A lot of internet bandwidth and dead trees have been wasted each spring, speculating on who will be the Texas Rangers’ fifth starter.
It’s the bane of every baseball beat writer and columnist.
We weigh the candidacies. We scrutinize the performances. We troll the manager for insights.
One constant remains:
The Rangers are certain to float the notion that the multiple off-days in April will allow them to hide their fifth-best starting pitcher.
Thus, we sat last season through a four-inning, seven-run spot start by Kyle Lohse. And we noted that in fifth starter Nick Martinez’s five starts in mid-June he allowed 32 hits, 20 runs and seven homers, all in 23-plus innings.