Cody Bradford is the hope. Could he finally be the success story the Rangers had failed for so many years to develop? It’s an embarrassing string of failures that cost the last guy his job.
But yesterday’s starter Cody Bradford, combined with today’s starter Kumar Rocker might be the hope of the Rangers future. And, if one wants to go crazy with the fever dream, toss Jack Leiter into the mix.
Nearly twenty years ago, the Rangers had that same hope with three starters that were conveniently nicknamed DVD, John Danks, Edinson Volquez, and Thomas Diamond. They were the Rangers top three pitching prospects, and all three were scheduled to come up at about the same time.
But, it never really happened. John Danks was traded for Branden McCarthey. Danks never pitched for the Rangers, but he did have a decent ten-year career with the White Sox. Thomas Diamond needed Tommy John surgery. He, too, never pitched for the Rangers. His major league career consisted of three games with the Cubs in 2010.
Volquez started twenty-one games with the Rangers over three seasons, 2005 to 2007, going 3-11 with a 7.20 ERA, and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in one of the most transformative deals in Texas Rangers history. He was traded for Josh Hamilton. Volquez pitched for fifteen years in the major leagues.
While DVD never materialized, sealing Jon Daniels’s fate as a guy who couldn’t develop pitching, now the Rangers have BLR, Bradford, Leiter, Rocker. Now it’s Chris Young’s turn to show exactly how it’s done.
Bradford himself has already far exceeded anything the DVD trio did for the Rangers, last night delivery seven innings of brilliant shutout baseball against Toronto, raising his record to 6-3 and lowering his ERA to 3.59.
It’s not fair to put those expectations on this trio of young pitchers. But it is fair to hope they turn into what we hope they turn into. Because elite pitching is expensive. Which is why they are paying Jacob deGrom $40 million a year. So, if this trio does develop into three solid rotation spots for the Rangers, that saves them millions of dollars that they can spend on finding a few quality bats.
BLR. It doesn’t have the ring of DVD, but DVD didn’t win any rings for the Rangers. Let’s hope BLR does.
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TODAY’S GAME:
