Texas Rangers Boss Outlines Closer-by-Committee Approach This Season

The Texas Rangers had a luxury at the back of their bullpen in Kirby Yates.
The All-Star closer came to Texas on a one-year, $4 million deal trying to prove he could still close out games and he ended up being named the team’s pitcher of the year. He went to the All-Star Game and had 33 saves.
He’s a free agent, and the Rangers don’t appear to be bringing him back. He remains a free agent.
Texas president of baseball operations Chris Young isn’t ruling out more options in their bullpen. But, for now, he believes he knows who the closer could be.
“As we sit here today, (Robert) Garcia and (Chris) Martin, some kind of combination,” he said during an appearance on Foul Territory earlier this week. “Maybe (Shawn) Armstrong plays in there. We’ll do our best to close out games and hopefully have some leads to work with and some margin of error.”
His statement came a few days after general manager Ross Fenstermaker said the team wasn’t pursuing a specific position anymore in free agency, when asked a direct question about the closer situation.
If the job is to be some combination of Garcia and Martin, well, the Rangers are taking a considerable leap of faith with two pitchers that haven’t done the job before.
Martin is a veteran with nearly 10 years of MLB experience, but he’s only saved 14 games in his career. He has a 16-18 career record with a 3.38 ERA. The right-hander has been a high-leverage set-up man throughout his career, as he has 106 career holds, including 15 last year.
With the current make-up of the Rangers’ bullpen, Martin is the career leader when it comes to saves.
Garcia doesn’t have a Major League save. He was the reliever acquired in the Nathaniel Lowe trade.
In two Major League seasons, the 28-year-old left-hander is 5-8 with a 4.03 ERA. He has 18 career holds, including 13 last year. But he was 0-for-4 in save opportunities in 2024.
Armstrong, another veteran set-up man, has eight career saves and 29 career holds in a decade-long career that has seen him go 11-8 with a 4.15 ERA.
The Rangers also acquired two other relievers with MLB experience in Jacob Webb, who has six career saves, and Hoby Milner, with one career save.
Texas knew it had to remake its bullpen, and the Rangers have made plenty of moves to do so. But the closer situation will bear watching in spring training and beyond.