The latest Rangers newsletter from Evan Grant is out...
Some good stuff in there, including a question from a certain blogger about why Jason Botts isn't in the running for the DH job this year, along with some analysis on the rotation.
Grant hammers home the point that the Rangers need multiple pitchers to stay in the rotation and give the Rangers innings, something that Jim Baker touches on today at BP, as well.
Baker points out that the Rangers have had the fewest pitchers qualify for the ERA title since 2000, with only 10, total...and 4 of those 10 times were done by Kenny Rogers, who, of course, was encouraged not to let the door hit him on the way out this past offseason. Of the other 6 instances, two of them were by Rick Helling, with John Thomson, Doug Davis, Ryan Drese, and Chris Young accomplishing the feat once apiece.
Asking for 162 innings shouldn't be that big of a request, and Baker suggests that the Rangers need at least three starters to do that this year:
In order for Texas to even think about competing, at least three of these pitchers have to show up--and that's without even addressing the matter of the quality of their work once they get there. Millwood is an excellent bet to do so and between Padilla and Eaton, one of them is bound to be healthy enough to make it. Loe has what it takes to, at the very least, stabilize the rotation.
I agree...Kameron Loe's performance in the rotation is, I believe, going to be key in determining how well the Rangers do this year.