ARLINGTON — The New York Yankees used high-profile trade deadline acquisition David Bednar, a closer whom the Texas Rangers also pursued, to navigate the late innings in Monday night’s series opener. The Rangers meanwhile did not touch the arm that they’ve designated to close games for the better half of this season.
It’s a sign of the situation that the Rangers find themselves in.
It may be a sign of a change in philosophy, too.
The Rangers did not warm up left-handed closer Robert Garcia, whom manager Bruce Bochy deemed available after a weekend bout with back spasms and blown saves, and instead used a trio of relievers that included rookie right-hander Luis Curvelo in Monday’s win in extra innings vs. the Yankees at Globe Life Field.
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Bochy committed to Garcia as the club’s closer Saturday after he blew a save in Friday’s loss to the Seattle Mariners and bemoaned the notion that “everybody wants to make a move” after one rough outing. He acknowledged before Monday’s game the desire to give Garcia a “softer landing,” otherwise known as low-leverage situations, after his back spasms and weekend struggles. Monday’s game, in which the Rangers either trailed by a run or were tied with the Yankees for the final seven innings until third baseman Josh Jung’s walkoff home run, was admittedly, not exactly that.
He was significantly less committal Tuesday afternoon, though, when asked if Garcia will remain the team’s full-time closer after said soft return.
“I’m not going to —,” Bochy started before he shifted gears. “I think, if you look at our bullpen, we’re comfortable closing with three or four guys.”
Bochy’s comments can be interpreted as, at the very least, confirmation that Garcia will no longer function as the sole and de facto closer after consecutive blown saves against the Mariners this past weekend.
The 29-year-old left-hander, whom the Rangers acquired from the Washington Nationals this winter in exchange for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, has closed games for the Rangers since right-hander Luke Jackson lost the job more than two months ago. He has a 3.21 ERA in 49 games this season and his peripheral numbers (like a 116 ERA+ and a 3.56 FIP) are reflective of a more-than-capable bullpen arm.
Other metrics — such as his 7.20 ERA in high-leverage situations or 4.19 ERA in the ninth inning — suggest a worrisome trend. Bochy said Monday on the Rangers Sports Network pregame show that Garcia has tried to “bull his way through these guys” lately instead of “pitching” and flatly said that the method “doesn’t work up here.”
He also declared that the Rangers will consider “the best possibility, or the best candidate” for save situations.
It’s not a dissimilar position to the one that Texas was in five months ago in Surprise, Ariz., when it entered spring training without an experienced closer on the roster. It’s also what led to an unsuccessful pursuit of a proven ninth-inning arm at last Thursday’s trade deadline and will now lead to closer-by-committee arrangement: the Rangers do not have an obvious candidate to serve as a full-time closer more than two-thirds of the way through the season, though they do believe they have capable arms to cobble a tenable situation together.
Bochy stressed the importance of “pockets” in late-game situations to put individual relievers in the best position to help the team in critical moments or to give them a matchup advantage. He said that the team’s two bullpen deadline acquisitions — closers or not — will allow him to be more flexible in the ninth inning. The Rangers used left-handed Danny Coulombe, whom they acquired from the Minnesota Twins last week, to pitch the 10th inning of Monday’s win. The 35-year-old elicited a double play to strand the ghost runner on base and set up Jung’s walkoff home run in the bottom half of the frame.
“A lot of times that’s your closer [in that] situation,” Bochy said. “We would be comfortable if it lined up right with [Coulombe] closing, or [Hoby] Milner, the two lefties we have there, along with Garcia.”
Bochy said that right-hander Phil Maton, whom the Rangers landed in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals last week, should be considered a candidate because “he probably has more experience than anybody down there in a high-leverage role.”
Chris Martin, a 39-year-old right-hander sidelined with a calf strain, mght figure into the mix once he returns from the injured list. Bochy once again shut down the notion that right-hander Jon Gray, a starter by trade now in the bullpen, could shift into the ninth inning.
They have options.
Just, maybe, not the option.
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