Texas Rangers would be crazy to let Yu Darvish walk away

In light of his recent hard luck starts, the Texas Rangers would make a grave mistake in allowing Yu Darvish to get away.

The 2017 season has been an odd one for Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish. He’ll make his fourth career All-Star appearance in five seasons of play. (We won’t count 2015 since he never took the field that year.) Yet, there are people within the Rangers fanbase that want him gone. That would be a horrible mistake for the team if they let him go for a few reasons.

Don’t even look at wins and losses

Since joining Texas as an international free agent in 2012, Darvish has a 52-38 record as a starting pitcher. But let’s leave wins and losses alone. Those really don’t mean too much in the scheme of pitching. For instance, let’s look at what happened with the Angels in Sunday’s series finale.

Darvish pitched about as well as one could expect in the 100+ degree heat at Globe Life Park on a Sunday afternoon. He lasted 7 1/3 innings, surrendering just three hits and walking four with two earned runs. In the middle afternoon, in the heart of a Texas summer, Darvish managed to throw 102 pitches, lasting into the eighth inning. Yet, the offense couldn’t do a thing to support him (again) and he left for the showers with a 2-0 deficit on his hands in the late innings. Let’s call a timeout right there.

More from Texas Rangers

If anyone had told you before that game that the Rangers’ starting pitcher would go out and pitch into the eighth inning and allow just two runs, would you take it? I’d love that every single time from every pitcher.

In the very odd event that happened, it would pace out to a 1.63 ERA for the season. Only a fool would find dissatisfaction in that. You can blame him for the loss to Boston the start before. I’ll give you that. But that’s not the norm for Darvish this season.

Don’t forget the offense

In his 19 starts this season, he’s pitched seven or more innings eight times, which equals 42% of his games. In those eight starts, he’s allowed a combined 10 runs in a total of 57 2/3 innings. That’s an ERA of 1.71. Yet, Texas has just a 5-3 record in those games because the offense scores him an average of just 3.5 runs per start. That’s well below the league average of 4.3.

You can blame the pitcher when he leaves after three innings down 8-1. Sure, that all lands at the feet of a pitcher. But when someone like him goes out and gives you seven strong with just two runs against him, it’s time to call the hitters to the carpet.

In the eight games that Darvish has lasted seven-plus, the Rangers have scored 31 runs for an average of 3.9 per game. Sure, that’s above the season average for him, but it’s still well below the league.

The point is, this offense is more to blame this season than Darvish is. As a team, they’re batting just .240 and have an OBP of .316. They rank 14th out of 15 in average and 10th out of 15 in OBP among American League teams. So the next time someone tells you that the pitchers are to blame for this below-average Texas Rangers season, point that out to them.

Do think of the alternative

The biggest question those looking to rid the Rangers of Darvish should ask themselves, “Who do I want instead?” It’s a pretty big question that’s worth asking. Take a look at what his absence would mean.

First of all, it’s no guarantee that Cole Hamels would stick around. But even if he does, he’s not quite the pitcher that Yu is. Not to mention, Hamels hasn’t shown the repertoire, longevity or overall “stuff” that Darvish has over the past five seasons. Plus, Hamels is two years older than Darvish. That may not sound like a lot, but that’s quite a few extra innings over the long haul that Hamels has on his arm.

In the highly likely chance that Hamels does leave via free agency this offseason, who would Texas turn to as their ace? You could point to Tyson Ross and/or Andrew Cashner. However, they’re both on one year deals and there’s no guarantee they’ll stick around. That leaves Martin Perez, Nick Martinez or A.J. Griffin. While they’re serviceable guys, they’re not the kind of guys you build a rotation around.

In addition, there’s nothing coming down the pike of the ol’ farm system, either. Of who they have in the minors right now, most consider lefty Yohander Mendez as the top prospect. He has three big league innings to his credit, but they didn’t go all that well last season. Just consider the season he’s having in Frisco this year, that’s been decent.

He has a 3.82 ERA in 99 innings with 81 strikeouts. Meanwhile, he’s walked just 35 hitters in that time. Mendez will likely receive a September call-up again this year and could find himself on the roster next season. However, he’s really only about a mid-to-back-end rotation guy right now.

Ariel Jurado and Cole Ragans do offer some hope for the future, but they’re still not at the elite level of prospect. They don’t compare to what Darvish has already proven himself to be.

That’s why the Texas Rangers must stick with the guy they know. I know a lot of people get tied up on the money aspect of this, but there are two things at play here. First, this isn’t our money. The Rangers organization will spend it however they please. Second, if Texas fans expect a top-level pitcher around here, then they’ll need to expect the team to spend top-level money.

Next: Rangers fail to support Darvish yet again

If the Rangers let Darvish walk, I assure you that they’ll miss him when he’s gone. Just remember what happened with Kevin Brown. This franchise doesn’t get top pitching talent like that very often. They’ve let it walk away in the past. Maybe it’s time they finally learn from their mistakes.

Home/Texas Rangers