Takeaways from the Texas Rangers Opening Weekend

Opening Weekend has come and gone, and the Texas Rangers seem to be complete in one area, and completely lacking in another.

The Texas Rangers, to the surprise of quite a few people, won their Opening Series to move to one game above .500 for the first time since September 11, 2017, an astonishing 566 days. It was a very eventful series that seems like it is foreshadowing what is going to be upcoming in Arlington for the rest of the season.

About the Pitching Staff

In Spring Training, it looked like the Rangers were going to have a pretty decent pitching staff coming into the season, as none of the pitchers really looked horrible, but it’s been a rather rough start for quite a few of the pitchers. Let’s take a game by game look at the pitching staff.

Game 1

Mike Minor‘s stat line shows that he was not very good, but in reality, Elvis Andrus was hit in the face with a ball that could have been turned for a double play and ended the inning, but it didn’t happen, and to quote former Rangers manager Ron Washington, “That’s the way baseball go.” Minor wound up being beaten up for 6 earned runs in 4.2 innings.

Jesse Chavez came in to relieve him. Chavez was LIT UP. He gave up 3 runs and let 4 batters reach, while only getting two outs before being pulled for Jeanmar Gomez and Kyle Bird who both struggled with their control and got a combined 1 out. Outside of Kyle Dowdy being lit up for 3 runs over 2 innings, the rest of the game wasn’t that eventful.

Game 2

Edinson Volquez struggled in his 4 innings of work, as he allowed 10 baserunners, letting 4 of them score. Jeanmar Gomez made another relief appearance and was roughed up for 2 more runs in an inning, but after that, Jeffrey Springs, Sean Kelley (who picked up the Rangers first win of the season), and Jose Leclerc were all fantastic in relief.

Game 3

Lance Lynn struggled, giving up 7 runs in 5.2 innings, including blowing the lead after Delino Deshields picked up his first hit of the season in the grandest fashion. Continuing on his game 1 performance, Jesse Chavez went into the game and allowed 3 baserunners without getting an out, and giving up the lead.

Kyle Bird had a solid outing, not giving up any runs, before Chris Martin wanted to take a turn to blow the lead, causing Chris Woodward to put in Jose Leclerc with two outs in the 8th and had him pitch in the 9th as well to keep the game tied, before the Rangers walked it off in the 9th.

Can it be fixed?

This weekend, the Rangers pitched 11 different players. Of those 11 guys, only 4 of them currently have ERA’s below 9, and all of their ERA’s are currently at 0. Things should get definitely get better for Minor, as he was a bad bounce away from having a solid ERA, and they should also get better for Volquez and Lynn. Chris Martin was pretty solid last season, so we can pin this on the first game jidders getting to him some, and can probably expect him to be solid in his next outing.

The real problem seems to be with the Kyle Dowdy, Jeanmar Gomez, and Jesse Chavez. Dowdy was a guy the Rangers got off waivers, and looking at his minor league stats, is a bit of a head scratcher, given his 5.68 ERA in AA, and no innings thrown in AAA. Gomez was terrific during the spring, so the hope is that he can keep it up, but through two outings, he has been pretty bad with a 3.75 WHIP to go with his 13.50 ERA to match Dowdy. The hope for Chavez is that his former team just knew how to hit him, and he can bring his astronomical ERA back to earth some as it currently sits at 54.00 with a 10.50 WHIP.

A Dallas Keuchel 1 year, $20 million deal is looking very attractive right now. If he can just be the same pitcher he was last season, the Rangers would gladly take that kind of production. Adding a starting pitcher or two may be quite a big hurdle for management, but getting some bullpen help shouldn’t be that big of a problem. That Alex Claudio trade is really stinging right now.

Another option could be running through this rotation maybe 3 times, and if some of the starters just aren’t working, the team could opt to go with Minor and another one or two just to start, and then use openers for the other games.

Outlook for the Year

We know that a big opening weekend doesn’t mean that it is going to translate throughout an entire season, but it sure is nice to see the offense playing at this high of a level through 3 games, and regardless of if management stays on course for the rebuild, or if they decide to contend, it is going to be fun to watch these players continue to develop.

Another good thing is that the pitching should get better as these players get more into an everyday routine, and management makes adjustments to the roster to find the best fits for the team.

It should be very interesting to see if the offense can force management’s hand later in the season to switch from the rebuild mode back over to contending mode, as it seems we just lack a few pieces from being serious contenders, and all the pieces fall on the pitching side. Whether we contend or not this season, it is going to be a lot of fun watching the offensive players grow and develop together as we work through this final season at Globe Life Park.