How bad will the Yu Darvish injury impact the Texas Rangers?

By James Trietley

Yu Darvish was signed to a 6-year/$60M deal in 2012 and had very high hopes. That turned into an impressive 2012 debut, a decent sophomore year in 2013 & an injury prone 2014 through 3 years of his contract. Entering the 2015 season, Texas had plans of a rebound from an injury plagued 2014 season throughout all players. Sadly, the Texas Rangers announced on Friday that Yu Darvish will undergo season ending Tommy John Surgery to repair a his UCL. Now, the question is what will the Rangers do without their $60 million ace?

The Rangers did add a top of the line starter this offseason in the person of RHP Yovani Gallardo. Gallardo, 29, has started the past 3 opening days for the Milwaukee Brewers and put up decent numbers throughout his time with the club. This also could move LHP Derek Holland up to the no. 2 slot in the rotation. Holland finished last year with an impressive 1.46 ERA in just 5 starts & 1 relief appearance after coming back from a knee injury he suffered around this time last year. Colby Lewis is also an option to move up in the rotation as the team has rumored he feels "better than ever". Lewis entering his age 35 season, his 8th with Texas, he came off of a bad year posting a 5.18 ERA while going 10-14. Hopefully from recent speculations, Colby can become his old self and lead the team to victory.

That leaves 2 rotation spots to fill & all indications point towards LHP Ross Detwiler to the no. 4 slot. Dewiler was acquired from Washington this offseason & is looking to be a starter or long reliever. Detwiler has a career 3.82 ERA with 285 strikeouts in his 7-year career with the Nationals. The 5th spot in the rotation is up for grabs & I more than anyone would love to see pitching prospect RHP Alex "Chi-Chi" Gonzalez. Gonzalez, only 23 years young, posted impressive minor league numbers and is ranked highly in the Rangers farm system. If he can land a spot and keep it, this will be an interesting season.