Texas Rangers in an unusual place as pitchers run through their first spring workout
These are strange times for the Texas Rangers, who on Wednesday morning put their pitchers and catchers through their first workout of spring training.
For the first time in a long time, perhaps since the Rangers moved to Arlington in 1972, starting pitching is expected to carry them to their goals this season.
The Rangers’ biggest splash of the off-season was a starting pitcher, though not for a lack of trying for a big bat. They made two other additions to the rotation by signing free-agent veterans who are on an upswing.
The other two members of the projected rotation finished in the top eight in American League Cy Young vote in November.
With deference to the greatest pitchers on some of the best teams in club history — a list that includes four members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame — the 2020 starting rotation might be carrying the heaviest load of them all.
“Yeah, it’s different,” manager Chris Woodward said. “That’s kind of what I told the group today. This team, I don’t think the pitching has ever been its strength, and I can honestly say that that’s our strength this year.”
The potential strength of the rotation is magnified by the relative impotency of the offense, which lacks its usual thump in the middle of the lineup. That could change should the Rangers land, say, Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, but general manager Jon Daniels cast doubt on that possibility less than a month ago.
Shin-Soo Choo will be atop the lineup in the final year of his seven-year, $131-million contract. Joey Gallo is healthy again and has the potential to be one of the game’s top offensive threats.
The Rangers will need more from Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus, and repeat performances by Danny Santana and Willie Calhoun. Newcomers Robinson Chirinos and Todd Frazier will upgrade catcher and third base.
But these aren’t the 1999 Rangers, or any of the division-winning offenses.
And these aren’t any number of past non-contending rotations.
Corey Kluber, the aforementioned big splash, comes to the Rangers after a December trade with the Cleveland Indians. His acquisition followed the signings of fellow right-handers Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles.
They join righty Lance Lynn and the lone left-hander, Mike Minor.
“I think we’re pretty confident with where we’re at,” Gibson said. “One through five we might have one of the more potent staffs in the league.”
The 1974 Rangers, managed by Billy Martin, became a contender behind Ferguson Jenkins and Jim Bibby. In 1977, Gaylord Perry and Bert Blyleven made the Rangers a threat.
Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown, Bobby Witt and Charlie Hough helped the Rangers finish above .500 in 1990.
C.J. Wilson, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis avoided the injured list in 2011, and the Rangers almost won the World Series.
Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish, returning from Tommy John surgery, were thought to be a one-two punch that could lead the Rangers to the 2016 World Series, but they lost the first two games of the AL Division Series as the Toronto Blue Jays swept the Rangers.
Kluber, a two-time Cy Young winner, and Lynn and Minor, who were fifth and eighth in the 2019 Cy Young balloting, could form a stout top of the rotation.
“If me and Lance can repeat from last year and Corey can bounce back, I feel like you’ve got three potential aces up there,” Minor said. “It’s just competitive games, where every night we can have a guy up there giving us competitive innings.”
But it’s only February, leaving plenty of time for an injury to find one of the starters. Or two of them.
The no-IL season by the 2011 rotation is a rarity. Pitchers, no matter how much training they put in, are most susceptible to a variety of ailments.
Take Kluber, whose 2019 season was derailed with a broken right arm after being struck by a line drive. He was slowed by a strained oblique muscle later in the season as he attempted to rejoin the Indians’ rotation.
“It’s all about health,” Lynn said.
And depth, which the Rangers have this season. Their projected Triple A rotation should include left-handers Kolby Allard, Joe Palumbo and Brock Burke; could include young right-handers Jason Bahr and Tyler Phillips; and might be supplemented by veterans like Taylor Jungmann.
The Rangers ran out of pitching depth last season in April. The potential impact that this season’s depth can have shouldn’t be underestimated.
“When you look at the guys who are our ‘depth’ now were three of our five,” Lynn said. “When you have those three that were getting a large amount of starts who are now our depth, that should help.”
When the depth pieces are needed, Woodward said he wants them to be part of the challenge he laid out for the staff and rotation Wednesday morning ahead of the first workout.
Strange times for the rotation-heavy Rangers.
“My challenge to them was let’s be the best in baseball,” Woodward said. “I know there’s a lot that goes into that, but you set the bar high. I want our guys to take ownership of that.”
