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And at some point this week, Bush might become the new closer — or at least the temporary one — for the Texas Rangers. The clean-and-sober relief pitcher has become an important part of a struggling bullpen.
I’m not going to discuss Bush’s bizarre and tragic personal history at length; if you want to delve into that, you know how to do an Internet search. Suffice to say, he’s made some glaring mistakes, dealt with personal demons, paid his debt to society. He might be on his last chance, at age 31, with the Rangers. But if he’s finally turned his life around for good, a major opportunity could be coming his way.
[h=6][Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: It’s not too late to get in the game][/h] Sam Dyson, the incumbent Texas closer, can’t get out of his own way right now. He had his third meltdown (and second blown save) in Tuesday’s loss at Anaheim, coughing up three runs in the ninth. A home run to Danny Espinosa started the trouble; eventually, clutch hits from Mike Trout and Albert Pujols tied the score. Extra kudos to Trout, who spit on a couple of borderline two-strike pitches — an inch or two from ending the game — before lacing a double the other way.
The Angels closed matters in the tenth, scoring against Jeremy Jeffress. Mike Scioscia, ever the bunt zealot, called for the game-winning squeeze play.
Generally teams don’t want to react to a bad week from any player, even a closer, but Dyson’s numbers are a nightmare. Somehow, in just three innings, he’s given up 11 hits and 11 runs, with two homers. He’s walked three batters, struck out two. The ERA sits at 33.00, the WHIP at 4.67.
Some will flash the “unlucky” disclaimer for Dyson, but let’s not completely fall for that. Anyone with an outlier ERA, good or bad, is going to have outlier luck stats. He’s made a lot of the bad luck — his ground-ball rate has fallen by 24 percent, and batters are hitting a line drive 29 percent of the time. Too many pitches are screaming out “hit me.” While we’re talking about a tiny sample, the magnitude of the sample might carry signature significance.
Managers are in a no-win situation when it comes to discussing these types of losses; Jeff Banister knows better than to make an official role announcement while the wound is still fresh. For what it’s worth, here’s what he told the team’s official site:
“We’ve been evaluating it from day one and considering all our options,” Banister said. “We can’t continue to lose ballgames in this manner. We’ll look at all our options and see which way we go. Sam is searching to find it. We feel when Sam has good tempo and rhythm and sinking life, he’s a quality pitcher for us out of the back end.”
Bush has been the team’s primary set-up man this year — sometimes that leads us to the next closing option, sometimes not. He earned a key role in the bullpen last year, posting a 2.48 ERA and 0.941 WHIP over 61.2 innings. He misses more bats than Dyson; we like that in a closer. And heck, maybe Dyson’s ground-ball tilt — whenever it returns — would make more sense for a meandering, fireman role.
Jeffress can’t be completely discounted; remember, he was Milwaukee’s closer last year, ringing up 27 saves before his trade to Texas. But the context clues point to Bush, if the Rangers actually decide to do anything.
If you need to make a Hail Mary stab at saves, consider*Jose Leclerc, who’s been sharp through 3.2 innings (1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). But also keep in mind he’s just 23, and he couldn’t throw strikes consistently last year (15 IP, 13 BB). I suspect he’s a fallback option, should everything fall apart.
Texas made early closing changes in 2015 and 2016, turning the page after a month or so. Even if Dyson isn’t out of a job at present, this isn’t a team that waits forever. Bush is currently owned in 32 percent of Yahoo leagues. Do what you need to do.*