The Rangers have dramatically revamped their rotation this offseason by adding Drew Smyly, Lance Lynn and Shelby Miller (in addition to selecting Edinson Volquez to the 40-man roster), but Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Texas organization has also “been in contact” with free-agent righty Clay Buchholz. He further qualifies that there’s “no word” whether a deal between the two sides is close, but the connection is nonetheless of some note.
It’s been a quiet season in terms of teams being connected to Buchholz. The 34-year-old was nothing short of spectacular in 2018, as he turned in 98 1/3 brilliant innings with the D-backs after being cut loose by Kansas City. With Arizona, Buchholz pitched to a 2.01 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.82 HR/9 and a 42.6 percent ground-ball rate in 16 starts.
The veteran Buchholz looked to be positioning himself for a multi-year contract in free agency, but he unfortunately suffered a flexor mass strain in his right forearm that truncated his season in September. The injury didn’t require surgical repair — Buchholz underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection — but did give teams some understandable cause for concern, especially when considering his injury history. Buchholz did, after all, miss nearly the entire 2017 season due to a flexor tear in his right arm and also missed substantial time in 2015 due to a flexor strain.
For the Rangers or any other pitching-needy team, Buchholz is a sensible buy-low option — likely on a one-year deal, depending on the current state of his forearm and progress he’s made in rehabbing the injury. Joining the Rangers and their homer-happy home park may not be the most appealing option for Buchholz, though Miller wasn’t deterred by that concept when signing a one-year deal with Texas.
Yankees
He wants a guaranteed rotation spot I’m sure
he’s a FOR guy. no. doubt.
Can’t believe this guy is 34 already. Hope he can return to health and end his career on a positive note.
Ditto
Still not an inspiring rotation.
It’s not awe-inspiring, but still as good as, or better, than half the leagues’ teams.
Here’s Marlins rotation: Jose Urena Trevor Richards Wei-Yin Chen Dan Straily Caleb Smith
Tigers: Jordan Zimmermann Michael Fulmer Matthew Boyd Tyson Ross Matt Moore
Rays: Blake Snell Charlie Morton Tyler Glasnow Wilmer Font Jake Faria
Orioles: Dylan Bundy Andrew Cashner Alex Cobb Yefry Ramirez David Hess
No, it’s easily in the running for the worst rotation in all of baseball.
It’s not even close to being as good or better than half the league’s teams. If the league only had two teams, maybe.
Not an inspiring team…
The Giants should take a shot at Buchholz if the price is right.
He’ll get injured signing the contract.
LOL
Hes was injured sleeping with his baby the year he was like 12-1 at the AS break and was pretty much done for the rest of the season. he is 1 of the few players in the game who might be more fragile than Ellsbury and Adam Eaton.
This rotation seems better than some we’ve had in the past,Signing Clay would be an awesome pickup for this team,now we need a good contact hitting 3rd baseman and a center fielder who makes contact as well as power. Ready for everyone to sign and spring training to get underway. 2020 in the new Stadium and gonna spend some money.
I’ve been hoping the Brewers would be in on this guys. Crushed it with AZ before he got hurt last year.
Texas is a launching pad. They just need to strike on one or two arms and either they play themselves into a WC spot or they deal said arms at the deadline. Rangers may be the unnamed team after Machado.
Texas could sign Keuchel and Buccholz and still won’t be in the WC race.
Most probably would have said similar things about the Rayd and A’s this year. You really never know with the MLB and the Rangers have some talented players
Texas used to be a launching pad. They have calmed down that reputation with ballpark adjustments.
I’ve been quietly hoping the Mets are in on him. I watched almost every started last season and he definitely looked a lot better than I expected. It’s always been about his health, so it’s still a roll of the dice, but likely a worthwhile one. I’m guessing 1/$12m or maybe 2/$20m. With his injury history I’m not really sure what he is expecting.
When are the A’s going to get a starter?? I thought they were going to get Gray for sure. Who will they get now? I still think Gio will go to the A’s.
Id like them to pick up atleast 2 out of Gio, Buchholtz, Edwin Jackson.
I’m definitely going to miss Buchholz. He was rock solid for us last year and was a fantastic surprise. I hope he can return to health and succeed wherever he goes next.
It’s all about health, no? I watched Buck pitch in Arizona last year; there were some games he was completely unhittable. He always did have more pitches than he needed; I think that was part of his problem. Last year at least he appeared he was picking the right ones.
But it’s a longshot. Good sign for the Rangers, tho, who figure to be in “Let’s Make A Deal” mode on July 31.
He would probably love pitching for Texas he is from there.
This seems like it could be a halfway decent rotation if no one gets seriously injured. Not too bad of a job cobbling it together by Jon.
I had to pinch myself to make sure that this was real!
I’m only painfully biased 99% of the time.
Where are you at White Sox!? Been clamoring to take a flier on this guy for quite a while now! With your supremely talented trainers, you may be able to get a full season of production out of him. Stuff has never been an issue. Health always has been. Risk/reward seems to favor a shot. Rodon to the pen as a Hader/Miller type. Nova is stuck here thanks to an average move at best. Would’ve signed Buchholz before making that trade. Miller wouldn’t have been a terrible idea either. Plenty of potential upside. Plenty of moves could’ve been made. Alonso!? McCann!? Jay!? What are you doing!?