Fantasy baseball: 2020 Texas Rangers fantasy preview

2020 Texas Rangers projected starting rotation

Corey Kluber, RHP (2-3, 5.80 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 38 K in 35.2 IP with CLE)
Mike Minor, LHP (14-10, 3.59 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 200 K in 208.1 IP)
Lance Lynn, RHP (16-11, 3.67 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 246 K in 208.1 IP)
Kyle Gibson, RHP (13-7, 4.84 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 160 K in 160 IP with MIN)
Jordan Lyles, RHP (12-8, 4.15 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 146 K in 141 IP with MIL/PIT)
Jose Leclerc, RHP (2-4, 4.33 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 100 K in 68.2 IP, 14/18 saves)

I don’t know what kind of dirt that Jon Daniels has on Mike Chernoff, but it better be pretty damn epic in order for them to steal Kluber like they did. Even if 21-year-old Emmanuel Clase is the second coming of Mariano Rivera, Cleveland lost this deal. With Kluber they had a shot at the division title. With out him they’ll be closer to last than first.

Okay, so maybe Kluber will never again resemble the Cy Young award winner that he was. His seven starts last year looked pretty bad and he’s 34 years old. He takes a park hit as well. There’s reason to caution drafting Kluber in the first five rounds, but Kluber looked strong in the spring. The strikeouts are still there even in the ERA and WHIP are higher than usual. If Kluber is still on the board in the fifth or later, I’m taking him.

Minor had the first 200 strikeout season of his career last year even though his WHIP as the highest since 2014. Minor is still a solid guy to fill out your rotation. I’m thinking his ceiling is a third starter, but for where you can get him, that’s a solid return.

It’s the same thing with Lynn. How much are strikeouts worth to you? On top of that, will Lynn top 200 ever again, let alone flirt with 250? His career high before last season was 198 in 2013. I think we saw Lynn’s ceiling last year, but he’s still a solid back of the fantasy baseball rotation arm.

Gibson had a horrible first two months last year, so the coronavirus may actually help him. The downside is that he takes a massive park hit. Gibson was still bad on the road last year. He’s a streamer only option for me this year. He worries me that much in that park.

Leclerc is still a lower mid-tier closer for me. His strikeouts totals are huge, but so is the WHIP and ERA. He’s a sizeable risk considering he has never spent an entire season as the closer.

Prospects to watch:

Joe Palumbo blew through AA and AAA last season, but he was an absolute disaster for the Rangers, posting a 9.18 ERA in 16.2 major league innings. He might get a chance again this year. I think Gibson and Lyles are both on shaky ground. Even though, wait on Palumbo until he proves something at the major league level.

I’m a big fan of Demarcus Evans. He had two saves in the spring and dazzled at AA last year with a 0.96 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. If he breaks camp with the big club, I will be using a bench slot on him in anticipation of him taking the closer role at some point. Even if he doesn’t, the peripherals should be good enough that Evans can still help in standard leagues.

There are 20 more of these where this came from! Sports may be on hold, but we will have baseball sometime this season. We here at FanSided Fantasy are going to make sure you’re prepared!