ARLINGTON -- It's a strategy advanced by the fan base on a regular basis, but one that Rangers manager Jeff Banister said he is not leaning toward.

Why not use Matt Bush or Keone Kela to get through these treacherous seventh innings and then worry about closing the game once any early danger is averted? For a team that has been outscored 43-24 in seventh innings this season, it makes some amount of sense.

"I understand that,” Banister said of the theory. “When things don't go well for you, saying we'll try something different, I get that. It's part of what we do."

But, there’s a reason Banister said that it could also cause future problems. In designing the bullpen and establishing roles, there is a flow that can help a team throughout a long season. So if you start messing with the flow, you could create problems down the road. Plus, the Rangers have been searching for a couple of seasons to get the eighth and ninth inning down, so do they really want to shake that up?

“You look at the structure of our bullpen, where the guy that would have traditionally been throwing the seventh or eighth inning is now our closer and is getting you the 27th out,” Banister said. “Now we want to put him back in the seventh inning? There is a structure of getting outs. You have to have pitchers that come out of the bullpen and get outs, whether it's the sixth, the seventh, the eighth or the ninth. The short answer is the 27th out is the most crucial because it's the last out of the game.”

Banister added that he believes health and added options will help the pitching staff deal with problems in the seventh inning.

“We've been in a situation where we've kind of had a couple arms pitching in spots because of need where maybe they're not as comfortable,” Banister said. “No excuse. However, getting the outs are crucial. Outs come from ability to execute the pitch. So I think when we get back to that full-strength area in the bullpen, kind of like our lineup, we see what that does for us."

In fact, Jose Leclerc is nearing a return from his finger injury, and that could create new choices for the team.

“Whether we go back to a full complement, stay with the bench, how we go forward with all of the starters...” Banister said. “There are a number of decisions to be made."