Texas Rangers’ bullpen has help coming with Cody Bradford on the mend, but is it too late?

Texas Rangers’ bullpen has help coming with Cody Bradford on the mend, but is it too late?

On today’s show, we’re talking about what could fix this offense, why I have a little bit of hope for Marcus Simeon, some bullpen help, and we’re going to talk about an old rivalry. All that and more on this episode of Locked On Rangers. Let’s get into it. You are Locked On Rangers, your daily Texas Rangers podcast, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. You are locked onto the Texas Rangers, the first and best daily Rangers podcast. I’m Bryce Patrick, a grippingly addicted Texas Rangers fan, covering this team for 12 seasons, including all seven as the founder and host of this podcast. Thank you all so much for making Lockdown Rangers your first on first listen every single day. If you already can follow me on Twitter at Brycepatrick. You can follow the show, Lockdown Ranger. Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube where the best way you can help grow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below. Now, on today’s show, we’re talking about Cody Bradford, when is he coming back, Kamar Rocker’s rehab start, a little bit about some suggestions to fix this offense, why they might or might not work, and we’re going to look back at a documentary talking about that Rangers Blue Jays rivalry and and just look back in retrospect on that rivalry in general. Before you get into all that, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customer can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Now, the big question of this season, the the the question I I have been trying to answer for a year and a half now, is what fixes this offense? There was an article in the Dallas Morning News uh today written by Evan Grant with some suggestions about what options left because it feels like there aren’t many options left. I talked about this on yesterday’s show. I’ve talked about this literally all season long. Um, but especially the last month since those big dramatic moves that the Rangers made have not worked. In fact, they they’ve almost made this offense worse in the last month than they were in the first month of the season of firing Donnie Eker, of of bringing in Brett Boone, of just getting rid of Leo Tiveres and of putting Jake Ber in the minor leagues. There’s there’s not all that much left that the Rangers can do, but there were some suggestions that uh that Evan Grant had. The number the first suggestion was was an obvious one of keep Cory Seager and Evan Carter on the field, but yeah, keep your good headers healthy. Yeah, Cory Seager will help make this offense better. He was going to fix it by himself as was obvious in Wednesday’s outing where the Rangers got shut out in his first game back. Honestly, just fitting with how terrible this offense has been of like, “Oh, hey, look, Cory Seager’s back. We’ll be better.” And you get shut out, one hit by a bullpen game and three walks in a truly the worst, most horrific bit of offense I’ve seen from this team. Maybe, honestly, maybe ever. Even the no hitter, it felt like they were more competitive at bats when the Rangers got no hit by the Padres’s in 2020. It felt like there were much more competitive at bats against Joe Muskro than there were against a bullpen by Toronto that’s that’s not all that good. So, okay, I I’ll I’ll give him that one. The next suggestion he had was to platoon both Marcus Simeon and Adolles Garcia. I get that. I I get the urge there. Marcus Simeon has been better against left-handed pitchers than he has against right-handed pitchers. And you give Josh Smith some more plate appearances at second base um against right-handed pitchers and you just are not playing Marcus Simeon that much. It’s it’s a drastic move. And with Marcus Simeon, it’s been awful. It’s been truly abysmal. But people have been saying, “Oh, he’s been awful awful for two seasons.” No, no, that’s not necessarily the case. He was not great last year. He was still a four- win player last year. He’s still playing elite defense. He’s still playing elite defense this year. He still has his athleticism this year. The bat speed is definitely backed up quite a bit. He has four extra base hits in 56 games, over 220 played appearances. That’s That’s awful. It’s truly awful. His on base is just barely above 250. It’s at at 260. He’s not striking out some obscene amount of the time. It’s not great. It’s not about where it was, but it’s not awful. And last year, he was a league average hitter. Not a great hitter. Probably shouldn’t have stayed in that leadoff spot for the whole entire season, but he finished with 23 homers, 27 doubles. He did hit just 234 with an on base just north of 300 and slugged under 400. a 699 OPS, but that was league average. He was still playing great defense. He was still an all-star. I don’t really think that he should have been. Um, but he was. He only stole eight bags last year. Um, but that’s still a fine player. A four- win player making $25 million. That’s okay. But right now, through 56 games, he’s a negative.3 war player. And he’s 34. He’s not ancient, but to fall off this dramatically this quickly, it’s it’s surprising and it it’s kind of similar to Jav Bayz. Not quite the same because I expected Jav Bayz to fall off. I think a lot of people expected Jav Bayz to fall off because once the athleticism went for Jav Bayz, the swing and miss was always extreme with him. And it got to the point where, you know, Jav Bay is also a lot younger. Jav Bayz is 32 years old. Well, two years younger. Not significantly younger, but enough younger. And this year, he has had a complete career resurgence. Now, some of the underlying metrics aren’t quite as flattering. The striker rate is below 25%, which for him is is really, really good this year. He’s also playing elite center field defense and also shortstop defense, but he’s not playing that much shortstop. is also playing third base and he’s, you know, putting the bat to the baseball and and having some electric moments and him having that career resurgence when last year he was so bad that the Tigers were a playoff team and it had absolutely nothing to do with Jav Bayz. He was just sent to the netherworld. I mean, last year Jav Bayz played 80 games for the Detroit Tigers. He had a 516 OPS, a 184 batting average, a 221 on base percentage, and then slugged under 300. He had six homers in 80 games. He was just bad. And he was awful the year before, too. He was a point8 more player because his defense at shortstop was so darn good. But he had a sub 600 OPS in 2022. I mean, the first year that he signed with the Tigers, he was just regular bat. I mean, he had a two and a half season because again, when you play elite defense at a premium position, that can carry your war quite a bit. And he had a 671 OPS, 17 homers that year in 144 games. It wasn’t great, but then the falloff was so immediate and so drastic. This year, he’s hitting 278. He’s got a 456 slugging percentage. He’s already got as many home runs this year as he did last year. He’s only played 47 games this year. He’s got six homers this year and 12 or in uh 10 doubles as well, a 769 OPS. He has been a very, very valuable player for the Detroit Tigers. He relied a whole lot more on athleticism and had a whole lot more, you know, parody in his game for for lack of a better term. Marcus Simeon, you know, the way his profile is, he doesn’t rely on elite bat speed whatsoever. And his pitch recognition has been significantly better than Jav Bayz. That’s that’s not, you know, a particularly close comp. But the fact that Jav Bayz has been able to turn things around gives me a little bit of hope for Marcus Sime. not necessarily similar players, but if someone who fell off that drastically was able to come back again, Bayz is a little bit younger and maybe those numbers will come crashing down, but just some little something to give me a little bit of hope for Marcus Sime. As for Doles Garcia, I don’t know exactly how much and where who is going to be be platooning in what way. Maybe he’s going to be patuning with Alejandro Ozuna in a corn outfield. But with both these players, their defense has been so darn good that that’s what’s keeping them in the lineup. I mean, Adulles Garcia, I have less confidence that he is going to turn things around than I do in Marcus Simeon. Marcus Simeon has had a lot of bad batted ball luck. Adulles Garcia, when he makes contact, it’s really, really hard. But it at this point, watching Adulles Garcia at bats, it looks like his pitch recognition is just awful. It looks like he just has no idea what’s coming. He’s just swinging and and praying at this point. And that is a way that you can just get out of this league immediately. Doesn’t matter how good your defense is, even in right field. I mean, he’s been one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball this year. Outside of Will Breu, it’s probably Garcia that’s the second best defensive right fielder. That’s been keeping him alive. Whereas, you know, Marcus Simeon’s defense has stayed consistent. His bat dipped down last year and Adulles was just kind of a disaster last year offensively and defensively. But, uh, maybe that fixes it. I don’t know exactly how you’re going to, you know, change that. Um, a little another couple of the suggestions that Evan Grant had was to play small ball earlier. Maybe that fixes it. He also suggested to put on base percentage uh, as a a top factor in the lineup construction. Well, this team has not had a problem with getting on base. It’s just hitting with runners in scoring position. And I don’t know that adding more guys on base is going to help this team score better with runners in scoring position. had so many opportunities all season long, especially the last couple weeks. Well, not in this series against Toronto. They just didn’t have any opportunities and they didn’t do anything with the no opportunities that they had. Um, but the last one was one that I I wanted to touch on a little bit more. He said to he suggested to change Sebastian Walcott’s position. Sebastian Walcott’s not coming up to the big leagues this year. It it’s not happening. I I thought maybe maybe it would happen, but with how he started, it’s not been a bad start by any means. He’s he’s a good player. Again, he has a very very bright future ahead of him. I do think eventually that’s going to be in the card for Sebastian Walcott of moving to maybe an outfield position because the Rangers infield is so locked down uh for right now. You got Cory Seager for the next however many seasons. You got Josh Young for the next however many seasons, Josh Smith and Marcus Simeon as well. And then Jake Burgerer at first base in the outfield. Well, Adel Garcia’s got, I believe, one more year under contract and the Rangers might end up ding dfaing him at some point this season. I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen Sebastian Walcott at all in the outfield. I talked with with Frisco on media day about, hey, what position is he going to play? And he said, well, whatever helps the big league team, I’m I’m game for. Any position, well, outside of catcher, he’s like, I’m game. He’s got the speed to play maybe center field. He’s definitely got the cannon of an arm to play right field. He’s definitely got the size to play right field. So far this year, he’s played 32 games, 33 games at shortstop, 10 games at DH, and two games at third base. Last year, he played 21 games at third base, and 81 games at shortstop. He has not yet played the outfield. I’m a little surprised by that. I think eventually that will change and we’ll see him, but I think changing that position and focusing it on what would help this offense this year, that’s not going to happen. Unless Sebastian Walcott absolutely lit the Texas League on fire to start this season, it’s not going to happen. having a good season, but I would very much temper those expectations of a teenager to come and save this offense. Coming up, we’re talk about who might be saving this bullpen. A big day for Cody Bradford, a big night from Kamar Rocker last night and how they’re going to fit into this roster right after this. This show is brought to you by Trade Coffee. Trade is the number one coffee destination in the US, delivering fresh, incredible coffee from over 50 of the country’s top roasters. Whether you’re a cold brew or a pore over purist, they’ve got the roast that you’ll love. I took the trades quiz. It only took a minute. In their first bag they sent me, it was spot on. The coffee was fresh. It smelled amazing. And honestly, it ruined grocery store coffee for me in the best possible way. And the first match isn’t perfect. Trade will replace it for free until they get it just right. I love that their prices are comparable with grocery store brands, but the flavor is on a whole different level. So, right now, Trade is exclusively offering our customers 50% off your one month trial at drinktrade.com/lockdonmlb. That’s tr [Music] a.com/lockdonmlb for 50% off your one month trial. Drinktrade.com/lockdonmlb. Shout out to the speaking locked on Rangers your first listen every single day. This weekend you’ve got the locked on Rangers postcast with Jeff Biggs coming to you after every single game this weekend against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just looking ahead a little bit at this weekend series. The Rangers will face off against three pretty decent starting pitchers. Matthew Liberator, who has been a top prospect, a left-handed pitcher for St. Louis the last couple of years. came over in a big trade with the Tampa Bay Rays that initially looked pretty sour uh for the St. Louis Cardinals, but this year Liberator has really really turned it on. He is a very talented left-handed pitcher and he is doing something that the Cardinals have not been able to do in a long time and be a homegrownish starting pitcher. Then Sunny Gay Sunny Gray goes on Saturday. He has been fine this year. Then we see Eric Fetty on Sunday. This is a Cardinals team that has been one of the hotter teams in baseball. They don’t slug a whole lot, but they hit a whole lot of base hits. Not a whole lot of home runs out there. They play a pretty darn good defense. They have a pretty deep uh lineup so far this season, including uh former Ranger great Johel Poso, the catcher with a very, very good uh bat to ball ability, not as great defensive abilities. We’ll also see probably a little bit of Thomas Saji, the prospect who the Rangers traded in the Jordan Montgomery trade. He has been doing very well for them so far this season. Rangers could really use Thomas to JC, but they could very much use that World Series ring that they could not have gotten without Jordan Montgomery just a little bit more. This should be um a really difficult weekend series because the Cardinals have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last month. They had a nine-game winning streak earlier this month. They’ve had winning streaks of three, three, and now they are riding a two-game winning streak heading into this series, winning five out of their last six. Uh this is going to be a tough opponent. the Raiders could use some reinforcements, honestly with their offense. But the way they’re getting their reinforcements is with the pitching staff. Cody Bradford, who has not pitched all season long in the big leagues, in the minor leagues, in the any leagues because of that elbow soreness he had been dealing with, he is going to throw breaking balls today. Now, you may be asking, okay, cool. What what’s different about that? Well, that is the last test for pitchers before they start going on rehab assignment. He was shut down with some soreness in his elbow before the season started, right before the season started. Honestly, pretty terrible timing of that elbow, which is why the Rangers went out to go and sign Patrick Corbin, who has been really darn good to the point where uh when Bradford comes back, I don’t see him cracking into this rotation. I think he’s good enough. Honestly, I think right now, if the Rangers built him all the way up, he might be better than what Jack Lighter is doing right now. He might be better than uh well what they’re getting out of Patrick Corbin. He’s probably better than Kobar Rocker who we’ll talk about in just a second. Um but right now the Rangers bullpen needs help. They need a decent bit of help. The top end is is pretty darn good. Robert Garcia solidifying himself as a closer. I think he should stay in that role. Hobie Milner’s been very good so far this season. Whenever Chris Martin gets back, he has been excellent for the most part this season. I would think that he stays in that eighth inning role. Hobie Milner gets more in that position. But I think that Cody Bradford is going to make the move to the pen. It will get him back to this roster quicker and the Rangers just need more good arms in the pen. I mean, Jacob Latz has been pretty solid so far out there in the pen. And I think that Cody Bradford is a guy who could use against both righties and lefties. He’s got a good fast ball and change up combination, which means he can be successful against right-handed hitters. And uh well the Rangers have some other guys who can be absolutely murderous on lefties like Kobe Milner, like Jacob Webb. Webb has not been good against right-handed pitchers, right-handed hitters, but he’s been very good against left-hand hitters. So uh maybe it’s kind of a reverse platoon kind of situation. Not a lugie, but a a luri left on right only specialist, whatever acronym actually makes that work. Um, but I I’m very excited to see what how this goes with Cody Bradford. And it’s a tipping point. It’s honestly a tipping point for next year as well because if he starts to feel something, the doctors say, “Hey, when you start to come back, you’re going to feel great. You’re going to take four weeks off. You’re not going to throw at all. Then you’re going to start to throw a little bit. You’re going to long toss. Then you’re going to get into a bullpen. You’re going to start throwing fast balls and change ups. And your arm’s going to feel good. And if you feel something, it is going to be when you start throwing breaking balls, um, which is today. And I would anticipate that whenever John Gray comes back with how decent this how good the starting rotation has been, the Rangers could use John Gray in the bullpen. I think he might be a he’s a decent starter. He’s proved himself to be a decent starter, but I think he could be an excellent late leverage relief arm, relief arm, and I also think that would get him back a little bit faster. You wouldn’t have to build these guys up to their starters workload and then introduce them. you could just say, “Okay, you’re ready to pitch. You’re ready to throw, you know, 15, 20, 25 pitches in a night as opposed to, you know, 75, 80, 90, 100 pitches in a night. You can get those guys back faster. You can get them in more big league games.” And I think that this Rangers pen definitely could use some help because, you know, the back end of the bull, but they’ve got three solid guys, but you need more guys who can give you quality leverage innings, especially when this offense is scoring so few runs. the starting pitchers are keeping this team in games, but the Rangers need a lot of guys who can pitch leverage innings because it feels like at this point, unless the Rangers are losing, every inning is a leverage inning. So, getting fewer leverage innings from Jacob Webb and Luke Jackson at this point, I think would be helpful. Sean Armstrong has been fine, but not great. And if you can get an upgrade there with a John Gray or with a Cody Bradford, I think that will definitely help this team quite a bit. And some other reinforcements that’s coming along the way is of course Kamar Rocker. Last night he threw four near well he threw four perfect innings and then he rocked the guy in the top of the fifth and then he was done in his rehab assignment in Triple A with Round Rock against the Reno Aces who uh did not do a whole lot against Kamar Rocker. Rocker was excellent in his four innings of work. He walked just one. He struck out five. He threw 53 pitches, 35 of which were for strikes. And he looked like, well, he looked like Kamar Rocker. This was an exceptional outing for him. The slider was working incredibly well. He got eight swings on it. Six of those were swings and misses. He got three swings and misses on the four seam fast ball, which he was throwing a bit much for my liking. But for me, the most interesting thing, I’m not sure if this was just the Trackman data in AAA that was having issues, but he threw seven cutters. Now, the cutter is a pitch that Rocker has allegedly had for well all of last season and maybe a little bit of the season before it. May maybe a little bit in 2023. He apparently threw it a couple of times when he was in high A, but we didn’t really get to see much of that before he had Tommy John surgery. I don’t think he was throwing in the Arizona Fall League in his first bit of organized baseball with the Texas Rangers back in 2022. um the year that he was drafted. But he looked great. He threw those 53 pitches. He got a lot of swings and misses on the slider. He got a few swings and misses on the four seam fast, which he was throwing a bit too much. But him throwing the cutter seven times of those 53 pitches. He threw 23 forcing fast balls, 14 sliders, seven cutters, six sinkers, and three change ups. He didn’t throw the curve ball at all in that one because he, well, he didn’t really need it. I’d like to see him incorporate that curveball just a little bit more. I’m excited to see what that cutter can look like. Just give hitters a different look. I think that would be a very, very good thing for him, especially against left-handed hitters. I think that could be very, very helpful. Now, whenever he gets his pitch count up to 70, 80, is he going to jump back into this rotation? I don’t know. I don’t think so. At this point, I think some time down there in AAA is going to help him. it’s going to be tough for him to learn all that much because if he can throw the four seam fast ball this many times and just no hit everybody in TripleA again this shows you how different the big leagues are than AAA how far the difference is between the big leagues and AAA you go back and look at some of his pitches he he threw quite a few not that many but enough forcing fast balls right over the middle of the plate that I think big leaguers would have crushed but AAA hitters absolutely did not crush it at that point now I’m I’m excited to see what Kamar Rockar can I would think he would have at least one more rehab outing. He was up to 53 pitches. Maybe the next one he gets up to 60 65 pitches and then after that he’s built up to 70 75 and then you could see him maybe on a big league mount or maybe he just stays in tripleA at this point. I’m not entirely sure what the best move is for Kamar Rocker at this point. Jack Lighter has been slipping a little bit as of late. Patrick Corbin hasn’t been as good as of late and I don’t think the Rangers are going to put Kamar Rocker in their bullpen as a late leverage arm. They need to get his innings up. They need to get his workload up so that next year hopefully he can just be a regular part of the Rangers rotation and give them 150 to 180 innings like you would hope a normal starter does and maybe take that next step. But we’re going to look a little bit back on this next segment. Vice Sports’s The Grudge talked about Jose Bautista versus Rug Odor and I want to look back at that series and how far the Rangers and the Blue have come since then. Talk about that and more right after this. This show is brought to you by Supply House. Get the supplies you need from the site that’s made for the skilled trades. Supply house. Whether you’re in plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work, Supply House is the reliable way to order products online. Their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Plus, with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands, you find exactly what you need delivered fast from coast to coast. Need help with an order? Supply offers expert support and industryleading service, so you’ll always talk to a real person. And for the pros looking for an extra edge, their free tradem program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line, free shipping, and discounts on every order. So join the Trademaster program today at supplyhouse.com/tm and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code sh for 5% off your first order. That’s supply house.com. Now, this week, Vice Sports unveiled a new episode of The Grudge, a series that they are doing, previewing and talking about, you know, big rivalries. They they’ve done episodes on Max Verstappen versus Lewis Hamilton. They’ve done ones on Manny Pacquiao uh versus Floyd Mayweather, all kinds of other big grudges, but they talked about one that was definitely related to the Texas Rangers in this midweek series, a a revisitation of a series long gone, a rivalry that was very intense and uh very brief of the Rangers versus the Toronto Blue Jays. And my goodness, just thinking about how long it’s been since that series, it was a good it was a good episode and and reminded me of a few details that I didn’t remember of just some things that I had blocked out of my mind because honestly was so incredibly frustrating how that 2015 series end. It was one of the weirdest games that we’ve seen um maybe ever. I had completely forgotten about that weird play with Ruben Odor on third third base and uh the the Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin threw a ball back to the pitcher and it bounced off Shinszu Chu’s bat and for some reason it was a live ball and Retor scored the go-ahad run at that point and then I do remember the uh Toronto fans booing and throwing trash on the field. I mean, that was just such a frustrating end of the series and especially right after it. Sam Dyson not being helped out by his defense. a big error by Elvis. I was about to say Elvis Presley, Elvis Andrews, and just other defensive misplays immediately after that that led up to the bat flip heard around the world from Jose Bautista and just a wildly weird controversial moment that accumulated in the best punch in baseball history. and just going back and looking at those rosters, looking at those teams and and how different things turned out than than I thought they would in 2016 and and how different those teams looked. I mean, you look back on the rosters of the 2016 Blue Jays and the 2016 Rangers, there’s not a whole lot of guys that are even still in the big leagues. It’s only nine years later and there were a lot of young, very talented players on both those teams. Well, there’s one fewer cuz Kevin Polar is no longer in the big leagues and I don’t know that he’s ever going to get a shot. I honestly forget that Kevin Polar was on that 2016 Toronto Blue Jays team that was involved in that tussle or should I say that beautiful punch to the face of Jos Bautista. He was on the Rangers this year for well until this series. I think it was right before the series that that Kevin Polar was let go. Um, but just looking at the roster, there’s basically six, seven players that are still in the big leagues at all from from Toronto. There’s just one player that’s still in the big leagues. It’s it’s Marcus Strowman. That’s it. Udar is still in the big leagues kind of a little bit on the Padres’s. Martine Perez is still in the big leagues. If you count the Chicago White Socks as the big leagues, Lor still in the big leagues. Luke Jackson still in the big leagues. Nick Martinez spent some time away from the big leagues and then came back. Jerks and Proar he had his whole saga now he’s on the Braves he’s still in the big leagues but you look at the the main players in that series and while it makes sense that Jose Bautista isn’t still in the big leagues because he is um what 44 at this point I don’t think that he would be um sticking in the big leagues necessarily that long but you look at the the young Rangers at that point you look at how bright the future seemed at that point and and how quickly things had gone off the rails. I mean, Jerick Proar was 23 at that point. He he had just suffered and come back from that what ended up being career derailing injury in 2014, which is just an awful season. Prince Fielder was 32 at that point. We didn’t know that that was going to be the next to last season that he ever played in the big leagues. Actually, that might have been uh the last season that Prince Fielder ever played in the big leagues. Was Yeah, it was 2016. The final season Prince Fielder ever played in the big leagues. Iron Man having a neck issue completely his career. I mean, Ellis Andrews was off that team four years later. Ruben Odor out of baseball now. He He’s barely 30. He is barely 30. He is completely out of baseball. And Joey Gallow is now attempting a comeback as a pitcher. I mean, it just goes to show you how. and Noar Mazzora, who was 21 at that point. He’s also just barely 30. This would be his age 30 season. And the last time he played in the big leagues was 2022. It’s been three years since he’s played in the big leagues. I don’t know where he’s playing right now, if he is even playing baseball still. No, he’s playing in the Mexican Independent League for the last two years. A guy that was one of the top prospects in baseball. He’s he’s hitting over 300 the last couple years. I don’t think that that necessarily means a comeback is on the horizon. But I mean, my goodness, just thinking about how quickly windows shut and how weird it was the Rangers lost that series, especially in 2015 or in 2016 when the Rangers lost by just getting their two aces pummeled. I mean, two of the best hitter or two of the best pitchers in baseball and U Darbish and Cole Haml just getting obliterated. That was probably the last way I expected those Rangers teams to go out back then. But it goes to show you, I mean, with this Rangers current window, I mean, I I didn’t think it’d be open that long, but you luck into a White Langford, especially in 2023, I was like, “Okay, the window’s open right now. You absolutely need to go for it.” And that’s why I give a lot of credit to Chris Young for being so aggressive. If the Rangers do end up, you know, having this window shut prematurely, which it shouldn’t be. It it should be open for quite a while. I mean, Wyatt Langford should be a good big league player for quite a while. The last month has been awful for him. And you look at where this team was heading into 2024. Looked like, okay, this team’s coming off a World Series run. They didn’t even have, you know, Jacob Deg Grom there. They didn’t even have any bit of Wyatt Langford contributing there. At that point, Evan Carter was 21 years old. And, you know, it was like, okay, look at him. We got we got this 21-year-old and 22 year old. They’re going to man our outfield for the next, you know, five, six seasons, and they’re going to be awesome. Oh, we also have this young all-star in Josh Young who’s who’s been incredible. We got this, you know, dynamic, you know, core middle infield that is the best in baseball and they’re still in their primes. And you have, you know, with Garcia coming off of an incredible season heading into 2024. I mean, it just everything looked up and they’re like, “Oh, we also got Leo Tver. Like, we don’t even know what to do. We don’t even have a spot for White Langford basically just to DH this 22-year-old because we have so many spots in our lineup and such a deep offense. And not to mention Josh Young, Josh Smith and Ezekiel Duran coming off the bench. I’m like, “Wow, this team is just so loaded for so many years to come.” And then boom, here we are in 2025 after a mediocre to awful 2024 in the middle of what feels like a drastically bad, but in reality is only by record medium bad first two months of the season and you realize like these things can change in a heartbeat. These windows can close and shut. These rivalries can can boil over and change in a heartbeat. I mean, you look at the Toronto Blue Jays roster right now. I mean, there’s nobody on that roster that had anything to do with that controversy. I mean, George Springer was in the league at that point, but he had nothing to do with that controversy. He played the Blue Jays and knocked them out in 2015 in the ALCS. Um, I mean, that was 2016. No, that was 2015 that he knocked them out in the ALCS. Um, and then you look at Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the star, the face of this franchise. It feels like he’s been there forever. He had just signed in 2015 as an international free agent in 2015. That’s how long it’s been. That’s how much turnover it’s been. And this rivalry burned bright. It burned so brightly for two seasons and then immediately so much changeover. So much mediocrity from these teams. And it’s hard to have a rivalry when both the teams are mediocre. Well, there’s definitely no, you know, resurgence of that rivalry in this. And right now the Rangers have a pretty heated rivalry with the Houston Astros. But if the Astros and Rangers are mid and there’s not going to be that much vitriol, there’s not going to be that much sustaining of this rivalry. It’s always going to be there a little bit because of just the geographical tension which you didn’t have with the Rangers and the Blue Jays. But again, it just reminds you of how fleeting baseball championship windows can open and how fleeting these rivalries can be and how fleeting a window to be even decent can just shut on you like that. And if the Rangers don’t turn things around, if they don’t fix things quickly, then my goodness, we could be heading into yet another four or five years of obscurity and mediocrity. What a fun way to end the show on Friday. But it has just been that kind of week. Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing. And until next time, don’t forget to enjoy baseball.

The Texas Rangers might have added depth soon in their bullpen with the return of Cody Bradford and Kumar Rocker. Will Jon Gray also end up in the bullpen when he returns?

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOTXRangers?sid=YouTube

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Wonderful Pistachios
Looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more.

Supply House
Join the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch
Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)