Ever since CJ Wilson left as a free agent on a big contract to the Angels after the 2011 season, the Rangers starting rotation has not had its for say, “the sparkle”, that it did when their ace Wilson lead them to back-to-back WS appearances in 2010 and 2011. Despite the adding of Yu Darvish immediately after the loss of Wilson, the rotation has not found it’s way back to dominance. The other issue the rotation has had, is injuries. The offense (especially because of injuries) has also been quite interesting to keep up on, but the pitching has been the story of this offseason (again) for this Texas team.
For the past 5 seasons now, the Texas Rangers have had basically the same looking rotation every year, unlike their batting order, which has seen some big changes. In the American league pitching is not emphasized onto as much as the National League because of the DH rule, but that doesn’t mean that pitching isn’t what wins championships and needs to be changed for a team if the current rotation is not “cutting it”. The Rangers have had the following list of the following starting pitchers (or very similar to) in their rotation the last 5 years: Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, Matt Harrison, and some young guys bouncing back and forth from the majors or minors.
The one always-big story in the Texas organization is trying to know how good right-hander, Colby Lewis, is going to be the upcoming year. The same case goes for Matt Harrison and Derek Holland. Back when Texas was competing for a World Series ring, CJ Wilson was a great leader, including being left-handed, which is lethal to have a lefty ace. That is one of the two reasons why Yu Darvish is yet to anticipate the “spark” (he is right-handed). The other reason is, despite the value in a power pitcher, an ace needs to have other highlighted pitches; meaning nasty stuff besides a strikeout fastball.
In order for the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation to get that “sparkle” back and be one of the best rotations in the American League, they need to either sign an ace or trade for one. So far this offseason they have missed out on the free agent pitchers (except for James Shields who they have had no contact with) and have not been linked to any trade rumors to acquire an ace on the trade block, like Cole Hamels. They did however make a move to get Yovani Gallardo from the Brewers, which does not put them over the top. Gallardo is the all-time leader in strikeouts for the Brewers franchise, so obviously he is a power pitcher. Now with the addition of Yovani, it does make the rotation better, but does it give back that “sparkle” that the Rangers had in 2010-2011? No, but with the couple slight changes of the Texas Rangers starting rotation, and the hopefulness of the offensive lineup being healthy for the 2015 season, the Rangers could at least be an 85-win team that is a thorn in the side for teams in the playoff race.
