ARLINGTON – Not even June yet, which might make this question a bit premature, but here goes anyway:
Who lasts longer this summer, the Stars or Rangers?
Bruce Bochy’s bunch is officially on the clock. They’ve got until July 1 to get this boat turned around, or else.
And the paddling won’t get any easier if the diagnosis on Nathan Eovaldi, who left Tuesday’s game at the Globe after one turn through Toronto’s lineup, develops into anything more than “right triceps fatigue,” as announced.
They don’t expect him to miss his next start. Removed simply as a “precaution,” a Rangers spokesman said. Right move, too. They can’t afford to lose another mainstay.
Besides the hitting thing, injuries have been pretty much the story of the Rangers’ season. No sooner do they get one player back than another goes down. Bochy’s not filling out lineup cards, he’s playing whack-a-mole.
On the other hand, Corey Seager will be back Wednesday at designated hitter, which ought to become a semi-permanent position until he can remain more or less upright. His return is critical, especially with the returns of Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia apparently postdated.
Just the same, it’s not like the Rangers must suddenly morph into the Derek Jeter Yankees. Just a couple hits here and there would be nice. Maybe stop chasing pitches like rabbits. Bret Boone could make it a rule.
Anyone not named Seager has to take until they throw a strike.
Boone may be wishing he’d stuck to podcasting as a full-time gig. The experiment at hitting coach started out well enough, but, in the course of losing eight of their last 10 games going into Tuesday’s at the Globe against Toronto, they’re back to who they were before Boone got here.
Forget exit velo and loud noises. A lollipop of a sac fly would do.
Can anyone on this roster bunt?
Take one for the team?
Something’s got to happen soon, because the frustration level among the faithful is nearing an all-time high. What makes it worse is the West has never seemed so winnable. Even after another run of bad baseball, the Rangers were still just 41/2 games out going into Tuesday.
The bad news is this is pretty much how they’ve hit ever since they hoisted their wrinkled laundry above the right field bleachers, so maybe we should stop expecting them to turn back the clock to ‘23.
Speaking of which: Can they find that big banner and hang it in right again? The smaller one above left field is apparently too hard to see. The players could use the original as inspiration. Unless Ray Davis is using it as a bedsheet.
Even if you believe the Rangers can turn around the offense, you’ve got to it, how long do you think the starters can keep this up? Having been raised on the Rangers, most of you have no idea what good pitching looks like. This is late ‘60s Orioles or early ‘90s Braves. Mike Maddux’s kid brother had nothing on what Jacob deGrom, Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle have done so far.
But deGrom is 36 and Eovaldi only a year behind him. Mahle is in the midst of a career year, which should make everyone nervous.
And don’t even get me started on the bullpen, where the Rangers were operating on a wing-and-a-prayer even when times were good.
Chris Young probably had a reliever or two on his mind at the deadline way back in spring training. Jon Gray conceivably could fill that role at some point, but it might be too late by then.
The shame of it is that Young could have beefed up his bullpen last winter if Davis wasn’t so concerned about paying extra taxes. Do I care if he loses money? Should you care? Didn’t he make enough money off that World Series run and merch sales ever since?
Couldn’t he nearly quadruple his $593 million investment if he sold the team?
Don’t get me wrong, Davis has been a pretty good owner, all things considered. Maybe the best the Rangers ever had, even if it’s a low bar. But how Young persuaded him to pay Seager, Semien and deGrom is beyond me.
The Rangers wouldn’t have won a World Series without much of that investment, but, from all appearances, the window is closing faster than anyone could have imagined. Looking more and more like ’23 was the best-case scenario, and we’re now living out the worst.
On one level, it’s not such a bad predicament. Flags fly forever and all that. But, as my 50th high school reunion reminded, you can’t live in the past, either. Young may soon have to make some hard decisions about this roster. Even if he pulls the plug, it’s not like there are any obvious decisions other than Mahle. Making deals that offer a shot at an impact now or in the future will require giving up players you’d rather not. That’s the hard part of the “or else” way up at the top of this column. As soon as I figure out what it is, I’ll let you know.
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
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