Texas Rangers: Trade deadline has passed, so now what?
With the MLB trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, the Texas Rangers have a new path in front of them.
The Texas Rangers all but waved the white flag Monday at Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline. By the 3 PM CDT mark, the Rangers sent off catcher Jonathan Lucroy, reliever Jeremy Jeffress and starting pitcher Yu Darvish. When you total those moves together, it’s the look of a team that has given up on this season.
While this wasn’t exactly a “fire sale” like we’ve seen from many non-contending teams in the past, it certainly didn’t help this season, either. Sending away a starting catcher and your team’s best pitcher will cripple a team. Fans that have cried about watching a bad team before the deadline should hold on to their horses, because they haven’t seen anything, yet. So the question for the Texas front office is, “what should they do next?”
Feature the young pitchers
As is often the case with “reloading” teams, the Rangers will get worse before they get better. But one of the most essential parts of getting better is to give your younger players the experience they need. In effect, they need to make these losses “mean” something.
The movement of Darvish all but guarantees more wear and tear on the bullpen arms. This means Texas will need to give the ball a little more often to guys like Nick Martinez, Alex Claudio, Keone Kela and Jose Leclerc. Right now, those four represent the promising youth of this pitching staff.
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Fight through the frustrations
Fans should brace themselves, though. These guys will make some mistakes. But many times, a player’s failures make them better.
They’ll have to work out of some jams from time to time. They’ll paint themselves into corners here and there.
But in a season that’s already lost, why not allow them the leeway to work things out? Watching how these young arms respond to adversity could still bring some fun to the ballpark. Not to mention, they’ll glean plenty of experience from it.
While they’ll have their failures, they’ll surprise us with some gems, too. In fact, all four young pitchers mentioned above already have.
Focus on the good
Martinez began his season with a masterful outing against Kansas City back in April. Since that time, he’s held his own within the rotation. While nobody should expect ace-type numbers from him, they should look for consistency.
Claudio went through the month of April without allowing a single run. While he then proceeded to get beaten up a bit in May, his June and July were fantastic.
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Kela began the season in the minor leagues because of some unknown skirmish with the other big leaguers. We may never know what that was all about. But what we do know, is that he’s pitched like an all-star since moving back up to the bigs. Right-handed hitters have batted just .114 against him while lefties haven’t fared much better at .171.
Then there’s Jose Leclerc. He’s also punished right-handed hitters to the tune of a .121 batting average. And like Martinez and Claudio, he looked strong in the month of April. Leclerc struck out 16 of the first 37 hitters he faced this season and his ERA at the end of April was 0.90.
Next: Breaking down the Darvish trade
If properly groomed, these guys can develop into a talented group for Texas. There’s definitely a need for talented starters, but a stalwart of a bullpen can make their job infinitely easier. With the exception of Martinez, these four guys have what it takes to build that kind of a bullpen.