Texas Rangers Rumors: Clay Buchholz potentially a target

Texas Rangers rumors: Clay Buchholz, Texas native and MLB free agent starting pitcher, and the Rangers have been in contact, per Jon Heyman on Twitter.

It says something about how dead things are right now that this is worthy of hitting the siren and turning on the flashing red lights to alert everyone of a Rangers rumor. Buchholz has starred in such other Rangers rumors as “Texas wants Buchholz for Jarrod Saltamacchia or Taylor Teagarden, but Red Sox are offering Michael Bowden or Daniel Bard” and most recently “hey, Buchholz was released, maybe the Rangers should give him a look.”

Clay Buchholz is 34 years old now, which should make all of us be contemplating our mortality. He also had a solid run for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018 after opting out of his minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals, putting up a 2.01 ERA (albeit with a 3.47 FIP) in 98.1 innings over 16 starts before a flexor strain in his right elbow ended his season.

Buchholz has had an up-and-down career, showing flashes of top of the rotation potential at times with the Red Sox early in his career, but more often being plagued by inconsistency and injuries. Boston, who drafted him in the first round of the 2005 draft, dealt him to Philadelphia prior to the 2017 season, where he gave up 10 runs in 7.1 IP over two starts before going on the shelf in mid-April for surgery to repair his right flexor tendon.

The Rangers continue to look for starting pitching depth, both because the majority of their current rotation either barely pitched or didn’t pitch in 2018, and because Mike Minor continues to be rumored to be on the trade block. Buchholz is a starting pitcher who likely won’t cost much, so it makes sense the Rangers would be at least checking in on him.