Texas Rangers Latest Moves Signal Patience with Offensive Struggles is Over

ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy sat at the podium after Sunday’s win over the Seattle Mariners and betrayed nothing of what was to come.

Within two hours of Bochy’s post-game press conference the Rangers had formally announced the dismissal of their hitting coach, Donnie Ecker, and multiple outlets reported that Texas had placed outfielder Leody Taveras on outright waivers, a move that may signal his end with the franchise.

On Friday, the Rangers optioned struggling first baseman Jake Burger to Triple-A Round Rock. At the time, president of baseball operations Chris Young said there was no message being sent to the team about the offensive struggles.

After Sunday, there was an unmistakable message — It’s time to turn this around. Now.

For most of the last month the Rangers have exercised patience with an offense that is among the lowest-producing teams across the board. Texas spent the road trip to Sacramento and San Francisco moving pieces around in the lineup. Not much worked.

The hope was that the Rangers’ 15-run outburst on Tuesday was a genuine breakthrough. Bochy had hoped so, but he stressed that Texas had to find a way to sustain it.

The Rangers then scored three runs in the next four games.

After Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Seattle, Bochy was, well, at a loss.

“We’ve got to get the mojo back, you’re right,” he said. “It’s gone, and it hasn’t been there for a while. We’re stuck right now. … This is one of the longest stretches I’ve ever seen.”

On Sunday, he likened this stretch to something he experienced with his 2016 San Francisco Giants team, which made the playoffs but limped to the finish due to offensive issues.

Texas has lost 11 of its last 16 games. Sunday’s 8-1 win over Seattle only salvaged so much. It certainly showed what the offense is capable of. But the inconsistency has been maddening for the organization and fans alike.

The Rangers have scored three or fewer runs in 22 games this season. Texas leads the league with 11 games in which it has scored one or fewer runs. The team’s overall slash of .228/.285/.359 is among the worst in the league with the batting average at No. 25.

Only the Colorado Rockies have scored fewer runs than the Rangers’ 113. Texas is batting .228 with runners in scoring position, No. 21 in baseball. Texas is second worst in walks drawn with 82.

It's become an infinite loop after 35 games. The offense is broken. Moves made in the offseason were designed to help the team hit fastballs and slug, something it struggled with a year ago. So far, the struggle remains real. Basic stats and analytics don’t matter anymore.

Wins, losses, runs — that’s what matters. Especially when the starting rotation and the bullpen are among the best in baseball — and the Rangers are now four games back of the Mariners.

Bochy said on Saturday that he though some of his players were hearing some outside noise about the slump. It played into his decision to not have a formal batting practice on Saturday. Players in the clubhouse aren’t pointing fingers.

“It’s a tough stretch,” pitcher Patrick Corbin said on Saturday. “Guys are frustrated. Everyone is working hard. We still have each other’s backs.”

The moves made this weekend were designed to push the offense forward without significant cost.

Burger had options available, which made sending him to the minors easy. The Rangers still see him as part of the long-term plan. Though, curiously, he didn’t play this weekend in Round Rock.

Taveras had only played in five of the last 13 games. The power he showed in 2023 has seemingly disappeared. The Rangers have plenty of options to move into center field. Wyatt Langford. Kevin Pillar. Dustin Harris. Perhaps Evan Carter.

The slump cost Ecker his job. While no one wants anyone fired, the Rangers are in the process of hiring another hitting coach. It won’t take long to see if the move was the right one. Ecker has been a managerial candidate in the past. He’ll land somewhere quickly. He helped Texas win the 2023 World Series title.

If this team can’t turn things around, then the decisions become much harder. Those decisions could cut to the core of the team. The Rangers believe they have a championship window, and it remains wide open. Texas can’t make the kinds of moves it wants to make in July if it isn’t in the race. Then, the Rangers become sellers, and the window closes just a little bit.

The moves made this weekend are designed to try and prevent a lost season. If that happens, then this 2-5 homestand — and the first 35 games that led up to it — will be a footnote.

“There’s a tendency to look at this and say, ‘Is this us?’” Bochy said. “No. We know we’re more than this. We need to get back on a roll. It just takes one good streak, and hopefully we’ll forget this and at the end of the year we’ll go, ‘There’s no reason why we should have been panicking.’”

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