SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Throughout the offseason and Spring Training, Rangers manager Chris Woodward has said that the team needs to get “creative” with its pitching rotation early in the 2021 season.

It now seems that will likely manifest itself as two sets of tandem-type starters behind the trio of Kyle Gibson, Kohei Arihara and Mike Foltynewicz. Dane Dunning, Taylor Hearn, Kyle Cody, Wes Benjamin and Kolby Allard are all in competition for those piggyback roles.

“There's some strategy to it, you know, putting guys with one after another,” Woodward said. “You’ve got to have opposite arms, obviously, with one guy throwing two-seamers this way and another guy throwing 97 this way. Just matching them up the best way possible. I think this is something we're definitely talking about.”

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Woodward said the tandem won’t always be a 50-50 split, especially if it involves a hurler who’s on a slight pitch limit, like Dunning or Kody, both of whom are still working their way back to pitching more innings following the shortened season in 2020. Splits of 70-30 or 60-40 percent are a lot more likely in those situations.

Once the rotation is set, they likely won’t stray much from it, beside making strategic tweaks.

“We want to keep these guys on a schedule as much as we can,” Woodward said. “We just have to keep monitoring. There's going to be a lot of dialogue and a lot of collaboration on so many fronts to make sure these guys are in the best position possible to succeed, while maintaining their health.”

Between the "A" and "B" games against the White Sox on Friday, Gibson, Dunning and Allard all put in innings. Combined, Gibson and Dunning allowed seven hits and one run with five strikeouts through five innings in the "B" game, while Allard gave up one hit and no runs with six strikeouts through three innings in the "A" game.

• Dunning 'fortunate' to learn from Texas vets

The Rangers already told Jordan Lyles -- who started Friday’s Cactus League game against the White Sox -- that he would not be used as a traditional starter this coming season, though he could still be in the conversation for a tandem type of role.

Lyles started nine games and made three relief appearances for the Rangers in 2020, posting a 7.02 ERA. Against the White Sox Friday, Lyles went two innings, allowing one run on two hits and notching two strikeouts. He said after the game that he felt like he made the right adjustments during the offseason in order to compete at a higher level in '21.

“He wasn't happy about [his role this season],” Woodward said. “I'm glad he's not happy about it. I just put it that way. He's obviously got to earn everything that he gets, and we're seeing a good version of Jordan right now. This is what we want to see all year. We want to see the guy that just goes out there and attacks.”

Roster moves
Multiple Rangers prospects were reassigned to Minor League groups, the club announced on Friday. All will stay in Arizona and continue to work out at the complex in Surprise.

• Infielder Sherten Apostel was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.
• A.J. Alexy, David García and Yerry Rodriguez were optioned to Double-A Frisco.
• Hans Crouse, Justin Foscue, Josh Jung, Fenery Ozuna, Alex Speas, Davis Wendzel, Bubba Thompson, Cole Winn, Steele Walker and Matt Whatley were reassigned to the Minor League workout group.

Justin Anderson was also removed from the MLB player pool and assigned to the Minor League rehab group.

The optioned players can still appear in the main Spring Training games. Woodward said the moves were mostly about cutting down the numbers in workouts and getting everybody the same amount of reps as Opening Day nears. It also allows the Minor League coaches to work specifically with those players that will start the season in Double- or Triple-A.

“It'll all look the same, but internally, we'll know our guys are just responsible for the guys we have remaining in camp,” Woodward said. “I think it's better for the team. We love what these guys have done. We've spoken to all of them as a group and we’re really impressed with what they've done, but now, it's time for them to kind of go and prepare.”