Who is the best pitcher in baseball?

Who is 3-0 after three starts?

Only one pitcher. Cody Bradford.

Other pitchers are 3-0, but they’ve had more than three starts. Tyler Glasnow, Shelby Miller, and Luke Weaver. But the Rangers fifth starter, who seemed to be on the bubble, has had three great outings to start the 2024 season.

Last night’s gem broke a frustrating three-game losing streak. Bradford pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one unearned run, striking out seven.

More than anything, though, he brought stability back to the Rangers after Tuesday night’s embarrassing ninth-inning meltdown.

It all begs the question, if not Bradford, who loses his rotation spot when some of these other starters are ready? Michael Lorenzen is nearly ready to return. The Rangers have seventeen games in seventeen days, so maybe they go with a six-man rotation during that stretch.

Or maybe they move someone currently in the rotation into the bullpen. Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney have been disappointing. Gray is winless with a 6.14 ERA. Heaney is even worse, 0-2 with a 7.56 ERA. He has pitched out of the pen a number of times during his mostly disappointing career, so he seems like the logical choice.

But who would have thought the Rangers would have the best pitcher in baseball? And that it would be Cody Bradford?

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