How will the Rangers handle 2025 with the current makeup of their bullpen?

At this point it seems likely the Texas Rangers have added most if not all their offseason acquisitions. They re-signed Nathan Eovaldi, traded for Jake Burger, and signed Kyle Higashioka and Joc Pederson.

However, the biggest question mark was the bullpen. Texas lost six relief arms, including Jose Leclerc, David Robertson and Kirby Yates. It meant Chris Young and the front office had to go to work to add reinforcements.

Over the winter they added Shawn Armstrong, Adrian Houser, Chris Martin, Hoby Milner and Jacob Webb via free agency as well as lefty Robert Garcia by trading Nathaniel Lowe to the Washington Nationals. Add them to a list of arms still under contract, and the Rangers have done a solid job at reinforcing.

How does every reliever fit into the Texas Rangers' 2025 bullpen equation?

The Vanderbilt arms of Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker will join Marc Church as young options looking to take massive strides. Jon Gray has also said in the past of how he enjoys coming out of the bullpen, and Dane Dunning’s relief pitching history needs no introduction.

Armstrong, Houser and Webb will see a bulk of their work in the mid-inning roles. Jacob Latz, Milner and Walter Pennington can be used as lefties in a variety of ways. 

Martin and Sborz are the obvious candidates to close out games, but Texas will likely be without Sborz to start the season after he underwent shoulder surgery in November.

Who will be the Texas Rangers' closer in 2025?

Some fans were hoping a reunion with Yates was on the table but it was reported on Tuesday that he plans to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Is a closer necessary for the Rangers? General Manager Ross Fenstermaker told MLB.com that it's not entirely a concern with the current plethora of bullpen arms.

“I don't think [a closer is] a specific need right now, per se. I think it's something that we're going to entertain if those opportunities present themselves. But we do feel we have multiple relievers right now in the ‘pen that are capable of closing. We'll let that sort itself out. I wouldn't say that we are actively looking for any specific role at this point, more just adding quality to the 'pen, if possible.”

Martin will go into spring training as the leading candidate to close out games. Other internal options would be Armstrong or Webb. Then, of course, a late offseason free agent signing or trade still exists as a possibility.

Martin has 14 saves in his career, which is the most among the current relievers. Outside of that, the most career saves belong to Armstrong (8), Webb (6) and Sborz (2).

Bochy has gone the last couple of seasons with a closer-by-committee approach, and ultimately the day-to-day decision does land on his shoulders. 

Would it make his job a bit easier to have a set closer? Of course it would. They’d like to not have to navigate a revolving door of high-leverage arms as they had to in 2023 and the start of last season. But this is the state of the bullpen right now until further notice.