{"id":6158,"date":"2025-05-22T11:02:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/?p=6158"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:02:19","slug":"texas-rangers-bullpen-puzzle-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/2025\/05\/22\/texas-rangers-bullpen-puzzle-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers’ Bullpen Puzzle Pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rangers’ Bullpen Concerns<\/h1>\n

Once again, Chris Young thinks the Rangers have evaded catastrophe in the bullpen. As the week began, the Rangers were anxiously awaiting yet another MRI reading on yet another relief pitcher, but Young was optimistic Chris Martin had dodged serious trouble.<\/p>\n

If nothing else, though, Martin walking off the mound after throwing one pitch twice in the course of a week ought to serve as a sign to the Rangers that they are sailing into dangerous waters: Overusage Bay.<\/p>\n

The Age Factor<\/h2>\n

Martin, who turns 39 in two weeks, has appeared in 22 of the Rangers\u2019 first 48 games, making him the oldest pitcher in baseball with at least 20 appearances at this point. But he\u2019s merely the senior citizen in a bullpen chock full of thirtysomethings, when creaky arms, elbows and shoulders start to make strange sounds. One day it\u2019s a pop, like the one Martin heard in his elbow last Tuesday before exiting. Or maybe it\u2019s whatever caused him to yell on Sunday when he felt discomfort in his surgically-repaired shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an important piece for us and we need to take care of him,\u201d Young said of Martin on his weekly KRLD-105.3 The Fan segment. \u201cSomething isn\u2019t feeling perfect in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usage and Overuse<\/h3>\n

Young, in a phone interview with The Dallas Morning News, said he was \u201ccautiously optimistic,\u201d about what the Rangers would get back on Martin. That said, all signs seem to indicate it\u2019s time to play it safe, place him on the IL and give him a rest. That\u2019s what you have to do with older pitchers and their cranky arms.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something they need to consider going forward in terms of all their relievers. By most measures, the Rangers haven\u2019t overworked their bullpen. They entered the week with 145 total relief appearances, the seventh fewest in the majors, and the ninth-fewest relief innings pitched. But nuance is important. The Rangers are relying on older pitchers to get the bulk of their high leverage outs. Older pitchers tend to require more care and feeding, but mostly care.<\/p>\n

The Numbers<\/h4>\n

Consider this: The Rangers are one of five teams with six or more pitchers to have appeared in at least 18 games. Only one of those six, Robert Garcia, is under the age of 30. And four of them \u2014 Martin, Jackson, Hoby Milner and Shawn Armstrong \u2014 are all at least 33 years old. They are the only team with four pitchers that, um, seasoned to have 18 appearances apiece.<\/p>\n

In the case of Martin, the Rangers actually used him in an unprecedented manner this season. When he entered the game against Colorado last Tuesday, it was the third consecutive day on the mound. He\u2019d never previously thrown on three straight days, considered a heavy load for any pitcher. The Rangers have already used him on back-to-back days six times and the season isn\u2019t a third of the way over. In each of the previous two seasons, he worked on back-to-back days seven times for the entire year.<\/p>\n

Solutions and Options<\/h5>\n

It may make it more important for Bruce Bochy to mix in other relievers in high-leverage situations more often to try to preserve arms. He did that earlier in the week when Shawn Armstrong picked up saves in back-to-back appearances. But Armstrong, 34, is no spring chicken either. And when Bochy went back to him for a third time in four days, he couldn\u2019t find the strike zone and then gave up a three-run homer to Christian Walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got confidence in all of our guys to be able to get three outs at a time,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

What the Rangers could use is another bullpen option Bochy is willing to plug into those situations. There are several ways the Rangers could find this. The \u201ceasiest\u201d one \u2014 put in a call to David Robertson, who is not pitching this year \u2014 is also the most unrealistic. The Rangers are staring the luxury tax right in the face and adding any more payroll is liable to tip them over, which would render whatever fiscal restraint they showed during the winter moot. And would put them in an even tighter bind for 2026.<\/p>\n

Alternative Solutions<\/h6>\n

More realistic: Find a role for Jake Latz, who has stuff, but has struggled with command, or try someone else. As a left-hander, Latz is currently only the third option against lefties. Milner and Garcia have pitched in almost all winning situations. Latz has been fine against lefties, but right-handers have 10 hits in 26 at-bats (.385) for a 1.044 OPS against him. If the Rangers don\u2019t feel they can trust Latz to some medium-leverage situations, maybe they need to look at 24-year-old right-hander Luis Curvelo, who is currently holding right-handers to a .150 average at Triple-A and is on the 40-man roster, or Cole Winn, who came up, made one appearance, and was sent right back down.<\/p>\n

More creatively: The Rangers didn\u2019t want to put Jon Gray or Cody Bradford into the bullpen in spring training, but, while they\u2019ve been recovering from injuries, the rotation has fashioned the AL\u2019s best ERA. Gray and Bradford are, Young believes, three or four weeks away from being potential options for the club. You could throw Kumar Rocker into that mix, too. He\u2019s about to start a rehab assignment and there\u2019s currently no room in the rotation. Rocker\u2019s high octane stuff might play up in a one-inning role, not that anybody would look to transition him to a full-time reliever at this point. But needs are needs. And if the last week has shown anything, the Rangers need options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to win,\u201d Young said. \u201cWe have to consider our best arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Teixeira recalls \u2018weird\u2019 Yankees experience in 2010 ALCS facing Texas Rangers<\/span><\/p>\n

Teixeira was a guest on DMN\u2019s new SportsDay Rangers podcast and detailed his time with Texas.<\/p>\n

\"New
\nIt\u2019s Second-Guessing Season for Texas Rangers after another late-game collapse<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rangers suffered their third blown lead in the last week and questions are beginning to mount.<\/p>\n

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Rangers’ Bullpen Concerns Once again, Chris Young thinks the Rangers have evaded catastrophe in the bullpen. As the week began, the Rangers were anxiously awaiting yet another MRI reading on yet another relief pitcher, but Young was optimistic Chris Martin had dodged serious trouble. If nothing else, though, Martin walking off the mound after throwing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/NOFN4TAOUZDY7EUGEVVJOHVK4M.jpg?auth=eade2e6d38f44177b28d43f74f3c938ffb6cebe6200b313a41cda8d627221655&height=630&width=1200&focal=1124,686&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6160,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions\/6160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}