Reassessing Texas Rangers' Offseason Plan and Breaking Down What's Next

The Texas Rangers didn’t do much to bolster its starting rotation during the 2014 Winter Meetings, but some work was still completed.

A week after the club re-signed Colby Lewis, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan reported it made a deal with the Washington Nationals for Ross Detwiler. While they did add a few arms, the two players’ recent successes in the big leagues are nothing to rave about.

That has been general manager Jon Daniels’ plan this offseason: improve a pitching staff that got hammered for the majority of last season. The Rangers had the third worst team ERA in all of baseball (4.49) and the second highest WHIP (1.41). Pitching was a large reason why the team lost more than 90 games for the first time in 11 years.

Even after bringing back Lewis and adding Detwiler, not much has changed for the organization. Daniels will continue to look for pitching depth in the starting rotation.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

There is no timetable set for the return of Matt Harrison, and Martin Perez may not be back until midseason in 2015. That leaves the rotation pretty empty, with Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis the only real locks for a spot in the starting five. Detwiler is also an option but could reside in the bullpen like he did for the Nationals last season.

Texas does have internal options, including a few that found extended time in the big leagues last season. However, both Nick Tepesch and Nick Martinez were less than effective and should expect to battle for a rotation spot if Daniels decides to keep it in-house.

Most of the free-agent market has dried up, but the GM could still look to trade. He has mentioned that trading is more likely to happen than spending money in free agency as ESPN’s Jim Bowden said in this tweet:

On the other hand, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News mentioned this about trying to upgrade the roster:

"

The more the Rangers talked, though, the more they realized one player in December wasn’t going to solve their issues if they don’t have a healthy and productive Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Mitch Moreland, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Tanner Scheppers, just to name a half-dozen of their injury-comeback question marks.

Until they have answers on those guys and others, making a big move, they believe, would be making a rash move.

"

And he couldn’t be more correct. Daniels made the moves last year by breaking the logjam in the middle infield and shipping Ian Kinsler to Detroit for Prince Fielder. He made a splash in the free-agent market when he signed Shin-Soo Choo to a deal worth $130 million. While they both saw time in Arlington, it wasn’t enough to judge the significance of each transaction.

Of course, they weren’t the only ones to land on the disabled list. A plethora of Rangers missed large portions of the season, including Derek Holland and the aforementioned Perez and Harrison. It would be hard for the most talented team to stay competitive using over 60 batters and 40 pitchers in a single season.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

So for now, it makes complete sense for Daniels and the organization to stand their ground. Anything can happen from now up until the trade deadline. It is still unknown how this roster will shape up when healthy. The Rangers could be contenders or as irrelevant as they were in 2014. If they are fighting for the playoffs, the prospects that have been saved until this point could be used to grab a more impactful arm or bat later into the season.

Plus, Daniels will most likely look for a player who will still be on the roster after the 2015 campaign, rather than grab rentals like Matt Garza and Cliff Lee.

If the current roster can get healthy and stay that way, Arlington could host baseball next October. Until then, Daniels should continue to stand pat and wait to see what happens. The success of his club, as well as others, will pave the way for deals down the road.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.

You can follow Trey on Twitter @treydwarren