The Texas Rangers are reeling, losing seven of their last nine games, including getting swept by the New York Yankees over the last three games.
One bright spot from that series was starter C.J. Wilson who set a career high with 129 pitches through eight solid innings of work. Wilson gave up just two runs on seven hits and struck out 10. He is showing why the Rangers believed him when he said he could take the role of the staff “ace” when Cliff Lee departed for Philadelphia.
Through 15 starts, Wilson sports a 7-3 record with a 3.03 ERA.
Torrealba calls out the New York Yankees
Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba apparently had a problem with Yankee hitters Andruw Jones and Mark Teixeira, accusing both of stealing signs.
Torrealba got into it with Jones during the fifth inning on Wednesday night and apparently said something to Teixeira during his at bat one night earlier. Both took exception to Torrealba’s accusation, naturally, and even Jones said it was a little bit of sour grapes on Torrealba’s part.
While stealing signs isn’t illegal it is something teams take exception to if it’s being done. There have been plenty of games where you’ll hear a comment from a catcher or see a verbal altercation over this kind of issue.
Hitters should be good enough to figure a pitcher out without the “tipping” help of a runner on second base
Texas Rangers searching for help
The Rangers need help in their bullpen and they need it soon. Even general manager Jon Daniels recently admitted as much. “It’s something that we’re open to, but it’s easier said than done,” Daniels told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. “There are not a lot of clubs eager to move quality arms right now. We’ve got to be able to address it right now.”
Asked about their combined 4.52 bullpen ERA Daniels said, “it hasn’t been as effective as we need it to be. We haven’t hit our stride yet. It would help if a couple of guys come back healthy, but we need to be more consistent. The bottom line is it needs to be better.”
One name Sullivan talked about in his column on Thursday is Kansas City Royals’ reliever, Joakim Soria. Earlier in the season he would have been an expensive reliever to acquire. However, thanks to his recent struggles, including a string of three blown saves in four appearances, he may not have quite the price tag at this point.
However, he has not given up a run in his last six appearances (8 IP). so that price may be going up.
A few other names mentioned by Sullivan were Chicago Cubs reliever Kerry Wood, San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell, Washington Nationals relievers Todd Coffey and Tyler Clippard, and Baltimore Orioles relievers Koji Uehara, Jim Johnson and Kevin Gregg.