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Rangers Release Gerson Garabito

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The Rangers have released right-hander Gerson Garabito, according to the club’s official transactions ledger.  Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that Garabito is heading to South Korea to pitch for an unspecified club in the KBO League.

A veteran of 12 pro seasons, Garabito pitched in the Royals and Giants’ farm systems from 2013-21, and then didn’t pitch in affiliated ball until landing with Texas on a minor league deal prior to the 2024 season.  This paved the way for Garabito to make his MLB debut by appearing in 18 games for the Rangers last season, and he made three more appearances this year.  His brief time in the Show yielded a 5.77 ERA over 34 1/3 innings, plus a 19.2% strikeout rate and an 8.3% walk rate.

Garabito started two of his 21 games for Texas, but mostly pitched in long relief roles.  He has primarily worked as a starter over his minor league career, and started all 10 of his Triple-A games this season but struggled to an 8.53 ERA over 31 2/3 innings for the Rangers’ top affiliate.  It is safe to guess that the 29-year-old Garabito likely has a starting gig lined up in the KBO, as re-establishing himself as a starter would benefit his career both for future opportunities in the big leagues and overseas.

Since Garabito didn’t seem to be the Rangers’ plans, the team didn’t really lose anything by letting Garabito go to explore a new chapter of his career in South Korea.  As Grant notes, the release opened up a 40-man roster spot for the Rangers, which may hint at another forthcoming move in the next few days.  Speculatively, Texas might select Dane Dunning’s contract from Triple-A, as the Rangers may need some extra starting depth as their rotation continues to be racked with injuries.

Rangers Place Tyler Mahle On 15-Day Injured List, Recall Kumar Rocker

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The Rangers officially placed right-hander Tyler Mahle on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder fatigue.  The placement is retroactive to June 12.  Right-hander Kumar Rocker was called up from Triple-A and will start for the Rangers today in what was initially Mahle’s turn in the rotation.

The transaction was telegraphed yesterday, when Rocker rejoined the team less than 15 days after he was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.  Such a quick recall could only happen in the event of another injury, and Texas manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters that Mahle felt some shoulder discomfort during his last start on Tuesday.

This shoulder issue may have contributed to Mahle allowing four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings (though the Rangers still recorded a 16-4 win over the Twins) that night.  Mahle has an outstanding 2.34 ERA over 77 innings this season, though eight of the 20 earned runs he has allowed this season have come in his last two starts.

Some regression was probably inevitable anyway for Mahle, whose secondary metrics paint a less flattering view of his performance.  Mahle’s 4.56 SIERA is almost twice the size of his 2.34 ERA, as a .253 BABIP and an 82.3% strand rate have helped Mahle get away with below-average strikeout (18.2K%) and walk (8.8BB%) rates.  The gap between Mahle’s .263 wOBA and his .330 xwOBA is one of the largest of any starter in baseball.  On the plus side, Mahle isn’t allowing much hard contact, and he has allowed only four home runs over his 77 frames.

In the bigger picture, continued shoulder discomfort for Mahle is a particular concern, given how similar shoulder injuries also limited him in both 2022 and 2024.  The 2023 season saw Mahle undergo a Tommy John surgery, and he didn’t return to action until August 6 of last year.  Given all of these recent injuries, it could be that Mahle is simply a little tired since his 77-inning workload is already beyond the 56 1/3 total innings his threw in the majors and minors over the 2023-24 campaigns.

Mahle joins fellow starters Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Cody Bradford on the Texas injured list, leaving the Rangers with a makeshift rotation of Jacob deGrom, Patrick Corbin, Jack Leiter, and now Rocker.  Of the injured starters, Bradford may be the closest to returning since he recently threw two simulated innings, though he’ll still need a lengthy rehab assignment after missing the entire season recovering from an elbow sprain.

The Rangers have an off-day on Monday before starting a stretch of 25 games in 27 days heading into the All-Star break.  The Texas relief corps has recently stepped up with a pair of impressive bullpen days to help the club patch the holes in the rotation, yet continuing to rely too heavily on the pen obviously isn’t an ideal strategy — especially not heading into such a busy portion of the schedule.  Dane Dunning is probably the top experienced option to be recalled from Triple-A to cover some starts and eat some innings, and the Rangers have an opening on their 40-man roster if Dunning’s contract is selected.

There’s an added financial wrinkle to Mahle’s injury, as any time spent on the IL could cost him some significant bonus money.  Mahle is set to earn a $500K bonus if he pitches at least 100 innings, and then an $1MM bonus for hitting each of the 110-, 120-, and 130-inning thresholds, and then a final $1.5MM bonus at 140 innings.  This extra cash has plenty of implications for both Mahle’s wallet and the Rangers’ attempts to stay under the luxury tax threshold, so a lengthier stay on the injured list has plenty of bigger-picture implications.

Angels Sign Chad Wallach To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have signed catcher Chad Wallach to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had previously been with the Rangers on a minor league deal but was released a few days ago.

Wallach, 33, is a known commodity for the Halos. He got into 77 games for them over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He also spent last year at Triple-A Salt Lake on a minor league deal but didn’t get called up.

He pivoted over to the Rangers at the start of this year and got into 28 games for Triple-A Round Rock. He struck out 27.2% of the time but also walked at a strong 11.4% clip and hit four home runs. That added up to a .245/.333/.408 line and 89 wRC+.

Wallach faced a steep path to playing time in Texas, where Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka are the primary catching duo. Even when Higashioka went on the injured list earlier this year, it was Tucker Barnhart who got the call to cover for him. Higashioka subsequently returned from the IL and Barnhart was bumped off the roster but quickly re-signed on a new minor league deal.

The Angels have Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud at the big league level. For much of the season, they had Chuckie Robinson at Salt Lake on an optional assignment, but he was lost to the Dodgers via waivers a couple of weeks ago. Though Wallach is not on the roster, he essentially replaces Robinson as the top option to get called up if either O’Hoppe or d’Arnaud suffers an injury.

Including his time with the Angels, Wallach has also suited up for the Reds and Marlins. He has 155 big league games under his belt over seven separate seasons. He has a .198/.263/.328 batting line but solid defensive grades.

Image courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Rangers To Sign Craig Kimbrel To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are signing right-hander Craig Kimbrel to a minor league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The righty elected free agency yesterday after Atlanta passed him through waivers unclaimed.

Kimbrel, 37, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the middle of March. He reported to Triple-A Gwinnett and logged 18 innings with an earned run average of 2.00. His 12.9% walk rate was a bit high but he also struck out 32.9% of batters faced. Atlanta called him up a few days ago but designated him for assignment after just one appearance. He tossed one scoreless inning against the Giants, allowing one hit and surrendering one walk while striking out one opponent.

As a veteran with years of big league experience, Kimbrel has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. He did exactly that and has quickly secured this minor league deal with the Rangers.

Kimbrel’s track record is well known. He has been one of the most dominant relievers in the sport at times and is currently fifth on the all-time saves list. The bigger question is whether he can still be an effective big leaguer, as his recent track record is shaky. He had an ERA north of 5.00 in both 2019 and 2020. He got that down to more reasonable levels for the 2021-23 seasons but struggled again last year. He had a 2.80 ERA in the first half with the Orioles but was lit up for a 10.59 ERA in the second half, getting released before the season ended.

This year, any club could have given him a big league shot. It was reported that his minor league deal with Atlanta had a “rolling opt-out” that essentially allowed any club to offer him a major league role at any time. If any had done so, Atlanta would have needed to decide whether to call him up themselves. As far as we know, no club took advantage of that contract provision. Atlanta did call him up but for literally one day.

That has left him to settle for another minor league deal. He will presumably report to Triple-A Round Rock shortly and will get some work for that club as he tries to get another chance in the majors.

For the Rangers, they have been looking for cheap bullpen solutions for a long time. In the offseason, they clearly wanted to upgrade the group but also wanted to avoid the competitive balance tax. They signed Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong and Luis Curvelo to major league deals, none of them worth more than $5.5MM. They also acquired Robert Garcia, who has not yet qualified for arbitration, in the deal that sent Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals.

They are currently running a four-man rotation with Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list and Kumar Rocker recently optioned to the minors. They can have Tyler Mahle, Jack Leiter, Patrick Corbin and Jacob deGrom start the next four games but might need to do something creative by Saturday. Perhaps they will do a bullpen game or call up a minor leaguer for a spot start. Perhaps a fresh arm will be needed in the next week and Kimbrel could be that guy.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images

Poll: What Will The Rangers Do At The Deadline?

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While the 2023 World Series champs missed the playoffs last year, a healthy Jacob deGrom and offseason additions like Joc Pederson and Jake Burger seemed to leave the Rangers in a good place to fight their way back to the top of the AL West this year. That hasn’t worked out very well so far, as despite an elite performance from their starting rotation lackluster offense from virtually everyone (save Wyatt Langford) has allowed the Rangers to fall to a 31-35 record. That leaves them 5.5 games out of the AL West entering play today, and 4.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot.

It’s a tough position for the club to find itself in, particularly when one considers the team’s position regarding the luxury tax. It’s long been apparent than ducking under that first threshold is a priority for Texas this year and many of the moves they’ve made so far, from taking a flier on Patrick Corbin to fill out the rotation to letting Leody Taveras go on waivers, have been at least partially in service to that goal. RosterResource now estimates that Texas has a payroll of just under $235MM for luxury tax purposes, giving them around $6MM of space to work with under the first threshold.

That’s not a ton of space, even when considering that any players added will only need to be paid the prorated portion of their remaining deal. In that sense, indecision on whether to buy or sell could actually help the Rangers if they do decide to buy because any acquisitions will require less cash. With that being said, if Texas can’t get more from individual key players like Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Josh Jung it could be hard for the team to cover all of its needs on a shoestring budget even if they do stay relevant in the Wild Card picture.

One way to handle that would be to try and both buy and sell simultaneously at the deadline. Perhaps someone like Jon Gray (once he’s healthy) or Adolis Garcia (if his numbers improve a bit) could be dealt elsewhere for salary relief to allow the club to take a bigger swing and acquire a bat like Marcell Ozuna to help spark the offense. It’s also possible they could simply offer a larger return package to any clubs they buy from in exchange for the selling team eating most or all of the player’s salary. That would likely require the Rangers to firmly make their way into the playoff conversation from here, however, as teams are often hesitant to part with high-level talent to add players unless the postseason is fully in reach.

That could leave the Rangers to do at least some selling. But if they fall further in the standings, it’s not hard to imagine a larger sell-off. Right-hander Tyler Mahle has been nothing short of fantastic this year with a 2.02 ERA in 13 starts, and he should be one of the more highly coveted rentals if made available. Hoby Milner and Chris Martin would both be extremely attractive relief options for bullpen-needy clubs, as well. The team could even attempt to restructure their payroll in a more significant way by seeing if there are any takers on deGrom’s hefty salary, though moving that kind of money midseason is always challenging.

The final option on the table for the Rangers would be to simply do nothing. It’s fairly rare for a club to stand completely pat at the deadline, and the Rangers in particular have not typically been afraid to make moves under Chris Young’s leadership. With that being said, however, the club’s precarious position relative to the luxury tax and the aforementioned potential benefit of waiting until as close to the deadline as possible to make any buy-side moves could leave the team in position to risk doing very little to alter the club this summer, instead riding with the group they currently have and leaving large scale changes for an offseason that should offer more financial flexibility.

How do MLBTR readers think the Rangers will ultimately approach this summer’s trade deadline? Will they buy, sell, both, or neither? Have your say in the poll below:

Rangers To Recall Luis Curvelo For MLB Debut

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The Rangers are planning to recall right-hander Luis Curvelo for his MLB debut, reports Daniel Álvarez Montes of El Extra Base. Curvelo is on the 40-man roster after signing a big league deal in free agency this offseason and was optioned to Triple-A this spring (hence this technically being a “recall” despite never having pitched in the majors).

Curvelo, 24, originally signed with the Mariners out of Venezuela as a teenager during the 2017-18 international signing period. He became a minor league free agent this past offseason and landed a major league deal with Texas after having pitched to a 2.57 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in Double-A last year.

So far in 2025, Curvelo has continued down that impressive trajectory. In his first crack at the Triple-A level, the 6’1″ righty has logged 22 innings with a pristine 1.64 earned run average, a 26.9% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate. He’s been an extreme fly-ball pitcher in the past but is currently carrying a better-than-average 44.6% ground-ball rate. Curvelo is averaging 95.5 mph on his four-seamer and 95.0 mph on a sinker this year, but he’s thrown his 84.2 mph slider at a nearly 55% clip — far and away the most frequently used offering in his three-pitch repertoire.

Prior to the 2025 season FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited Curvelo with a 70-grade slider (on the 20-80 scale) but a 45 fastball that “plays down” due to the right-hander’s sub-par command. Outside of a rough 2022 season in High-A, Curvelo has never had much trouble throwing strikes — but he’s struggled at times with his precision/command within the strike zone.

Curvelo will be the second fresh arm added to manager Bruce Bochy’s relief corps for this weekend series against the Nationals. Veteran righty Chris Martin was just reinstated from the 15-day injured list last night. Texas optioned righty Kumar Rocker to Triple-A Round Rock to clear a roster spot for Martin’s return. They’ll need to open a second spot for Curvelo.

Rangers Option Kumar Rocker

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The Rangers optioned rookie starter Kumar Rocker to Triple-A Round Rock before tonight’s game against Tampa Bay. That creates an active roster spot for reliever Chris Martin, who was reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported the moves before the club announcement.

Rocker just returned from a month-long IL stint. He’d been bothered by a shoulder impingement that knocked him out after five appearances. The former third overall pick had a tough April, allowing more than eight earned runs per nine with a diminished 17% strikeout rate. He was hit hard again last night, giving up five runs on six hits and a pair of walks over 3 1/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay.

The 6’5″ righty also had an ugly mental mistake in yesterday’s game. Jake Mangum was hitting with runners on second and third and two outs in the third inning. He hit a ground-ball to first baseman Jake Burger. Rocker was late off the mound to cover the bag, allowing Mangum to beat it for an RBI infield single. Making matters worse, Rocker continued jogging up the first base line after Burger had flipped him the ball, which allowed the runner from second to score as well.

Manager Bruce Bochy was blunt about the play postgame. “The biggest (mistake) is the fundamental of covering first base. The fundamentals got us tonight. That’s a basic play. It could have saved us two runs,” the veteran skipper told the Texas beat. “He just forgot the situation and the other man on third and it compounded the damage. And that’s the difference in the ball game.”

GM Chris Young told Grant that the demotion was not a punitive decision, instead suggesting that Rocker needs further development time in the minors. It’s difficult to argue given his results this season. The 25-year-old has very little minor league experience. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023, his first full professional season. That sidelined him until late last year, when he dominated minor league hitters to earn his MLB debut. He made only 10 minor league appearances, though, tossing 36 2/3 frames overall. He’s made just three career Triple-A starts — one of which was a rehab outing after this year’s shoulder injury.

This temporarily drops Texas to a four-man rotation of Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin and Jack Leiter. They’re without Nathan Eovaldi until at least next Friday as he battles a triceps issue. They’re off on Monday, so they could get by with a four-man rotation if Eovaldi returns after a minimal stint. They could otherwise use a bullpen game or potentially reselect Dane Dunning onto the 40-man roster if they need to buy some time.

Rangers Re-Sign Tucker Barnhart To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced that catcher Tucker Barnhart has been re-signed to a minor league deal. He had just elected free agency yesterday after clearing waivers. He’ll presumably report to Triple-A Round Rock in the coming days.

Though the Rangers just bumped Barnhart off their roster, they are likely happy to have him back in a non-roster capacity. At the big league level, they have Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka splitting the catching duties but they don’t have any other backstops on the 40-man.

Barnhart, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and came into the year as the top depth option at the position. That got him to the majors when Higashioka suffered a hamstring injury. He didn’t get much playing time, however. In over a month on the roster, he got into eight contests and made 15 plate appearances with a .231/.333/.231 line.

If either Heim or Higashioka heads to the injured list later this year, Barnhart will have a good chance of coming back up to the majors since he has over a decade of big league experience. He’s never been a huge threat at the plate, with a career .241/.318/.351 line and 78 wRC+, but he has received lots of praise for his glovework over the years.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Tucker Barnhart Elects Free Agency

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The Rangers announced that catcher Tucker Barnhart has elected free agency. That indicates that he has passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment over the weekend.

Barnhart, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in the offseason. He was called up to the big leagues at the end of April as Kyle Higashioka battled a hamstring injury, replacing Higashioka as the backup to Jonah Heim. Higashioka was on the injured list for most of the first half of May. Barnhart stuck on the roster even once Higashioka was reinstated, giving the club three catchers for a while.

Naturally, that didn’t lead to a lot of playing time for Barnhart. Though he spent over a month on the roster, he only got into eight games and stepped to the plate just 15 times, producing a .231/.333/.231 line in those.

As a veteran with years of big league experience, Barnhart can’t be sent to the minors without his consent, so the Rangers bumped him off the 40-man. His experience also gives him the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so he will now look for his next opportunity.

The fact that he cleared waivers suggests there isn’t a major league job available for him right now but he should have no trouble finding a minor league offer if he wants one. He has now appeared in 924 major league games dating back to his 2014 debut. His .241/.318/.351 line translates to a wRC+ of 78 but he has a strong reputation for his work while donning the tools of ignorance.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

West Notes: Andujar, Sheets, Betts, Bradford, Sborz

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An oblique injury forced Miguel Andujar into an early exit from the Athletics’ 8-4 loss to the Blue Jays today.  A’s manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reports that Andujar is “most likely” going to be placed on the 10-day injured list, and Andujar will undergo tests on Monday to gauge the severity of the injury.

Now in his second season with the A’s, Andujar has a .296/.328/.402 slash line over 180 plate appearances, or roughly the same production he delivered in 319 PA in 2024.  Splitting his time mostly between left field and third base, Andujar has been a solid player for the Athletics, yet he might now face a lengthy absence given the uncertain nature of oblique-related injuries.  A more severe strain could put Andujar out for months, which would threaten his availability as a trade chip for the July 31 deadline.  Andujar is a free agent after the season, so he is a logical trade candidate for an A’s team that may be moving into seller mode in the wake of a miserable 3-21 stretch over their last 24 games.

More from around both the AL and West divisions…

  • Gavin Sheets also left the Padres’ 6-4 win over the Pirates in the fourth inning after a collision with the left field wall.  That pursuit of Adam Frazier’s home run ball resulted in multiple issues for Sheets, as manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) that Sheets was being treated for a possible concussion, as well as a “head contusion coupled with a sore hip and a little bit of a jammed wrist and thumb.”  It certainly seems like an IL stint might be in the cards for Sheets, and since Jason Heyward is also sidelined with injury, the Padres’ top left field candidates on the big league roster would be rookie Brandon Lockridge and utilityman Tyler Wade.  Sheets signed a minor league deal with San Diego over the offseason and now looks like a coup for the club, as Sheets has delivered 11 homers and a .267/.323/.494 slash line over 192 PA as a left fielder, first baseman, and designated hitter.
  • Mookie Betts has now missed the Dodgers’ last three games due to a left toe fracture and won’t start on Monday either, as manager Dave Roberts told the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters.  Betts is still considered day-to-day with the injury and might be back as early as Tuesday, since he was able to do some hitting in the batting cage and was walking in “pretty normal” fashion, as the shortstop told Plunkett and company.
  • Josh Sborz and Cody Bradford have yet to pitch during the 2025 season, but the Rangers pitchers each threw breaking balls for the first time in bullpen sessions over the few days, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News).  Sborz underwent shoulder surgery last November and was projected to miss the first 2-3 months of the season, so his throwing progression puts him on pace for a return on the far end of that timeline.  Bochy said Sborz and Bradford are expected back roughly around the same time, as Bradford recovers from a sprain in his left elbow that arose during Spring Training.  Bradford is slated to throw two more bullpens before aiming for a live batting-practice session during the second week of June.
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