ARLINGTON—The Texas Rangers are just nine days away from their season opener against the Colorado Rockies on Friday, July 24, and Manager Chris Woodward still has a number of decisions to make. The Rangers will have the ability to carry 30 players on their opening day roster, rather than 25, and fans have started to speculate which players will make the final cut. It is hard to account for health, even nine days in advance, but here’s a look at what the Rangers opening day roster could potentially look like.
STARTING PITCHERS
• Lance Lynn
• Corey Kluber
• Mike Minor
• Kyle Gibson
• Jordan Lyles
Woodward has already announced that righthander Lance Lynn will get the nod on opening day for his club. Lynn had a very impressive season in 2019, posting a record of 16-11, and an ERA of 3.76. Lynn also finished fifth in the race for the American League Cy Young award.
Behind him are a number of strong options, starting with Corey Kluber. Despite missing a huge majority of last season with an injury, Kluber is a two-time Cy Young award winner himself and won at least 18 games in each of his last three seasons before 2019. Mike Minor, who was an all star last year, and also finished in the top 10 of the Cy Young race.
The back of the Rangers rotation is where things begin to become a little more uncertain. Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles are exempted to round out the starting five for Texas. Gibson had a career year in 2018 for the Minnesota Twins. He started in 32 games and finished the season with an ERA of 3.62; however, in 2019, despite having a record of 13-7, Gibson’s ERA went up to an 4.84, and he allowed more hits and home runs than he did in 2018. Lyles, on the other hand, struggled at the start of the 2019 season but finished very strong. In his final 11 starts, Lyles went 7-1, allowing just 2.45 runs per nine innings.
There are definitely question marks, but this has the chance to be the Rangers best group of starting pitchers in a really long time.
RELIEF PITCHERS
• Jesse Chavez
• Luke Farrell
• Nick Goody
• Taylor Hearn
• Jonathan Hernandez
• Ariel Jurado
• Jose Leclerc
• Rafael Montero
• Edinson Volquez
Arguably the thing with which most teams in the league struggle on a yearto-year basis is the bullpen. The nature of pitchers, especially relievers, tend to be inconsistent from one year to the next.
The only thing that is certain at this moment is Jose Leclerc will be in the closer role for the Rangers. Leclerc tallied 14 saves in 18 appearances for Texas last season and had 12 saves in 16 chances in 2018. If the closer can improve his control and cut down on walks, he has the chance to be one of the better closers in the entire league.
The Rangers are expected to carry 10 in the bullpen to open the season, and the final two spots could very well come down to Derek Law and Kolby Allard. Allard has the advantage here: he’s already on the Rangers 40-man roster, is considered more of a starting pitcher and can eat up more innings, and give the Rangers an extra left-handed arm, which they desperately need. Law, on the other hand, has much more big league experience and experience late in games. Last season alone, Law picked up fives saves for the Toronto Blue Jays. Expect to see at least one of these two make the opening day roster.
CATCHERS
• Robinson Chirinos
• Jeff Mathis
• Jose Trevino
There aren’t really any question marks here. With the expanded roster, the Rangers are expected to carry three catchers, and these are the three on their 40-man roster.
If Robinson Chirinos is healthy, he will be the starting catcher for Texas. The first few weeks are really more of a test to see if Jeff Mathis or Jose Trevino will be the one to earn the backup role.
Mathis provides very little at the plate but is considered to be strong defensively. Trevino lacks big league experience but still has plenty of upside entering his age 27 season.
Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa also has plenty of experience behind the plate and could see time there if he ins’t starting in another position.
INFIELDERS
• Elvis Andrus
• Greg Bird
• Todd Frazier
• Ronald Guzman
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa
• Rougned Odor
At this point, every starting infield position seems to be locked up except for one—first base.
Ronald Guzman was considered to be the leading candidate but has yet to find his stride offensively in his first two seasons.
The Rangers also brought Greg Bird into camp to give them another option. Bird had a very strong rookie campaign in 2016 with the Yankees but as struggled to stay on a big league roster since. Bird has looked much more impressive in camp than Guzman has, and they have the room to carry both.
Expect the first two weeks of the season to be an audition between these two to see who will be the everyday man moving forward.
OUTFIELDERS
• Willie Calhoun
• Shin-Soo Choo
• Joey Gallo
• Scott Heineman
• Danny Santana
• Nick Solak
The Rangers biggest strength entering this season might just be their versatility. Outside of Shin-Soo Choo and Scott Heineman, everyone listed above has experience playing both in the infield and outfield. Texas will have the ability to “play the hot hand” and find a spot in the field somewhere for whoever is performing the best offensively.
The Texas Rangers open their season on Friday, July 24, with a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies. They also have a pair of home games against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, July 28 and Wednesday, July 29. No fans will be allowed at these games, but Major League Baseball will reconsider their fan policy for the month of August.