Lowe Clearance

 

It's been something of a miserable week for the Rangers. They lost a ton of games to people like St. Louis and Toronto, they lost a very nice piece in Michael Lorenzen in the hopes that the rotation would hold, then immediately saw Max Scherzer hit the IL again. Some of the best players on this team, like Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia and Jon Gray, have slowed down tremendously since the team's peak. And they have to contend with the Astros immediately at the start of next week, and while the Astros have hit some snags of their own, this would be a crucial moment for both teams trying to fight for dominance in the AL West.

The Rangers, a lot like last year, have played the middle and waited for a moment like this to go after the top spot. Unlike last year, the brunt of their attack has been dulled. Injuries, especially to the rotation, have diluted this team's appeal, and losing Scherzer and Gray leaves a once-again depleted pitching staff. The team will go ahead with Nate Eovaldi, Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney and the newly-activated Cody Bradford, but because they gave up Lorenzen they're now in an awkward period where they really don't have a fifth man. The hope is that Jacob deGrom returns fairly soon, but until then they need to use someone like Jose Urena and Gerson Garabito. Which...isn't really ideal. I mean I guess the alternative is seeing if Jack Leiter Jr.'s ready now, but...do they wanna risk that knowing that they'll likely get someone back from the IL relatively soon? 

And then looking at the lineup...the fire that was there last year just isn't really there. Nobody has over 20 home runs. One guy's hitting over .260, and he's starting less frequently considering he was supposed to be a fill-in guy. Marcus Semien's OPS has dropped to .721. Nobody's doing truly terribly, but nobody's burning the place down. Corey Seager's still doing well, he's still got 50 RBIs, but he's only one piece of this. All of Jonah Heim, Adolis Garcia and Leody Taveras are following up their excellent 2023 campaigns with very mediocre baseball.

Nathaniel Lowe, at the very least, has been improving in the last month or so, and now is hitting .270 with 45 RBIs and 82 hits. Lowe has flirted with being solely a power piece but his contact work is very good, and he's just a very good all-around hitter, the likes of whom the team is much better for retaining. And you're seeing life in people like Wyatt Langford and now-healthy-again Josh Jung, and...it's an improvement. But with the Astros doing their usual thing, something needs to truly click.

I know the Rangers likely won't repeat at this rate, but it'd be nice if their second wind could do something cool with the division race looking close.

Coming Tomorrow- Ironically, a super-hot outfielder from the team they beat last year for the gold.