Rangers Preparing to Bolster Bullpen with New Left-Handed Relief Option

The Texas Rangers aren’t resting on acquiring talent with less than two weeks before opening day.

Texas has reportedly agreed to a major league deal with former Arizona left-handed reliever Jalen Beeks, per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required). He still needs to pass a physical. The Rangers have not announced a deal. His MLB.com transactions page was not updated.

Once the deal is done, Beeks could give the Rangers a left-handed balance in their bullpen, especially if Jacob Latz wins the fifth spot in the rotation. He was Texas’ most effective left-handed reliever last season.

The signing would also put him on the Texas 40-man roster. The Rangers will need to create a space and could do so by moving someone like pitcher Cody Bradford to the 60-day injured list.

Jalen Beeks’ MLB History

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jalen Beeks walks off the field. — Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jalen Beeks. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Rangers’ bullpen as of now features no left-handers on the 40-man roster. Latz would change that if he loses the starting job to Kumar Rocker. But even if he does, he would be the only lefty in a bullpen and present new manager Skip Schumaker with some matchup issues.

Beeks has a solid history as a reliever. The former 12th round pick of the Boston Red Sox broke into the Majors in 2018 with the Red Sox and has also played with Tampa Bay, Colorado, Pittsburgh and Arizona. He has a career record of 28-18 with a 4.31 ERA in 263 games with 21 starts. He’s struck out 376 and walked 158 in 405 innings. He also has 34 holds, with 16 saves in 32 chances.

He spent last season with Arizona where he went 5-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 61 games. He had a career-high 14 holds. He also struck out 47 and walked 20 in 57.1 innings. The question is whether he has enough time to ramp up to be ready for opening day.

He would join a list of options that have narrowed since spring training began but are certainly not set in stone.

The options on the 40-man roster for the bullpen include Robert Garcia, Tyler Alexander, Alexis Diaz, Jakob Junis, Chris Martin, Cole Winn, Luis Curvelo and Carter Baumler. Baumler is a Rule 5 draft pick that must make the opening-day roster or be waived.

Among non-roster invites, Ryan Brasier, Gavin Collyer, Peyton Gray, Josh Sborz and Trey Supak are still in camp. So is Cal Quantrill, though he’s still with Team Canada after it advanced out of pool play to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals for the first time in the country’s history.