A look at changes Texas Rangers could make should they fall further out of contention
Eight teams from each league will make the postseason this season, assuming the season reaches October without COVID-19 shutting things down.
Let’s all be optimists and hope the National League teams can get their act together.
As of Saturday morning, the American League playoff picture looked set with just over a month to go.
The Texas Rangers are not one of the top eight American League teams. In fact, only three AL teams had a worse record and two of them were in the AL West.
The Rangers lost Friday night to one of them, the Seattle Mariners. Those teams were scheduled to play again Saturday and Sunday.
Following his team’s sixth straight loss, manager Chris Woodward again alluded to the possibility that changes could be coming if the Rangers, at 10-15, remain hopeless at the 30-game mark.
The trade deadline follows shortly thereafter, and the Rangers could become sellers for the fourth straight season.
Right-hander Lance Lynn could bring them a massive haul, but trading their ace would potentially scuttle the ship for 2021.
But it has become clear that the 2020 Rangers don’t have enough offensive firepower, are too thin in the bullpen and have been too inconsistent in the rotation. If that goes unchanged in the short-term — and there’s little reason to believe it won’t — the Rangers might be compelled to look at how to change that for 2021.
Woodward said he is willing to take a deep dive into the alternate player pool.
“I think everybody there, to be honest with you. I think it’s open game, especially if guys are going to come in and help us,” Woodward said. “I’m not going to bring up a guy if they aren’t ready. I’m not going to force something just to get them here and throw a couple innings — I’m not going to do that — or get a couple at-bats.”
Here are some suggestions:
Solak at second, Odor out
Rougned Odor’s bat has come alive, or at least shown a pulse, the past week, but his inability the past three seasons to consistently produce looms over what for him qualifies as a hot streak.
He’s gone cold on defense. At a time when the Rangers can’t afford to be giving teams extra chances to score, Odor has been far too generous. He’s not the only defensive liability, but he’s at or near the top of the list.
Nick Solak, meanwhile, has been trying to figure out how to play the outfield, and has done a decent enough job for his experience level. However, the difference between him and Scott Heineman, an actual outfielder, is noticeable.
Solak came up playing second base. It’s time to put him there.
Taveras in center field
The series against San Diego showed what an infusion of young talent has done for the Padres. The Rangers don’t have a player the caliber of Fernando Tatis Jr. in their system, but they have someone in the alternate pool who they believe is a future star.
It’s Leody Taveras, who in three weeks at summer camp showed the Rangers his potential, so much so that they put him on the Opening Day roster. The next step is to let him play center field the rest of the season.
About to turn 22, Taveras is an elite defender, one of their fastest players and a switch hitter who has shown improvement at the plate the past 18 months. He’s the center fielder of the future, and that future is now.
If the Rangers are worried about exposing his flaws, at the very least they need to let Heineman play more. Defense, as has been evident, matters.
Bring back Guzman
Speaking of defense, first base hasn’t been as good as it should be, either. Throws that should be handled are getting past the first baseman or aren’t getting picked cleanly out of the dirt.
Enter Ronald Guzman, who Woodward believes can win a Gold Glove. All reports from the alternate camp indicate that Guzman is working hard and staying open-minded to swing changes that could get him back on the roster.
Every infielder would like to see him manning first base and catching just about every throw toward him. The Rangers need to know once and for all if his bat is going to allow him to be a full-time MLB first baseman.
Doing so would create an infield logjam, but there are ways around it.
Limit Andrus, Choo, Calhoun
Shortstop Elvis Andrus (back) is on the injured list. So is Willie Calhoun (hamstring). And the Rangers are hoping to keep Shin-Soo Choo (calf) off it.
To see as much of the system as possible, Andrus and Calhoun can’t play every day once healthy. Neither has been particularly productive anyway, though Andrus was showing signs of a breakthrough.
The Rangers need Choo’s bat the rest of the way, whether in contention or not, and it appears he will need the DH spot to make it to Sept. 27. As much as the Rangers like to give regulars a day at designated hitter, keeping Choo there would actually help Woodward move players around.
He also has been open to the idea of sitting against some left-handers. That would allow Woodward the chance to play Taveras and Heineman in the same outfield, while using DH for Danny Santana and playing Isiah Kiner-Falefa at third, Andrus at shortstop, Solak at second and Todd Frazier at first.
Pitching problem
The Rangers don’t have many options here.
They have pretty much run through all of their arms at the alternate camp, except for right-handed relievers Derek Law and Demarcus Evans. Luke Farrell is there, though in quarantine after been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Their starting depth is either in the bullpen or on the injured list.
The bullpen will improve with the return of injured pitchers like Nick Goody and Brett Martin. Joe Palumbo could make some starts down the stretch once he is stretched out again.
If the Rangers are to make an immediate change, they could throw Kyle Cody into a late-innings relief role. He struck out the side Friday in the eighth inning in his MLB debut.
Another change would be to swap Wes Benjamin into the rotation and return Kolby Allard to the bullpen after his second straight shaky start Friday. Benjamin relieved him in the first inning and pitched into the sixth to help keep the bullpen from carrying a heavy load.
