in the rotation. Going into 2026, I'd like to see a rotation with a top 4 of Teodo-Bradford-Leiter-Rocker, and maybe Dunning or someone else as the number 5. Hopefully, we've been able to trade off deGrom's huge contract by then.

Eovaldi will more than likely trigger his option as well

 

[saddles]

He is a big piece to build around, IMO. I would like to see him and Dunning both finish the year as starters, and Lord willing, one of Leiter, Teodo or Rocker step up and seize a spot in the rotation next season. Outside of deGrom and Mahle, none of the other older SPs should just be handed a place in the rotation. Going into 2026, I'd like to see a rotation with a top 4 of Teodo-Bradford-Leiter-Rocker, and maybe Dunning or someone else as the number 5. Hopefully, we've been able to trade off deGrom's huge contract by then.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan Garcia and Dane Acker look ready we'll before this point next year.

 

[scotsman#1948]

He is a big piece to build around, IMO. I would like to see him and Dunning both finish the year as starters, and Lord willing, one of Leiter, Teodo or Rocker step up and seize a spot in the rotation next season. Outside of deGrom and Mahle, none of the other older SPs should just be handed a place in the rotation. Going into 2026, I'd like to see a rotation with a top 4 of Teodo-Bradford-Leiter-Rocker, and maybe Dunning or someone else as the number 5. Hopefully, we've been able to trade off deGrom's huge contract by then.

next year is next year and we have Scherzer returning around the 17th, deGrom is projected to be available around the 25th to the 1st and Gray around the same time,

urena goes back to pen obviously and Gray and possibly Heaney but that still leaves Eovaldi. Mahle, Scherzer, deGrom and Bradford in the rotation. and i think the Rangers go to a 6-man rotation (Gray) to finish the season with probably Dunning, Heaney, Urena, Leclerc, Robertson, Sborz, Chafin & Yates in the pen.

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

From Evan Grant:

Taking a more long-range look, it was important for them to see Cody Bradford return to his early-season form. In his third outing back from a fussy stress fracture in a rib, Bradford pitched five sharp innings, allowing only a run.

“He prepares really well,” a relieved Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the split. “He gameplans, makes adjustments and works all four quadrants of the strike zone. He’s got a really good idea of what he wants to do and he does it. He’s just so focused.”

One key: He managed not to let Aaron Judge come to the plate with runners on base. In the opener, Judge came up five times, all with a runner on base, reached in four of them and drove in two runs. The hitter behind him, Austin Wells, drove in four more. Bradford takes copious notes on his starts. But he didn’t really need a stick ‘em to understand that the best hitter in the AL is doubly dangerous with runners on.

Instead, Bradford may have checked his notes in search of the pitcher who gave the Rangers real hope early in the season they’d developed an honest-to-goodness homegrown starter. They need one right now. They’ll need at least one next year with a slew of expected free-agent departures.

In early April, after winning the fifth spot in the rotation, Bradford rolled off three crisp starts, allowing just three earned runs in 19 ⅓ innings. He did it with exceptional command and advanced feel for pitching, despite a fastball that measures up as just average in terms of velocity. Then came the rib issue. It was slow to respond and cost him three months. When he finally returned 10 days ago, his first two outings were discouraging. He allowed three homers, including a grand slam to Tommy Pham, and eight runs to St. Louis and Boston.

He’d noted that he’d gotten off-line with his delivery, which made it difficult to execute his fastball into right-handed hitters. But he’d also not had much time to work on fixing that. Between mid-July and his start against Boston on August 3, he’d not thrown a bullpen, mostly because the Rangers initially planned to bring him back as a reliever, so there wasn’t the time between outings. After the Boston start, and with the Rangers in a pinch for starters, it became clear he’d return regularly to the rotation, so he was able to do the kind of prep he normally does.

“Getting back on line was one of the last things to come back,” Bradford said. “Knocking the rust off was important. I wasn’t able to get the fastball where I wanted it.”

Coming back to be a starter is a blessing for him and the Rangers.
Definitely one thing to be excited about

 

[saddles]

Matt Festa has been brought up and Burke has been DFA.

 

[saddles]

Sborz back to the DL and Pennington is back up.

 

[saddles]

Scherzer and Eovaldi go back to Texas for further medical evaluation.

 

[saddles]

From Evan Grant:

Starter Nathan Eovaldi, who left Saturday’s game after just three innings with right side tightness, will head back to Texas for further exam and is likely to be pushed back, if not skipped entirely, from his next start. And a frustrated Max Scherzer, whose shoulder fatigue has not responded to extra rest, will also be re-examined in Texas. Scherzer, eligible to be activated from the IL on Thursday, will not be ready.

 

[saddles]

Didn't Bochy once again minimize Sherzer's last injury when they put him on the DL? I think a player could have his arm cut off, and Bochy would say it is a minor injury, and they only need the minimum DL stay.