DALLAS — Fear not Rangers fans – don’t let that optimism you had last week fade so quickly. First of all, it’s only week two of the season so many highs and lows should be expected. Secondly, for all of what the record says about these last two series, for the two major injuries that befell the team, it’s not nearly as bad as it could be.
That’s not to say that we should imbibe greedily on playoff hopes and dreams, but don’t throw yourself off a cliff just because the team lost to literally the best player in Major League Baseball.
Instead, just think of it this way: four games against Mike Trout are already out of the way!
April 4 - April 10
- Opponents: @Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, @Arizona Diamondbacks
- 6-Game Record: 2-4
- Overall Record: 6-6, 5.0 Games Back of Seattle
- Notable Injury Report: Edinson Volquez (10, Right Elbow Strain), Ronald Guzman (10, Right Hamstring Strain)
- Notable Stats: Average Runs Scored (3.8), Average Runs Allowed (4.3), Mike Trout vs. Texas Over Series (.545/.722/1.909, 5 HR, 9 RBI, TWO (2) INTENTIONAL WALKS), Elvis Andrus (.385/.385/.462, 4 RBI), Logan Forsythe (.300/.333/.400), Lance Lynn (2.08 ERA, 13 Innings Pitched, .191 BA Against)
With the Bat
Texas kept right on rolling after its series win against Houston with an explosive start against Matt Harvey and the Angels. Through seven games, the Rangers were 5-2 and all was right with the world. Then the rest of the series happened.
After scoring five runs in the first inning in Anaheim, the entire team was held to just four runs over the final three games, and those runs came mostly on the strength of two bombs by Joey Gallo. The bats were just unable to show any support to supplement their own subpar pitching. Once they got out of Anaheim, they had a better showing offensively in the desert.
On the surface, the injury to Ronald Guzman – a hamstring strain, suffered while coming up to second base after a double – might seem like a blow to the offense. But Guzman, more a defensive asset than offensive threat so far in his career, was only slashing .231/.286/.615 on the young season.
Where Guzman was excelling was making the most of his hits as each time he connected it went for extra bags. However, Guzman had just six hits – four doubles and two home runs – on the year total in his 28 plate appearances when he pulled up lame.
Calling up Patrick Wisdom in Guzman's stead might not have been the most awe-inspiring replacement, but the existing utility player, Logan Forsythe, has more than carried his weight.
The good thing about having someone like Logan Forsythe on the bench, over someone like, say Hanser Alberto or someone similar, is that Forsythe have proven they can hit Major League pitching. Now that Forsythe is spending much of his time at first base, his defensive limitations that sometimes help guys like Alberto win jobs over guys like Forsythe have been mitigated for the time being.
Texas may have been stifled by being behind the 8-ball against Mike Trout and suffered against Angels pitching, but they bounced back in Arizona and showed that they can still slug and manufacture runs.
Keeping the offense going at a consistent pace should help to offset the issues the team has with pitching and in fact appears to be the best way this team can hope to win games.
On the Mound
Highlighted above is the fact that Mike Trout was only walked intentionally twice. This isn’t any sort of pitching staff that has the raw stuff to challenge the best player in baseball. The one person on the staff that maybe could – Lance Lynn – did challenge him and got absolutely obliterated with a shot to center field. You can’t fault a team for trying to challenge a hitter, but Mike Trout is a special case – especially against Texas. After this series, Trout now possesses a .337/.465/.621 slash line with thirty home runs against them. As Eric Nadel said after Trout’s second homer on Friday, “Walk him? Maybe?”
There were a couple of instances where manager Chris Woodward’s rookie status was on display. As Drew Smyly approached the 90 pitch count, showing signs of wildness and tiredness, the skipper got veteran reliever Jesse Chavez up and warming – it was just one batter too late. With Smyly, who hasn’t regularly pitched in two years, getting up there in pitches, perhaps Chavez should have been up at the start of the inning.
But there’s always that internal monologue that the skipper of a team with three Tommy John patients has to have with himself – how much more can I get out of this pitcher? It's a delicate balance of needing to get innings from his starters to keep his bullpen fresh and needing to get his starters out of games before the smoke clears and the mirrors shatter. Looking down the lineup though, the batter against whom you should not test that would be Mike Trout.
Secondly, the manager allowed his closer to go too long without pitching. While Jose Leclerc would never admit that to the media, Woodward himself admitted that it’s not the best to have kept Leclerc down for five days. Leclerc was slightly wild in his save attempt in the Diamondbacks opener, resulting in him letting a cut changeup grab too much of the middle of the plate against pinch hitter Jarrod Dyson. It ended in his first blown save since last season.
The next night’s outing wasn’t much better, as Leclerc allowed a hit, hit two batters and walked Dyson. Woodward had another bullet ready to go in Kyle Bird, and to his credit, wanted to let Leclerc shake the bad feeling of the blown save. I don’t think there’s a problem with that, or with Leclerc just yet. If Woodward can get his closer a little more regular work, I think he’ll be fine.
The rotation took a pretty big hit on Friday, as Edinson Volquez suffered another sprain in his pitching elbow. Volquez, who had already undergone two Tommy John surgeries, is going to take the rest and recovery route this time around, but has said he’s comfortable with the idea of retirement, if it’s shown that another surgery is needed.
With one starter already down, this leaves the Rangers, who were already short in the starting pitching depth department, eyeing the market for possible help in the rotation.
Texas called up Adrian Sampson to fill Volquez's spot, but Sampson shouldn’t be relied on for the entire season. To that end, Jon Daniels is on the lookout for more arms, but his options are limited. Dallas Keuchel would be a great get, but the veteran starter is looking for a lot more money and years than Texas is probably comfortable giving, especially since his signing would force the Rangers to relinquish a draft pick which is something they are justifiably reluctant to do considering they're still in the early stages of a rebuild.
The Rangers could look at reuniting with Yovani Gallardo, Chris Tillman or Bartolo Colon, or renew past interest in James Shields, but at this point, none of those pitchers would be ready for at least a month and by then, the need might not appear as dire if some of the minor league starters start knocking on the door.
In the Field
Texas’ defensive work was nowhere near as sterling as it was in those first two series. Over the six games out West, the Rangers committed six errors. Two of those were by Logan Forsythe, prior to moving over to first base. Keep in mind that Forsythe is a second baseman foremost and did not have great defensive showings out of position during Spring. His two throwing errors came at shortstop and third base. To that end, Forsythe did make a game-saving/game-ending catch in the finale against Arizona on a ball ticketed for the right field corner.
Asdrubal Cabrera continues to remind folks that he’s not Adrian Beltre with another fielding error. Cabrera and Forsythe both were brought on for their bats, not their gloves. It’s going to be something the team has to live with, unless both can make some drastic improvements in-season. Either that, or the starting pitching can start racking up more strikeouts.
But at least they’re not…
The Boston Red Sox
The defending World Series champs, owners of last year’s best record in baseball, are off to a positively dismal start. They are 3-9, having won exactly one game in each of their first three series. Partially due to inconsistencies in the offense, including getting shutout two games in a row in Oakland, their starting pitching has been abysmal as well.
With Chris Sale, David Price, Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello, on paper a very formidable quartet, having dreadful, terrible, no-good starts, Boston’s starting rotation ERA is 8.78. Their opponents are hitting .327 off of them! If a starting pitcher’s job is to keep his team in the game, the Red Sox starters aren’t even remotely doing that.
Texas’ pitchers might not be going that deep into games, but their middle relief corps and bullpen are doing a great job picking up a lot of the slack and helping to keep the Rangers in their games. Luckily, they don’t have to face an entire division of Mike Trouts – just a team with him on it.
Up Next
- April 12-14: Oakland Athletics
- April 15-17: Los Angeles Mike Trouts of Anaheim
Now that the season has its legs under it, how do you think the Rangers are looking thus far? Share your progress report with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.