Well, bullpen has done a great job keeping the hope somewhat alive. Let's see if we can chop away at this.

Zeke… dude just walked 2 dudes to load the bases and he goes up there swinging in the dirt on the first pitch. That would drive me crazy as a team mate who just worked those walks. Let him off the hook.

Well we made it interesting. Need to get a win streak going at home this week

Horrible AB from Zeke swinging at everything. Pretty worried about relying on Martin after his last few starts. Hoping we can rebound next series against the Halos.

It is what it is, wish Zeke would have battled better right there. Let's rack up some wins against the Angels.

beagle2009 said:

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Horrible AB from Zeke swinging at everything. Pretty worried about relying on Martin after his last few starts. Hoping we can rebound next series against the Halos.

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Perez went 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER in his last start.

I hope they do throw mcclanahan again. I want our bats to see him as much as possible before the playoffs. Just hopefully it's a more favorable pitching matchup for us next time.

That's right. I must have been thinking about his outing in DET.

gigem1223 said:

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beagle2009 said:

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Horrible AB from Zeke swinging at everything. Pretty worried about relying on Martin after his last few starts. Hoping we can rebound next series against the Halos.

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Perez went 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER in his last start.

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Yes, but let's not act like his outings before that were all world. In his previous five outings (before STL) he gave up 6/2/2/4/7, and another 7 spot today. I'm not hitting the panic button, but that's not an ideal trend. My hand is on the way to the panic button, though.

Tksymm7 said:

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gigem1223 said:

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beagle2009 said:

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Horrible AB from Zeke swinging at everything. Pretty worried about relying on Martin after his last few starts. Hoping we can rebound next series against the Halos.

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Perez went 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER in his last start.

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Yes, but let's not act like his outings before that were all world. In his previous five outings he gave up 6/2/2/4/7, and another 7 spot today. I'm not hitting the panic button, but that's not an ideal trend. My hand is on the way to the panic button, though.

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I mean that is what you should expect from your 4th or 5th pitcher… he gives us a chance more time than not. That's all we can ask for.

Tksymm7 said:

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gigem1223 said:

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beagle2009 said:

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Horrible AB from Zeke swinging at everything. Pretty worried about relying on Martin after his last few starts. Hoping we can rebound next series against the Halos.

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Perez went 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER in his last start.

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Yes, but let's not act like his outings before that were all world. In his previous five outings (before STL) he gave up 6/2/2/4/7, and another 7 spot today. I'm not hitting the panic button, but that's not an ideal trend. My hand is on the way to the panic button, though.

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Like I pointed out, his WHIP headed into today matched his career. He is what he is. Last year was amazing, but as pointed out by another poster, he managed to live on the edges at an unusual rate. There is a reason teams weren't lining up to give him a big deal because everyone was expecting a return to the mean (as they should), but he still has a lot of value.

Stroman, Hendricks, Giolito and/ or Bieber are guys that make a lot of sense for this squad. They could each be solid veteran #3s and probably wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to get. If the central keeps sucking though the Indians/ White Sox may be stubborn enough to not sell.

Make a run at Corbin Burnes…. Brewers contending makes it a little tougher…. but they already know he isnt resigning with them….relievers …follow Matt Moores return from IL ( should be really cheap if angels fall from contention).. Tigers Alex Lange needs to be looked at…. BB might be an issue and he will cost more than Moore but might be worth a call.

Quincey P. Morris said:

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I'll take it as a compliment that another team was rearranging their rotation to match up.

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Honestly, I am glad they did. Not super confident we would have won any games in this series if they hadn't. Probably would have lost games 1 and 3 anyways and winning the middle game would have been much tougher against McClanahan.

I agree with the sentiment that we need a starter, but I do not want to sell out the farm to get one. Not worth it, IMO.

I don't want any starter that requires us to give up Carter, Duran, or Leiter. I also don't want any starter that requires us to give up more than one of Acuna, White, or Porter.

I think it all depends on who you are trading for, as many have stated here already. Burnes, Cease and even Stroman are bone fide big league studs (with Cy Youngs on the mantle), so giving up Leiter, White, Acuna, Porter etc. is palatable, especially if you resign them. On the other hand, guys like Giolito, Flaherty, or Bieber (he's controversial because his advanced stats have fallen off a cliff) are much more 50/50 on sending those guys above off because the guys you're getting back carry much more risk.

The only way it is even remotely palatable to me to give up multiple of those players is if the starter is not a rental. So I would eventually be able to stomach trading for Burnes... but not someone like Bieber or Giolito.

VORE

rocky_ag said:

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The only way it is even remotely palatable to me to give up multiple of those players is if the starter is not a rental. So I would eventually be able to stomach trading for Burnes... but not someone like Bieber or Giolito.

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The thing is that if you think you have a world series team with one more starter, then I think you have to at least consider a trade even if it means giving up someone you don't want to give up. Porter is like 3 years away from helping the big league club in a best case scenario and he's dominated so far raising his value. If the Brewers would take some version of a trade headlined by Porter and either Foscue/Acuna + a couple of random prospects for Burnes I think the Rangers have to do it.

This Rangers core really isn't super young, and there is no guarantee how long Semien can stay playing like an MVP, maybe only 2-3 more years. Eovaldi and Gray aren't young, maybe 2-3 max good years from them as well if they stay healthy. Basically, this window, where the team looks like a real contender isn't guaranteed to last, and past that we start to rely on hoping that Leiter, Rocker, White and Carter really are going to be home grown stars that extend the window.

Overall, MLB has some parity this year with really only the Rays looking fantastic consistently. A couple of bull pen additions plus a starter and one more hitter makes the rangers just as dangerous and gives us IMO a great shot to win the world series. If we can't pitch at the same level as Tampa though, I don't see how we beat them in a series.

I'm confused why someone would not be all aboard bringing in a legit SP, even if a rental. This team is a legit WS contender and this year may be our best chance to win it all. Eovaldi may not be the same next season, Gray may regress. Ithink we've gotta strike while the iron is hot and go for it. There's no guarantee any of the prospects become legit mlb players. If history is any indication with the rangers, there's a good chance they don't. So I'm all aboard trading prospects for proven mlb players.

For now, it's not even mid-June yet.

If we're still at 20 games over 0.500 at the ASB, I say you take a big swing on the trade market early and see if you can land a guy that can also give you help in July.

If we falter a bit before the ASB, then you see what the 10 day stretch of JUL17-JUL26 produces. 3 with TBR, 3 with LAD, 3 with HOU. If you win 4-5 of those 9 games, then you don't need much more proof that you are capable of winning it all and you do whatever is available to win now.

If you are the Rangers though, you also want to ensure at all costs that you are no worse than the 2 seed so you can avoid both playing in a Wild Card short series and also avoid Tampa until the ALCS and give someone else a chance to knock them out. So the earlier the better on an acquisition if it helps you win 2-3 more games by getting someone a month earlier than the deadline.

I'd much rather play Minnesota/the 6 seeded WC team, and I think we need to be working with that in mind that we cannot lose the division or let the central champion get more wins than us if we want the best path in the playoffs.

gigem1223 said:

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I'm confused why someone would not be all aboard bringing in a legit SP, even if a rental. This team is a legit WS contender and this year may be our best chance to win it all. Eovaldi may not be the same next season, Gray may regress. Ithink we've gotta strike while the iron is hot and go for it. There's no guarantee any of the prospects become legit mlb players. If history is any indication with the rangers, there's a good chance they don't. So I'm all aboard trading prospects for proven mlb players.

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This opinion frustrates me. If there was a way to be the clear favorites, I'd be more on board, but at best we would have a 50/50 shot at beating TB then we would have to win the World Series too?

Coming into the season, the expectations weren't nearly this high. I think people just wanted to make the playoffs. If we make all these trades, our window won't last long probably. Why do we have to settle for 2-3 year windows while the Astros seemingly get a 10+ year window?

rocky_ag said:

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Baseball is such a fickle sport. Even absolutely stacked teams struggle in the playoffs, while teams that barely make it in make it to the World Series. I guess I just do not see the incremental value in one more really good starter that others do.

Selling out the farm to chase a ring in one year can put you back in rebuilding mode very quickly. The only way that is worth it is to win the WS, and that is far from a sure thing.

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I'd be down to make trades that help us, but don't hurt our future too much. Those type of trades should be available.

Gutting your farm system for a one year window is what small market/low revenue teams do (Marlins). It's far from a guaranteed thing, and if you trade prospects for a player or players, you'd better be damn sure that your prospect depth can bear the strain of losing a handful of top players.

Not sure exactly where I fall on this, but I lean towards not doing it.

Additionally, you don't want to gut your farm system like what the Padres have done, which leaves you in Limbo. Rbtexan is absolutely right, you need to balance keeping prospects you think can contribute, while also looking at the best ways to win in the here and now, so I am also out on a pure rental. That makes no sense for this team, but if you can trade for and sign someone to a long term deal then I'm much more in the go for it boat.