That is the fate of the Texas Rangers. Unable to develop a single viable starting pitcher in the entire run of the Jon Daniels era, they are resigned to finding it.
This is what happens when you cannot grow your own pitching. You are at the mercy of someone else’s. And usually it’s a pitcher they didn’t really want to invest in, which is why they are available to you in the first place.
And since they refuse to pay for the elite talent, they are resigned to shopping for it on Craig’s list, or the Dollar General, or Sore Arms R Us.
Sometimes they get lucky like they did with Lance Lynn, Yu Darvish, Mike Minor, and this brief bit of awakening from a coma they are getting from Kyle Gibson.
But mostly it’s more like what they got from Kohei Arihara last night. The litany of bad starters run out there is much too long and too sad to recount here. It’s also ten-times longer than the three-and-a-fifth names in the above “lucky” list.
It’s mostly what they have gotten from Mike Foltynewicz and his 4.61 ERA and 1-3 record. What they have gotten from Jordan Lyles and his 6.75 ERA and 1-2 record. And what they have gotten from Arihara and his 5.76 ERA and 2-3 record.
The Rangers can expect two decent starts out of five from their rotation. They are right around a .400 winning percentage.
In other words, the Rangers are right where they should be. Right where they were built for.
You have to give Rangers president Jon Daniels a lot of credit. The man knows how to build a last-place team.
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TODAY’S GAME:
