If Jose Leclerc isn’t Texas Rangers’ closer in 2020, this Southlake resident could be
The major-league clubhouse at Texas Rangers spring training was already a crowded place Tuesday, when pitchers and catchers had to report.
Of the 68 players on the spring roster, 38 of them are pitchers and seven are catchers. Of the 39 pitchers, it’s not a stretch to say 28 of them could be competing for eight bullpen spots.
Really, it’s much fewer than eight.
Right-handers Jose Leclerc, Jesse Chavez, Rafael Montero and Nick Goody, and left-handers Joely Rodriguez and Brett Martin are either locks for the Opening Day roster or close to it.
So, that leaves 22 for two spots.
However you slice it, Leclerc enters camp as the closer, a job he had to open last season and to end it after a rough stretch to start the season. He is expected to open this season in that role.
In between his 2019 closing stints, he again showed the value he can have at a set-up man.
As such, the Rangers are keeping an open mind to having someone else close games.
That’s why the most popular reliever with the media Tuesday morning was righty Cody Allen.
Signed last week to a minor-league deal, Allen is coming off a disastrous 2019 season with the Los Angeles Angels after as successful five-season run as the Cleveland Indians’ closer.
He knows what went wrong last season — in short, it was just about everything — and believes all that ailed him has been fixed. But he’s not aiming to win the closer’s job.
Allen, 31, needs to win a spot on the team first before thinking about closing.
“I would love to do it, and I think anybody in here would love to do it,” Allen said. “But that’s not why we’re here. You’re here to try to help the team win and you’re here to help the bullpen finish games or covering innings or whatever it is.”
Allen, who lives in Southlake, doesn’t hide from or make excuses about last season, even though he could. A back strain limited his strength and mobility, which in turn messed with his mechanics, reduced his velocity and altered his mind-set.
The radar gun wasn’t flashing mid- to upper-90s as much, creating less difference between his fastball and changeup, and he started “chasing velocity” rather than making pitches to get outs.
Even with his back right and his mechanics fixed, velo won’t be his primary concern.
“I can’t create it overnight,” he said.
But he did create a program during the off-season, working with Dr. Keith Meister and TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington early on and then at APEC Fort Worth, that has him back where he needs to be.
There was much to be done.
“I think there were a lot of different things there,” said Allen, who saved only four games and posted a 6.26 ERA before the Angels released him June 18. “Guys have bad years, and I had a bad year on a one-year contract. I just wasn’t very good. That’s the clean, simple, honest answer.”
Leclerc wasn’t good early last season, losing the closer’s role in early May after pitching to a staggering 8.44 ERA. He shrunk it to 3.99 in late July and was the closer the final two months.
He finished with 14 saves, a 4.33 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings. He also worked as an opener and finished with seven holds as manager Chris Woodward gradually worked him back into high-leverage spots.
That versatility is why the Rangers might be open to Allen or another reliever saving games.
“I think it’s a good conversation for us to have,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “Depending on how everything else plays out, is that the best way for us to be? He’s a really talented guy that can get big swing-and-miss. Is that most valuable in the ninth? Is when Woody feels it’s most valuable? It might change from time to time.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 12:42 PM.
