Sounded to me like he was causing issues with teammates. I've got no interest in that. At this point, your problem is primarily Dyson and the bullpen to a lesser extent. If Kela isn't with the program you could have a much larger problem.

Dyson just doesn't seem to throw as hard either. I seem to remember when he was at his peak it was like 97-98 with movement and now it seems to be 94 and sometimes 96. Especially since he's lost consistent command, he's not throwing hard enough to get by on stuff alone. I feel like this was the case last year too.

I also think the "it's Barnette's fault" excuse is a bit short sided. Sure, he shouldn't have given up that run. But all Dyson had to do was get through the 8, 9, and 1 hitters in the lineup. Any halfway decent closer should be able to do that on any given night

Dyson doesn't seem to have that "fire" necessary to be a closer. He seems more "Eeyore" than "flamethrower".

It's not helping that I think he has confidence in maybe one pitch and then threw it three times in a row to the best player in the game. I think Maz's spiked throw to second deserves some blame too. They would likely have been out of there if he makes that throw.

Dyson's control of that sinker started gong wonky late last year. Lots of outings with consistent misses to the right (and usually a little high). Then hitters also started getting better at laying off the low sinker when he did make something closer to his pitch - a slight drop in his velocity may be helping contribute to that. Many times he was able to salvage the outing, but there were a ton of them that were like watching a stunt driver barely keep the car on two wheels.

Either way, it's a crap sandwich because it just seems like he's out there throwing very hittable fastballs with no idea where they are going.

Definitely not what I wanted to see when I woke up

Both players were taking the first pitch, but had they not been -- the first pitch thrown to both Trout and Pujols was not anywhere near where Dyson was trying to throw it, and both would have been hit out of the park had the batter not been taking.

Dyson painted the corner a couple of times with Trout, and then Trout ended up getting a hit on a tough pitch... but that's what great players do.

But Dyson should have been gone after that.... I get it, your bullpen is short-staffed and you are playing the first of 16 consecutive days. But if you're going to go with the mindset of "this is Dyson's game to lose no matter what", then you push your veteran starter to get a couple more outs... Or hell, then why do you bring Jeffress in at all?

Just ended up being mishandled completely. Dyson doesn't gain confidence. Bullpen isn't kept fresh. Rangers lose.

Such a frustrating game. Hamels didn't have his best stuff but battled and got us through 7 innings. I am beyond done with Dyson in the closer role. I only want to see him if we are down by 6 or more or up by more than 10 (and even then I would not feel comfortable). The entire bullpen has been shaky so far though. I think Bush or Jeffers is the next logical choice but both of them haven't exactly been lights out either...

Still early, but these type of games hurt. Glad I went to bed after 6

We need a closer with a prison mentality. A mean mother ****er. You know bush is holding it back. Let him loose

Ugh...

I'm concerned that we don't have a single pitcher who can command the strike zone. Am I being too picky, or is this true? Our staff is constantly in 1-0, 2-1, 2-0 counts. Cole threw 51 strikes/49 balls, Dyson started off Espinosa with a 2-0 count before he hit a homerun, and the winning run was a leadoff walk.

MSFC Aggie said:

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Ugh...

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Perfect.

AllThings12thMan said:

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I'm concerned that we don't have a single pitcher who can command the strike zone. Am I being too picky, or is this true? Our staff is constantly in 1-0, 2-1, 2-0 counts. Cole threw 51 strikes/49 balls, Dyson started off Espinosa with a 2-0 count before he hit a homerun, and the winning run was a leadoff walk.

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Brocail

I'm generally hesitant to criticize position coaches. Is Brocail coaching them to not pound the zone, and not get ahead?

Glad I went to sleep and missed the bullpen collapse. Dyson needs to be removed from the closer role immediately. Continuing to throw him out there to lose games is not going to help his confidence.

Beltre w/ the setback. Bush going back to Arlington. Bullpen can't keep a lead. I know it's just 7 games in, but this just has all the makings of a painfully long season. Not 2014-level bad, but my gut tells me we're gonna be sellers at the deadline. Silver lining, though, is that there are going to be highly coveted assets to deal at the deadline if things do, in fact, go south.

After 4 starts from Darvish and Hamels, the Rangers are 0-4. Granted the bullpen has been responsible for the majority of these losses, but this team better start winning when these two take the mound or the Rangers will be sellers before July.

Bush is just getting an injection. He's expected to be back in Seattle

From reading the beats writeups, sounds like Scheppers may get activated today. I think we need to get Kela's ass on a plane too. If Beltre or somebody needs to give Kela a kick in the ass for his Spring Training incident/behavior, then lets do it and move on. We need Kela back on the roster.

The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

Wow, with Bush going down now too, this bullpen is looking severely depleted. Hopefully it is just a quick recovery and just needs some rest.

In regards to the pitchers not pounding the strikezone... I have noticed it too and it is insanely frustrating. Guys like Hamels and Darvish need to trust their stuff and their defense. Just all around a frustrating start to the year. But as pointed out, we are only 7 games in and if Dyson does his job, we could be 5-2. Reinforcements are on the way with Scheppers/Kela and Beltre will be coming back as well. Just need to start playing up to our potential

I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

Huell Babineaux said:

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I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

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And that would tell me he doesn't have the maturity necessary to come back, given why he's there in the first place.

MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

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And that would tell me he doesn't have the maturity necessary to come back, given why he's there in the first place.

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Mature or not, he's a good reliever when he's up here. And we're desperate for a good reliever.

Okay, here is what I think: In all honesty it's probably a good thing that Dyson has had these early struggles. Banister literally cannot keep him as our closer. He's going to HAVE to be forced to try different things from the bullpen. Pretty much most of last season Dyson would get the save, but by the skin of his teeth. And at that point, Banister had the argument of "well he gets results so he's still our closer." He is now being physically ripped from his stubbornness. The good news is that if we can get the closer position/role to be I guess even mediocre, we'll probably be okay. That's a big if, of course.

Huell Babineaux said:

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MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

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And that would tell me he doesn't have the maturity necessary to come back, given why he's there in the first place.

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Mature or not, he's a good reliever when he's up here. And we're desperate for a good reliever.

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Not if his teammates are poised to beat the **** out of him at any moment....

Not too worried about what we've seen... 5 losses... 3 we were tied or leading heading into the 9th.

It's all going to hinge on what our #4/#5 give us this season.

You're not concerned about the early struggles of the bullpen? What makes you so calm?

I understand it is a 162 game season and whole-heartedly agree that the production we get out of the back 40% of our rotation will be key... But I am still a little nervous that we haven't had one of our stud arms in the bullpen look lights out thus far

Quote:

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But Dyson should have been gone after that.... I get it, your bullpen is short-staffed and you are playing the first of 16 consecutive days. But if you're going to go with the mindset of "this is Dyson's game to lose no matter what", then you push your veteran starter to get a couple more outs... Or hell, then why do you bring Jeffress in at all?

Just ended up being mishandled completely. Dyson doesn't gain confidence. Bullpen isn't kept fresh. Rangers lose.

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The Rangers were still winning, it was still a save situation after Trout got that hit so don't cast aside a guy early, we won 95 games last year and all those reasons.

You're asking why he didn't send Dyson out for the 10th inning and put Jeffers in instead?

MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

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And that would tell me he doesn't have the maturity necessary to come back, given why he's there in the first place.

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Mature or not, he's a good reliever when he's up here. And we're desperate for a good reliever.

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Not if his teammates are poised to beat the **** out of him at any moment....

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Don't recall this being confirmed in any way

PatAg said:

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MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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MooreTrucker said:

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Huell Babineaux said:

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I drove bus said:

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The same Kela who blew a save in round rock the other day

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I doubt he's too locked in down there. He's a guy that uses intensity to fuel his game and I doubt he really cares too much about about a AAA game.

Not saying that's a good way to handle himself but he just seems like that type of guy

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And that would tell me he doesn't have the maturity necessary to come back, given why he's there in the first place.

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Mature or not, he's a good reliever when he's up here. And we're desperate for a good reliever.

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Not if his teammates are poised to beat the **** out of him at any moment....

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Don't recall this being confirmed in any way

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It was reported that they didn't want him on the plane back from Spring Training to Arlington. He traveled separately. So the issue was bad enough that they didn't want him on the plane with them. Of course, if it was a United flight the situation might already be resolved

rwhitlock3 said:

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You're not concerned about the early struggles of the bullpen? What makes you so calm?

I understand it is a 162 game season and whole-heartedly agree that the production we get out of the back 40% of our rotation will be key... But I am still a little nervous that we haven't had one of our stud arms in the bullpen look lights out thus far

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If Bush is put on the shelf then I am... But otherwise it's all too small a sample size to really have no faith in anyone other than Dyson. And bullpens are crapshoots anyway -- if these guys were consistent enough in large sample sizes then they'd be starters.

Replace Dyson with even a league average pitcher and we're 4-3 right now -- and that's without our all-star 3rd baseman.

That's not to say the team constructed as such is a surefire division winner -- but what will determine if we are a playoff contender or not is how our #4 and #5 pitchers produce.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Quote:

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But Dyson should have been gone after that.... I get it, your bullpen is short-staffed and you are playing the first of 16 consecutive days. But if you're going to go with the mindset of "this is Dyson's game to lose no matter what", then you push your veteran starter to get a couple more outs... Or hell, then why do you bring Jeffress in at all?

Just ended up being mishandled completely. Dyson doesn't gain confidence. Bullpen isn't kept fresh. Rangers lose.

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The Rangers were still winning, it was still a save situation after Trout got that hit so don't cast aside a guy early, we won 95 games last year and all those reasons.

You're asking why he didn't send Dyson out for the 10th inning and put Jeffers in instead?

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You're trying too hard too early in the season.

I didn't say Texas shouldn't have gone away from Dyson (last night or the previous blown game). I stated that is/was likely Bannister's mindset as he had shown it in previous years... and I think the fact that Dyson was left out there to get out of it pretty much confirms that.

As for Jeffress - my point about how it was mishandled is that if the idea for leaving Dyson in when it was obvious he didn't have it was to save bullpen arms and make him clean up his own mess then OK... Not smart, but OK... But if that's the idea then yeah, might as well throw Dyson out there for the 10th too... If you are OK with burning Jeffress' arm in the 10th, then why the hell not in the 9th when trouble reared it's head?

From the the Newberg Report:

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"There's definitely concern," Banister said. "We've got to continue to find a way to grind out and get that third out when we have leads. . . . We've been evaluating it from day one. We'll consider all our options. We can't continue to lose baseball games in this manner when we have the lead. We'll look at our options and see where we go."

The three Dyson meltdowns have come in one Yu Darvish start and two with Cole Hamels on the mound. That hurts a little extra.

A contending Rangers team needs Sam Dyson to be Good Sam Dyson.

When the manager so much as acknowledges concern about where his closer's game is, that's tantamount to signaling that an imminent change is at least on the table.

Rediscovering Good Sam Dyson is the goal, but it looks like the effort to shake Dyson free of this slump he's in may happen, at least for now, in something other than the ninth inning with a narrow lead.

There's a whole lot more here to save than Game 7 of the season.

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