Texas Rangers: 5 areas of improvement for the Rangers after the Astros series

The Texas Rangers lost three of the four games in this weekend's wraparound series against Houston. It was definitely a learning experience for this team which is a mixture of veterans and young players alike. It was a reminder that while the Rangers still have the division lead, the Astros are the team that owns the division. Several players on this team have been in playoff races but never before as a unit. There are some experiences this team needs to go through to better prepare them and losing this series in the way that they did hopefully will prepare them for the variety of challenges that a playoff race will throw at them. I want to break this series down with five areas of improvement for the Texas Rangers to tackle in order to dethrone the Astros as AL West champions.

AL West still runs through Houston

I know the Texas Rangers are now three games up in the division and have led the division for much of this season, but the defending World Series champion Houston Astros still own this division. The Rangers are going to have to go through Houston to win it. The Astros are not going to go let Texas have this one. They are going to fight with everything they have to win this division. Monday's series finale showed that Texas has the fight in them. They just couldn't finish it off late once again.

The worrying thing for Texas is that Houston was missing their best player in Yordan Alvarez and did not get a start from Framber Valdez who was scratched on Sunday. It did not matter as Houston still won three of four and won the game Valdez was scheduled to start. That is definitely concerning for the Rangers.

This race is going to go one of three ways. Texas responds to these setbacks, gets back on a roll, and wins the division. Second, it is a fight all the way to the end and one of the two wins a close race in September. The third way the race could go is if Texas continues to play poorly, gives up the division lead, and Houston runs away with it after the All-Star break. It is up to the Rangers' players to respond with the same fight they showed on Monday afternoon in these last six games before the break. If that happens then they will go into the break with momentum.

Next: Is it time for Bochy to change bullpen roles?

Aroldis Chapman should be the closer

Will Smith has been awesome in the closers' role this season. Monday was not a good representation of how good he has been this season. Smith is 14-16 in save opportunities with today's blown save being his second of the season. I am not wanting to denigrate what Smith has done for Texas and I think he is still a valuable member of this bullpen. The fact of the matter is that Chapman is and has been over his career a better pitcher.

The Rangers completed the trade for Chapman on Friday afternoon. He made his debut on Sunday with a scoreless seventh inning. Then pitched again on Monday and pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Both times the reliever that followed Chapman ended up blowing the lead. On Sunday it was Josh Sborz who gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning to lose the game 5-3. Monday it was Will Smith who was handed an 11-10 lead and gave up two runs to lose 12-11.

Chapman was brought in to strengthen the bullpen. His best role is as a finisher. He has shown that ability throughout his career that he is not scared by the bright lights of the ninth inning. He has 317 saves in his career and has closed out several postseason games as well. It feels like this move is going to happen, it just is a matter of when and not if.

Next: The sensation that lost some shine in this series

Ezequiel Duran is far from a finished product

The second-year sensation has had a tremendous first half of the season. No one can deny that he has shown massive amounts of improvement from year one to year two. He is having better at-bats, making more contact, and driving the ball to all fields. He has been amazing to watch in the field as well whether at shortstop or in the outfield. He still does struggle against the really good teams.

The best three teams Texas has played this season are Tampa, Atlanta, and Houston. Duran against those three teams is a combined 4-40, with 15 strikeouts. This weekend Duran was 0-12 with eight strikeouts in the first three games of the series. Bochy did not play Duran on Monday, opting instead for Josh Smith in this game.

Duran is still just 24 years old. There is a lot of tough competition coming for Texas after the break and they will need Duran to contribute in those games. Houston really attacked Duran by just keeping the ball up in the zone and away. He saw very few pitches middle-in this weekend. Baseball is full of copycats and scouts. Look for Duran to see more pitches up in the zone as scouting reports will say that is where he can be retired. It will be up to the young star to make the changes necessary to combat that line of attack.

Next: The position that Chris Young should trade for next

The Texas Rangers need a starting pitcher

If the Rangers are going to be serious about making a playoff run this season, they will need to trade for a starting pitcher. This is not really about the performance of the staff this week. Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney combined for 12 scoreless innings in Saturday and Sunday's games. It is about the inconsistency of the staff. While Eovaldi and Heaney were good, Gray and Perez were not. The one consistent is the All-Star Eovaldi and he has been very good this season. Everyone else on the staff is unpredictable.

Andrew Heaney even made a comment about that after his start on Sunday. He pitched five really good innings and then was removed. He said this to Kennedi Landry of MLB.com about being removed prematurely on Sunday

As far as going back out there, near the end of my last two starts, I gave up two homers in Chicago in my last inning and a homer in my last inning of the start against Detroit, so I haven't inspired confidence of late

This is the big issue is that the starting pitching staff outside of Eovaldi and lately Dunning is not inspiring a lot of confidence. Gray did have that confidence prior to the blister issue that caused him to miss a start. Since the complete-game loss against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 7th, Gray has thrown 13 1/3 innings and given up 12 runs in the three starts.

The issue on Monday was Martin Perez and his lack of control or velocity. The Astros had him timed up from the first pitch he threw to the last pitch that Tucker hit out for a grand slam. He was just awful today and that comes after throwing three consecutive quality starts. He finished this game pitching just 1 1/3 innings, throwing 57 pitches, and allowing six runs. It was his shortest start of the season.

If the Rangers are going to get back on track they need the starting staff to consistently pitch deep into games and give the team a chance to win. Since starting 40-20, the team is now 10-15. That is not a small sample size, it is almost an entire month's worth of games.

There are pitchers that could be available at the deadline. Max Scherzer could be had if the Mets continue to struggle. Dylan Cease might or might not be available. The Guardians could trade Shane Bieber. The Rangers need someone who can slot behind Eovaldi and help this team start to string together wins. Right now the only day the Rangers are almost guaranteed to have a shot at winning is the day Eovaldi pitches. If that does not change they will not be winning the division or maybe even making the playoffs.

Next: The bullpen pitchers who excelled in their roles this series

Glenn Otto and Cody Bradford had very good weekend

Before you say it, I know Otto allowed a three-run home run to Jose Abreu that increased the lead to 10-2 for the Astros on Monday. I will also say that he looked good in this bullpen role. The combination of him and Bradford really kept the Rangers in the game and gave them the opportunity to come back.

Otto was activated last Friday before the opener of this series. He made his season debut that night and pitched a scoreless ninth inning. He was called upon again on Monday in relief of Martin Perez. He finished the second and had a scoreless third. He did run into trouble in the fourth by allowing an RBI single to Alex Bregman and then a three-run home run to Jose Abreu. He finished that inning and then pitched a scoreless fifth as well. His final numbers were 3 1/3 innings, four hits, four runs, two strikeouts, and one walk. The score bottomed out at 10-2 while he was in, but by the time Bradford entered the game in the sixth the Rangers had cut the lead to 10-9.

Bradford was mostly unavailable after starting on Thursday against the Tigers. He did get into the game on Monday. He was spectacular in his 2 1/3 innings. He did not allow a hit or a run. He struck out four Astros and did not walk a single batter. His confidence continues to grow and with Ragans being traded away the left-handed long reliever role is his.

The Rangers with Otto and Bradford do have a similar sort of makeup to the bullpen as they did on Opening Day when Dunning and Ragans were the co-long relievers. The challenge for Bochy will be to find enough innings for both pitchers to warrant keeping them on the roster. For now they did very well in their roles this weekend and will be real weapons for the Rangers if used properly.

Next: The Rangers lost the series and also lost this in the series