Rangers have some decisions to make on Lewis and Gallardo. If not it could be another down April. They basically have three LH starters.
This is more appropriate over here... Take your pick of Free agents in the off season, if you want someone else then you will have to make a trade... I'm not sure about this list cause it doesn't have Colby on it...
Starting Pitchers and their ages...
Brett Anderson (28)
Scott Baker (34)
Brandon Beachy (29)
Chad Billingsley (31)
Joe Blanton (35)
Clay Buchholz (31) $13MM club option with a $245K buyout
Mark Buehrle (37)
A.J. Burnett (39)
Trevor Cahill (28)
Chris Capuano (37)
Wei-Yin Chen (30)
Bartolo Colon (43)
Johnny Cueto (30)
R.A. Dickey (41) $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Marco Estrada (32)
Doug Fister (32)
Gavin Floyd (33)
Yovani Gallardo (30)
Jaime Garcia (29) $11.5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Dillon Gee (30)
Zack Greinke (32) can opt out of remaining three years/$71MM
Jeremy Guthrie (37) $10MM mutual option with a $3.2MM buyout
J.A. Happ (33)
Aaron Harang (38)
Dan Haren (35)
Rich Hill (36)
Tim Hudson (40)
Hisashi Iwakuma (35)
Scott Kazmir (32)
Kyle Kendrick (31)
Ian Kennedy (31)
John Lackey (37)
Mat Latos (28)
Mike Leake (28)
Cliff Lee (37) $27.5MM club option with a $12.5MM buyout
If Gallardo does not sign (he likes being home) and Lewis gone, our rotation is then rounded out by Gonzalez and Martinez.
If Gallardo or Lewis signs (think Colby bolts or retires) then we have 4 with either Gonzalez or Martinez.
So a 5 man rotation.
To get to your 6 man rotation I believe we need another veteran arm. Either a Cueto or Masterson. When Yu comes back we keep the best of the RH pitchers for the remainder of the season.
If Gallardo does not sign (he likes being home) and Lewis gone, our rotation is then rounded out by Gonzalez and Martinez.
About the only RHed Free agents out there that are an upgrade over Gallardo are Greinke, Cueto, Zimmerman and maybe Fister if he can get his act back together...
Greinke is currently at 25M, Cueto at 10M, Zimmerman at 16.5M and Fister at 11.5M...
If Gallardo could get at least another inning in each of his starts I think it would be a no-brainer to resign him. That means he would have pitched 217 innings this year which is better than most of the other starting RHers...
With both Gonzalez and Martinez neither one of them seem to get to or thru the 3rd time thru the order. Which means you would have to carry an extra reliever all season (just like 2015) unless they get their act together...
I think you seriously have to think about resigning at least one of the 2. They both have their drawbacks (high ERA and not enough innings) but I don't think you can afford to let both of them walk unless you get one of the Free agents listed above. That would leave you with the young'uns to be the 5th starter and 6th man spot starter/long reliever or back to AAA to learn some more...
You have to be able to get to the point where Yu comes back from his TJ surgery... BUT, he will have an arm that he and the team can't trust I think it makes it imperative you keep one of the 2 or bring in someone else and run a 6 man for part if not all of the season...
You have to be able to get to the point where Yu comes back from his TJ surgery... BUT, he will have an arm that he and the team can't trust I think it makes it imperative you keep one of the 2 or bring in someone else and run a 6 man for part if not all of the season...
Good points. Even when Darvish is back I seriously doubt he will pitch on 4 days rest. So the 6th pitcher is critical for next season. I see Darvish pitching once a week for a few weeks.