Headlines

  • Russell Martin Announces Retirement
  • White Sox Designate Dallas Keuchel For Assignment
  • Carlos Martinez Receives 80-Game Suspension After Positive PED Test
  • Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract
  • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings
  • Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rangers Move Matt Moore To Bullpen

By Steve Adams | June 13, 2018 at 7:11pm CDT

The Rangers are moving veteran left-hander Matt Moore from the starting rotation to the bullpen, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fellow left-hander Yohander Mendez will start for Texas in Moore’s place on Friday.

It’s a disappointing outcome for both team and player, though Moore received perhaps a longer leash than his early results would’ve otherwise dictated. Through 56 innings with the Rangers, Moore has been hammered for a 7.88 ERA, averaging 6.6 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 and 1.29 HR/9. To be sure, there’s been some degree of poor fortune at play, as Moore’s .394 BABIP and 59.9 percent strand rate look fluky. But his K/BB numbers are still the worst of his career, and fielding-independent metrics like FIP, xFIP and SIERA all still peg him north of 5.00.

The brutal start to the season for Moore is the continuation of a rather precipitous decline for the once-vaunted prospect. Prior to the 2012 season, each of Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus considered Moore among the top two overall prospects in all of baseball, and he lived up to the hype early on, making the All-Star team and earning some Cy Young votes in an excellent age-24 season back in 2013.

Moore, though, required Tommy John surgery in 2014 and has never recaptured his front-of-the-rotation form since returning. He did toss 198 1/3 frames of 4.08 ERA ball between Tampa Bay and San Francisco in 2016 — a solid season that looked to set him back on track at the very least as a serviceable mid-rotation piece — but he’s followed that up with 230 1/3 innings of a 6.10 ERA and 4.83 FIP.

[Related: Texas Rangers depth chart]

Shortly after making his MLB debut, Moore agreed to a five-year, $14MM deal with the Rays that included club options for both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. While that deal long looked to be one of the best bargains in baseball, it now suddenly looks unlikely that Texas will even exercise its $10MM club option over Moore for the ’19 season. The Rangers didn’t give up much to acquire Moore and some international bonus allotments from the Giants, sending minor leaguers Israel Cruz and Sam Wolff back to the Giants in exchange. The addition was one of several low-cost pickups for the rotation this winter, but the majority of those moves have failed to pay dividends.

As for Mendez, he’s a former top 100 prospect whose star has dimmed a bit in recent years. Though he posted respectable numbers in Double-A last season, he’s off to a miserable start in Triple-A Round Rock, where he’s struggled to a 5.26 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 1.75 HR/9 and a 41.4 percent ground-ball rate. That said, Mendez only turned 23 back in January and has pitched better over his past five appearances (4.00 ERA, 25-to-9 K/BB ratio in 27 innings), and frankly, Moore’s persistent struggles simply make it difficult to keep trotting him out there as a starter.

Share 0 Retweet 16 Send via email0

Texas Rangers Matt Moore Yohander Mendez

MLBTR Chat Transcript: Hamels, Hand, Moustakas, Trade Chips
Main
Diamondbacks Notes: Lackey, Shipley, Souza
View Comments (10)

Comments

  1. xabial

    4 years ago

    You wish Moore figures it out, but Rangers’ fans can relax knowing it’s the final year of his contract.

    (Safe to say $10M 2019 club option won’t be exercised.)

    Reply
  2. skrockij89

    4 years ago

    The M’s need to do the same with Felix.

    Reply
    • darkstar61

      4 years ago

      FIP between 4.5-5 each of the last 3 seasons? Yes you would hope they are at least considering the possibility.

      If nothing more, for a short time.

      Reply
  3. Solaris601

    4 years ago

    Moore had more bad outings than good with the Giants last year, and I was completely stunned when they picked up his 2018 option after the season. I really thought they’d cut him loose, but SF was lucky to find a taker in TEX. After the Rangers decline his 2019 option Moore may want to consider going to Japan or Korea to find himself and rebuild his value. As it is now he just gets worse with every appearance.

    Reply
  4. itslonelyatthetrop

    4 years ago

    Sorry to see his career suffer like this. I do miss him, but I’m glad to have Matt Duffy because of him. Hopefully, he finds new life as a reliever. Anything is possible with a southpaw.

    Reply
    • JDGoat

      4 years ago

      I just went and read the comments from that trade. It’s kind of funny seeing how many people thought the Giants robbed the Rays blind at the time.

      Reply
      • itslonelyatthetrop

        4 years ago

        I thought the return for Moore was light, but I had a feeling he was falling apart, too. I’m really looking forward to see how Lucius Fox develops. If he doesn’t pan out as a shortstop/lead off hitter, he can always go work for Bruce Wayne.

        Reply
    • champion1701

      4 years ago

      That was just an awful trade from a Giants fan point of view. They traded a fan favorite for a turd of a pitcher who always looked like he wanted to cry. I’d rather that trade never happened and y’all could still have Longo while we had Duffy on 3b.

      Bobby Evans sucks, that’s all.

      Reply
      • itslonelyatthetrop

        4 years ago

        Longo for Duffy, straight up?

        Reply
        • champion1701

          4 years ago

          Nope. If you want longo back you have to send back Duffy and Arroyo lol

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Russell Martin Announces Retirement

    White Sox Designate Dallas Keuchel For Assignment

    Carlos Martinez Receives 80-Game Suspension After Positive PED Test

    Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract

    2022-23 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings

    Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

    Counsell: Freddy Peralta To Miss “Significant” Time

    Dodgers Extend Blake Treinen

    Brewers To Place Freddy Peralta On Injured List Due To Shoulder Tightness

    Mariners Sign Justin Upton

    Chad Green To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Orioles Promote Adley Rutschman

    Luis Gil To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Carter Kieboom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Cardinals To Promote Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore; Tyler O’Neill To IL

    Recent

    Cubs Activate Clint Frazier, Place Michael Hermosillo On The 10-Day Injured List

    Mets Promote Nick Plummer, Option Yoan Lopez

    Twins Place Danny Coulombe On 15-Day IL, Select Juan Minaya

    Russell Martin Announces Retirement

    Dodgers Place Max Muncy On 10-Day IL, Select Kevin Pillar

    Injured List Transactions: Perez, Perdomo, McGee, Casali

    Tommy Pham Suspended For Three Games Over Altercation With Joc Pederson

    White Sox Designate Dallas Keuchel For Assignment

    Athletics Designate Justin Grimm, Select Austin Pruitt

    Cardinals Release T.J. Zeuch

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Trevor Story Rumors
    • Frankie Montas Rumors
    • Michael Conforto Rumors
    • Arbitration Tracker
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • MLB Player Chats
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version