Rangers fill lefty bullpen void moments after officially losing reliever to Red Sox

Rangers agree to deal with lefty Jalen Beeks as Danny Coulombe signs with Red Sox

The Texas Rangers have agreed to a major-league contract with lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, according to the Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant. Texas designated righty reliever Alexis Díaz for assignment as a corresponding move.

Many Rangers fans may have been wondering why Texas didn't just bring back lefty Danny Coulombe to fill the lefty void in the bullpen. Sure, Coulombe struggled after joining the Rangers in a July trade with the Minnesota Twins, posting a 5.25 ERA over 12 innings. But he has had more success during his career than Beeks.

Just moments after the Beeks news broke, the Boston Red Sox announced they had signed Coloumbe to a one-year, $1 million deal. It's possible the Rangers wanted Coulombe back, and he just preferred to sign with the Red Sox, who are expected to be playoff contenders this season. It's also possible that the Rangers just didn't want to re-sign Coulombe after last season's struggles.

Back to Beeks. The 32-year-old lefty spent the 2025 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, posting a 3.77 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate (32nd percentile), 8.7% walk rate (36th percentile) and 46.9% ground-ball rate (72nd percentile) in 57 1/3 innings across 61 appearances. He was sidelined for three weeks with lower back inflammation in July. The veteran reliever finished the season strong, allowing just four runs over his final 16 1/3 innings.

Beeks relies on three pitches. Last year, his mid-90s four-seamer accounted for a bit over half of his pitches. He threw a high-80s changeup 37.8% of the time, and his mid-80s cutter accounted for 9.9% of his pitches.

Beeks collected 26 strikeouts against lefties over 23 innings last season and struck out 21 right-handed hitters across 34 innings. Besides the strikeout numbers, he was pretty evenly effective against lefties and righties. Against Beeks last year, lefties slashed .218/.266/.345, and righties hit .190/.285/.339.

What does Beeks signing mean for rest of Rangers' pitching staff?

Beeks and Robert Garcia are expected to be Texas' high-leverage lefties out of the bullpen. Lefty Tyler Alexander will likely be in a long-relief role.

DLLS Sports' Jeff Wilson pointed out that lefty Jacob Latz will now most likely be in the Rangers' rotation. Unless Texas begins the season with a six-man rotation, Kumar Rocker will likely be the odd man out and may begin the season with Triple-A Round Rock or in the Rangers' bullpen.