Projecting the Texas Rangers Opening Day Roster

The Starting Rotation

1. Jacob deGrom

2. Martin Perez

3. Jon Gray

4. Andrew Heaney

5. Nathan Eovaldi

The only complication here is the order in which these players will pitch. deGrom is hopefully in line to make his first start of spring training this week. He would still have time to get three starts in before Opening Day. That should be enough time to build up to being able to pitch five to six innings in that first start. Bochy has not said publicly, but it would be shocking if a healthy Jacob deGrom is not the Opening Day starter. Martin Perez is healthy and pitching outstanding this camp. He made his first start of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday night and shut down a mighty Dominican Republic lineup. He pitched 3.1 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits, and had 4 strikeouts. Jon Gray pitches third to break up the lefties. Then Andrew Heaney is fourth and Eovaldi fifth. If Eovaldi was healthy and taking his regular turns then I might have put him second. He has been out of action now for almost two weeks dealing with left side tightness. The Rangers can take it slow with Eovaldi and not rush him back until he is 100% ready to go.

The Bullpen

7th,8th,9th inning guys: Jose Leclerc, Will Smith, Jonathan Hernandez

Middle Relievers: Joe Barlow, Brock Burke, Taylor Hearns, John King

Long Relief: Cole Ragans

The only issue with this list is the health of Jake Odorizzi. He would be in that long-relief role but as of today he is still not pitched in a game due to arm fatigue. It has been shocking to see how Cole Ragans has pitched. I believe in the absence of Odorizzi he has earned the long relief role. Will Smith signed late and will pitch late in games. He has been a closer throughout his career, but Leclerc will likely get first opportunities to close games. The last spot comes down to John King vs Josh Sborz. Right now John King probably gets the nod over Sborz.

The Josh Sborz Dilemna

The Rangers face a dilemna when it comes to Sborz. If they do not place him on the roster they likely will lose him. He is out of options and would have to be DFA'd to send down to Round Rock. Some team will likely claim him. Right now, there is no case for keeping him on the roster other than a fear of losing him. He was not good last season. He appeared in 19 games last season and allowed runs in eight of those 19 appearances and multiple runs in five of the eight appearances.

He does have good velocity, spin rate, and stuff. His velocity ranks in the 93rd percentile of pitchers and his fastball spin rate ranks in the 75th percentile. Both are considered great. Despite having that the results just have not lined up with his stuff. His control is very inconsistent. Mike Maddux has been working with him on that, but it has yet to show results in-game action. In his last two spring appearances, he has pitched one combined inning between the two and walked four batters, and gave up seven combined runs including one home run. The Rangers want to keep him, but they also want to win. Right now with how he is throwing it becomes one or the other. If he throws better between now and Opening Day the Rangers will keep him, but that is far from a certainty.

The Bench

C: Sam Huff

Utility Infielder: Josh Smith

Outfielders: Brad Miller, Travis Jankowski

It is time for Sam Huff to show he can hack it on this stage. He has been in the Rangers system since being drafted in 2016. This will mark his 7th full season in the Rangers organization. He has enormous power in his bat and can play just well enough defensively at catcher to stay back there.

That utility infielder spot might be one of the toughest decisions for manager Bruce Bochy and Chris Young to make. I examined the decision concerning Ezequiel Duran in my latest article. Duran is everything offensively that Josh Smith isn't. The ball flies off of his bat and he is able to get extra-base hits very easily. Josh Smith though is a much better defender and can play SS in addition to 3b and the outfield. In the utility role it is better to have someone who understands the various positions and can play them very effectively.

The reserve outfielders will be a mixture of Travis Jankowski and Brad Miller. Miller will see time at 1b and DH. Jankowski I would imagine is mainly platooning with Thompson in center. The members of this bench unit will probably be very fluid throughout this season.