LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Here’s the thing about bullpens that are built on a foundation of veteran arms on one-year contracts: They tend to have a shelf life of, oh, about a single season before replacement is required.
Consider that the maintenance cycle of a relief staff devoid of long-term deals and thin on dependable homegrown or controllable pitchers. Or, in other words, consider it a box that the Texas Rangers need to check before the winter concludes.
The Rangers constructed a functional bullpen last season when they prioritized cost-effective strike-throwers and zone control over high-velocity arms and pure stuff in free agency. Here’s a simple formula to explain the process: the Texas bullpen’s average fastball velocity (93.7 mph) was the third-slowest in baseball, but its 3.62 ERA, 8.5% walk rate and 54.1% strike zone percentage each ranked top five in the American League.
“We wanted to get back to dominating the strike zone and getting ahead,” Rangers general manager Ross Fenstermaker said Tuesday night. “I think it’s going to be much of the same going forward.”
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It’s significantly easier said than done at a position most-often described as volatile. Fenstermaker said that the Rangers are open to “various archetypes” of arms because of the number of roles (specifically high-leverage ones) that they must fill and are not inherently in search of “bargain” options.
“We’re looking for the right focus fits for the Texas Rangers,” Fenstermaker said after what he described as a productive day at the Signia Hilton. “Guys that we feel maybe have more to offer than maybe what they provided in this past year or years prior.”
The club’s ultimate philosophy, though, is pitchers who attack the strike zone. It was evident in last winter’s acquisitions and in Fenstermaker’s own admissions Tuesday night. It is conceivably possible to build a relief staff through those priorities at the price point that the Rangers may need to operate if they plan to trim their payroll from last season.
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Correction: It is possible. The Rangers spent under $13 million on six free agent relief pitchers last winter and, per FanGraphs, were rewarded with nearly $30 million of on-field value from their bullpen. Taylor Rogers, a 34-year-old right-hander, threw 57% of his pitches in the strike zone last season and owns a career 7.3% walk rate. Tyler Alexander, a 31-year-old left-hander who attended Southlake Carroll, threw 54% of his pitches in the zone and posted a minuscule 6.2% walk rate last season. Both are free agents and have a combined market value, per Spotrac, of less than $6 million.
Rogers has 83 career saves but hasn’t operated as a full-time closer in three seasons. It’d still qualify him as the most-experienced high-leverage arm on the Texas roster. The Rangers haven’t signed a certified in-their-prime closer in president of baseball operations Chris Young’s tenure and, in two of the last three seasons, have largely worked the ninth inning by committee. Fenstermaker believes that there are candidates in the minor league system that could “grow into high-leverage roles” eventually and others on the major league roster (such as left-hander Robert Garcia) who have high-leverage experience and could compete for late-game opportunities.
Young said he doesn’t have “hard and fast rules” about big-money relief pitcher deals and acknowledged that it’s a player-to-player case. The opportunities to sign a high-dollar closer-type have started to dry with or without the Rangers’ involvement.
The three premier free agents at the position — right-handers Edwin Diaz (Los Angeles Dodgers), Devin Williams (New York Mets) and Ryan Helsley (Baltimore Orioles) — have already signed for nearly $150 million worth of contracts between the three of them. The next tier, one that includes right-handers Robert Suarez (a 34-year-old who’s been an All-Star in consecutive seasons for the San Diego Padres) and Pete Fairbanks (a former Ranger whom the club inquired about before the trade deadline), may not sit for long after the market’s ramp-up Tuesday afternoon.
The availability, coupled with their own financial restrictions, leaves the Rangers in a situation not dissimilar to the one that they were in last winter when they rebuilt their bullpen for the first time.
They’ve at least got a philosophy they’ve seen work once.
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