The Rangers announced on Tuesday that infielders Phil Gosselin and Will Middlebrooks, right-hander Paolo Espino and outfielder Jared Hoying have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Round Rock. Both Gosselin and Middlebrooks have rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, per the team. The Rangers’ 40-man roster is now at 36 players, though two of those vacancies are presumably ticketed for right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez and infielder Hanser Alberto, each of whom is on the 60-day disabled list.
Texas claimed Gosselin, 29, off waivers from the Pirates back in August, though he only appeared in 12 games and logged eight plate appearances. Gosselin struggled between both organizations this season, but he did hit .288/.340/.411 in 358 plate appearances at the MLB level from 2015-16.
Middlebrooks, meanwhile, took 39 plate appearances over the course of 22 games and hit just .211/.321/.368. He did post a .258/.327/.529 batting line and club 23 homers over the life of 342 PAs with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate. It’s been quite some time since the now-29-year-old Middlebrooks looked like a possible rising star, but he’s displayed quality power numbers in the minors in each of the past two seasons and should land another minors pact this winter.
The 30-year-old Espino made his MLB debut this season with the Brewers but logged a 6.00 ERA and a 20-to-10 K/BB ratio in 24 innings. A veteran of 11 minor league seasons, Espino has a 3.76 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 across 505 1/3 career innings in Triple-A.
As for Hoying, the 28-year-old has been up and down with Texas over the past two years, hitting a combined .220/.262/.288 in 126 plate appearances. He’s a career .254/.308/.465 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons.
I know it’s living in the past but Boston should consider signing Middlebrooks if they choose to invest their roster money at other positions. Nothing to lose and unless Devers learns how to play 3B over the winter, there should be a spot at third. Devers as it stands now cannot play there fulltime next year. At his age, he can learn in the minors but it will be hard to send him down. He could also be trade material for something “big”. Love the kid but he’s just not ready to play 3B. Another team can afford to let him learn.
“Boston should consider signing Middlebrooks”…now that’s comedy gold. While they’re at it trade for Ryan Lavarnway..lol
That’s a joke, right? Sending Devers down?
At 20 years old he was arguably the best bat in the lineup for the time he was called up, and most metrics would grade him as a slightly below defender — not nearly enough reason to send his bat down. If anything, if he can’t handle third base to a satisfactory degree, first base is always open since Moreland is hitting free agency. But unless Boston goes out and signs a guy like Moustakas, Devers has 100% earned his spot at third base next year.
How do you “earn your spot at 3rd base by being, in your opinion, the best bat in the lineup.
And Benintendi might have something to say about being the best bat in the lineup.
Mr Betts on line 1.
Devers is incredibly young and will improve at 3rd. Even assuming he doesn’t improve a ton, I could see him learning first. At the very least, he’s far from trade bait.
Middlebrooks? Why not just bring back Panda since he’s still on the payroll.
Sandoval stands a better chance of ever hitting and that chance is close to nil. Middlebrooks NEVER had any approach at the plate which didn’t involve swinging at any offspead pitch thrown from his neck to his ankles and no ability to differentiate between fastball-offspeed pitch.
The most over hyped prospect by some (many) among the so called fan-boy base who call themselves know it alls regarding all things Boston I can ever remember in all my well over 50y of following the team.
Maybe youkilis and mike Lowell could come out of retirement too
I saw Rico Petrocelli a few years ago. Looks like he’s still in good shape….
Middlebrooks career as a MLB player is over. I don’t think it has ever begun. All he is ever gonna be is Triple-A player
Wow I can’t believe Middlebrooks is only 29. Seems like a lifetime ago he was the next big thing.
I agree with most of the comments. My points were: 1. long shot, no cost; 2. Devers right now is NOT an MLB 3Bman: the Sox are in a win now mode: and 4. if a trade is considered, it will cost to get. They have major trade pieces on my view not counting pitching, AB, MB and RD. Out of those three, Devers as good as he might become is the one to consider moving in the right deal (if they want to try to get Stanton for example and have FL pay a part of the contract, they can’t just provide bodies).
It would take 2 of those 3 to get the Stanton talks started then they would have holes at first and third. While I agree warm bodies thrown at Miami won’t make them budge (on salary especially),they might jump at salary relief themselves(taking on all the contract). You do realize getting Stanton hampers the Sox in so many ways,financially and what they’ve blended. They’ve handicapped themselves with Price,Hanley,Panda,and who of any note can they afford to sign for DH/1B? Getting Stanton would weaken them for years and make the Yankees more dominant..so by all means they should go for it!