Here is a quick update on the Rangers’ rotation: Mike Minor — with two months left to go in the 2018 season — has already thrown over thirty more innings than he did in 2017. Bartolo Colon is 45 years old. Martin Pérez looks healthy and ready to finish the season strong, but he has spent a significant chunk of the season on the disabled list. Ariel Jurado is 22 and has made two career big-league starts. The Rangers are Yovani Gallardo’s third organization of the 2018 season.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Cole Hamels is a Cub, Doug Fister is on the disabled list, and Yohander Méndez is in AA as he works his way back up through the system as a disciplinary measure.
It’s a far cry from Verlander/McCullers/Keuchel/Cole/Morton just a few hours south. But with the Rangers in a rebuild, the organization has an opportunity to try a couple of things without the pressure of everyone worrying too much about the win/loss record. First of all, the front office can allow young players to develop at the big-league level. This much has been evident for months, especially when it comes to their position players, such as Ronald Guzmán and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
But it also gives Texas the opportunity to experiment with a few things. In this case, it’s the interplay between the rotation and the bullpen. Starting from the back of the game and working forward, we got a glimpse into how that might look for the rest of the season.
“I know the first question was ‘Who are you going to use as a closer?,’” Banister said before Thursday’s game. “But more importantly, when you look at our bullpen, we have three guys that are essentially one-inning guys, maybe one-plus. (Cory) Gearrin, (Chris) Martin, and (Jose) Leclerc. Everybody else out there are multi-inning guys. … Now we can start looking at (going) starter (then) multi-inning guy. Having one of these pitchers, whether its — if we start with Gallardo, and it’s a left-handed lineup, can we flip that lineup with (Matt) Moore, (Jeffrey) Springs, or (Alex) Claudio? If we’ve got Pérez in there, can we flip that lineup with (Eddie) Butler, or ABD (Austin Bibens-Dirkx)? Instead of holding back these multi-innings guys in case something happens to a starter, going ahead and planning, saying ‘Hey, look, these are the guys we’re going to utilize tonight,’ and then as the game plays out, decide how you’re going to deploy the (one-inning) guys out of the back end.”
Advertisement
When it was pointed out that what Banister was describing sounded an awful lot like piggybacking, he smiled. “In 1990, they would call it piggyback. In 2018, they call it a trend. But essentially, you’re going into it with the idea that these are the two multi-inning guys that you’re going to use: the starter and the next pitcher.”
It wasn’t the original plan. But, as often occurs during seasons, Baseball happened. Injuries, trades, and losses that allow for broader experimentation. So was this the plan all along, or are the Rangers improvising?
“A little of both,” GM Jon Daniels says. “The way the pitching staffs are being put together, and the value of guys that can go through a lineup one time; potentially a little more than that, but definitely get 6-10 outs: pretty valuable. I think Springs and Claudio, in particular, we think can do that. That was (also) part of the discussion in trading for (Wei-Chieh) Huang (the return in the Jake Diekman trade) is that he appears to do that. I don’t know that, physically, durability-wise, he’s going to be a traditional starter, but the way the D’Backs have used him is pretty unique; he basically pitches 3-4 innings every 2-3 days. That’s pretty valuable if you can do that, and do it effectively.”
It’s far from the most radical departure from tradition in starting rotations this year. After all, the Rays have started using an “Opener” to handle the first inning of some games before handing off the baton to a pitcher who more traditionally profiles as a starter or a long man. Toronto, likewise, has been experimenting with the idea, allowing Jon Axford and Tyler Clippard to start games.
This is less experimental than that. And less “trendy.” But Texas isn’t the first team to try something like this.
“The Dodgers did it in the postseason,” Daniels points out. “Taking Rich Hill out in the third or fourth inning; they were planning on doing that pretty early in some of those games. I’d love to develop a bunch of Klubers and Verlanders, and we may have some guys in the system that can do that. But if somebody can’t, they still have a strength; how do we put it into play; how do we put them in a position to succeed and construct a staff where multiple guys can maybe pitch a little more frequently, but not quite as deep into games. We’re not the first to look at it, but it just makes sense, and listen — where we are, we don’t have 5, 6, 7 dominant starters. We can afford to try a few of these things out, take a look at some guys. Especially a guy like Springs, we can break him in a little bit, let him cut his teeth, and there’s probably a little less pressure bringing him in in that scenario than having him start.”
Advertisement
Should the Rangers decide to alter the plan, there are a wide variety of options. Austin Bibens-Dirkx has been far more successful as a starter this season than a reliever. Méndez could work his way back to the big-league level. And — as of Thursday morning — Texas has another arm that could join the rotation soon: former Oriole Chris Tillman, who was designated for assignment by Baltimore last month.
Tillman, who was an All-Star in 2013, was 65-33 with a 3.81 ERA in the five-year stretch between 2012-16. But, according to Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun, Tillman “pushed through shoulder pain for the 2016 stretch run, returning to pitch in September and make the team’s wild-card game start against the Toronto Blue Jays.” That shoulder pain caused him to start the 2017 season late, and since his return, he has gone 2-12 with an 8.42 ERA. Baltimore placed him on the disabled list in May with a back strain.
The minor-league results also weren’t what the Orioles — or Tillman — had hoped.
But Tillman says there was cause for optimism near the end: “I think that last rehab start, I felt a lot better. I had done a lot of work, and it kinda started coming together near the end. I was pretty happy with what was happening towards the end of the rehab.”
There are some answers that — even for baseball players — are predictable. When a guy changes teams, if you want to write an optimistic article, you ask them if they think they are a candidate for a “change-of-scenery” improvement. Nearly 100 percent of the time, you’ll get an answer that goes something like Tillman’s.
“I think so. I think it’s really important. I’ve seen it work a bunch of times; we had a couple guys that got a new opportunity, and new sets of eyes on them, and they turned into pretty good pitchers. You see it all the time, guys get into a different environment, into a different uniform, it’s a great opportunity.”
That doesn’t mean it’s not true in Tillman’s case, but it will take time to find out.
Advertisement
The Rangers, needing to bolster their AAA rotation at least, were willing to take a chance and find out. “There was a couple of other teams, but I felt like this was a good opportunity,” Tillman said on Thursday. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about the pitching coaches here, and that’s kinda what pushed me in this direction. Yovani (Gallardo) reached out to me — I got to know Yovani pretty well in Baltimore. … When you’ve got guys that you’re really close to tell you good things about a place, it makes it easier.”
Tillman hasn’t been given any assurances that he will make the big-league club, though he says that the topic did at least come up. “I’m going to have to pitch, regardless,” the 30-year-old right-hander said. “I’m going to have to pitch and pitch well. That’s all I really want to do is get back to winning.”
That might have to wait awhile. In the meantime, the Rangers are willing to give Tillman a shot at AAA. If it goes well for him there, he could join the big-league club as a starter, a reliever, or — in this new “trendy” arrangement — something in between.
