It was not exactly a surprise to learn that Jacob deGrom had been lost for the season and likely a huge chunk of the 2024 campaign due to a torn elbow ligament. The Rangers understood the risk they were taking when they signed the two-time N.L. Cy Young winner, a pitcher who had made just 32 starts over the previous three seasons, to an eye-opening five-year, $185 million contract last December. They, like everyone else, knew that most pitchers don’t add velocity as they enter their 30s, the way deGrom somehow did when he skyrocketed from an average fastball speed of 93.5 mph in 2014 to a high-water mark of 99.3 mph in 2021. Mechanically, he could handle it; the righthander’s fluid throwing motion appears largely effortless. But adding that kind of gas makes any pitcher’s elbow a timebomb, and deGrom’s detonated on April 28 at Globe Life Field in the fourth inning of his start against the Yankees.
After more than a month on the injured list, five bullpen sessions, the birth of his third child, and an MRI last week that revealed a torn UCL, deGrom will prematurely end his first season in Texas with the second Tommy John surgery of his career. He’ll need to make close to an unprecedented comeback to be the pitcher he was.
“It stinks,” was how the soon-to-be 35-year-old pitcher began when addressing the scribes and TV reporters last week as he fought back tears. He’s not wrong. It absolutely stinks for any club to lose an ace of deGrom’s caliber, let alone one that is sitting atop the A.L. West in early June with the second-best record in baseball and a five-game lead over the rival Astros.
Now what?
For the time being, the guidance of new skipper Bruce Bochy, the remainder of a revamped rotation, and a record-setting offense have helped Texas not only maintain its high level of play; in fact, the record has improved since deGrom was sidelined. The Rangers were 15-11 on the night deGrom left his start against New York. They have gone 26-12 since.
Still, general manager Chris Young isn’t expected to stand pat. In a radio interview last week with Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis on The Ticket, Young was asked about the possibility of enhancing the roster before the August 1 trade deadline. “Ownership has been committed to providing us with resources to win and will continue to do so,” Young said. “I have complete confidence in that. Ray [Davis] wants to win as much as anybody.”
Any conversation regarding reinforcements now must begin in the rotation, even if it has been just fine without deGrom. Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray are pitching at an All-Star level, while Dane Dunning, Martin Perez, and Andrew Heaney have shown more than glimpses of success, giving Bochy a solid five.
There has been recent talk of the club recalling 25-year-old lefty Cody Bradford for a spot start to give the starting staff a day of rest amid a stretch of 30 games with just one scheduled day off until the All-Star break. It’s anyone’s guess how Bradford would respond: the Braves lit him up in his MLB debut last month, but Bradford rebounded in his second outing against Baltimore. The bad news is that outside of Bradford, nobody else on the farm is pushing to make big-league starts. That’s a problem when you consider that Eovaldi and Heaney have injury ledgers that date back years, while the usually durable Gray hit the injured list three times in his debut season in Arlington last year. Texas could be in danger of not having enough depth to survive the summer and hold off the Astros, who, it should be noted, are dealing with their own depth issues in the rotation.
The Rangers must ask themselves whether they want to ride with this rotation, or if they want to find another pitcher who could start a game or two in a playoff series. If it’s the latter, they could start small and call Oakland about righthander Paul Blackburn, who went 7-6 with a 4.28 ERA in 21 starts last season and has posted a 3.60 ERA over 15 innings this season after returning from middle finger and blister injuries. In his last start, Blackburn pitched six scoreless against Milwaukee.
Or they could go bigger and dial up the Chicago White Sox, who continue to underachieve. Maybe they’ll make pending free agent Lucas Giolito available; the 28-year-old righthander has never matched his breakout 2019 season, when he posted a WAR of 5.2, but he is putting together a solid season despite giving up slightly harder contact than last season. If Texas is after a longer-term solution, it could instead ask about righthander Dylan Cease, last season’s AL Cy Young runner-up whose ERA has nearly doubled from 2022 (2.20) to 2023 (4.38). Still, Cease has premium stuff and doesn’t reach free agency until 2026. The asking price would be steep.
Same goes for Milwaukee ace righthander Corbin Burnes, who acknowledged his testy arbitration hearing with the Brewers this spring hurt his relationship with the franchise. The Brewers would first have to fall out of the race in a weak N.L. Central, and Texas would have to be willing to part with some of its best prospects. Of course, why do that when Young could sell the farm, some big leaguers, Chuck Morgan, and part of Globe Life Field’s retractable roof to the Angels to rent Shohei Ohtani, the best player in the sport, in his last few months before free agency? OK, that one’s probably not happening.
That said, we could be talking about the wrong brand of pitcher, because the Rangers’ most glaring need remains the bullpen. A crazy plus-144 run differential (the best in the sport) has taken a good deal of pressure off the relievers through the first two and a half months of the season, but it can’t be overlooked that Texas has the fourth-worst bullpen ERA in the A.L. at 4.49, fueled in part by nine blown saves.
So don’t be surprised if Texas calls Kansas City about closer Scott Barlow. Think of him as a souped-up version of Rangers reliever Joe Barlow (no relation), with plenty of swing-and-miss stuff (he’s striking out more than 34 percent of the batters he’s faced) and some control problems, too (a walk rate of 12.1 percent). While Texas is more set on the left side than the right, Young and Co. could also ask the Royals about Aroldis Chapman, whose average velocity is back up to 99.6 mph, which has helped him shave more than a run and a half off his ERA. Any team that acquires him must decide if it and its fan base is comfortable with his being involved in a domestic violence incident with his girlfriend back in 2015, in which Chapman allegedly brandished a handgun. He was suspended 30 games the following year.
Sticking with the theme of pairs, Texas could also get in on Washington co-closers Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey, the latter of whom figures to be more desirable because of his superior stuff (he’s striking out more than than 31 percent of batters) and years of control (he won’t hit free agency until 2026). Or the Rangers could reach out to Colorado for Brent Suter and Brad Hand. Why the basement-dwelling Rockies shelled out for two 33-year-old relievers is beyond me, but opponents are batting just .209 against Suter, which probably has something to do with his miniscule 0.9 percent barrel rate. Hand, meanwhile, is no longer in his prime like his days in San Diego, but he is striking 12.34 batters per 9 innings.
If Texas makes a trade for a starter, ideally, it would be for more than just a rental. But even if it overpays for a rental, it will absolutely be worth it. This is not a perfect roster minus deGrom, but there is a clear opportunity to make it the best in the American League over the next seven weeks. The Rangers have a deep enough farm to make any move that can be made this summer. The fan base hasn’t been this engaged in nearly a decade. From the manager on down, the clubhouse is full of experienced winners, which goes a long way toward making this a first-place team. Going into the season, nobody was ready to predict Texas was positioned to dethrone the Astros in the division. Now that should be the expectation as the team cruises into mid-June with a five-game lead.
That means buying. A lost road series to Tampa Bay, the best team in baseball, this weekend is not the be-all-end-all, but it does indicate that Texas is not the apex predator of the American League. So it’s safe to assume the club will add two or even three members to the bullpen in the coming weeks. Shaky starts from Heaney and Perez in the series against the Rays underscores the vulnerability at the back of the rotation, too, so don’t be surprised if Texas comes out of the deadline with another starter.
Would all of that be enough to put the Rangers over the top even without their ace? Young, Davis, and everyone in baseball operations owe it to their fans to push the chips to the center of the table. It’s time to take that tall stack and set the market instead of reacting to it. To borrow a catchphrase from yesteryear, it’s time.
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