Appropriately, we finish up our series of report cards on different elements of the Rangers roster with the guys who finish up games: The bullpen.
There weren’t any stars out there, but there was performance.
Here’s our take:
Primary cast (minimum 20 appearances, listed by descending order of appearances): Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong, Robert Garcia, Jacob Webb, Chris Martin, Luke Jackson, Jacob Latz, Cole Winn, Caleb Boushley, Phil Maton
Rangers
What went right: The Rangers spent about $15 million to overhaul their entire bullpen and, all things considered, it worked out pretty well. Led by Shawn Armstrong, who dominated right-handed hitters like nobody in baseball (starters included), the bullpen posted a 3.62 ERA, which ranked fifth in baseball. Thanks to good command, they held opponents to a .306 OBP, which ranked fourth best among bullpens, and a .681 OPS, which ranked sixth. And they cleaned up messes pretty well, allowing only 28% of inherited runners to score, which ranked among the 10 best in baseball.
What went wrong: Without a lot of guys with firm track records and no established closer, Bruce Bochy often had to shuffle guys around looking for the hot hand. That instability, combined with an offense that simply shut down late in games and no overpowering arm, led to the bullpen being charged with 37 losses and 29 blown saves. The Rangers ranked among the bottom five in the league in both categories. In addition, they had the sixth-lowest save percentage. They lacked both a power arm to close out games and a high strikeout pitcher. They got a lot of mileage out of what they did have, but they were missing necessary pieces.
What needs answering: How do they rebuild a bullpen all over again? Milner, Armstrong and Martin are all free agents, as are trade acquisitions Danny Coulumbe and Phil Maton. With those and the in-season release of Luke Jackson, the Rangers have only nine saves from 2025 returning for 2026. One spot where they might get help is via the growth of Cole Winn, who added a cutter and became a dominant force against right-handed hitters. He held them to a .398 OPS in 99 plate appearances. If he can develop something to better combat lefties, he could become a valuable late-innings leverage option.
One number says it all: 8 — Runners caught stealing of the 57 who ran with relievers on the mound. It was the fourth lowest number of caught stealings by a bullpen in the majors. While the relievers did a good job of keeping runners off the bases, too many that reached got an extra base. If the Rangers don’t add some high strikeout pitchers, holding runners in close games must become a higher priority for the club. They too often fell victim to productive outs.
Prospects: Though he made the opening day roster, Marc Church had another season derailed by injury, but he’s got the velocity to be a back-end-of-the-bullpen arm. In addition to staying healthy, he’ll have to harness the fastball a little bit better to be trusted in higher leverage opportunities. Emiliano Teodo, who also has a turbo arm, moved to the bullpen in 2025, but missed two months with an injury; after he returned, he had an unacceptable nearly 1:1 rate of walks (12) to strikeouts (14) in 11⅔ innings.
Summary: It was a credible bullpen, but it lacked definitive answers at the end of the game. The Rangers had three different pitchers tie for the team lead in saves: Shawn Armstrong, Luke Jackson and Robert Garcia. They all had nine. It was the first time since 1982 the Rangers didn’t have a reliever reach double digits in saves in a 162-game season.
Grade: B- For their money, the Rangers got a lot of value. But, then again, they didn’t spend a lot of money. It was a solid ensemble of relievers who bonded well and were better as a unit than the sum of their parts, but they lacked a lock-down closer and that probably cost them some precious games. And now the Rangers have to rebuild all over again and probably on the cheap.
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