Wednesday Newsletter time: Texas Rangers taking the word rotation to heart the rest of the season
Pitchers will be moving in and out of the starting mix in a series of mixing and matching that got under way Tuesday with Taylor Hearn.
The Tuesday newsletter speculated on the meaning behind the Texas Rangers giving left-hander Taylor Hearn a start in the opener of the three-game series against the Seattle Mariners.
My spitballing was about as clear as what came out of the pregame Zoom with manager Chris Woodward.
In fairness, the Rangers haven’t made many decisions beyond the way the rotation is structured for the next two series. The Mariners will see Mike Foltynewicz on Wednesday and fellow right-hander Spencer Howard is scheduled for Thursday.
Howard was bumped from Tuesday to Thursday because he wasn’t feeling great, Woodward said.
The Rangers are not going to a six-man rotation, as the Newsletter said Tuesday. So, someone will lose the actual act of starting a ballgame, but could still be considered a starter.
It makes the most sense for that pitcher to be Hearn, who the Rangers have steadily built up the past few weeks out of the bullpen. He allowed two runs in five innings Tuesday in a 3-1 loss.
Woodward said a likely scenario would be a piggybacking two starters, and mentioned Howard and Hearn.
Piggybacking is the same as the tandem roles created early in the season. That’s preferred over a six-man rotation because it allows the Rangers to balance innings out of the bullpen.
More chaos will ensue in a few weeks when Kohei Arihara returns from a rehab assignment. He hasn’t started it yet, but is going to soon.
Woodward said that Arihara is likely to work as a reliever the rest of the season, but the right-hander is under contract for 2022 and would be a candidate for the rotation next spring.
Arihara’s return could lead to him falling into a tandem with Dane Dunning, who has been the Rangers’ best starter despite being on a tight innings leash all season.
So, by early September the rotation could look like this: Jordan Lyles, Kolby Allard, Howard/Hearn, Foltynewicz and Dunning/Arihara.
Oh, yeah. The Rangers would like to give right-hander Glenn Otto, acquired in the Joey Gallo trade, a big-league look. Otto was selected Monday as the Triple A West Pitcher of the Week after six scoreless innings last week on one hit.
Got all of that?
Like the Rangers’ record, their pitching plans will be pretty messy the rest of the season.
He needed that
Second baseman Andy Ibanez’s calling card is supposed to be his offense, but the second baseman has been grinding this month at the plate.
The rookie entered Tuesday batting .156 in August and in a 1-for-11 funk. Ibanez, though, has been much better defensively than has been his reputation, and that has helped him contribute to the Rangers’ chances when the bat has been missing.
The home run he hit Tuesday might allow him to take a deep breath. The solo shot cleared the 372-foot sign in left field, an area Ibanez has found a few times previously this season.
It was his fifth homer in 2021, the fourth since he was recalled in June, and his third in August despite having only nine hits. He singled in the eighth for his first multi-hit game since Aug. 1.
Second base is far from settled. Nick Solak, who replaced Rougned Odor there this season, is at Triple A Round Rock. Yonny Hernandez can play there, as can Eli White, and 2020 first-rounder Justin Foscue is a second baseman who some believe will hit 30 home runs a season.
Whoever opens 2022 at second baseman might just be keeping it warm for Foscue.
Scandal in card industry
PWCC Marketplace, one of the largest volume dealers of sports trading cards in the industry, was suspended Tuesday by eBay for allegedly partaking in “shill bidding” that elevated the prices of its listings.
The move by eBay, which PWCC denied and said was defamatory, has brought into question the integrity of the card market, which soared last year during the COVID-19 pandemic as people sought other ways to invest their money.
The industry continues to see rare cards selling for more than $1 million, and PWCC has brokered some of the largest sales.
Many of the PWCC auctions on eBay were done on consignment. PWCC has has been conducting its own auctions independent of the relationship with eBay.
To that end, PWCC said it has been moving away from eBay and that this move only hastens that.
But PWCC has a PR problem, and it could affect the industry as a whole.
Doggy video!
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. Enjoy. See you Thursday.
