12/21/24
July 24, 2012
Rangers Starter Colby Lewis Done for Season: Texas Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis will have surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow, ending his 2012 season. Lewis is 6-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts this season and has been a strong postseason contributor for Texas at 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA in eight starts.
They now either have to make a serious bid at Hamels or Greinke (or Josh Johnson, I guess...hearing his name pop up recently) or trust a starting role to Nefti or Ogando (or both, maybe...depending on how Oswalt shakes out). I know Feldman's been a pretty good spot-starter (including last night), but I really don't like the idea of him as a regular rotation guy.
Shame about Colby. He seems like a great guy.
Also, I'm out of parentheses now. Anyone got some to spare?
posted by Ufez Jones at 08:07 PM on July 24, 2012
The Rangers are in a tough spot; they have plenty of potentially strong arms (Holland, Oswalt, Ogando and Feliz) but they really can't get anyone healthy or consistent enough to feel secure that there's a #3, #4 and #5 there.
It's a rock/hard place right now; send out a couple of top prospects for Hamels or Greinke or keep the farm system stocked and trust that the talent is there. I'd probably be inclined to go the latter route if this happened a couple of weeks ago and Ogando could be stretched out during rehab, but given he's not and with the number of veteran starters still on the market, you gotta think someone like Garza goes for a little cheaper after his cramping episode.
posted by dfleming at 09:02 PM on July 24, 2012
I don't follow the Rangers closely, but over the last couple of years it seems like they keep losing good pitchers and becoming a more competitive baseball team all at the same time. I'm trying to figure out how that works.