1:30pm: The Rangers have officially placed DeShields on the 10-day disabled list, tweets John Blake, the club’s Executive Vice President of Communications. DeShields is expected to miss four to six weeks. Right-hander Nick Gardewine has been recalled from Triple-A Round Rock to take his place on the roster in the immediate term.
12:51pm: A source close to Evan Grant of SportsDay tells him that Delino DeShields has a broken hamate bone, though the Rangers haven’t made any official announcement on the subject.
If the report is true, it represents a huge blow to the Rangers, or as Grant puts it, “a lineup-changing, alignment-shaking injury situation.” DeShields left Friday’s game with discomfort in his hand after a swing during the eighth inning; he’s set to undergo an MRI today after experiencing significant swelling. The loss of their center fielder for any length of time would not only subtract their leadoff hitter and most significant threat on the basepaths, but dramatically affect the club’s outfield defense as well.
As things stand at present, Rule 5 pick Carlos Tocci is the club’s next-best defensive option in center field; he’s got just 54 plate appearances above Double-A to speak of. It remains to see whether the Rangers would be willing to deploy the 22-year-old Tocci in a full-time role (indeed, Grant adds that the club doesn’t believe he’s ready to do so), though it’s worth noting that they did the same thing with DeShields himself in 2015 after taking him in the Rule 5 draft. At this point, it’s worth noting that no viable center field options remain on the free agent market, with Ben Revere having signed a minors deal with the Angels just earlier today.
That sucks, liked this guy a lot. Good speed from him. Hopefully can recover quickly
Drew Robinson is a good candidate and already on the 25-man roster.
The Phillies have 4 OF. I’m sure we can spare one for the right deal.
Maybe get Tocci back in the deal and put him in AAA where he should be to develop.
Send you a case of Boomstick hot dogs. That’s about it.
Upton?
If the rangers desire to go the cheap route they could speak with Atlanta about Lane Adams.
Take a flier on Trayce Thompson. Good athlete slowed by injuries past few years.
I like this idea. Good low risk type of deal with a decent chance of a potential upside.
Yes, Thompson, Robinson, and Tocci seem as likely to provide as many quality ABs between them as any of the Rangers’ other reasonably priced options. Not ideal but workable, given the likelihood DeShields may be out just 4-6 weeks.
Gurriel had the same problem. Had that bone removed. Only about a month recovery. No need to panic and get someone outside the system.
If you have no other CF’s you have to. They don’t have any others. Tocci isn’t ready to play. Trayce Thompson makes some sense.
Seems like the Brewers still have a surfeit of cromulent outfielders. Sucks though. Now I need to go looking for steals elsewhere.
Brinson had 4 hits last night
Pft. Against the Cubs
You can play Joey Gallo out there… he has experience there and enough speed.
Lol.
Well I guess he has 1 MLB game out there. But he played there a bit in the minors I think. And he’s played a ton of left. He could probably be somewhere near average and you could make up the ground offensively in terms of WAR
Lmao Joey gallo somewhere near average as a CF is an absolute joke. Somewhere near the absolute worst Cf in the majors would be more accurate.
Brinson
Haha Brinson isn’t going anywhere. He’s the best young future star the Marlins have.
With Cub manager Joe Maddon reluctant to give Albert Almora more playing time perhaps Theo Epstein and Co. can work out a trade with the Rangers for their Gold Glove caliber CF. The Rangers should be doing a serious retool in the competitive AL West anyway so maybe a blockbuster trade along these lines can be worked out:
Cubs acquire 34-year old LHP Cole Hamels and the remaining two years of his expensive contract to bolster an already formidable rotation for a soon to be 24-year old Almora and 28-year old RF Jason Heyward and his mega deal. The Cubs also get a relative luxury tax wash for the next two seasons while freeing up RF for Kris Bryant’s pal Bryce Harper next offseason. The Rangers get younger with two Gold Glove players patrolling their OF for the next 5 seasons. Perhaps a change of scenery can help Heyward regain the batting stroke he once had in Atlanta and St. Louis but seems to have lost in Chicago the past two seasons.
The Cubs can also swap out Almora for an AL type player like Kyle Schwarber while also securing another outfielder back from the Rangers to replace the two they would lose, maybe even the speedy DeShields when he returns from the DL. Heyward is also capable of playing CF in Texas in addition to RF.
Hamels absolutely sucks now but if Texas takes the Heyward contract I would still think about this trade as a Cubs fan
Hamels hardly sucks. He missed a chunk of time last year due to a strained right oblique muscle.
The Cubs securing another veteran starter would also piss off Mike Montgomery. The Cub southpaw would be yet another trade chip that might entice the Rangers into taking Jason Heyward and his contract off of the Cubs hands.
Btw: With Hamels missing two months last season it could put his 2019 vesting option in jeopardy. The option guarantees him $24MM for 2019 if he 1) has 400 IP in 2017-18, including 200 IP in 2018, and 2) is not on the disabled list with a shoulder or elbow injury at the end of the 2018 season. If the vesting option is not met then his team holds a $20MM option or a $6MM buyout in 2019.
Cole Hamels and Jason Hayward’s contracts aren’t even in the same ballpark. If you think Albert Almora makes up the difference you are insane. You wouldn’t get them to take Heywards contract if you included Baez. Jason Hayward is realistically a 7 million dollar player making triple that the next 6years. Good luck.
Hamels option will not vest that is an absolute certainty. He will not throw 260 innings this year. It’s going to be a 6 million dollar buyout. Hamels costs 28.5 million and heywards total cost is around 125 million. Do you honestly believe Albert almora and mike Montgomery provide that much surplus value? They absolutely do not.
Heyward is also still just 28 and was a WAR darling up until he joined the Cubs which prompted boy wonder Theo Epstein to sign him in the first place. If you think Epstein is the only sabermetric geek in MLB front offices these days you are mistaken. There is somebody out there who believes Heyward can return to the player he was in Atlanta and St. Louis, especially a GM who has a contract of his own he might like to move.
Perhaps that somebody is the Rangers own boy wonder Jon Daniels who oversees a team that needs to get younger in a very competitive AL West.
Btw: Heyward has a contract opt-out following each of the next two seasons. If he remains in Chicago with a micro-manager like Joe Maddon and with a team that has a glut in the outfield there is zero chance he opts out. If he moves to another team and returns to his previous 5.5-6.6 annual WAR numbers it becomes more of a possibility.
There is no guarantee that Hamels’ 2019 option will be bought out for $6MM. If he is healthy and returns to his 2016 form Hamels would easily be worth the $20MM team option for whichever team his is with.
If Hamels is worth his 20 million dollar option that would just make my point even more. Regardless the total cost for hamels in a worse case scenario is 28.5 million and the total cost for heyward is 125. Heyward will NEVER opt out of that contract…EVER. Can’t stress that enough. No way he’d ever see those dollars again playing like he did the last 2 years. 125 million v 28.5 it’s as simple as that. Nobody is buying jhey’ and banking on his past performance for 100 million dollars. Almora is a nice defensive player but he’s not a 100 million dollar defensive player. If you want to look at realistic contract swaps you need to look at guys that are owed amounts in the same ballpark or you need to look at much better players than Almora.
What you’re missing in all of this; why would Heyward have any interest in approving a trade to a team that he considers not to be competitive in the near future?
It’s true that Heyward does have a full no-trade clause through this season. It becomes limited in years 4 &5.
You best believe that if the Cubs approached Heyward to waive that no-trade clause he would do it in a heartbeat. With the Cubs he’s no longer an outfielder who starts every game. Joe Maddon not only rests him against many left-handed starting pitchers but also had a hand in his offensive struggles from the outset by inserting Heyward into the #2 hole to open the 2016 season after he inked that FA contract. Heyward had little experience in that role prior to arriving in Chicago and little success when given the opportunity. It was a particularly odd move by Maddon because the Cubs had also signed veteran FA Ben Zobrist that same offseason who was a prototypical #2 hitter for much of his career including his first 9 seasons with the Rays.
Hamels is earning $23.5MM in 2018, $2.5MM of which is being paid by the Phillies. The $20MM potential team option in 2019 would make the “worse case scenario” $41.5MM, not $28.5MM. Regardless, the AAV still lines up favorably with Heywards deal over the next one or two seasons.
Heyward would also have an additional incentive to waive his no-trade clause this season aside from wanting out of Chicago. His deferred $20MM signing bonus would be payable immediately upon such a trade.
No team is taking a $125 million dollar chance that Heyward will bounce back. Cubs are stuck with that albatross !
Almost anybody can be dealt in MLB. Outfielders Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford were traded with “albatross” contracts and they were significantly older than what Heyward is now.
When is Willie Calhoun coming up? I realize he may not be a good option in CF, but the kid can hit
Willie Calhoun made his MLB debut last September so a late April or early May promotion would still guarantee the Rangers an extra year before he could become a FA. Calhoun would be limited to LF defensively, that or DH.
So he’s down for service time considerations you believe? Likely up after May? What I read was that he would make the club out of spring. My fantasy team is short on backup OFs. Lol
He had a mid-September debut last season so his promotion wouldn’t need to be after May unless the Rangers also wanted to delay potential Super-2 status and gain another year before his he is arbitration eligible. If the latter was the case then Calhoun could be sitting at AAA until late June or early July. Otherwise they could promote him as soon as late April or early May.
Billy Hamilton for a box of baseballs off reds…
Reds are going to want a couple fairly significant prospects for Hamilton
Prospects for a guy that hits 200…. and not an every day player now
Couple of prospect baseball trading cards then.
The reds look terrible defensively when Hamilton isn’t in there. Schebler isn’t a CF. I don’t know how long they’re going to be able to play winker, schebler and Duvall together.
So the thinking is that Calhoun stays at AAA until May for service time considerations?
I think that Dustin hood would b a good call up to cover for delino. played really well in spring training and has experience in center field
Keon Broxton
Would be a good fit. Not sure if Texas would be willing to trade anything significant for him. I suppose it depends on if they really consider themselves contenders.
It certainly wouldn’t hurt them to have another outfielder even after DeShields gets back – Choo is getting pretty long in the tooth, and Calhoun is really better suited to a DH role from what I’ve heard. Mazara/DeShields/Broxton would be a pretty good group, with Choo and Calhoun spelling them in the corners and sharing DH.