ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers (60-46, 1st Place AL West) come limping back to Arlington, but the cavalry awaits them.
After a road trip in which they won one of six games, and were swept by a puzzling San Diego Padres squad, Texas is looking forward to returning home to face a Chicago White Sox (43-64, 4th Place AL Central) team that is a hard seller at the trade deadline.
The Rangers will be welcoming in new blood – pitchers Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton, and Max Scherzer will join the team beginning with this six-game homestand to hopefully breathe new life into the pitching staff.
This series will start after the Tuesday 5 p.m. CST trade deadline, so the team could see additional changes. With reports that the Rangers are both all in on this year and not done yet making moves, the landscape could alter again by the time the first pitch is thrown in Arlington.
At the deadline
The White Sox had high hopes coming into the 2023 season. Featuring a good mix of veteran players and upstart talent, the expectations for the Southsiders was to top the weakest division in baseball. Ultimately, however, the performers just haven’t performed.
Ranking near the bottom third of the league in nearly every major offensive category, and in the bottom third of the league in most pitching categories, including ranking dead last in the American League in home runs allowed, the White Sox find themselves out of contention.
This spiral comes after a season in which Chicago finished in second place with a .500 record. Their lack of performance has prompted fans to call for Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the team, resulting in a very chaotic atmosphere for the Sox.
To that end, the White Sox began offloading their expiring contracts and the players that are decent enough to try to help another club compete. As the team dropped to 41-62 after losing to the Cubs last week, the White Sox sent pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Rangers’ AL West rival Los Angeles Angels in exchange for two of the Angels’ top three prospects. Both Giolito and Lopez, who have played their entire professional careers together, will become free agents at the end of 2023.
Two days later, general manager Rick Hahn sent rumored Rangers’ targets Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for a couple of right-handed pitchers and outfielder Trayce Thompson. They also sent Kendall Graveman to the team immediately behind the Rangers, with the Houston Astros landing the reliever in exchange for a catching prospect.
The pitching staff that comes to Arlington to take on the Rangers is much different than the one against whom Texas took a series against in June. To be fair, the Rangers look pretty different as well.
The matchups
- Game 107: 7:05 PM CT - RHP Jesse Scholtens (1-3, 3.32 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Heaney (7-6, 4.62 ERA)
- Game 108: 7:05 PM CT - RHP Dylan Cease (4-4, 4.15 ERA) vs. TBD
- Game 109: 1:05 PM CT - RHP Touki Toussaint (1-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (9-4, 4.01 ERA)
Andrew Heaney will open this homestand for Texas, and he was the only pitcher to record a win on the recent road trip. Heaney gave up three runs in five innings, but the Texas offense picked up the lefty in Texas’ finale victory in Houston.
Opposing Heaney will be a bevy of White Sox relievers. The Rangers haven’t done well against teams throwing bullpen games, but having one right out of the gate after an off day is a bit of an anomaly. With the White Sox trading away several of its starters in the last few days, however, Chicago just needs some arms to pick up some innings.
Starting things out will be the 29-year old rookie Jesse Scholtens. Scholtens, who has made 16 appearances with the White Sox, including two starts, has a 3.32 ERA over 38 innings. In both of his starts, one on May 27 against the Tigers and one more recently against the Blue Jays, Scholtens has given up a total of five runs on 16 hits.
For Tuesday, Texas has not listed a starting pitcher as of yet, but it should be noted that that game would fall on Jordan Montgomery’s normal start on four days rest. Montgomery’s last start was against the Cubs, a losing effort, but the lefty only gave up three runs in six innings.
Montgomery, though, had a stellar June, going 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA with an 0.95 WHIP and opponents hitting .211 off him. That’s the pitcher that Texas is hoping comes to the mound, whenever that might be.
Going for the White Sox on Tuesday is one of the last remaining pitchers without an expiring contract – 27-year old Dylan Cease, assuming he isn’t also dealt before the deadline. Cease was one of the pitchers that faced Texas the last time the teams met, throwing six innings of two-run ball. The 2022 AL Cy Young runner-up most recently took a loss against the Cleveland Guardians, giving up four runs in 5 ⅔ innings.
It’s Wednesday’s finale that the Rangers community might be most looking forward to, as Max Scherzer is slated to make his Texas Rangers and Globe Life Field debut.
Scherzer’s last start for the Mets was spectacular, as the 39-year old righty gave up just one run on six hits in seven innings of work. It wasn’t a great month for Scherzer, in a down year overall, but it also wasn’t a great month for the Mets. The hope from the front office is that Schezer being inserted into a playoff race will invigorate the three-time Cy Young award winner we’re all used to seeing.
Opposing Scherzer for the White Sox will be right hander Touki Toussaint. Toussaint was picked up off waivers from the Guardians back in June and made a relief appearance for Chicago against Texas. Since then, the former Brave has made seven appearances for the White Sox. In July, Toussaint started four games. His most recent appearance was a start against his former Cleveland team, a winning effort in which he went five innings of shutout ball.
Yes, the Rangers have added and enhanced their rotation and bullpen, but as the San Diego series has shown, none of that really makes a difference if the offense can’t score. All things considered, the pitching staff didn’t do a terrible job against the Padres over the weekend, but when the lineup only managed four runs over those three games, chances weren’t good for a victory.
Texas is hoping for a little boost from the home crowd, as they hopefully get closer to seeing Corey Seager and Jonah Heim return to the club. Or maybe Young has another trade up his sleeve.
Do you think the Rangers will open August with a series win against Chicago? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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