You’d think that after a four-month offseason and six weeks in the desert that things would be relatively settled and clear cut with four days left until the Texas Rangers host the Boston Red Sox on opening day Thursday at Globe Life Field.
You’d think.
Baseball — and all it’s glorious twists and turns — doesn’t always tend to operate with that logic. The Rangers, who’ve still got a handful of questions left to answer before the games begin to matter, can attest. Here’s a look at what’s still left to be finalized before the regular season starts.
So, who’s the closer?
The Rangers began camp with talks of a bullpen sans roles. They ended it without much of a change in narrative.
The Rangers will open the season without a relief pitcher with substantial closing experience on the roster and haven’t named someone to the role. Their high-leverage candidates — right-handers Chris Martin and Luke Jackson and left-hander Robert Garcia — combined to allow just one run in 16 1/3 innings of Cactus League play. The youthful duo of Marc Church and Emiliano Teodo (who was reassigned to minor league camp) both turned heads and solidified themselves as legitimate major league options for this season. It just might not be immediately.
For now, it seems, Martin and his 14 career saves might have an inside track to the job. The ambiguity isn’t an entirely new phenomena. Reminder: José Leclerc opened each of the last two seasons at closer and was displaced within a month’s time each time. In 2023, Will Smith closed the season’s second game vs. the Philadelphia Phillies and held the full time role by the end of April. In 2024, Kirby Yates took over the ninth-inning duties just three weeks into the season. Point being: what goes now may not go later.
Center field belongs to _______
Evan Carter? Leody Taveras? Kevin Pillar? The Rangers’ decision makers haven’t entirely tipped their hand one way or another and Carter — whose prospect pedigree and postseason performance carry weight — hasn’t done enough to separate himself.
He’s done the opposite, truthfully, with a .158/.220/.211 slash line in 14 games and an ugly 0 for 10 line vs. left-handed pitching. Taveras (the incumbent center fielder with baggage of his own) has hit just .196 but has put better swings on the ball. Pillar, a late signee, performed fine this spring but brings a career .777 OPS vs. lefties that could play well in a platoon role.
The answer lies somewhere within the three and it could look different on opening day (in which the Rangers will face one of baseball’s best left-handers in Garrett Crochet) than it does midseason. The Rangers have not ruled out the possibility that Carter, who needs reps above all else, starts the season at Triple-A Round Rock. That wouldn’t signal the end of his tenure as a valuable member of Texas’ future, though, and it could give Taveras one last opportunity to prove that he can be more than just a platoon outfielder.
What will the starting rotation look like to begin the season?
Let’s start with the obvious ones: Nathan Eovaldi will start opening day, Jacob deGrom is expected to pitch at the back end of the rotation and Tyler Mahle will throw somewhere in between the two of them.
That leaves two open spots for as many as four candidates so long as Cody Bradford (elbow soreness) and Jon Gray (fractured wrist) are sidelined for multiple months. Those in contention are right-hander Jack Leiter, right-hander Kumar Rocker, right-hander Adrian Houser and the recently signed left-hander Patrick Corbin.
Leiter, 24, and Rocker, 25, are the organization’s No. 3 and No. 2 prospects, respectively, according to The Dallas Morning News’ rankings. Their “stuff” and potential is undoubtedly the best of the four. So are their question marks. That’s why Houser (who’s thrown 425 2/3 innings since the 2021 season) and Corbin (who’s cleared 150 innings in each of the last eight full seasons) are employed. The upside of two pitchers in their 30’s without guaranteed jobs is limited; the idea that they could competently eat innings while Bradford and Gray heal carries legitimate value.
Leiter, who had a 3.48 ERA in 20 2/3 spring innings, might have an inside track given his refined secondary pitches and a fastball that ran 100 mph in his final spring start. Rocker started camp slow but settled in during his last few appearances. Houser (3.77 ERA in six outings) was solid and Corbin, whom the Rangers signed last week, won’t be ready to start the season.
Take your pick.
The Rangers will need to soon.
Semien, Seager, then what?
Atop the batting order, we mean. Second baseman Marcus Semien, at leadoff, and shortstop Corey Seager, in the two-hole, are the easy ones.
Second-year outfielder Wyatt Langford hit third in eight of the 10 games that he played this spring and batted leadoff and second in the two that he didn’t. First baseman Jake Burger hit third in each of the two games that Langford didn’t, but on the whole, saw the majority of his time at fifth, sixth and seventh in the lineup. Right fielder Adolis García and designated hitter Joc Pederson both spent time at cleanup and in the five-hole; Pederson also saw time in the three-hole before Langford returned from an oblique injury. What about third baseman Josh Jung? He hit everywhere between third and seventh this spring. Then you’ve got either Jonah Heim or Kyle Higashioka at catcher. Plus whoever is in center field. Then there’s the days that Silver Slugger Josh Smith works his way into the fold.
It’s a lot to consider. Bochy acknowledged that between the additions of Pederson and Burger and the health of Jung, the Rangers have a myriad of options in the heart of their lineup. He also said that “we’ll keep guys in pretty much the same spot” once the season kicks off.
The Rangers used few lineups in the Cactus League that included each of their expected regulars because of injuries and the nature of spring training. This one, on March 18 vs. the Cleveland Guardians, might’ve been the closest to what Texas could field against a right-handed pitcher: Semien, Seager, Langford, Pederson, Garcia, Jung, Carter, Burger and Heim in that order. It’ll be different against left-handers: Pederson (who has All-Star splits vs. righties but average ones vs. lefties) is more likely to see time off those days, and Carter, whose struggles vs. southpaws is well-documented, isn’t expected to see a lion’s share of work against them in the regular season.
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