As the trade deadline approaches, Chris Young has stated he will wait to see if this team can turn it around before deciding what he will do. Who does he think he’s fooling?
The Rangers, as constructed, will not turn it around. This is who they are. If the first ninety games didn’t give him some hint, last night’s 6-5 loss on a bases loaded walk should tell him everything he needs to know about what his team is.
It’s a team he built. And it’s not good enough to play .500 baseball, let alone make the playoffs.
Blame the Rangers hitters for squandering opportunity after opportunity, win after win, chance after chance. But they did this last year and his response was to add Jake Burger and Joc Pederson. That wasn’t enough. Last year, the only real strength the Rangers had was an incredible back of the bullpen with David Robertson and Kirby Yates. When they left, he didn’t add a closer. He added three set-up men. That wasn’t enough.
Yes, granted, in his defense, his hands were tied by ownership’s unwillingness to spend what it takes to win. And that cannot be overlooked. But neither can it be overlooked that this is the team he built and it’s not good enough to make the playoffs and no amount of watching between now and the July 31 deadline is going to change that.
The offense shuts down and disappears after the sixth inning. The back of the bullpen is starting to reveal the ugly truth, that it’s not a back of the bullpen.
Texas could make the playoffs. It could. As it is constructed now, though, it can’t. The offense isn’t good enough and they lack a closer. Those are two fixable solutions. Fixable in normal times. Much more difficult to fix with your hands tied behind your back with financial restraints.
So, do what you want, Chris Young. Don’t do anything and this is another lost year—your second lost year in a row. Don’t do anything and you are telling Rangers fans, loud and clear, the season is over. No need to come to the ballpark. No need to make that emotional investment in August and September. Try again next year.
Not doing anything won’t punish Rangers fans. Just the opposite. It’s giving us a reprieve. What you subjected Rangers fans to the first ninety-one games was the punishment.
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