Before the 2021 season started, Ben Dieter and I talked on The Ranger Report Podcast about how we were excited for the then-upcoming Texas Rangers campaign.
We were “geeked” because we were going to get to see the beginning of a rebuild – see the concrete be poured and the start of the foundation, if you will.
Well, the big-league club certainly wasn’t as fun as we had hoped. A 102-loss season severely lacks in pleasantness and, despite fully understanding that this season was gonna be completely dreadful, it still managed to be quite the spirit sucker.
There were some good things that happened, yes. But of course we need to start with the bad when looking at the overall scope of that abominable 162-game marathon, one that represented the organization’s third time suffering triple-digit defeats.
Texas needed veteran starting pitchers like Jordan Lyles, Mike Foltynewicz and Kohei Arihara – who agreed to come over to the Rangers from Japan last offseason – to eat innings and eat them effectively.
Lyles had his ups and downs, but at least he was able to log 180 innings while going 10-13 to accompany a meager 5.15 earned run average. He was the only Texas pitcher to win 10 games, and that speaks volumes when talking about how bad the season was overall.
Foltynewicz and Arihara were highly ineffective and completely absent, respectively. Folty was 2-12 with a lofty 5.44 ERA in 139 innings, his body language on the mound was awful and, all in all, he was painful to watch.
Arihara only appeared in 10 games while dealing with a shoulder injury for the majority of the season, and his brief stints on the mound were about as exciting as watching your neighbor trim his hedges.
Without Kyle Gibson – who overwhelmed the league and blew expectations out of the water while anchoring the rotation – the pitching staff, as a whole, would’ve struggled mightily from beginning to end.
You can’t expect your plethora of young pitching to hold water for 162 games, and the Rangers will once again be trying to figure out a way to put arms on the mound this offseason to swallow frames and keep the stress put on the youngsters as minimal as possible.
Leody Tavares continued failing to show why he is so highly touted. Khris Davis went back to the Oakland Athletics, David Dahl was almost non-existent, and your two most impactful offseason signings — not named Ian Kennedy — ended up being Brock Holt and Charlie Culberson.
But back to those young arms: How about Dane Dunning? Outside of Gibson, he was the team’s most reliable starter. Kolby Allard showed some promise, and Taylor Hearn was able to harness some of the magic that resides in his big left arm to give the organization a lot of hope for his future.
Joe Barlow came out of nowhere and solidified the closer role, and it will remain his next season unless he falters – even when Jose Leclerc and Jonathan Hernandez eventually return from injury.
Adolis Garcia should be your American League Rookie of the Year, Nathaniel Lowe displayed consistency with the bat and Isiah Kiner-Falefa – despite a swoon of about two months – did his thing. Add that to the promising tandem at catcher, Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim, and with the emergence of Andy Ibanez there’s plenty to look forward to.
That is before even talking about possibility of big-time roster additions this offseason. It has been preached ad nauseam for months how the front office intends to be big players in the free-agent market, but I don’t think anyone is holding their breath on that – yet.
It would be great to see, and while the commitment to spend sounds good and all, those big fish have to be coaxed to go after the big-money hook Texas intends to dangle in front of them. They have to want to come to Arlington, and it’s going to be hard to get guys to commit to a team that doesn’t expect to contend for at least another year.
But let’s also not forget how awesome it was to finally have fans in the stands, and the Rangers faithful certainly showed out during this dismal season. With more wins, more promise and a brighter horizon, the stands will be increasingly packed moving forward.
So, there’s plenty of reason to have a little excitement and plenty to talk about as we trudge along, especially considering how well the Rangers minor-league talent performed in 2021. There will be more than enough time to talk about that.
Speaking of which, the next important month to circle on your calendar should be November. That’s when the Winter Meetings will commence, and so will 40-man roster decisions.
