Texas Rangers don’t owe Isiah Kiner-Falefa shortstop job in 2022. He’s earning it.
That was a heckuva a week at Globe Life Field.
It started with the Texas Rangers beating ace Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees, but two nights later the Rangers were no-hit by former teammate Corey Kluber.
The Houston Astros came to town with the Rangers having lost nine of 10 games and on a 22-inning scoreless drought. So, naturally, the Rangers swept the three-game weekend series.
Adolis Garcia was the hero in all three games as he continued his meteoric rise.
Meanwhile, some readers were busy playing general manager.
That brings us to the Rangers Mailbag.
How do you predict the Rangers will manage the upcoming positional traffic jam between Josh Jung, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and potentially Trevor Story or another free-agent shortstop? Do the Rangers owe Kiner-Falefa the shortstop position? —Sean Daniel, Texarkana
No one is guaranteed anything in this game, so, no, Kiner-Falefa isn’t owed the position.
But he has earned it, at least through two months.
The Rangers say he’s the heart and soul of the team, the guy who gets their motors running with how hard he plays. He’s a good player, too, with his Gold Glove defense at third transitioning easily to shortstop and his bat showing more pop than it ever has.
Would Story, who is from Irving, or Carlos Correa be an upgrade? Yes, from a power standpoint. The defense isn’t a massive drop-off.
But, based on two months, Kiner-Falefa isn’t hurting the team at all. He might be their best overall player.
Jung, a third baseman, is almost done with his rehab from foot surgery. A recent scan showed that everything was healing properly. The Rangers’ top prospect is still probably two weeks out, as he hasn’t yet played in a game.
If the Rangers had kept Lance Lynn and signed or traded for another No. 2 or No. 3 starting pitcher — and maybe an extra bullpen arm, too — would they have been a playoff contender this year? The offense of several players seems to be ahead of schedule. —Charles C., Mansfield
The short answer is possibly. Parity seems to be reigning over MLB right now, though the field is starting to spread out some. Lynn, this Kyle Gibson and, say, exercising the $18 million club option on Kluber would have made the Rangers more competitive.
Once again, though, they would have been reversing course or delaying the inevitable.
The Rangers want to start over with a young core rather than throwing money at a problem, a lack of homegrown talent. With the economics of the game altered at least for the last offseason because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing was right to rebuild and not splurge.
The Kluber option was way too much for a 35-year-old pitcher who essentially hadn’t pitched since 2018.
The offense has been better than expected after a dismal 2020. Nate Lowe was an unknown to many, but give the Rangers’ pro scouts some credit on that one. The same goes for Garcia.
What do you think the realistic trade value of Joey Gallo is? —Jeremy, Dallas
It’s not as high as probably some think it is, but that’s not a knock on Gallo.
The dynamic of trades has changed the past few seasons. Trades like the Mark Teixeira deal, the one that helped build the Rangers into World Series contenders, are gone as teams put more value on their prospects.
Look at all the work the San Diego Padres have done via trade the past two seasons. They struck trades for Mike Clevenger, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove without shedding their top prospects.
Some top-10 prospects were dealt, but the cupboard isn’t bare.
Gallo is unique. There’s no player like him. He could absolutely help a contender that is short on power and on-base percentage and wants to upgrade its outfield defense for the stretch run and all of 2022.
But is there a demand for that kind of player? And, as I’ve maintained all along, why would the Rangers want to rid themselves of that kind of player?
Doesn’t it make sense to move Kolby Allard to the rotation and move Jordan Lyles to the bullpen? It seems like Lyles is a waste of innings at this point and Allard has a future. —Chuck S., Fort Worth
This is a tricky one. Lyles has been better than he was last season, but it wouldn’t have taken much. Allard has been much better than last season, but, again, it wouldn’t have taken much.
The Rangers need innings from their starters, especially with Kohei Arihara on the shelf for at least 12 weeks. Their goal is to limit the workload of young starters, like Dane Dunning, and Lyles helps them meet that goal.
The Arihara injury could allow the Rangers to give Allard some rotation time or a more prominent tandem role. The tandems seem to have dissolved some, but they will return almost out of necessity once the Rangers tighten the reins on the young guys.
Why have the Rangers have had such problems developing starting pitchers during Jon Daniels’ tenure? The team hasn’t really brought anyone through the system successfully since Derek Holland and Martin Perez. I guess you could include C.J. Wilson, but he only started two seasons and left a decade ago. —Shawn, Toronto
Developing starting pitching is the goal of all clubs and the bane of most.
The Rangers have a lousy track record in that area for a few reasons.
When they were a contender from 2009-2017, they weren’t afraid to trade prospects for help. Daniels doesn’t get the credit he deserves for that. In doing so, though, they shed some guys who made their MLB debuts elsewhere.
Kyle Hendricks, the Chicago Cubs’ best starter, has been to be the best of a group that includes Tanner Roark, Luis Ortiz, Carl Edwards Jr., Dillon Tate, Jerad Eickhoff and Erik Swanson. Many on that list are relievers now, but the point is the Rangers have dealt away a lot of young arms.
They’ve also dealt with all kinds of injuries in the prospect group. Cole Ragans, the 2016 first-rounder, has had Tommy John surgery twice. Those injuries, plus not having a 2020 minor-league season, have been a hindrance.
The Rangers have also flat missed in some of their drafts. They cannot afford to do that this year.
[Editor’s note: Some questions have been edited for brevity or clarity.]
