Who?

UPDATE:  I had written that the Rangers were playing the Mexican National Team in an exhibition game.  That is incorrect, they played the Quintana Roo Tigers, a AAA team in Cancun who are the Mexican National Champions.

The Texas Rangers have announced their starting rotation, at least for the first week or two of the year.  As a reminder, here's the starting rotation that was projected before spring training began, a rotation that many analysts concluded would be one of the best in baseball:  Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez, Alexi Ogando/Colby Lewis.

Here's the announced rotation:  Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross, Joe Saunders, Nick Martinez.

Exactly ONE of the projected starters is on that list.  Here's how we got from A to Z.

Before spring training, Derek Holland pulled his biggest boner yet, tripping over his dog Wrigley (Wrigley?  Really?), fracturing a bone in his knee and requiring microsurgery.  So, Texas lost a good lefty, but were also getting a good lefty back with a healthy Matt Harrison.  Plus, Robbie Ross, another decent lefty who's been pushing for a spot in the rotation, would be stretched out during spring training along with fellow bullpen artist Tanner Scheppers.

In the second week of spring training, Matt Harrison wakes up with a sore back before ever getting into an "A" game.  He is immediately shut down and shipped back to Arlington to have his surgically repaired vertebrae checked out.  Colby Lewis, meanwhile, is throwing well but is running out of gas after 30 pitches; he clearly will need an extra week or two of work.  Lewis is relegated to minor league games after a week of work with the big boys.

Harrison checks out ok and the blame for his sore back is put on a soft mattress and the rigors of spring training.  He begins a throwing program to get stretched out again, but like Lewis, will clearly need an extra week or two to get ready.  Tommy Hanson, Colby Lewis's stalking horse, is joined by Joe Saunders, Matt Harrison's emergency backup plan.

Nick Martinez is in minor league camp; he's planning on a return to AA Frisco, where he finished 2013.  The Rangers drafted the New York second baseman in the 18th round of the 2011 draft, based on 20 innings of backup pitching he did in college.  He has a 40+ fastball with decent but not outstanding control, but a 60+ changeup and a 60+ curve.  In 2013, he threw the curve for a strike 85% of the time.

Scheppers and Ross both close camp out with two shutout starts against big club lineups.  Alexi Ogando can't maintain control of his fastball unless he throws it as hard as he can.  Ogando is headed toward the bullpen, and the starting squad now appears to be Darvish, Perez, Scheppers, Ross and either Hanson or Saunders.  Hanson and Saunders have both pitched poorly, but comments from from the Rangers' brass indicate that Hanson has no control of his mechanics and has been the recipient of an inordinate amount of luck.  Saunders also has a better contract (for the team).

Also closing out camp, Yu Darvish is scratched from a start with a stiff neck.  Then he's scratched from practice, and another start with a stiff neck.  Finally, Darvish is scratched from his opening day duties and sent back to Arlington to find out what the #$^* is wrong with his neck.  Turns out it's nothing but the rampaging curse of Ian Kinsler, but now the rotation is effed completely.

Scheppers is moved up to opening day, Perez stays at #2, Ross gets #3, Saunders makes the roster probably right before he actually got kicked over the fence, and #5 is pulled out of Prince Fielder's batting helmet.  It's Nick Martinez!



No, seriously; if you read between the lines and know something about baseball, you probably gathered there *must* be something pretty damn special about Nick Martinez.  18th round picks DO NOT get drafted in 2011 and make it to AA ball a year and half later.  Here's Jamey Newberg on how Nick Martinez finished out his 2013 campaign:

Martinez split the 2011 season between Surprise and Spokane, spent 2012 with Low A Hickory, and worked as a starter for High A Myrtle Beach for all of 2013 until a mid-August promotion to AA Frisco, where he made four starts and one very memorable relief appearance.

After three extremely effective RoughRider starts (three earned runs on eight hits and six walks over 19 innings, with 14 strikeouts and a .129/.206/.129 opponents’ slash), in one of which he was perfect through 4.1, on August 27 he was tasked with relieving Tepesch, who was prescribed a specific number of pitches against Corpus Christi as part of his rehabilitation from an elbow injury.

Tepesch hit 41 pitches after issuing a walk and yielding an infield single to start the third, and on came Martinez.

The first Hooks hitter flew out to right. The next one worked a free pass. But Martinez promptly erased him with a 5-4-3 double playgrounder.

And then Martinez retired the next 18, in order.

Seven no-hit innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

Another brilliant start followed (6-3-1-1-0-3 in Midland), and Martinez’s season was over. He’d obviously made an impression.

Nick Martinez, dominating A-ball pitching, got sent to Frisco, where he dominated.  Keep in mind, he's not a high-ceiling prospect.  Unless he develops another 60+ pitch like a really good slider or cutter, Nick will be a middle-of-the-order guy or reliever.

Don't get to used to seeing him take the mound, however; Darvish and Lewis are both scheduled to be ready to join the rotation by the second week of April, and Harrison a week after that.  Martinez will be the first to go, the big question is who goes second and third.  And when Derek Holland rejoins the team in a couple of months, presuming no one *else* is hurt by then, who else gets dumped?  Texas is very hopeful for Scheppers, so if he's pitching well and not hurt, you would think he would stick.  But, if Scheppers *does* stick, it *will* be at the expense of Lewis unless somebody else (like Perez) is just falling apart.  The Rangers also haven't been so big on Ross being a starter, which means he may leave the rotation after only one or two starts and get shipped back to the bullpen.

Personally, I'm a big fan of launching Joe Saunders into the sun; I really don't know how he made the rotation considering the other options Texas had.  But considering he DID make the rotation despite his eminent flammability, I have to be concerned he has enough dirt on someone to stick around for a while.

That's depressing.

Oh, and the Rangers claimed Donnie Murphy from the Cubs and are intending him to man second base.  This was done because Kensuke Tanaka can't hit or throw, Brent Lillibridge is an injury magnet, Josh Wilson is only a moderate improvement over Tanaka, and Adam Rosales got over his brief flashes of competence that he showed last year.  He gets his first airing tonight in a demo game against the Mexican National Champions, the Quintana Roo Tigers in Arlington; we'll see what the funny papers say tomorrow.

Posted by: Ben at 08:13 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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