October’s Rangers look nothing like they did in April

The following might not be suitable for anyone with a weak constitution or heart issues, though it might also elicit a mischievous grin:

The Texas Rangers started the season with Ross Detwiler on their roster.

The left-hander wasn’t just on their Opening Day roster, but in their starting rotation. There were also two Rule 5 picks lined up on the first-base line April 6 at Oakland, and one of them, Detwiler and four others on the roster for the opener would eventually be designated for assignment.

There was no Yu Darvish, a rookie in left field, an unproven commodity in the leadoff spot and the other Rule 5 pick not expected to play much at all.

“We knew had some holes,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “That’s the best way to say it.”

The Rangers didn’t have a first-place roster to start the 2015 season, but look at them now. They won the American League West and will play Thursday in Game 1 of the American League Division Series thanks to a roster overhaul that morphed them from a bottom-feeder into one of the last eight teams standing.

Rosters are constantly evolving throughout the course of a season, but the right moves — internally and externally — have to be made in the areas that needed to be addressed. A little patience with struggling players helped, too.

“We knew we had a lot of questions coming into the year, and those questions are why people didn’t pick us this year,” Daniels said. “We felt good that we were going to get positive answers to a lot of those questions, but we hedged our bet a little bit. We didn’t dive into it this winter.

“Almost up and down the roster you had every reasonable expectation that most of these guys had a fair expectation to perform better in the second half than the first, whether they were hurt, underperforming or all of the above.”

The trade with Philadelphia for Cole Hamels at the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline was the Rangers’ biggest splash this season, and it’s hard to argue with the results. The Rangers won the final 10 games started by the All-Star lefty, including Sunday in the AL West clincher.

But lefty reliever Jake Diekman was in that trade, too, almost as an afterthought, and the Rangers plucked right-hander Sam Dyson from Miami only minutes before the deadline to create a back-of-the-bullpen duo that turned the relief group from a weakness into a strength.

Dyson went 2-1 with a 1.15 ERA in 31 games after the trade for two minor leaguers, and Diekman was 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 26 games.

Two months before they were acquired, the Rangers dropped Neftali Feliz out of the closer’s role and handed the ninth inning to Shawn Tolleson. Beginning May 20, Tolleson saved 35 games in 37 chances to post the highest save rate in club history.

In September, the Rangers’ bullpen posted a 2.05 ERA and .197 opponents average. Those stats led the majors.

“The biggest concern for me was the bullpen out of the gate,” Daniels said. “There were a lot of things that could go right, but we really needed a lot of things to go right and they didn’t all go right right away. And then when the offense slumped early, it just exposed some of the other issues we had.”

No offensive player struggled more than Shin-Soo Choo, who in April was one of baseball’s worst players after batting .096. He rallied in May but was still batting .221 at the All-Star break.

He was the best player in the American League, if not the majors, in September and arguably in the second half. Choo’s turnaround, along with the improvements of shortstop Elvis Andrus, second baseman Rougned Odor and third baseman Adrian Beltre, sparked the Rangers toward the top of the game in many offensive categories.

“It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish,” said Andrus, who batted .283 beginning July 10 to lift his average to .258. “We wish we could have every month be a great month, but you have to understand that there are going to be ups and downs during the season. As long as you’re still showing up and ready to play, that’s what matters.”

The Rangers added Mike Napoli in August to help fix their woes against left-handers, and he did. Josh Hamilton contributed after his 2015 debut in May and looks to be an everyday player for the postseason after battling injuries throughout the season.

Delino DeShields emerged as the leadoff hitter after Leonys Martin failed at the job early. Odor was sent to Triple A to find himself after five difficult weeks to start the season. Chris Gimenez came up from Round Rock on July 31 and was joined by Bobby Wilson on a waiver claim to shore things up behind the plate with both Opening Day catchers injured.

Beltre figured out how to swing a bat with nine healthy fingers and then eight, yet no player in the majors had more RBIs than he did beginning Aug. 15. Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland shook off major injuries in 2014 to combine for 46 homers and 183 RBIs.

“It’s baseball,” Daniels said. “You’ve got to ride the highs and lows.”

The Rangers did, albeit with plenty of roster maneuvering — both internally and externally. They didn’t open the season with a first-place roster, but look at them now.

“The changes were good. We look where we are,” Beltre said. “JD and the front office made the perfect moves at the trade deadline to get those guys, bringing Dyson over and Jake and Cole. They were big pieces we needed to do what we wanted to do here. It’s no doubt that it’s working out, and hopefully we can get the job done.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "October’s Rangers look nothing like they did in April."