You might not have noticed the relative lack of content here in the Rangers section of the site. After all, we just careened headlong through the road-trips-and-flight-delays portion of the holiday season, and now you’re unpacking your gifts and begging the kids to get their Lego Foot Destruction blocks off the floor. But the last Rangers news we really had to talk about was on December 23rd (and even that wasn’t really news).
Since then, Texas has made a few minor deals. Or rather, minor-league deals. Former closer Shawn Tolleson is back (after his tenure with the Rays consisted of exactly five Spring Training appearances, an injured elbow, and a Tommy John surgery in May). Paolo Espino—who made his big-league debut at 30 last year with the Brewers before they sent him to Texas for cash—returns to the Rangers. Former Royals/A’s/Dodgers outfielder Brett Eibner has a career batting average of under .200 and was once traded for Billy Burns. And lastly, former Diamondback Zeke Spruill spent last year with the Lamigo Monkeys in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan, and now hopes to be the second-most famous “Zeke” in Arlington.
For each of these individuals, this is a big deal. For Rangers fans… ehhhhh not so much.
But don’t mistake the Rangers’ lack of recent moves for an inactive winter. They yoinked Doug Fister and Mike Minor off the market, almost preemptively. They took a defense-first center fielder (Carlos Tocci) in the Rule 5 Draft, and then on the first full day after the Winter Meetings, they traded for Matt Moore. They bolstered their bullpen with the hopefully-triumphant return of Arlington native Chris Martin and the re-signing of Tony Barnette. All of those are big-league club moves, and all but one have been to address the early-and-often-stated first priority: pitching.
The minor league moves have been mostly pitching-oriented as well. Kevin Jepsen (former Angels late-inning reliever), Erik Goeddel (former Met), and David Hurlbut (Twins) join Tolleson, Spruill, and Espino, along with the returning Austin Bibens-Dirkx. They traded for Ronald Herrera (Yankees), who is expected to contend for a rotation spot (especially with Martin Perez expected to miss the first month of the season). Christian Lopes and the returning Hanser Alberto both provide defensive depth. Oh, and they claimed catcher Juan Centeno off waivers from the Astros.
Perhaps the more accurate statement is not that the Rangers aren’t doing anything this offseason, and more that they aren’t making any headlines this offseason (not good ones, at least).
The question now becomes… do they need to? What’s left on the shopping list? Let’s go position-by-position:
ROTATION: Cole Hamels, Martin Perez (eventually), Mike Minor, Matt Moore, Doug Fister. Candidates: Ronald Herrera, Zeke Spruill, Matt Bush)
Yeah, they probably need at least one more here. While it seems the owners have the cash to make a splashy deal like Yu Darvish or Alex Cobb, there hasn’t been much noise from the rumor mill (beyond that Zack Greinke thing from the Winter Meetings). Maybe Matt Bush is that guy? Maybe they bring back Andrew Cashner? Who knows, but it does seem likely that they’ll be adding at least one more big-league-ready guy.
BULLPEN: Alex Claudio, Jake Diekman, Keone Kela, Chris Martin, Tony Barnette, Matt Bush, Jose Leclerc, Ricardo Rodriguez. Candidates: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Connor Sadzeck, Clayton Blackburn, Nick Gardewine, Erik Goeddel, Kevin Jepsen, Paolo Espino)
Full disclosure: I tend to be a bullpen optimist. But *clears throat and uses extremely objective voice* I think this has the potential of being a pretty nasty bullpen. Claudio has a sub-3.00 ERA for his career, not just last year. Diekman will be back to full strength. Martin walked a total of 13 guys and posted a 1.12 ERA in 88⅓ innings in his two years in Japan. Kela is utterly filthy when he stays healthy. The question marks: can Barnette and Bush be more 2016 than 2017? Can Jose Leclerc harness his weapons-grade stuff into fewer walks? Is this the flame-throwing Sadzeck’s year? There’s certainly a lot that needs to go right, but the argument could be made that this bullpen is ready to go for 2018.
CATCHER: Robinson Chirinos, Juan Centeno. Candidates: Brett Nicholas
We know Chirinos. Chirinos is fine… if he stays healthy. I list Centeno as the backup here because he’s out of minor league options, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up elsewhere and Nicholas is the full-time backup. I didn’t include Jose Treviño here, but if the season goes south and Texas can get value in return for Chirinos (or if the injury bug strikes) I could absolutely see Treviño in Arlington in August. Otherwise, I think he’ll get another year to percolate in the minor leagues and join Texas in 2019. Either way, I don’t see Texas adding anyone else at catcher before Opening Day.
INFIELD: Joey Gallo, Rougned Odor, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar. Candidates: Drew Robinson, Hanser Alberto, Ronald Guzman
Yeah, we’re good here. Maybe Profar gets moved before Opening Day and Drew Robinson is your utility guy. Maybe Texas brings in another first baseman (or promotes Guzman) and Gallo moves to left field. That doesn’t seem to be the likely course of events, but… sure, maybe. Either way, with the exception of adding minor league depth, the infield seems pretty well set.
OUTFIELD/DH: Nomar Mazara, Delino DeShields, Carlos Tocci, Shin-Soo Choo, Willie Calhoun. Candidates: Ryan Rua
This is a pretzel of a positional puzzle. Mazara plays right, but could play left, if Choo stays and plays right with Calhoun at DH. Or Mazara could play right, with Calhoun in left and Choo at DH. Delino DeShields is slated to be the starting center fielder, but Jon Heyman seems to think Carlos Gomez is a possibility to return to Texas, and if that happens, DeShields would shift to left, and either Calhoun starts in AAA or Choo gets shipped off to goodness-knows-where for goodness-knows-what (pitching). Tocci is a defensive whiz, ostensibly able to back up all three positions if needed, but he can’t be sent to the minor leagues because he’s a Rule Five draft pick. Profar can also play left and (in a pinch) center (and heck, sure, why not right field).
*deep breath*
Meanwhile, Ryan Rua has gone from 2015 Opening Day left fielder to something resembling the sixth-string outfielder. That sucks for Ryan Rua, but from an organization standpoint, that’s not bad depth.
In summary: Texas has to make a call on who plays where, and they might add a center fielder, but they will almost certainly add another starting pitcher first.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.