There's one free agent this winter the Rangers can be ecstatic he got away

During the height of the offseason, when the Texas Rangers looked like they were suddenly frontrunners for Roki Sasaki, there was more excitement over a free-agent pitcher since Max Scherzer briefly called Globe Life home. And then, all of a sudden, the team fell out of contention.

The Toronto Bluejays were suddenly the mystery team that seemingly bumped the Rangers out of the running, and suddenly, the vibes were off. People were angry. After all, it felt like Sasaki might be the guy who could help carry the rotation over the hump. Now that the season is here, there's one lesson to be learned from that whole sweepstakes that eventually ended with the Dodgers winning the day.

Rangers rotation proves they didn’t need Roki Sasaki after all

It's a good thing the Texas Rangers didn't win that race. This is not just because Roki Sasaki is now hurt, and there doesn't appear to be a timeline for when he'll return to the Dodgers' rotation. There's also the fact that the Japanese phenom would not have been anywhere close to the best pitcher on Bruce Bochy's staff.

Considering that the Rangers have built a reputation as an offense-first organization thanks to how they won the 2023 World Series, it's surprising to feel such a sense of relief that Texas didn't win the bidding for the high-priced hurler.

Keep in mind that the Rangers' starting staff is currently ranked third in all of baseball with a collective 3.00 earned run average. Only the Kansas City Royals (2.98) and New York Mets (2.74) have staffs with better cumulative ERAs.

But individually, Kumar Rocker is the only pitcher who has made a start for Bochy's club this year and has a worse ERA than Sasaki's 4.72 earned run average. All five men currently in the rotation are better, with Jack Leiter's being the "worst" of the bunch at 4.34 ERA.

When you consider that Leiter's struggles this year aren't as bad as they appear peripherally (3.97 FIP), Sasaki signing anywhere else turned out to be a real boon.

That's especially the case, considering that the starting staff has carried the Rangers to several wins and certainly kept them in contention. They are winners of five straight and just one game out of first as they kick off the Lone Star series.

For the Texas Rangers, striking out on Roki Sasaki is an interesting lesson: "be careful what you wish for." Things worked out fine for the team, even if they inexplicably took some heat from fans for not winning that high-priced free-agent derby.