AL West Injury Notes: Imai, O’Hoppe, Montgomery
Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai landed on the 15-day injured list on April 13 with what the team called right arm fatigue, but he is progressing well in his rehab. Imai is set to throw a bullpen session tomorrow and could begin a minor-league rehab assignment as early as Tuesday, manager Joe Espada told Chandler Rome of The Athletic and other media. [UPDATE: Imai will indeed start his rehab assignment Tuesday with Double-A Corpus Christi, as per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.] Although the exact nature of his arm fatigue isn’t clear, the team is surely hoping he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Imai signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the club over the offseason, which fell below industry expectations for the former Japanese star. He has had a rough beginning, allowing seven earned runs and 11 unintentional walks in just 8 2/3 innings over three starts. That’s a very small sample, of course, and there is still plenty of time for Imai to establish himself as a big-league starter. For the Astros, the big picture concern is the fact that so many of their starting pitchers are injured right now. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are both out with Grade 2 right shoulder strains and won’t return for another 4-6 weeks. The struggling pitching staff, which has a 5.97 ERA overall, is the main reason the club is out to a 10-18 start in 2026.
A couple other injury notes from the AL West:
- Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was removed from today’s game due to left wrist irritation, the team announced. O’Hoppe took a foul ball off his wrist and finished the inning after being visited by the trainer. Travis d’Arnaud took over behind the plate in the eighth. O’Hoppe is now in his third season as the club’s starting catcher, though he has not been a productive hitter since 2024, when he posted a 102 wRC+ in 522 plate appearances. He declined in 2025, posting a mere 72 wRC+, and has been about the same to start 2026. It is unclear whether O’Hoppe will miss any time. Given the wrist irritation is in his receiving hand, the club might opt to play it safe for the next few days to avoid compromising his defense. He and d’Arnaud are the only catchers on the 40-man roster, so any absence might motivate the team to scour the waiver wire for a depth option.
- Rangers left-hander Jordan Montgomery threw a bullpen session today and will have at least one more before progressing to face live hitters, according to Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Based on that, he seems to be on track in his recovery from March 2025. Montgomery signed a one-year, major-league deal with the Rangers in February, with the expectation that he would start the year on the 60-day injured list before returning later in the season. His last season as an effective starter was in 2023, when he was worth 4.2 fWAR in 32 starts between the Cardinals and the World-Series winning Rangers. Now 33 and coming off an extended absence, he won’t be expected to replicate that upon his return. In the best case for Montgomery, he could slot in as a back-end arm if Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi gets injured or one of Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter underperforms.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Acquire Willie MacIver, Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A. The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return. To open a 40-man spot for MacIver, the Jays have designated Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment.
MacIver, 29, has a limited major league track record. With the Athletics in 2025, he got into 33 games but put up a meager .186/.252/.324 batting line in those. His minor league production has generally been better. During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he put up a huge .323/.399/.534 line at Triple-A. That production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but was nonetheless good for a 123 wRC+, indicating he was 23% better than the average hitter in that league.
He got squeezed off the Athletics’ roster at the end of last year. The Rangers claimed him off waivers and sent him to Triple-A but he got out to a slow start this year, slashing .170/.333/.255 for Round Rock. The Rangers bumped him off their roster when making some pitching moves yesterday.
For the Jays, they are in need of some extra catching depth. They lost Alejandro Kirk to thumb surgery a couple of weeks ago. They’ve since been using the duo of Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela. The depth beyond those two was thin, with no other backstop on the 40-man. CJ Stubbs was the only other catcher in the system with major league experience. That experience was just one game with the Nationals last year. He’s also on the minor league injured list now, having not played in a couple of weeks.
The Jays will continue with the Heineman-Valenzuela pairing in the big leagues for now. Should an injury arise before Kirk comes back, then they can turn to MacIver. Valenzuela also has options and currently sports a .161/.188/.258 line in 32 big league plate appearances, so it’s possible they could swap in MacIver for Valenzuela at some point.
Fitzgerald, 28, was acquired in a similar DFA cash deal three weeks ago. The Jays had just lost Leo Jiménez since he was out of options and didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. He was flipped to the Marlins and then the Jays acquired Fitzgerald to replace some of that lost infield depth, with Fitzgerald getting optioned to the minors. A few days later, Addison Barger hit the IL and Fitzgerald was called up.
A few days after that, the Jays acquired Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox and bumped Fitzgerald back down to the minors. George Springer also hit the IL and the Jays have been using Sosa both on the infield and in the designated hitter spot.
It appears the Jays felt that catching depth was a greater need than infield depth at this point. Springer and Barger seem likely to return soon, well before Kirk will be back in the mix, so Sosa could be bumped down the depth chart in the coming weeks.
Fitzgerald can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays can take five days to field trade interest. It seems likely that Fitzgerald will garner interest from someone. He still has options and can play anywhere on the diamond except catcher, meaning a lot of teams could use him somewhere.
His offense is more of a question. He burst onto the scene with the Giants in 2024 by putting up a .280/.334/.497 line. There were some yellow flags there, as Fitzgerald struck out at a 31.7% clip and benefited from a .380 batting average on balls in play. The inevitable regression was a bit more extreme than expected, as Fitzgerald had a grisly .217/.278/.327 line in 2025. Around his transactions, he has an awful .094/.147/.125 line at Triple-A this year. Despite the offensive struggles, clubs will probably like the idea of stashing Fitzgerald in the minors and hoping for a bounceback, even if getting to his 2024 level would be a tall ask.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Rangers Select Peyton Gray, Designate Willie MacIver For Assignment
The Rangers announced that left-hander Robert Garcia has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 20th, with left shoulder inflammation. Right-hander Peyton Gray has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Gray, catcher Willie MacIver has been designated for assignment.
Garcia’s last appearance was on April 16th, a game he departed due to shoulder soreness. He and the Rangers opted not to put him on the IL immediately. It appears that a week of rest hasn’t allowed him to fully heal up, so the team has now put him on the shelf. An IL placement can be backdated if a player hasn’t been playing but there’s a three-day maximum, so the Rangers could only backdate it to Monday.
His injury will allow Gray to crack a major league roster for the first time, which is a nice story. As laid out by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in March, Gray spent time pitching in the minors and independent ball, in addition to winter ball stints in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Along the way, he worked for UPS, DoorDash and cut trees. He’s now going to the show just ahead of his 31st birthday, which will be in June.
Gray came into camp with the Rangers on a minor league deal. He turned some heads with a solid spring. He tossed 10 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs via six hits and one walk while striking out 18. He has reported to Triple-A and has continued to put up good numbers. He has thrown 12 2/3 scoreless innings over seven appearances, allowing eight hits and two walks while striking out 15. Last year, he also gave the Rangers 61 Triple-A innings with a 3.84 earned run average, 25.8% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.
This year, he’s mostly a fastball/changeup guy. His fastball, which is averaging 92.9 miles per hour, has been thrown 48.8% of the time this year. His 83.2 mile-per-hour change has made up 40.7% of his offerings. He has also mixed in a cutter and a slider. He’ll see if that recipe works on major-league hitters whenever he makes his major league debut.
MacIver, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in November. He’s been in Triple-A this year and is off to a rough start, with a .170/.333/.255 line through 60 plate appearances. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Texas could take five days to explore trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers at any point before then.
His major league track record is limited and unimpressive. He got into 33 games for the A’s last year and hit .186/.252/.324 in those. He has shown the potential for more in the minors. Over 2024 and 2025, he slashed .323/.399/.534 in 604 Triple-A plate appearances. He is off to a much slower start this year but perhaps his track record enough to generate interest from other clubs. He still has options remaining and could be stashed in the minors as depth, as the Rangers were doing in recent weeks.
Since MacIver has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he would not have the right to elect free agency in the event he clears outright waivers. The Rangers might want that situation to come to pass since Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka are now the only two catchers on the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images
Rangers Outright Marc Church
The Rangers announced Wednesday afternoon that they’ve outrighted reliever Marc Church to Triple-A Round Rock. He was designated for assignment last week when Texas called up Cal Quantrill and Gavin Collyer.
This is the first career outright for Church, who’ll stick in the organization without holding a spot on the 40-man roster. The Atlanta native was an 18th-round pick out of high school in the 2019 draft. Church received a $300K signing bonus that reflected a higher ceiling than his draft spot indicated. He developed into a reasonably promising bullpen prospect until injuries sidetracked him.
Church nabbed a 40-man spot following the 2023 season. He missed most of the following year with a rotator cuff strain. Church did get an MLB cameo in the final weekend of the ’24 campaign. He built that into an Opening Day bullpen spot a year ago but was optioned out after five appearances. Church spent much of the season on the minor league injured list for a second straight year. He battled elbow, oblique and lat issues before sustaining a teres major strain that bothered him this offseason.
Optioned back to Round Rock to open the ’26 season, Church has shown signs of rust. He has walked four batters and hit another over his first 4 2/3 innings. His stuff has still looked sharp, as he’s averaging 96 mph on his heater with an 86 mph slider. Church has also toyed with a changeup after rarely using it in previous seasons.
It’s moderately surprising that no other team was willing to take a flier on the stuff, though the league was evidently deterred by the recent health history. Church will try to iron out the command woes to put himself back on the radar in a Texas bullpen that again looks sharp despite being mostly patched together via modest free agent signings.
Rangers To Place Wyatt Langford On IL With Flexor Strain
The Rangers are going to place outfielder Wyatt Langford on the 10-day injured list with a flexor strain. The player himself told members of the media, including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. It’s a grade 1 strain and Langford expects it will just be a minimal stint. Fellow outfielder Alejandro Osuna will be recalled as the corresponding move.
It’s a bit of an unusual injury situation. Flexor strains are common for pitchers but not so much for position players. It also appears that Langford didn’t hurt himself throwing but rather on a swing, as he told reporters last night, including Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports. It’s possible that Langford has been banged up for a decent chunk of the season so far. He also suffered a small quad strain a couple of weeks ago but didn’t land on the IL at that time.
He has a .238/.274/.363 batting line and 78 wRC+ through his first 84 plate appearances. That’s well below his normal production, as he hit .247/.335/.423 for a 115 wRC+ over the previous two campaigns. Though it’s not good that he now has this flexor strain to deal with, perhaps some time on the shelf will be the reset he needs to get healthy and back on track.
The Rangers have primarily had an outfield trio of Langford in left, Evan Carter in center and Brandon Nimmo in right. Sam Haggerty, Ezequiel Durán and Andrew McCutchen have chipped in on occasion. Those three and Osuna are now options to cover left field while Langford is out.
McCutchen is 39 years old and has mostly been a designated hitter in recent years. The last time he played more than eight games in the outfield was 2022. He has said that was the Pirates’ preference and not his own but is still seems unlikely the Rangers would throw him out there on a regular basis.
Duran has a strong .298/.353/.447 line so far this year and could perhaps step up for more regular work, especially with Haggerty hitting .154/.214/.154 on the season. Durán’s production is helped by a .371 batting average on balls in play but he’s also showing improvement elsewhere, as this year’s walk and strikeout rates would be career highs if he could maintain them.
Osuna made his big league debut last year and slashed .212/.313/.278 in 176 trips to the plate. He’s been better in the minors but is out to a slow-ish start this year. His .262/.355/.354 line translates to a 91 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He had a much more robust .292/.493/.417 line at that level last year, though in an equally small sample of 67 plate appearances. Osuna is a lefty, so perhaps the Rangers could do some platooning, as both Durán and McCutchen are righties.
Photo courtesy of Jim Cowsert, Imagn Images
Tyler Wade Granted Release By Rangers
Veteran infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade has been granted his release by the Rangers, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. He’d signed a minor league pact with Texas over the winter and opened the season with their Triple-A club in Round Rock. Wade is now free to sign with any team.
The 31-year-old Wade is a versatile but light-hitting utility player who posted a .212/.296/.245 batting line in 283 plate appearances with the Padres over the past two seasons and carries a career .216/.294/.284 batting line (65 wRC+) in 992 turns at the plate in the majors. He’s gotten out to a slow start this year with Round Rock, slashing just .226/.315/.242 in 16 games/73 plate appearances. He’s suited up at five different positions: shortstop, second base, third base, left field and center field.
Wade has drawn solid marks for his big league glovework at second base and third base but has garnered shakier ratings at shortstop and across the outfield. He’s an above-average runner but doesn’t get on base frequently enough to make great use of that speed. In parts of seven Triple-A seasons, Wade is a .279/.359/.399 hitter.
AL West Notes: Garcia, Angels, Wisdom
Robert Garcia came out of a relief appearance on Thursday with a sore throwing shoulder, and Rangers manager Skip Schumaker told reporters (including the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant) that Garcia underwent an MRI today to access the damage. The results of the testing isn’t yet known, but while Schumaker believes the situation isn’t too serious, Grant notes that Garcia is likely to need a few more days of rest and recovery even if the MRI comes back clean.
It has been an unusual start to the season for Garcia, who has a 3.38 ERA over eight innings despite recording more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six). Batted-ball luck has played a role, as Garcia has benefited from a .238 BABIP and a 52.4% grounder rate. Despite the shaky performance to date, the Rangers can hardly afford to lose Garcia to the injury bug, given how fellow relievers Chris Martin, Luis Curvelo, and Carter Baumler are already on the 15-day IL.
More from around the AL West…
- Angels manager Kurt Suzuki updated the media (including Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group) on the status of several injured pitchers today. Grayson Rodriguez and Ben Joyce are both expected to start facing hitters in a live batting-practice setting within the next few days, while Alek Manoah has been facing hitters at the Angels’ spring facility in Arizona. This trio began the season on the 15-day IL, as Rodriguez has been dealing with shoulder inflammation, Manoah with a finger contusion, and Joyce is in the final stages of his recovery from a May 2025 shoulder surgery. Kirby Yates also began the year on the 15-day IL due to left knee inflammation, but the reliever started a Triple-A rehab assignment on Friday. Yates told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that the rehab assignment will consist of at least a few more games, as Yates is still working on building up his velocity and gaining some weight.
- Catching up on an IL placement from Friday, the Mariners sent Patrick Wisdom to the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 15) due to a left oblique strain. Wisdom just had his minor league contract selected to the 26-man roster on Tuesday and he appeared in that day’s game as a pinch-hitter before getting hurt. The lone appearance marked Wisdom’s first MLB game since 2024, when the infielder was still a member of the Cubs.
Josh Sborz Remains With Rangers After Exercising Upward Mobility Clause
TODAY: Sborz will be staying with the Rangers, as Evan Grant writes that no team claimed the right-hander during the two-day period following the triggering of his upward mobility clause. Sborz has another opt-out date in his contract in mid-June if he isn’t already in the majors.
APRIL 14, 10:51pm: Curvelo exited tonight’s appearance against the A’s with an apparent arm injury after throwing a pitch several feet off the plate. The team has yet to provide any updates but an injured list stint seems highly likely.
10:25pm: The Rangers may have an upcoming roster decision. Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reports that Josh Sborz’s minor league contract contains an assignment clause that goes into effect tomorrow. Texas will need to make him available to every other team. If another club is willing to carry him on the MLB roster, the Rangers would either need to call him up themselves or let him go.
Sborz has spent the past six seasons in the Texas organization. The Rangers non-tendered him at the end of the 2025 campaign after he missed the entire season rehabbing shoulder surgery. They brought him back on a minor league contract over the offseason. Sborz did not break camp but has had a strong first few weeks at Triple-A Round Rock.
The 32-year-old reliever has worked seven innings of one-run ball in the minors. Sborz has recorded eight strikeouts against four walks while hitting a batter. His fastball was in the 94-95 mph range during tonight’s Triple-A appearance, in which he fired a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts. Sborz has used the heater around half the time while mixing a curveball and slider as his secondary offerings.
Sborz’s performance has been inconsistent throughout his big league career. He has a near-5.00 earned run average over 154 appearances, but he has an above-average 27.7% strikeout rate. Sborz was also a pivotal late-game weapon for Bruce Bochy during the 2023 World Series run, firing 12 innings of one-run ball en route to the only championship in franchise history.
If no other team is willing to carve out a bullpen spot for Sborz, he’ll remain in Triple-A with Texas. That’d be the easiest outcome for the Rangers. If another club expresses interest and they don’t want to lose him, they’d need to create active and 40-man roster space. The former wouldn’t be difficult, as they could option Luis Curvelo back to Triple-A.
The Rangers’ 40-man roster is at capacity. Cody Freeman and Cody Bradford are on the injured list and the only candidates for a move to the 60-day IL, which would keep them out of MLB action until the final week of May.
Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News provided updates on both players over the weekend. Freeman is beginning baseball activities after suffering a lower back injury at the beginning of camp. Bradford, who is working back from elbow surgery, made a Triple-A rehab start a couple weeks ago but encountered some general soreness. The Rangers aren’t especially concerned but have halted his rehab work for an indeterminate period so as not to push him too quickly.
Mark Canha Released From Rangers Deal
9:41pm: Canha has now been granted his release, per Grant.
8:45pm: Veteran first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha has asked to be released from his minor league deal with the Rangers, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Canha is hoping to pursue big league deals with other clubs.
Canha, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in February. He had a solid spring, slashing .286/.318/.500, but didn’t break camp with the club. The Rangers effectively had a battle for their final roster spot between Canha and Andrew McCutchen, but the latter won out.
Canha had an opt-out in his deal at the end of spring training and could have returned to free agency at that point, but he and the Rangers agreed to an arrangement that worked for both of them. As reported by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News at the end of March, Canha preferred not to go on the road with a minor league club. He agreed to stay with the Rangers in extended spring training in Surprise, Arizona. Since his full-time home is in nearby Scottsdale, he could stay with his family while maintaining game readiness by facing minor leaguers.
That allowed the club to hold onto some veteran depth in case an injury popped up, but it hasn’t. Almost three weeks have passed since that arrangement was made and, in the interim, the Rangers have been fortunate in terms of health on the position player side. Cody Freeman has been on the injured list all year due to a lower back fracture suffered back in February. No other position player has joined him on the IL since the season began.
Despite the health, there are some gaps in the performance. McCutchen isn’t out to a great start, working primarily as the short side of a designated hitter platoon with Joc Pederson, in addition to occasional outfield work. It’s a small sample of 28 plate appearances but he has struck out 12 times, a 42.9% clip, while his one walk is a 3.6% pace. His .222/.250/.407 line translates to an 84 wRC+.
Theoretically, Canha could be subbed in for McCutchen in that role, since he is also a veteran righty bat. But whether Canha can provide more than McCutchen is a fair question. With the Royals last year, Canha slashed .212/.272/.265, production which translated to a 49 wRC+. He was released in August and didn’t sign anywhere else in the final few weeks of the season. As mentioned, he had a decent spring but it’s hard to say what form he is in now since he hasn’t been playing in official game action.
If the Rangers grant Canha his release, it’s hard to see him landing an immediate major league offer, based on his most recent big league action and the fact that he hasn’t been playing in official games for a few weeks. He would almost certainly receive some minor league offers but it’s unclear if his appetite for riding the bus has increased in the past few weeks.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian, Imagn Images
Rangers Select Cal Quantrill, Gavin Collyer
The Rangers are calling up swingman Cal Quantrill and reliever Gavin Collyer, reports Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. Texas will place righty relievers Chris Martin and Luis Curvelo on the 15-day injured list. In corresponding 40-man roster moves, Texas designated Marc Church for assignment and transferred Cody Bradford to the 60-day injured list.
Martin and Curvelo both made early exits from last night’s loss to the A’s. The former is dealing with a shoulder impingement, while the latter has a biceps strain. That’s actually a relief in Curvelo’s case, as his injury initially looked serious. He’ll miss at least a couple weeks, but there’s apparently nothing amiss structurally with his elbow.
Quantrill will be available as a long man out of Skip Schumaker’s bullpen. The veteran righty finished last season in the Texas organization and re-signed on an offseason minor league deal. He didn’t win a job out of camp and has taken three turns through the rotation in Triple-A. Quantrill has surrendered eight runs over 14 innings but has recorded 13 strikeouts against only four walks.
The Stanford product made 26 big league starts a year ago. Quantrill spent the majority of the season with the Marlins and took the ball twice for the Braves. He allowed 6.04 earned runs per nine across 117 2/3 innings. Quantrill has generally struggled since an excellent two-year stretch with Cleveland between 2021-22.
Collyer, 25 next month, gets his first call to the big leagues. The 6’1″ righty was a 12th-round pick in 2019 who signed for well above slot value out of high school. Control issues pushed him to the bullpen within a couple seasons. The strike-throwing remains a concern, but he has intriguing stuff. He punched out 30% of opponents with a massive 16% walk rate en route to a 4.40 ERA between the top two minor league levels a year ago.
Texas re-signed Collyer as a minor league free agent over the offseason. He has been out to an excellent start with Triple-A Round Rock, striking out 11 across 6 2/3 innings. Collyer has also been around the strike zone in that small sample and only issued two walks. Even if that level of command probably isn’t sustainable, he’ll bring a power arm out of the middle innings. Collyer is averaging around 98 mph on his heater and has both a slider and cutter in his arsenal.
Collyer has shown enough to jump Church on the depth chart. He has a similar profile as a 25-year-old righty with big stuff and well below-average control. Church has made brief MLB appearances over the past couple seasons, tossing 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He has spent most of the last two years on the minor league injured list. He has battled oblique and elbow issues, as well as a teres major injury in his shoulder.
Church has struggled over his first few appearances with Round Rock. He has given up four runs on nine hits and four walks across 4 2/3 innings. The fastball is in the 96 mph range, but the Rangers evidently felt more comfortable bringing Collyer up in the short term. They’ll have five days to trade Church or place him on waivers.
Bradford is working back from last year’s UCL surgery. He went on a rehab assignment in early April but hit a snag when he experienced some soreness after that outing. While the Rangers have downplayed any long-term concern, there’s no timetable for the resumption of the rehab stint. The 60-day window backdates to Opening Day, meaning Bradford won’t be able to pitch in the majors until late May at the earliest.