After signing Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles this winter, the Texas Rangers are quietly building one of the strongest rotations in all of the game.
The Texas Rangers wanted to attract their fans in the first year of their new ballpark, which is opening in 2020. And they are definitely on the right track to do just that.
So far, GM Jon Daniels has already gone out and signed starters Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles to shorter deals with high AAV’s. Gibson was signed for $30 million over three years and Lyles was signed for $16 million over two seasons.
While there are a lot of people that think the Rangers have definitely overpaid for both starters, Gibson and Lyles are still very good pitchers and Texas now has the best rotation in the American League West.
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Kyle Gibson has remained reliable over the last three seasons, making at least 29 starts in three consecutive seasons for the Minnesota Twins. Although his ERA doesn’t stand out, he has what the Rangers have liked in starting pitchers over the last couple of offseasons: upside.
That’s the same quality that new Rangers starter Jordan Lyles has. Lyles has a great two months to end the year with the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Rangers liked what they saw so they went out and gave him the money that no other team would.
Mike Minor and Lance Lynn, who will be 1 and 2 in the rotation, were guys that weren’t thought of as top of the rotation arms but they were consistent on the mound and had qualities that Texas saw and liked. Minor turned out to be an All-Star in 2019.
I think that the Rangers are very quietly forming one of the best rotations in the league, especially when starters like Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole could be finding new teams in free agency so the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros rotations won’t be as strong.
The Texas Rangers are adding consistent arms that will give them a chance to win on a nightly basis, which is something that a lot of the teams aren’t doing because they are trying to go after the big horses like Cole and Strasburg.