Texas Rangers Success Will Be Determined by High-Risk, High-Reward Rotation

The Texas Rangers fell woefully short of expectations in 2024 following their surprising run to a World Series championship in 2023.

They followed up that title winning only 78 games, finishing third in the American League West and missing the postseason. Heading into the offseason, they knew some changes were going to need to be made to ensure that didn’t happen again.

In the opinion of ESPN's David Schoenfield, their three biggest needs and goals this offseason were starting pitching, a closer, and a designated hitter.

Nathan Eovaldi was retained in free agency, agreeing to a three-year, $25 million deal while future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer remains a free agent.

It can certainly be argued that not enough was done with the pitching staff given all of the question marks the team has with just a month until Spring Training gets underway.

“Bringing back Eovaldi was a good move and he actually has been decently durable the past four seasons, averaging 27 starts and 152 innings (yes, that qualifies as decently durable these days). At this point, they're still counting on some combination of Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter to fill out the rotation. It remains a guess to what kind of quality and quantity they'll receive from that group,” Schoenfield wrote.

There are a lot of injury concerns and uncertainty with that quartet.

Jacob deGrom has made only nine starts in two seasons since joining the Rangers as a free agent ahead of the 2023 campaign. Tyler Mahle made three starts last year and has 31 starts since making 33 in 2021.

Kumar Rocker’s health has been well documented as the New York Mets didn’t sign him to a deal because of injury concerns after selecting him No. 10 overall in 2021. Jack Leiter was the No. 2 pick that year and his MLB debut did not go well with an 8.83 ERA across nine appearances and 35.2 innings.

That uncertainty on the mound is a major reason that Texas received a “C+” grade from Schoenfield for their offseason work thus far.

The only thing they have crossed off that to-do list was the upgrade in the power department.

Jake Burger, who will be replacing Nathaniel Lowe are first base, doesn’t offer the same defense or on-base skill set but brings more pop. Joc Pederson is a massive upgrade at designated hitter and elite platoon player.

That grade will improve if the Rangers bring back Kirby Yates to solidify the back end of their bullpen, which is currently lacking any options with closing experience.

Texas deserves some credit for overhauling the unit and bringing in an incredible amount of depth. But the lack of late-game, high-leverage experience for the group is concerning and needs to be addressed if they are to contend in the AL.