The Rangers have struggled to develop their top pitching prospects into successful big leaguers. Why are they planning to promote from within their pitching staff tree when there hasn't been success? What can they do to develop to translate to MLB level better?
-- Yehuda R., Chicago

The Rangers are loaded with young pitching talent in their farm system. Seriously loaded, as much or more than the heady DVD days of John Danks, Edinson Vólquez and Thomas Diamond in the mid 2000s. This is the result of the Rangers' concerted efforts to amass as much young pitching talent as possible over the past several years. The list starts with Kyle Cody, Cole Winn, Taylor Hearns and Hans Crouse at the top with a lot of depth behind them.

That said, the next few years will be a clear referendum on the Rangers' ability to develop young pitching and get it to the big leagues. There have already been setbacks with top prospects like Cole Ragans, Owen White, Alex Speas and Ricky Vanasco among others undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery. The pandemic and the loss of a full Minor League season was another big setback.

The organization is facing a daunting task of navigating all these young pitchers on a plan to overcome health issues and the lack of innings pitched this season. If the Rangers do it properly, they could be holding a wealth of Major League-ready young pitching in the next 2-3 years. If there are too many missteps, well, blaming their problems on bad Draft picks just isn’t going to fly. The burden of making this work lays squarely on the player development staff.

Do you think the Rangers trade or keep Lynn this offseason?
-- Andres F., Arlington

If the Rangers trade right-hander Lance Lynn, it will be because they are getting a young, impact offensive player in return, somebody who can play either left field or first base. A trade for a Major League-ready young starting pitcher doesn’t seem likely. Clubs aren’t going to give up young pitching for a much-older pitcher who will be a free agent after next season. The more likely scenario is Lynn being traded for a club that sees him getting them over the top and has young offensive talent to trade.

Also, there is an opinion being advanced that the Rangers should trade right hander Lance Lynn because they seemed to blunder by holding on to Mike Minor too long. Totally disagree with that. Nobody was predicting Minor would fall apart this past season. Nobody was even hinting at the possibility. Minor had a disappointing season and the Rangers did not get as much as they hoped for in return when they did trade him. But that hardly means Lynn will go down the same path.

Did Sam Huff show enough in his short stint with the big league club this year to warrant consideration to be the Opening Day backup catcher next season assuming he has a strong showing in Spring Training? If not, do you think the Rangers bring back Mathis on a one-year deal, or will they look elsewhere?
-- Mike K., Arlington

Sam Huff is an excellent prospect but does not need to be on the Opening Day roster. He needs to be in Double A Frisco working on his craft and continuing to develop as a hitter. Jose Trevino should be the Opening Day catcher. He was having an excellent season for the Rangers before going down with a wrist injury. The Rangers should have no trouble finding a veteran to back him up, whether it beJeff Mathis, Tim Federowicz, Nick Ciuffo or somebody else. Robinson Chirinos is a free agent again. There is no need to push Huff to the big leagues.

Does the unusual hiring of two pitching coaches mean the club will jettison most of the veterans on the staff?
-- Bennie B., Fort Worth

That would be folly, to say the least. The Rangers need all the veteran pitchers they can get, even in a youth movement. Make that … especially in a youth movement. Kyle Gibson, Jordan Lyles, maybe a guy like Jerad Eickhoff can give the Rangers innings and starts next season, allowing them to either limit the workload on someone like Cody and Hearn, or keep young talents like Winn and Crouse from being rushed to the big leagues before they are ready.

Given the lack of revenue that came in this past year, do you think we still make a push to pick up some top free agents to use as a catalyst for our young core?
-- Tanner L., Dallas

General manager Jon Daniels is already on record as saying the Rangers will not be shopping at the top of the free agent market.