The Rangers solidified the top of their rotation when they landed left-hander MacKenzie Gore in a trade with the Nationals. Gore, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi will form what should be a dominant trio, as long as everyone stays healthy. Former top prospect Jack Leiter delivered a solid campaign in his first full-time look at the big league level, likely earning him the No. 4 spot. After that, it gets murky.
Texas’ starting pitchers led the league with a 3.41 ERA last season, but the club will have to replace a lot of reliable innings in 2026. Veteran Patrick Corbin matched deGrom for the most starts on the team at 30. He’s now a free agent. Tyler Mahle and trade deadline acquisition Merrill Kelly both departed in free agency.
Here’s a look at the remaining mix of options to round out the rotation.
By pedigree, Rocker would be the favorite for the fifth starter job. The 26-year-old was the third overall pick in the 2022 draft. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs had Rocker behind only Sebastian Walcott among Rangers prospects midway through last season. That was even after the highly-touted righty was destroyed for 18 earned runs in 20 innings to open the year. He landed on the IL with a shoulder issue in late April.
Rocker made it back to the big leagues for nine starts across June and July. He posted a 4.67 ERA, though a 4.14 xFIP and a 4.34 SIERA suggest he was a bit better than that mark. Rocker found himself back in Triple-A by August. He’s yet to impress for an extended stretch at the highest level, but will likely get the chance to stick in the rotation this spring.
Texas used Latz in a Swiss Army Knife role last year, and he pitched well whenever called upon. The 29-year-old lefty made eight starts and 25 relief appearances this past season. Latz’s versatile gig included a quality start and a three-inning save in the span of a week. He compiled a 2.84 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. It came with an xERA and a SIERA above 4.00, so expectations should be tempered, but there might be enough here for Latz to be a full-fledged starter.
Latz relied on a three-pitch mix that featured a fastball, changeup, and slider. He also mixed in a curveball to right-handed hitters. Latz used each of his three main pitches more than 20% of the time, so the repertoire is deeper than that of a typical reliever. The fastball was dominant, holding hitters to a .193 batting average while recording a +11 Run Value. The changeup got whiffs at a more than 40% clip. Latz will have a role on this team one way or another.
Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber, Nabil Crismatt
The Rangers brought in this group of veterans on minor league deals. They’ll serve as depth pieces if injuries pop up. One of them could find their way into the rotation if Rocker flops in the spring and the club prefers Latz out of the bullpen.
Quantrill spent 2025 with the Marlins and Braves, posting an ERA over 6.00 across 26 starts. He finished last season in the Rangers’ minor league system. Gomber was cut by the Rockies in August after scuffling through a dozen starts. He latched on with the Cubs on a minor league pact, but didn’t make it to the big-league club. Crismatt actually pitched decently last year, putting together a 2.70 ERA in his first six games with the Diamondbacks. He was crushed out of the bullpen in his final outing of the year, which sullies the final line.
Bring back Corbin
The veteran lefty revived his career in his lone season as a Ranger. After four brutal years to close his time in Washington, Corbin was one of the brightest surprises in the first half of 2025. He notched an ERA under 4.00 through July with the underlying metrics to back it up. Corbin’s performance fell off in the final two months of the season, but he still put up a respectable overall line. Whatever the Rangers did with him, it seemed to work, and he could likely be brought back for a minimal commitment.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
Id like to see Zack Littell or Justin Verlander signed, damn the payroll tax.
can they really not afford Littell?
They probably could if they want to, they won’t come anywhere close to the first luxury tax threshold this year.
Can’t believe Littell and Gallen are unsigned. Baseball needs expansion in a big way. Damn this cartel.
Corbin had extreme home/road splits. Elite at home quite bad away
Corbin over the past 5 years has averaged 167 IP with batters hitting .293/.347/.485 off him. That covers 3681 batters. He was definitely great at home in 2025. The 309 batters he faced hit .247/.303/.378. I wouldn’t count on that happening again.
Rangers should aim higher after ponying up prospects for Gore.
I think they can patch together cheap depth like Corbin and upside plays like Rocker and be fine with that plan as a 5th starter. The top 4 is exceptionally deep and high quality. There just isn’t much else available that can move the needle for them even further on that side of the ball, even if they spent stupid money/all of their remaining prospects on it. No way in hell someone like Gallen is gonna be worth the money he wants and losing the QO pick on top of that. They have softer spots on the position player side that need to be addressed however they just don’t have much resources left whether it’s financial or prospects wise. They blew through it all to win in 2023.
I agree that Corbin is not that great, however, what the Rangers rotation is going to need most is innings. Gore and Leiter feel safe for 30 starts, deGrom and Eovaldi do not. Corbin is at least more reliable than Gomber or Quantrill. If the cost is right, which it should be, it wouldn’t be a bad signing just to accumulate innings.
I like the Littel and Verlander suggestions above as well. Verlander feels like a Rangers move (deGrom, Scherzer, tried multiple times to get Kershaw to finish his career there… yeah, let’s get a year of Verlander). A lot will come down to cost. As much as it would be great to see Rocker get a long runway to take the job and run with it, they need more insurance innings to get through the season. Verlander could potentially block Rocker, but Corbin or even Littel would more easily be slid to the bullpen as needed if Rocker is ready to roll.
They also didn’t want to pay their pitching coach so he is gone.
for some reason its impossible to hit there now
Would you trade Jung for Boston’s Sonny Gray? And go with Cody Freeman at 3rd….
Why would Boston trade Gray when they just acquired him?
KFCF
“Why would Boston trade Gray when they just acquired him?”
For the same reason most teams trade players, they think the value that they are getting in return makes trading the player worth it
Texas would. Not so much Boston!
I could see a trade involving Seager for some of Bostons pitching if Sebastian Walcott was a year closer to making his debut. Too early this year tho.
One year of Sonny Gray… for a RH plus defender at 3b with several years of control who needs a change of scenery. Sox can’t offer Gray a QO in 2027…and the mutual option is priced out. The Sox are NOT really built to win in 2026… might need to continue embracing the limited wild-card chase while continuing to roster-build for the real window (2027-2032). IMO
The Red Sox are absolutely built to win in 2026. They have a top five rotation and wouldn’t have any interest in the injury-prone Jung, especially for a pitcher of Gray’s caliber. Gray is what they were missing last year, along with several injured bats at the end of the season, and they still made the playoffs.
I like the team we have, but I’d also seriously consider that trade (bad optics aside). Jung has holes, but he’s a great fit.
I know TEX is on a tight budget, but what would another year of Corbin cost?
Corbin only cost $1.1 million a year ago, even a slight raise on that should still keep him at $2 million or less.
Quantrill seems like the guy to me if they don’t go with Rocker.
Crismatt
No bull
When I first saw the headline I thought it was about the state of Texas.
They have a top 4 that can matches up with the best staffs in baseball if healthy. The 5th starter can be a revolving door and they should still be able to compete effectively on that side of the ball. Maybe even win it all again. The real question marks are in the lineup. Can any of the non-Seager hitters produce enough?
Gore is not a top of the rotation starter. He has proven year in and year out to be a mid to back of rotation starter.
Over the past two years Gore has a 6.1 fWAR, which is 14th in baseball. That puts him between Logan Gilbert (6.6) and Freddy Peralta (5.9).
His WAR is high because he pitches a lot of innings
And yet anyone can tell you he’s well below that league of pitchers.
First half of 2025 Gore looked primed to be a CY finalist.
3.02 era, 19 GS, 110 IP, 97 h, 11 hr, 35 bb, 138 k
Freddy Peralta was at:
2.66 era, 20 GS, 111 IP, 81 h, 12 hr, 37 bb, 118 k
He’s also 2 years younger than Gilbert and 3 years younger than Peralta which to me equates to him possibly having a higher upside.
Stage left…. door opens…..
… silhouette of a large man,
C’mon in son – says the man sitting at the desk.
Large man enters the room, Hey Skip, I am Walker, Taijuan Walker and I am your new arm…
Clever…but no thanks
As a philly phan, I guy has to dream?
Walker Texas Ranger
…..and you get an up vote
I just figured I was saying out loud what you were alluding to in your comment!
Trade ya Bryce Elder or Joey Wentz for a SS or bullpen depth. Lol. I actually don’t want to get rid of either because we are so injury prone but if our rotation was stable it may be good depth for the rangers but we wouldn’t get hardly anything in return. Cash, maybe a prospect that’s not highly ranked. For as annoying as elder can be, he is a workhorse
Mad Max. He’s still looking for a job. Get ya 15 mediocre starts for a cool 15 mil.
Suddenly a wild Darren Oliver appeared!
Could I interest you in a Jose Berrios?
Justin Verlander
Eh searching doesn’t necessarily mean on the market. They have a few options there already. To me it sounds like more of signal of a spring competition. Still a Corbin return would be cheap so I can see that.
It is close enough to Spring training to be bargain basement time. The guys left on the market are just hoping for Spring injuries to up their chances of a decent payday.
Corbin for about the same as last season would not surprise me at all here.
Spring training invite for walker buehler. Incentive contract. He’s not hurt but that’s why you have training staffs. Find issue and correct it. Could be low risk hi reward
Or look at him as closer. He has that bulldog mentality and proved a couple years ago that he can handle the highest leverage situation. Is issue mechanical or between the ears
They should re-up Corbin. He’s not any good, but you when you have four good SPs, I think all you need to have a #5 that keeps you in the game.
And they need to consider that their two best SPs are 38 & 36.
Their new pitching coach has big shoes to fill; I’ll be bidding up gore at my fantasy draft but backing off to not get stuck with him. Leiter & Eavoldi should do fine, DeGrom too risky tho. Go get Martinez so you’re not forced to plug both rocker & goober pile into the rotation…
Cody Bradford is on track to return in May, from internal-brace surgery had in June ’25. I expect a cap of 90 innings in a best case scenario though.
Cole Winn has got some really good stuff and was a starter until 2024. Leiter and Winn have been hyped as a future 1-2 atop the rotation. Even though Cole has been electric out of the bullpen, I would love to see this come to fruition. Watch during spring training and see if Winn gets stretched out.
Jose Corniell looked good starting in the minors, but didn’t have as much luck when called up in a relief role debut last year. Probably worth a shot to see if he can put it together in spring as a starter.
Tyler Alexander started in the first few weeks of Milwuakee’s rotation last year and has averaged 100 innings the past 2 years. I predict a spot start or two from Tyler.
Just some internal options I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
Give Latz a shot and bring back Corbin!