World Series Champions, Texas Rangers 2024 Spring Training Thread

[saddles]

Two excerpts rom Evan Grant:

Given the late date in spring training — the season opens a week from Thursday — it’s uncertain how quickly Lorenzen can be ready to join the club. Also, it’s uncertain in what role.

Last week, when pressed on whether the Rangers were still pursuing a pitcher in the wake of the Chicago White Sox trading Dylan Cease to San Diego, Young had said the rotation was already in camp.

“Cody’s in the rotation,” the general manager said when asked if, a week ahead of breaking camp, the club was content to move forward with Bradford as a starter rather than a reliever. “We’ve had him on schedule. He’s done great. He’s one of our starting pitchers.”


Lorenzen pitched a career-high 153 innings last year and made the AL All-Star team before Detroit traded him to Philadelphia. He pitched a no-hitter in his second start for Philadelphia, but his performance fell off after that. He had an 8.01 ERA over his final nine appearances and spent the last couple of weeks of the season pitching in relief.

That might be a role for him with the Rangers, at least early. With several starters expected to be watched closely at the season’s outset, the more pressing need may be for another long reliever. Non-roster invitee Jose Ureña could fill one of those spots.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Lorenzen has played 96 innings as an outfielder as a big leaguer. He is a much better hitter than Hedges. Lol

One year he hit 4 HR in 34 plate appearances.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Lorenzen adds depth and doesn’t push us into the luxury tax. We just need to figure out a way to get this to mahle, Degrom, and scherzer later this year.

its a good cheap / low risk pick up

 

[Uncle Siggy]

So either they realized they needed another SP or they don't have enough confidence in the long relievers they have in camp, either way it's a good thing they needed another body for the 1st half...

 

[armadillooutlaw]

He was one of the ones I thought made sense if we wanted to spend less than Montgomery would cost.

Signing Lorenzen is the type of shrewd move that a guy like Belichick used to make all the time with the Patriots.
Not only does he provide excellent depth, we now have the necessary depth to likely bridge the gap to deGrom, Scherzer and Mahle coming back.

 

[Kelleyman]

Sneaky good pickup by Rangers

 

[saddles]

From Kennedi Landry:

Lorenzen has undergone an interesting career arc. After making 21 starts as a rookie for the Reds in 2015, Lorenzen slid into a relief role for the next half-decade. Lorenzen also operated as a quasi two-way player -- he was both a pitcher and outfielder in college at Cal State Fullerton -- by posting a .710 OPS with seven home runs across 147 plate appearances through 2021. When Lorenzen signed with the Angels prior to the ‘22 season, he reverted back to the rotation, tossing 18 starts with a respectable 4.24 ERA.

 

[saddles]

Lorenzen reminds me of what we thought we had last year in Jake Odorizzi .

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

According to MLB.com’s Mike Petriello, the only defending World Series champions to give two rookies aged 22 or younger 350 or more plate appearances in the regular season were the 1998 Florida Marlins. In fact, he wrote, only eight teams with a winning record the year before have ever done that. FanGraphs projects Langford to get 602 this season and Carter 596.

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Lorenzen adds depth and doesn’t push us into the luxury tax. We just need to figure out a way to get this to mahle, Degrom, and scherzer later this year.

its a good cheap / low risk pick up

The signing pushes the team’s player payroll to the $224MM range, as calculated by RosterResource. They’re around $248MM in luxury tax commitments. Texas is set to pay the competitive balance tax for a second consecutive season. That means they’re taxed at a 30% rate on spending between $237MM and $257MM. Adding Lorenzen comes with another $1.35MM in CBT commitments, pushing the overall guarantee to roughly $5.85MM.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[Duane1952]

I read where Montgomery wants a deal similar to what Aaron Nola received. 7 years 172 million. As of right now he’s refusing to settle for less money or years. Don’t think I would do that.

 

[saddles]

Nothing official yet on Lorenzen.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I read where Montgomery wants a deal similar to what Aaron Nola received. 7 years 172 million. As of right now he’s refusing to settle for less money or years. Don’t think I would do that.

I wouldn't either.

 

[DT LUNA]

I wouldn't either.

Nor I. Too much risk of injury. Hope we learned from the DeGrom venture.

 

[saddles]

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Pitching will determine whether we are a dynasty or not.

 

[saddles]

Pitching will determine whether we are a dynasty or not.

Yeah, we can't keep on going out and signing so many pitchers that we have 6 or 7 free agent starters on our staff. Guys like Leiter, Rocker, Porter, and Corniell, and some others need to start filling out our rotation.