Texas Rangers Front Office Discussing Changes for Struggling Bullpen?

ARLINGTON, Texas —Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy answered more questions about his bullpen Friday before the 7-2 win over the the Colorado Rockies.

At one point, Bochy was asked if the tone of the conversations between himself and Rangers general manager Chris Young had changed in the wake of the bullpen’s recent struggles.

Bochy’s answer was coy to say the least.

“I’ll keep that between CY and me,” Bochy said with a thin smile.

What to take from that is anyone’s guess. But after watching his bullpen implode against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday — two-run lead and potential win coughed up — Bochy said it’s up to him and the coaching staff to “get this thing in order.”

Perhaps the process started against the Rockies. Joe Barlow threw a scoreless eighth and José Leclerc a scoreless ninth, with the pair combining to give up one hit.

That’s an improvement over the past few weeks.

Entering the Rockies series, the Rangers bullpen had an ERA of 4.48, which was 12th in the American League. But that’s gone up from 3.77 in the last six games, as the Rangers have given up 18 earned runs (19 total) in that stretch.

The bullpen also had a MLB-high 6.98 ERA in its last 21 games, since the start of the Cincinnati Reds series on April 24.

That night, Leclerc blew a save. The Rangers haven’t been great at closing down games, either. Even though Will Smith has eight saves, the Rangers are 9-of-17 in save chances, the third-lowest save percentage in MLB (52.9).

Hence the conversations with Young. Bochy said on Friday that every pitcher in the bullpen has the arm talent to be there. He even said the pitch clock could be a factor, with pitchers having less time between throws. He also said some of them could be pressing. But he has belief that this bullpen can get things together.

There is also the possibility of getting relief reinforcements in the coming weeks from several pitchers making rehab progress.

The Rangers did have the best bullpen in baseball three weeks into the season.

“The bar has been raised and they want to do all they can to help the club. It’s human nature,” Bochy said.

The Rangers (27-17) and Rockies play the second game of the series Saturday at 3:05 p.m. Jon Gray (3-1, 3.15) starts for Texas, with Kyle Freeland (4-4, 3.16) going for Colorado.

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