The Rangers announced tonight that outfielder Shin-Soo Choo will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow to remove a bone spur and will miss the remainder of the 2014 season. The loss of a player to season-ending surgery has become a familiar refrain for Rangers fans, who have seen Prince Fielder, Martin Perez, Mitch Moreland, Jurickson Profar, Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando all go down for the season, while Derek Holland has yet to step on a big league mound as of Aug. 25. Clearly, the Rangers were hoping for more than the .242/.340/.374 batting line turned in by Choo in his inaugural season with the club, though he’s been bothered by ankle injuries all season in addition to the aforementioned elbow problem. Michael Choice will take Choo’s roster spot for the rest of the season.
Here’s more on the Rangers and their division…
- As if the loss of Choo wasn’t enough, Jon Daniels said in an interview on 105.3 The Fan that he is doubtful Yu Darvish will pitch again in 2014 (via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). While the Rangers GM said the team has stopped short of definitively ruling out its ace, it seems safe to assume that Darvish can have his name added to the list of Rangers whose seasons ended prematurely due to injury.
- Geovany Soto tells Jane Lee of MLB.com that he was “very surprised” to learn of his trade from the Rangers to the division-rival Athletics, but he’s happy to have the opportunity to play on a contending team and work with the Oakland pitching staff.
- The Angels don’t appear to be a fit for Bartolo Colon at this time, writes Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Colon, who cleared waivers today, is owed $1.77MM for the remainder of the season and $11MM in 2015, and the Angels would likely have interest only if the Mets were to assume some of the remaining salary, DiGiovanna says.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle that the team will not comment on the federal investigation that is looking into the team’s data leak earlier this year. He did, however, reassure Drellich that the team’s systems are now secure.
I was just taking a quick look at bWARs for those injured Rangers players.
Choo, Fielder, Moreland, Profar, and Ogando all had WARs at 0.0 or lower. Harrison obviously can’t be counted on.
You could make the case that if the team was healthy that they probably miss the playoffs anyway.
You could also make the case based on previous numbers–including Choo’s & Fielder’s–that the Rangers would be World Series bound. Meh.
After tonight’s game, the Angels would be a fit for Roman Colon.
Choo is another big free agent success story. You have to spend money to win.
Choo was a poor man’s 5-tool [player for years. When Manny Acta hit him lead-off, choo learned to hit foul balls and work walks to pad that super sexy OBP that is so important. That – along with agent Scott Boras – vaulted him into star status, even though his taking poor angles to ball in the OF became epidemic, and his strong, accurate arm was no longer either. What is left is a very good offensive player that got a long term contract to hit in the humid air of Dallas. Is he worth an average of $18.6M a year?
Bill James notes that most players have their best years by age 30-32. While the star players can continue into their 30’s – and some players are late bloomers – it seems like the money spent on 4 out of 5 long term contracts would be far better used in scouting and farm system development. Choo, Verhander (whose extension has not even started yet) and others are the sorts of contracts that set a franchise back for years.
yeah, but the fans demand that teams spend money
Another one bites the dust…