So, yeah, the bullpen continues to be the hot topic around Rangerland.
Evan Grant says that Jason Jennings impressed with his outing yesterday, and could be positioning himself to be the top righthanded late inning relief option.
Jeff Wilson has some notes up where he also talks about Jennings impressing in relief, and also says that the Rangers have the oldest and youngest position players in the majors right now, with Omar Vizquel and Elvis Andrus.
Willie Eyre and Dustin Nippert are both eligible to be activated from the disabled list, which makes them bullpen options, although they apparently are supposed to pitch a few more games before being considered for activation. I suspect that Eyre replaces Madrigal as soon as he's ready to go, and then at some point the Rangers will make a decision on whether to activate Nippert and put Josh Rupe on waivers and try to outright him, or cut Nippert loose.
Jim Reeves says Matt Harrison is the X factor for the Rangers rotation, the lone lefty who can step up and become a key member of the staff. I have my doubts that Harrison is going to miss enough bats to be a top major league starter, and his success is going to depend on throwing strikes -- something that, as Jon Daniels says in the Reeves column, he's done throughout his minor league career, but didn't do yesterday.
Chris Davis is 1 for 18 to start the season, with 9 Ks, bbut the Rangers say they aren't worried. Davis's history is one of streakiness, and someone (I forget who -- I apologize) noted that last August, when Davis was cold most of the month, he went 1 for 18 with 10 Ks in one stretch. He's not swinging the bat well, but he'll break out of it.
What is more annoying to me is the sudden spate of comments, less than a week into the season, suggesting that Davis needs to be benched or sent to AAA, or that suggest that, well, clearly he can't get the job done and we need to turn to Justin Smoak. It is five games. People need to settle down.
Josh Hamilton is not a fan of playing in the day time, and his numbers have reflected that. Today's game is the 4th day game in a row, and the 5th in 6 games.
Nick Cafardo's Sunday notes column in the Boston Globe includes a lengthy write-up on the situation in Texas with the Rangers, worth checking out.