Can Texas Rangers rebuild bullpen with buy-low relievers like Shawn Armstrong, Jose Leclerc?
Last year, Chris Young rebuilt the Rangers bullpen with a lot of very successful buy low deals on relievers. Can he do it again this year? Talk about 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 podcast network. Your team every day. You are locked onto the Texas Rangers, the first and best daily Rangers podcast. I’m Bryce Patrick, a criminally addicted Texas Rangers fan covering this team for 12 seasons, including all seven as the founder and host of this podcast. Thank you so much for making Locked OnRangers your first listen every single day. Part of the Locked On podcast network, now the number one sports podcast network. If you’re not already, you can follow me on Twitter, Brycepatrick. You can follow the show at Locked On Rangers. Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube where the best way you can help grow grow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below. Now on today’s show we’re talking about the Rangers bullpen problem, what they’re going to do and if they have to shop in the bargain bin for some relievers. I’m going to talk about what options they have on this free agent market. Before we get into all of that, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. download the FanDuel app today. Now, before we get into all of that, there’s a little bit of news and notes that I wanted to get to before we were talking before we start talking about about all of the relievers that the Rangers can, should, will might, could be maybe sign this off season. The first bit of news is that I talked a little bit about it on uh yesterday’s show. The Mariners signing the first big domino this off season. Josh Naylor on a five-year deal. the the money came out today. I thought that it would be a very very expensive deal if this early in free agency, one of the guys who is projected to be maybe not definitely not the top hitter at his position, but one of the top guys on this market. If he is signing this early, he must have been blown away with an offer and five years $95 million for a first baseman. That is a lot of money. I don’t think it’s something the Rangers will do in terms of spending lots of money on first baseman. They have shown that is not a position that they are usually willing to spend a whole lot of money on. Really the whole league is not spending a whole lot of money on first base. So the Seattle must really really like what they got from Josh Naylor last year. He was infectious. He was a very good player for them. It was a big part of them going further in the postseason than they have ever gone before. Um but this this is some big news around the AL West. The other bit of news that I have been waiting on for literally the entire season. I’ve heard no updates on until last night. Shout out to fan graphs and teped participation for tweeting this out. Alejandra Rosario, formerly the Rangers top pitching prospect as recently as well the the start of this season. Well, before the season, more more Februaryish. He was a Rangers top pitching prospect. I had him ahead of Jack Lighter. I had him ahead of Kamar Kamar Rocker. I had him ahead of literally everybody else in this system. But he finally underwent Tommy John surgery or I guess elbow reconstruction surgery. I think it is the full Tommy John surgery. He tore his UCL back in March and for eight months we had no updates on whether or not he had had the surgery from I guess it was technically seven months because in April was the last time we heard about Alejandro Rosario having putting off the Tommy John surgery and now he is going to miss not only all of the 2025 season which he has already missed. He is going to miss all of 2026. Hopefully spring training 2027 is what Chris Young said. I don’t know why they waited this long. It seemed like it was a full tear. It seemed like there was not a situation where waiting on this to maybe heal itself would be the scenario. It almost never works with UCL repairs. W with Cody Bradford. It wasn’t quite a full tear. So I understood waiting a little bit more for him. He had his surgery somehow four months earlier than than Alejandro Rosario did. So Cody Bradford is also missing not only all of 2025 but all of 2026 as well. And you know for all these budget problems Range is having a lot of that might have been helped or not quite all solved but at least improved by having one maybe two extra pitchers who are pre-arbitration guys. If Alejandra Rosario had just missed all of this season, maybe by the end of 2026, he’s making his big league debut. Cody Bradford, had he missed just 2025. Maybe he’s back sometime around May um in 2026 and holding down a spot in this rotation, the Rangers wouldn’t have to go and sign a free agent starting pitcher. Or maybe just one guy for depth purposes. But alas, that’s where we are. Finally, the weird saga of Alejandro Rosario. Will he won’t he have Tommy John surgery? Is he even still alive? He is still alive. He has had surgery. He is going to pitch at some point eventually in the future, but it is not going to be tomorrow. But the Rangers are in a little bit of a self-imposed budget crisis if they can only play at the bottom end of the free agent pool for relievers. This these are the guys who I want them to target. Now, last year, the Raiders did a great job of this. They did a a truly fantastic job of buying low on these relievers. It’s something that I believe Chris Young can do very very well. It’s something he just did very well. I mean, look at how much he spent on each reliever this year. The Rangers had to buy, I believe it was four different free agent relievers. They signed Sean Armstrong for less than $2 million, about a million and a quarter, and he was fantastic. Hobie Milner was around $2.5 million. He was really darn good. They got Jacob Webb for a pretty reasonable rate, also below $2 million. They sh sign signed Fris Martin. He was the most expensive and even he was under where he was supposed to sign, he was around, I believe, $5 million this year where he was projected for somewhere in the 10 to 12 maybe $15 million range. So the Rangers, if they do need to rebuild their pen entirely on some Milo guys, there are a lot of options there. And I trust what the Rangers front office actually wants to do versus what I’m projecting what I want or think they might do. I think buying low is where the Rangers will get. They need to sign four relievers. I think they will get at least two, if not three. Hopefully not all four relievers that they go and acquire this off season. Maybe we see more of a trade like we saw last year to bring in Robert Garcia at the expense of Nathaniel Low kind of moving some of that money around. But these are the guys on the market that are I’d say buy low less than $5 million is where all of these guys are that I think the Rangers can at least kick the tires on and I would be very in favor of bringing these guys in. First guy on this list, somebody I’ve talked about quite a bit this off seasonason. That’s Shawn Armstrong. Coming off of a great season with the Texas Rangers, a 231 RA, 74 innings, nine saves, which was by far a careerhigh. He has 17 saves in his career. Nine of those, more than half of those came this season. He had 74 strikeouts, exactly a strikeout per inning pitched. He was so much better in the second half than he was in the first half. An erra a little bit north of three in the first half and a 113 RA in the second half. This guy was absolutely dominant and he was dominant in a way that’s really interesting and I don’t know if he can replicate it, but it’s how he’s had success so far in his career. So maybe this is just who he is at this point, but throwing fast balls in the zone, blowing them by guys while not having good fast ball velocity. Averaged 93.8 mph with the fast ball last year, 93 and a half on the four seamer. And that’s where he did a lot of his damage. He was just living with the four seam fast in the zone. Really just a three primarily three pitch pitcher. He also has a sweeper, but he’s really three different versions of a fast. So, he’s got a four seamer cutter and a sinker and all of those look very similar out of the hand and he is able to have success throwing it in the zone. He does not walk guys really at all. Not an elite strikeout guy, but a good enough strikeout guy that you could throw him in high lever spots. Last year, he was very successful for the Rangers in those high levered spots. He’s projected to sign a one-year $4 million deal. And of the guys who are free agents for the Texas Rangers, internal guys with what they’re projected to make according to Spotre, this is my top option to bring back. I think that it’s the most important to bring back Shawn Armstrong. He was excellent last year. And if you can get a guy who is your eighth or I I would even trust Shawn Armstrong. If Shawn Armstrong is the most expensive reliever the Raiders go and sign this off season, I would be okay with that. I wouldn’t be enthralled with it, but I would be okay with it and I’d feel comfortable with Shawn Armstrong coming into camp as the Rangers day one closer. Maybe the Rangers closer problem was they just picked the wrong guy to close out game to start this season. Maybe they shouldn’t have gone with Luke Jackson. Maybe if they went with Shawn Armstrong from the start of this season. Maybe they win a lot more of those close games. Maybe they don’t blow as many saves. I I don’t know. But they’d have to throw somebody in the innings in the seventh or eighth or sixth, wherever they threw Shawn Armstrong previously. But Sean Armstrong is a guy who I trust I I trusted more than anybody at really any point in the Rangers bullpen for the for the duration of the season. We really only had a couple really basically just one bad game where he really blew a game. I mean that I really felt was was truly his fault. But at $4 million for a quality reliever that you can throw in high leverage, who I don’t know if I’d trust him as as the closer in, you know, a World Series game because his stuff isn’t particularly electric, but he was so darn effective last year in basically every spot the Rangers threw him in that I would be over the moon if the Rangers brought back Shawn Armstrong. I think of these guys, that would be my priority one of anybody on this list, Shawn Armstrong is my number one. of the buy low guys. Not really buying all that low, but at $4 million, if you can spend that much on a free agent, leverage reliever that you think you can trust and is going to be anywhere near what he was last year, that is one heck of a bargain. Coming up, we’re talking about a couple of former Rangers. Could they come back after rough seasons outside of the Texas organization? All that and more right after this. This show is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss out on the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. Let’s look at some of these odds that FanDuel has right now for the World Series. Of course, Dodgers are the favorites after this signing. The Seattle Mariners are up to plus,00. fourth favorite to win the World Series. Second best odds in the American League behind on the Yankees. Dodger favorite at plus 350. Yankees plus 700. Phillies at plus a,000 and then Mariners right there tied with the Mets at plus,100. Right now FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to FanDuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Now, shout out to the area for making locked on Ranger first every single day. On tomorrow’s show, I’ll be talking a little bit about Adoulles Garcia, what the Rangers can and should do with him, what a trade for him might look like, and uh when the Rangers might end up making that move on tomorrow’s episode of Locked on Rangers. Now, the next guy on this list is another former Ranger uh pretty recently former Ranger. That is Danny Kulom. The Rangers traded for him at mid-season from the Minnesota Twins. did not give up a whole lot for him, but they also did not particularly get a whole lot from Danny Kulum this year. Missed a little bit of time with some injuries and a couple of bad games really soiled his entire run with the Texas Rangers. He’s heading into his age 36 season, projected to sign a one-year $4.3 million deal, which might be a bit much, but coming off of what the season that he came off of, and really the last couple of seasons, he hasn’t really had a bad season, a truly bad overall season since 2018 with with Oakland, an erra north of four and a half that season. Missed all of 2019, and then only pitched in a couple of games in 2020. Didn’t allow a single earned run in literally those two games. But I mean, last year overall, you look at what he did with Minnesota before the Rangers traded for him, and he was fantastic. 40 games, a 116 RA, 31 innings, 31 strikeouts. Now with Texas, a 525 RA, a lot of that’s inflated from basically two really horrendous games. I’m not trying to underell those two games, but when you only pitch in 15 games, if two of them are horrible as a reliever, that could really blow up and inflate your numbers. Overall, not the best season, but you look at some of the expected numbers, the chase rate, the average exit velocity, the barrel rate. I mean, he really does not give up hard contact. He’s tough on lefties. He’s tough on righties. He gets a good number of strikeouts. Not a whole lot of velocity, but a guy who is just a funky funky lefty in a different way than the Taylor Rogers kind of a way of an underhander. is just he’s fascinating to watch and I have a little bit of bias towards him being a Texas Tech Red Raider at $4 million. Maybe this is a little bit more than the Rangers would be willing to spend to bring Danny Kulum back. I mean, he he’s did not pitch all that much the last couple of seasons, less than 30 innings in 2024 and only 43 innings this year and then 51 innings in 2023. Not exactly the peak of durability, but there is definitely a very good pitcher in there. The Rangers saw it at times. Not a whole lot, but for four $4.3 million, maybe a bit over what the Rangers would be willing to spend. If it’s somewhere more in the 2.5 to $3 million range, I think that makes more sense for a reunion. Next guy on this list is another guy who signed a much bigger contract and had a lot more injury problems than Danny Kulum. Another former Ranger, Kirby Yates, projected to sign a one-year, $1.1 million deal. He’s heading into his age 39 season and his first year with the Dodgers was just straight up awful. I mean really a tough tough year for him after the best season of his career. His second all-star appearance with Texas in 2024 coming off of a 117 erra season with 85ks per 85ks in 61 and two/3 innings. this year an RA north of five with the Dodgers. Spent time on the IO with multiple right hamstring strains which caused him to miss the entirety of the postseason. Still gets a ring, so good for him. Also missed a little bit of time with a back strain. He’s going to be heading into his age 39 season. So again, a little bit on the older side, but still last year overall the expected numbers were a lot better. He’s still striking out the entire world. He’s still getting a lot of swings and misses, a lot of strikeouts, still not allowing a lot of hard contact. Even while he was not giving up, he was not getting a whole lot of ground balls. Still had a little bit of problem with the walks. Hart, hit harder, a little bit harder than he was in 2024 with Texas. But I think a lot of that had to do with the injuries that were, you know, holding him back this year. And I don’t think the Rangers would get, you know, the best version of him if they signed him at this point. It’s hard to expect the best version of anybody heading into their age 39 season, but it wasn’t that long ago with Texas that he was the maybe the best closer in the game. Uh well, at least the best clothes in the game that wasn’t um I guess maybe maybe Class wasn’t gambling on games at the time, but for $1 million, I think buying low on Kirby is something the Raiders had a lot of success with in 2024. I think it’s something they could have a lot of success with in 2026 as well. And even if he’s, you know, closer to the Atlanta version of himself post injury around a a 33 erra, still around 12ks per nine, that is a very, very helpful reliever. And even if he’s not your closer, $1.1 million for a guy who is a helpful back-end reliever, is just an absolute steal and someone who I would love to see back in a Texas Rangers uniform. Next guy on this list, Ryan Stannic. The former New York Met, former Seattle Mariner. spent a lot of time all around the league. A little bit of time at Houston as well. So, a third stop in the AL West. Why not Ryan Stannic? Just keep on knocking off those lists on the AL West. Predicted to sign a one-year $3.9 million deal. A tough year with the Mets last year. Heck, a last a tough last couple years. A 530 RA in 65 games last season. Only finished with three saves. was not really a closer. More than a strikeout per nine, but 5.1 walks per nine innings. Not a great thing for Ryan Stennick. Still throws incredibly hard. Averaging 98 and a half miles an hour with that fast ball. Also has a slider, splitter, and a sweeper. Really primarily relies on the four steamer and the slider. Just 12% on the splitter, 10% on the sweeper. Not a whole lot of ground balls. Maybe a whole lot of money for a guy who really has some big walk problems. got hit hard at a in the 23rd percentile of his hard hit rate, ground ball rate, extension rate, barrel rate, all those in the bottom 10% of baseball. Maybe not exactly who the Rangers are looking for in one year and $4 million. I think that might be a little bit out of the Rangers price range, but definitely a guy to keep an eye on for sure if that market starts to go down and people are not buying in on Ryan Stanick. He’s one of those guys who who’s signing a kind of a deal like the Rangers signed most of their relievers to this offseason coming off of rough years like Hoe Milner coming off of a rough year. If you can get $2.5 million for a guy who can chuck it up to 100 101 I think occasionally touching 102 that might be a worthy investment. Next guy on this list is someone with closer experience. Jordan Romano coming off of a tough season with the Philadelphia Phillies. had spent his entire career with Toronto up to this point. The Phillies signed him on a kind of a attempted a buy low deal for a one-year deal and it was a tough year for Jordan Romano. Spent time on the aisle with middle finger inflammation. He also had some neck stiffness which led to some numbness in his finger, but he had some success when he was on. He had eight saves last season and in those eight saves he was truly exceptional. a 225 erra, 16 strikeouts in eight innings pitched. That’s fantastic. I mean, more than literally two strikeouts per inning in saves. But in save situations, an RA north of 6 and a half, I think this projection is a little bit a little bit on the high side for the kind of a season Jordan Romano is coming off of. He also missed a lot of time in 2024. only pitched in 15 games there. Last year, 49 games, an 823 erra with Philadelphia. And so, I think him signing a one-year $2.8 million deal is a little bit on the high side. You look at his baseball savant page, I mean, the hard hit rate was about league average. Not a whole lot on the chase rate, but the strikeout rate, the whiff rate, all those were good. I mean, still averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched, but the whip, the base runners that he allowed, the walk rate was not horrendous. It’s just he got unlucky with a little bit of the home run luck. And when he was bad, he was really, really bad. If the Rangers think they can fix him, if they think that the neck stiffness and the, you know, middle finger middle finger inflammation were what led to a lot of his underperforming last year, I think this could be a good candidate for a bo guy because he’s he’s been a great closer in seasons past. He was an all-star in 22 and 23 with the Blue Jays. Had 36 saves both of those seasons, 113 career saves. So, a guy who knows what it’s like to be in the back end of the pen and to have some success in those situations. Maybe the Rangers could be a destination for Jordan Romano, but we’ll see what the market ends up looking like for him. If it’s around one year, $2.8 million, I think the Rangers are out. If it’s more in the, you know, one and a half to $2 million range, I think that could be a sweet spot for Texas to go and pounce on a guy if they think there’s something there that they could fix. Coming up, we got a guy who gave up maybe the second most iconic home run in franchise history and a former closer with the Texas Rangers. Could there be another 2023 reunion? Talk about all that and more right after this. Now, the next guy on this list is another former closer. I’ve talked about it a lot this offseason. I mean, most of my episodes recently have been about bullpen options because that’s where the Rangers are going to have to make the most changes. They are going to have to sign several relievers at least three I would say hopefully for maybe they get the fourth one in a different way than just signing a guy. But relievers are weird. They are finicky and you want somebody who has got some closer experience. The Rangers haven’t really had that. Didn’t really have that last year. They didn’t have that lock down closer. They had, you know, four different guys who they were going to try in that spot and they didn’t really find success until the very end of the season when Shawn Armstrong went nuclear. But Paul Seawald could be an option for the Texas Rangers in 2026. Seal is heading into his age 36 season. He has spent time with the Mets, with Seattle, with Arizona, with Cleveland, and Detroit in this past season. With Cleveland was not quite as good. Detroit was a little bit better than he was in Cleveland, but not a whole lot of success last year. A 4.58 erra 22 games for the two those two teams mentioned the AL Central Warrior last year. Only two saves. Not a whole lot of opportunities there, but I mean Cleveland had a had I say had a very good closer at that point in their season and still ended the season with a pretty darn good closer. A lot of good bullpen options and Seawald was kind of a boow guy for him for them. Um and in 2023 that was one of the better seasons of Paul Seabald’s career. He spent time with Seattle to start the season, was traded at mid-season to Arizona where he was mostly fantastic in the postseason until Cory Seager could tie it with one swing and then did it did tie it with one swing off of Paul Seawald. He has 86 career saves, 16 saves in 2024, 34 saves in 2023. That was a careerhigh. Had 20 the year before that and 11 the year before that. Not really a whole lot of save situations that he was in last year with either Cleveland or Detroit. Just the two saves coming when he was in Cleveland to start the season. Coming off of a a tough year, but overall the numbers still still look okay. I mean, the strikeout rate, whiff rate, hard hit rate, all those are are in the red in terms of the baseball. Son Page, the expected batting average, that’s also in the red. Not a guy who’s going to rely a whole lot on fast ball velocity, averaging just 90.4 miles per hour with that four seam fast ball last year. literally just a two pitch pitcher, just that invisible ball fast ball that really really plays up at the top of the zone. Unless you are Cory Seager in the World Series, then it does not play very well up in the zone because Cory Seager is monster. But if he signs for the Texas Rangers, he will not have to face Cory Seager in a major league game. So that would be a nice perk for him to signing with the Rangers. Predicted to sign a pretty big $4.4 million deal. someone would probably kick the tires on him at the closer role after some of these top end guys start to come off the market. If there’s a team who’s like, “Hey, we need a guy who has got that closer experience. They value that closer mentality and and the ability and the experience to go into those situations and know what it’s like to pitch the ninth inning.” And they think, “Hey, that’s different than the other innings. I am more of that persuasion now than I was before this season after seeing how bad the Rangers closer situation was this year.” I think Paul Sewald could make a lot of sense. At $4.5 million, I think that’s a bit out of the Rangers price range for for what he is. Um, for what I think he would be worth for the Rangers to go and sign. The Rangers are going to go spend big money on a closer. I don’t think it’s going to be Paul Sewald. And I think $4.5 million is less than they’d spend if they are going after a big money closer. The next guy on this list does have some closer experience. Not exactly someone who I would want the Rangers plan A to be giving this guy the closer job right out of camp. But that is Jose L. Clerk bringing back the World Series hero on a bo kind of a contract could make a lot of sense. He’s coming off of a tough season with the no longer Oakland A. Signed a one-year $10 million deal with Oakland ahead of the 2025 season, but only pitched in nine games. Missed basically all of last season with a shoulder injury. had surgery on that shoulder in Texas by Dr. Keith Meister. The Rangers team doctor did that surgery. Had a 6.0 erra in 10 games last year with Oakland. Just not a good showing. But overall, we know who Jos L Clerk is. If he is the Rangers six, seventh, eighth inning guy, I I feel very confident about that. If if the plan A is to go and sign three of these guys and then maybe go spend big money on a closer, if the plan is Sean Armstrong plus Kirby Yates plus Jos L Clerk, I’d feel really darn good about that. But shoulder injuries are scary. The Rangers would have to they’d have a first round or first f firstand view of what that shoulder injury looks like because Dr. Keith Meister is their team doctor. They they have an idea of who’s who Jos L Clerk is. there is a level of familiarity because he spent literally his entire career with Texas until this past season and he would go back to being I don’t know if that that would reset the market on him being the longest tenure Texas Ranger because the Rangers did sign him as an amateur so so so many moons ago. But hey, I would be happy to have Pico back in this pen. Not as a closer, but as a high leverage option because even when Pico is bad, the walks, they’re a problem. But he has always striking guys out. He has always been good at getting those swings and misses, those chases out of the zone. And if you can limit the walks to a, you know, tolerable rate, we’ve seen how good the best version of Joseé L Clerk is. and it is good enough to be a closer to bring a team their first ever World Series championship. Now, the last guy on this list, another former Ranger, not a closer with the Texas Rangers, but still a guy who has spent time with three out of the five AL West teams. That’s right. I’m talking about Raphael Montero. Bringing him back could be a big move for the Texas Rangers coming off of a season that was just fine. not particularly great spending time between Detroit last year is where he finished off. He he literally spent time with three different organizations last year. Started the season with Houston, then spent 36 games with the Atlanta Braves and then finished off the season with a 286 RA in 20 games for the Detroit Tigers. Last year, the walk rate was just a huge problem for Raphael Montero in the bottom one% for the first percentile, the worst percentile of walk rate in Major League Baseball. But he did he made up for that by getting a lot of swings and misses, a lot of chase out of the zone, a lot of weak contact. That is what he did really, really well. Also got a lot of ground balls. finished the season with a 448 erra in 59 games, 58 strikeouts in 60 and 1/3 innings. His RA has been right around 5 and a half to above 5 and a half the last couple of seasons. The last really great season that he had was 2022 with Houston a 237 erra in 68 innings and nine and a half caps per nine. And the walks were down to just three three walks per nine, a much more tolerable tolerable rate heading into his age 35 season at $1.1 million. This is a a buy low, a really low kind of a deal for a guy who’s still got some good stuff. The fast ball velocity is still averaging 95 miles an hour with that forcing fast ball. Became much more reliant on the splitter than he was when he was with Texas. Against lefties this year, he threw 63% splitters, 36% forcing fast balls. Didn’t throw a single sinker and threw less than 1% sliders. So basically just a two pitch pitcher against lefties. And then against righties, also threw in the sinker and the slider and the four steamer and the splitter as well. Still an interesting guy with some upside to be a decent back-end reliever. Probably not your closer. Does have 30 career saves in 11 big league seasons. Most of those coming in 2022 with the Houston Astros where he had 14 saves. That was a careerhigh by far. Had eight saves the season before that. And then has had one save since 2022. That was in 2023. has not had a save in the last two seasons, but maybe with Texas, he wouldn’t have to have any saves. I think this could be an interesting option. And again, the Rangers happen to be very, very thrifty with how they rebuild their bullpen. I trust what Chris Young is doing building a bullpen more than I trust really any other GM uh that has been there. I mean, relievers are such a finicky, fickle bunch, and I don’t think the Rangers are going to have the same kind of success rate they had on so many bo guys last year. Like, it is just really, really hard to have that kind of a hit rate on their guys. Really, the only guy that didn’t work out was was well, Luke Jackson, the guy who started the season as the Rangers closer. But other than that, everyone was at least solid to pretty good at times. Not great, not exactly what you’re looking for in a closer, but still pretty solid. And the Rangers have had some success on some boow guys like what they did with Kirby Yates, like what they did this year, like what they have done in some seasons past. Um, overall, I think this is where the Rangers are going to be getting the bulk of their reliever free agents. But I think that is more because they know they can do more with less in the bullpen. And it seems like this offseason they’re probably going to have to. That’s going to do it for today’s show. Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing. And until next time, don’t forget to enjoy baseball.
The Texas Rangers had the best pitching staff in MLB in 2025 but could still use some extra help in the bullpen with so many relievers becoming free agents. Could Texas Rangers pursue mid-tier relievers like Shawn Armstrong, Jordan Romano, Jose Leclerc, Danny Coulombe, Kirby Yates or Paul Sewald?
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!
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.
FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.
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)
4 comments
When the manager is the most exciting signing of the offseason, you know its going to be less than the season you hoped for
Id be fine with Yates as a closer, that is if we're operating on Ray Davis' cheap ass budget.
Is it just that Ray Davis is cheap or is there something deeper about this?
Rangers tied to so many offseason pickups but over half of them are impossible to get