The Rangers announced Monday morning that theyve traded right-hander to the Royals in exchange for minor league lefty . Jon Heyman of the New York Post shortly before the announcement that Kansas City had been showing interest in Lorenzen. Pennington is on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves were nece sary. A Kelly Oubre Jr. Jersey trade of Lorenzen isnt a signal that the third-place Rangers are punting on their season. Theres been plenty of talk over the past couple weeks that with , , and eventually all getting healthy, Texas could move an arm from its current rotation. Lorenzen, playing on an affordable one-year contract and slated to become a free agent at seasons end, has stood as the most obvious of the bunch to change hands. With Lorenzen headed to Kansas City, the Rangers rotation will include Scherzer, , , and perhaps Dunning although Mahle is on the cusp of wrapping up a minor league rehab a signment and could take that fifth spot. Lorenzen, 32, has pitched 101 2/3 innings with the Rangers and turned in a very solid 3.81 earned run average, although the rest of his numbers arent as encouraging. Lorenzens 17.9% strikeout rate is well below the 22.3% league average, while his 11.5% walk rate is considerably higher than the 8.2% league average. Hes kept the ball on the ground at a nice 42.3% clip, but Lorenzen has also benefited from a .243 average on balls in play and 80.7% strand rate that are both considerably better than his career marks of .279 and 74.2%. Some regre sion on one or both is likely. Even with some regre sion, however, Lorenzen is a solid enough back-end starter. This years numbers are a decent approximation of who hes been since reaching free agency three years ago and pursuing a career as a starting pitcher after previously spending five seasons in the Reds bullpen. Lorenzen posted a 4.20 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate in 250 2/3 innings between the Angels, Tigers and Phillies over the 2022-23 seasons. Add in this years work and hes at a 4.09 ERA with strikeout and walk rates that are worse-than-average but not egregiously so. Thats a good indication of what to expect moving forward for the Royals, and Lorenzen has shown some flashes of higher output at times. His first two starts following a trade to the Phillies last summer will always be memorable for Phils fans; he to sed eight innings of two-run ball in his team debut and followed it up with a no-hitter against the Nationals his next time out, in his home debut at Citizens Bank Park. However, Lorenzen faded down the stretch, as he was pushing to a career-high innings workload (and also to sed a career-high 124 pitches in that no-hitter). The Phils moved him to the bullpen late in the season. Kansas Citys rotation is generally full, with , , , and representing a sound one through five. Marsh has been hit hard after a solid start to the season, however, yielding a 6.37 ERA over his past 10 starts. Hes had a few solid outings mixed in throughout that stretch, but since May 27 hes given up at least three runs in eight of his 10 starts (and at least four in six of them). Lorenzen could step into that rotation spot, perhaps pushing Marsh to the bullpen or even to Triple-A Omaha. Lorenzen has already pitched enough innings to boost his $4.5MM base salary to $5.5MM, and hed earn bonuses of $300K, $350K, $400K and $450K for reaching 120, 140, 160 and 180 innings, respectively. The Royals could technically use Lorenzen in the bullpen they just saw both and exit their most recent game due to injury but thatd be somewhat of a surprising usage given that they traded a big league-ready reliever whos in the midst of a terrific Triple-A season in order to acquire Lorenzen. Pennington, 26, will join the Rangers and give them an immediate option out of the pen. The Rangers havent been able to find a consistently effective lefty relief option this season, but Pennington could fit that bill. Undrafted in the shortened 2020 draft, the 62, 205-pound southpaw signed out of the Colorado School of Mines and earlier this season became just the second player from that school to ever reach the majors (and the first since Roy Hartzell back in 1906). The Royals called Pennington up for a brief debut, but he threw just two-thirds of an inning before being sent back down to Omaha. Hes been lights-out with the Storm Chasers this season, pitching to a pristine 2.26 ERA with a 32.9% strikeout rate, an 8.3% walk rate and a 52.6% ground-ball rate in 59 2/3 frames. Pennington sits 92-93 mph with a sinker, 89-90 mph with his cutter and 83-85 mph with a slider, rounding out a trio of primary offerings. More than half of his pitches this year have been sliders, and hes held both lefties and righties in check along the way, yielding near-identical batting lines of .198/.250/.286 (to righties) and .156/.262/.278 (to lefties). Pennington is in the first of three minor league option years. He cant reach a full year of big league service in 2024, meaning the Rangers will control him through the 2030 season at the very least (although future optional a signments could push that free agent trajectory back even further). He makes for a potential long-term option in the Texas bullpen a nice pull for a rental starter whose spot in the rotation was in jeopardy given the sheer volume of veteran arms the Rangers have coming back from injury. Jeremy Lin Jersey