The TXSE may be a month or two away from opening for trading, but here at the TXRSE — the Texas Rangers Stock Exchange — we’re already doing business. Truth is, things have been mostly flat all year, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering some of the headwinds in the market (a tough opening schedule, a variety of injuries), but maybe now is the time for a surge. Starting Friday, the Rangers play 16 consecutive games against teams currently with losing records. Is it time for a nice little bull market run? Well, here’s our investment advice for the week:
JdG 100 Index: Jacob deGrom reached 1,900 strikeouts in his last outing, the 252nd of his career. It made him the second-fastest to ever reach that plateau. Us, we prefer round numbers. On that front, wake us at 2,000. But with his next win, deGrom will reach 100 for his career. Being in triple figures there to go along with his other stats and accomplishments, like having the best strikeout-to-walk rate in history and one of the best WHIPs of all-time and back-to-back Cy Young Awards, should eliminate the last holdouts in the “is he a Hall of Famer” argument. In the wins department, 100 is the new 200.
Home equity: The Rangers put together a winning homestand for the first time this season by winning series against the Chicago Cubs and Arizona. It pushed their home record above .500 (11-10). The Rangers need to make the most of home games though June because there are so few of them. While the slate of opponents has eased some, the road has not. Starting with the Astros series, the Rangers play 22 of their next 38 games through July 1 away from Globe Life Field. Creating a home-field edge is important. A win over the Cubs and a win over the Diamondbacks, punctuated by a walkoff victory, is a nice start.
ERA rates: Think of it this way like interest rates. The lower it goes, the better the return, so this is actually a good thing. The Rangers starting rotation, at least those who pitched, had a phenomenal homestand. Take out Jakob Junis’ spot start for achy Nathan Eovaldi and the starters allowed four runs in 27 1/3 innings (1.31) with three of those coming in the first game of the homestand. At the moment, the starters’ ERA is 4.00 for the year, right around league average, but it is trending in the right direction.
Seager Capital: Hit a 52-week low this week with a career-worst, 0-for-27 skid that extends to seven games at the moment. It dropped his batting average to .179 for the year and his OPS to .638, which ranked ahead of only Evan Carter (.634) among the six Rangers with at least 100 plate appearances thus far. Now might be a good time to jump in. But it feels like we gave the same investment advice last week and only saw our shares dip.
Langford futures: Though he reported significant improvement in his symptoms this week, Wyatt Langford still isn’t swinging a bat and is going on a month since he went on the IL. When he does start swinging, he’s likely to have a slightly slower progression in terms of activity and need more than one or two games of rehab. It means he won’t be back before June 1. It’s going to be the longest time he’s missed in his career and the offense desperately needs a productive Langford to have any chance of real sustained success.
Burger King, LLC: Jake Burger finished out the homestand with a flourish with five hits, including a three-run homer over the last two games, but it’s hard to advise plunking down money on a long-term return – yet. Burger is incredibly streaky. Consider these 10-game OPS splits over the first 40 games of his season: .910 (first 10 games), .705 (second 10), .276 (yes, that’s an OPS for third 10-game split) and .581 (the 10 games ahead of Wednesday’s performance). Burger has the ability to carry the Rangers when hot, but he’s so streaky it’s difficult to rely on.