Rangers at Break: Three Decisions That Went Wrong
The Texas Rangers are 41-49 at the All-Star Break. The Rangers probably aren’t happy with their record being eight games under .500, and there have been some choices that have contributed to that point. Here are three decisions that have gone wrong for the Rangers so far.
Relying too much on young starting pitching
At some point, the Rangers have to start getting something out of their young starting pitching. If there’s any disappointment in the first half of the season, it’s that the starters OTHER than Martín Pérez and Jon Gray haven’t been consistent.
Taylor Hearn, Glenn Otto, Spencer Howard and Dane Dunning have had stretches where they’ve been effective. But in the last 4-6 weeks leading up to the All-Star Break, the group’s overall effectiveness has waned. Hearn was sent down to the Minors for two weeks as the team tried to squeeze through a four-man rotation on a long road trip with a strategic off-day. Otto was derailed by a stint on the COVID-19 list, but he’s clearly not all the way back. Dunning has been the group’s hard-luck starter, as he never seems to get the run support he needs. Howard was only recently called up after losing his spot in April due to a blister. His last start was solid.
The Rangers had hoped at least one of these pitchers would take a bigger step forward in the first half. The Rangers might have been better served grabbing one more veteran starter in free agency, or even taking someone like Garrett Richards or Matt Moore and putting them in the rotation.
It’s clear the Rangers are going to stick with the youngsters in the second half. But it’s a decision that hasn’t been as effective as they would have hoped.
Not shutting down Mitch Garver sooner
Mitch Garver’s injury — a right elbow flexor injury — only kept him out of the lineup for about 10 days, but it was far more serious than one might have imagined from that description. When Garver returned, he couldn’t throw, which meant he couldn’t catch. The plan after the trade was for him to tandem with Jonah Heim. So while Heim took to the starting role in a big way, Garver could only bat .207/.298/.404/.702 with 10 home runs and 24 RBI. Garver called it a season in late June and underwent surgery, which he said was a requirement for him to be ready for opening day next season. So at some point, Garver was going to have to go under the knife if he wanted to continue his career. By keeping Garver on the roster for more than a month, the Rangers limited their roster flexibility, in essence having to carry three catchers, one of which couldn’t play the position. One could say that contributed to the next miscalculation on this list.
Releasing Matt Carpenter
The Rangers signed Matt Carpenter to a minor-league deal in March, but he didn’t make the opening-day roster. The Rangers sent him to Triple-A Round Rock and he put up above-average numbers — a .275 batting average with six home runs in just 21 games. The Rangers determined they didn’t have room for him and gave him his release. Carpenter then signed with the Yankees and entering the All-Star Break he broke a Yankees record for most home runs in a player's first 30 games (13) and became the first Yankees outfielder with seven RBI in a game against the Red Sox since Joe DiMaggio did in in 1940. Yeah, the Rangers, in hindsight, guessed wrong here. To be fair, he had slumped for two years before joining the organization. But, wow, those numbers would be useful now.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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