Major League Baseball

Rangers' GM Jon Daniels unsure if team will make any 'big' pitching moves

Published Mar. 22, 2015 2:28 p.m. ET

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The news that Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish needs Tommy John elbow surgery rattled the Rangers' community. A year after a lost season in 2014, the team was hopeful of fielding a (mostly) healthy unit in 2015.

Obviously, that is no longer the case, and new manager Jeff Banister and his staff will have to find a way to make the best of a pitching staff suddenly lacking its dominant leader. 

Enter GM Jon Daniels. Even before the bad news with Darvish, the Rangers had been one of the teams that could have an interest in dealing for lefty Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies for additional pitching depth. Despite that, and even after Darvish went down, though, Daniels doesn't seem convinced that the 'answer' is out there on the trade market for his Rangers.

As Daniels told T.R. Sullivan of the Rangers' official blog on Sunday:

Instead, Daniels says he envisions bolstering the Rangers' starting rotation with pitchers already at camp with the team:

According to Sullivan, the price tag associated with bringing in someone like Hamels is too high for the Rangers:

Among the options for starting duties include the following: veterans Derek Holland and Yovani Gallardo, essentially assured the No. 1 and No. 2 spots with Darvish out, as well as Colby Lewis, Ross Detwiler, Nick Tepesch, Nick Martinez, Anthony Ranaudo and Matt Harrison, who is a longshot considering he's still working his way back from multiple back surgeries. 

Lefty Martin Perez, who seemed destined for a breakout season in 2014 before elbow issues prompted him to have season-ending Tommy John surgery of his own, should be due back sometime in the first few months of 2015. Whether he'll return to pre-injury form remains to be seen.

All this to say: Daniels and his coaching staff have some big decisions to make regarding the 2015 team, especially if they want to field a unit competitive enough to make any noise whatsoever in a stacked A.L. West. 

(H/T MLBlogs)

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