Texas Rangers will face big questions if struggles continue

The Texas Rangers’ flat start to the 2017 season reportedly has them looking for outside help. But will they end up as sellers at the trade deadline instead?

Despite yesterday afternoon’s 10-4 win over the division rival Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers certainly haven’t gotten off to the start they envisioned at the outset of the 2017 season. They sit at 12-17 after losing seven of their last 10 games, putting them in last place and seven games behind in the AL West.

It still goes without saying that it’s very early. We’re barely into the campaign’s second month. There’s plenty of time for Jeff Banister‘s men to turn things around. But it’s hard to ignore how lackluster the team’s performance has been less than a year after finishing with the best record in the American League.

While the trade deadline is still almost three months away, it may not be too soon for Texas to start thinking about the courses of action it may have to take depending on how things go in the meantime. According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the club is on the lookout for both starting pitching and hitting.

Rotation help makes sense given that ace lefty Cole Hamels is expected to be out for about two months with a strained right oblique. Offseason addition Tyson Ross is an intriguing wild card, but his return is still a bit further down the road.

The Rangers’ rotation has actually done quite well so far, with a 3.61 ERA that ranks fifth overall among both leagues. They have been boosted by fine performances from Yu Darvish (3.03 ERA), A.J. Griffin (3.54 ERA) and yes, Andrew Cashner (2.95 ERA). Hamels is a big presence to miss for any length of time, however, and Texas might want to acquire some insurance. There’s surely not much out there yet on the trade market, though, and the odds and ends remaining in free agency aren’t particularly appealing.

The offense has been the real conundrum, however. While the Rangers rank ninth in MLB with 134 runs scored, they are perhaps somewhat fortunate to be there. They rank 28th with a pitiful .223 batting average and 21st with a .706 OPS. Texas’ home run output – 43 long balls, good for third in baseball – has kept them afloat.

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Looking up and down the Rangers’ lineup, many of the players expected to play key roles are struggling in a big way. Rougned Odor and Mike Napoli are both hitting below the Mendoza line. Jonathan Lucroy is batting only .222 with a pair of homers. Former top prospect Jurickson Profar was sent down to the minors after slashing a meager .135/.289/.135 in 15 games.

Of course, the offense is missing a major piece right now in third baseman Adrian Beltre. The veteran and likely future Hall of Famer should provide a significant lift when he’s ready to return from a strained calf, but that’s not expected until sometime around the end of May.

If Hamels and Beltre return on schedule and the underachieving members of the lineup get back on track, this Rangers team should play much better than it has to this point. But will it be enough? If they’re too far out of the race come July, the front office will need to ask itself some tough questions.

As Heyman points out, Darvish and Lucroy are impending free agents and therefore potential trade chips. Texas could land nice returns for each of them, especially if Lucroy bounces back from his slow start.

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The Rangers likely overachieved last season by a wide margin (just ask their 82-80 Pythagorean record, 13 games worse than their actual mark) so perhaps a regression isn’t that surprising. But if things get bad enough, they will need to decide between staying the course and cashing in their chips with an eye toward next year.

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