Monday Newsletter time: How a starting pitcher who lost his roster spot Sunday has a chance to make team next season
Kohei Arihara was designed for assignment, but the Rangers expect him to compete for a rotation spot in spring training.
For all the talk about prospects Cole Winn and Jack Leiter, and for all the talk about the Texas Rangers spending this offseason in free agency, the reality is they still won’t be ready to contend in 2022.
The majority of the top pitching prospects are going to open next season in the minor leagues. The one or two who do make the Opening Day rotation are too short on innings to log a season’s worth of innings.
And it will take a special kind of free agent, and a lot of extra money, to convince him to come to the Rangers for what could be a sixth consecutive losing season.
That brings us to right-handers Jordan Lyles, Kohei Arihara and Mike Foltynewicz, who were all in the news Sunday as the Rangers finished a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox with a 7-2 loss.
Lyles allowed five runs in the fourth inning while recording only two outs. Before the game, the Rangers swapped Foltynewicz for Arihara on the 40-man and 26-man roster because they needed a reliever who could log multiple innings.
That’s right: Arihara was designated for assignment for a pitcher who has seemed to be on thin ice for two months.
None of the three is guaranteed to back in 2022 despite the Rangers’ need for innings. Yet, of the three, Arihara looks to have a the best chance to pitch for the Rangers next season.
“We still believe in him,” general manager Chris Young said. “This doesn’t change much, assuming he clears waivers.”
There is that little obstacle, though it is thought to be little. Arihara is 2-4 with a 6.64 ERA in 10 starts this season, is three starts into his return from surgery for an aneurysm in his shoulder and is owed $2.6 million next season.
If he clears, the Rangers plan to assign him outright to Triple A Round Rock and invite him to spring training as a non-roster player. Arihara has the right to refuse the assignment, but he would forfeit his 2022 contract.
So, he will be back. Young and manager Chris Woodward explained the dynamics of the transaction, and president of baseball operations spoke with Arihara’s agent.
Young wasn’t nearly as supportive of the possibility of Foltynewicz or Lyles returning in 2022. Foltynewicz is under club control. Lyles is an impending free agent who has impressed the Rangers with his leadership after Kyle Gibson was traded and even with his pitching.
When asked about the likelihood of either pitcher returning, Young said it’s too early to forecast which way the Rangers will go with those two.
It wasn’t too early, though, on Arihara.
And, despite a lackluster showing Wednesday and as symptoms of the aneurysm started to develop, the Rangers aren’t out on him. He’s been good when healthy, with Wednesday his lone poor start at full health.
Arihara has to win a spot. He has to survive a bunch of young rotation candidates and any established pitchers the Rangers acquire in the offseason. The guess here is that he does, though he could be easily replaced if he struggles.
“If he does clear waivers or does remain in the organization he absolutely will be in major-league camp competing for a spot on our team next year,” Young said.
Tough finish for Frisco
The final day of the regular season Sunday turned into heartbreak for Double A Frisco, which won its division in the Double A Central league but didn’t advance to the postseason after a tough 14-11 loss at Amarillo.
The two teams with the best record in the league earned the playoff berths in this funky COVID-delayed season. Frisco, needing a win, took a three-run lead to the bottom of the ninth inning, thanks to a two-run triple by Bubba Thompson in the top half, but Amarillo tied it on a three-run homer and then erased a one-run deficit in the 10th to end Frisco’s season.
One Rangers full-season affiliate qualified for the postseason, though, as Low A Down East beat Charleston 5-2 and then watched Salem lose to clinch the spot in the Low A East playoffs.
Right-hander Owen White, the 2018 second-round pick, took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before surrendering two runs. He struck out 11 in a clutch performance for the Wood Ducks, who will face off again against Charleston in the best-of-5 series.
ICYMI …
A lunch meeting Friday, another youth sports-heavy Saturday and DMN duty all weekend made it hard for me to keep up with the Texas Rangers Newsletter, and it’s my newsletter.
I can imagine some of you were in the same boat. That’s fine. As always on Monday, we have you covered in case you missed it.
T.R.’s Memoirs: Wooing and signing Alex Rodriguez in 2000.
Friday on the Farm: Aaron Zavala explains his “medical anomaly.”
The Sunday Read: No one wants a 100-loss season, but … .
Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast: Minor-league wrap with Cole Ragans, Paul Kruger.
Outclassed, overpowered by Astros.
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Doggy video!
Our Lily dog would go berserk. Enjoy. See you Tuesday.
Just go with youth in the rotation next year. Dunning, Allard, Hearn, Otto, and Alexy. Then you have guys like Winn, King, Latz, Cody, Burke and Palumbo in AAA.