the first ALW clash of the season: TEX @ HOU* 4/14-16

[saddles]

Something to think about. We have DeGrom as our ACE. After that we have 4 very solid pitchers and it is debatable who is 2-5. But for now Heaney is our #5 starter. That is amazing. When other teams look at our starting pitching it has to cause concern for them. It doesn't mean that they will shut everyone down all the time but they are very capable of doing just that. I am not sure if we have ever had a starting rotation quite like this. It is nice to have. Our biggest concern is going to be their health. But we have what I think are capable backups in Ragan and Dunning.

That is a great observation. I think if you included the whole pitching staff, starters and relievers, I would take the 2010 staff over this one. That is, the one after the trade deadline once we acquired Cliff Lee. Than again, who knows how much better our pen might look after this year's trade deadline.

That 2011 rotation was pretty amazing as well.

 

[saddles]

Probably would have been just as valid of a point without including Garver. Although, the Astros were not without injuries themselves.

 

[saddles]

Who is the better of the two?

2010 Cliff Lee
2023 Jacob deGrom

At this point, I would say Lee because I have the benefit of knowing how well he pitched in the postseason. I could change my mind by the end of October.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Man I really enjoyed that series. The Astros poked and prodded, but only broke thru 1 out of 3 games. Peña is annoying as hell. The guy pisses me off when he’s on base.

does Valdez always act like a baby when he doesn’t get a call? It seemed like all the pitches he was upset about were balls that were called balls. Framber needs to get a better feel for the strike zone. He didn’t get screwed.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Probably would have been just as valid of a point without including Garver. Although, the Astros were not without injuries themselves.

LOL! My thoughts exactly. As far as the catching position Heim has really held his own.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

That is a great observation. I think if you included the whole pitching staff, starters and relievers, I would take the 2010 staff over this one. That is, the one after the trade deadline once we acquired Cliff Lee. Than again, who knows how much better our pen might look after this year's trade deadline.

That 2011 rotation was pretty amazing as well.

I can see that but if we have a healthy DeGrom in the playoffs and we are removing one of our starters which is usually done and Will Smith, Hernandez, Dunning and Ragans man the BP we would be tough to beat in a series. My concern might be more with our offense. A healthy DeGrom is as good as it gets.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Who is the better of the two?

2010 Cliff Lee
2023 Jacob deGrom

At this point, I would say Lee because I have the benefit of knowing how well he pitched in the postseason. I could change my mind by the end of October.

Not really a fair comparison, going by 3 starts at the outset of a season vs a postseason performance

 

[Kelleyman]

On paper this is the best rotation the Rangers have ever had. The pen is a work in progress. Not nearly as confident but we have the best mgr for managing a pen methinks He is not going to mess around. Our pitchers will eventually throw strikes Regan has been impressive

 

[DT LUNA]

On paper this is the best rotation the Rangers have ever had. The pen is a work in progress. Not nearly as confident but we have the best mgr for managing a pen methinks He is not going to mess around. Our pitchers will eventually throw strikes Regan has been impressive

And Burke is much better than his last outting.

 

[saddles]

Not really a fair comparison, going by 3 starts at the outset of a season vs a postseason performance

Yeah, to answer the question one would have to decide what he expects out of deGrom and not just go by the three starts

I just meant I am likely biased by how great Lee pitched for us in the playoffs and I very well might change my mind once I see how deGrom performs for us in the postseason. At this point, Lee's postseason numbers are even better than deGrom's, but that could change in one more postseason for deGrom.

Lee did poorly against the Giants in the World Series for us, but without those playoff games he pitched we would not have made it that far.

It will be interesting to compare this current rotation to the 2010 and 2011 rotations once the season winds down.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]