The Rangers are looking at adding some depth options for the rotation to their minor league ranks, president of baseball operations Jon Daniels told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). Texas recently lost Edinson Volquez to an elbow sprain that could potentially threaten the veteran righty’s career.
At this point, the free-agent market for starting pitching has been largely picked clean, although there are still a few notable names available. Edwin Jackson remains unsigned, as does old friend Bartolo Colon, who has reportedly sought to continue his career into the 2019 season. Veterans James Shields, Chris Tillman and Yovani Gallardo all remain unsigned. As with Colon, the Rangers have had both Tillman (late 2018) and Gallardo (2015, 2018) in the organization before. The Cubs recently designated righty Jen-Ho Tseng for assignment as well, and he could be another option given several years of rotation experience in the minors. Unsurprisingly, Wilson notes that Dallas Keuchel is not viewed as an option despite the Rangers’ search for rotation help.
Here’s more from around the division…
- Angels southpaw Andrew Heaney resumed throwing today, but he’s still expected to be sidelined for a month or more, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. A recent CT scan revealed what the team announced as “chronic changes” to Heaney’s left elbow, but it doesn’t appear as though there’s any threat of surgery for the left-hander. Heaney tossed 180 solid innings for the Halos in 2018 but has yet to take the mound in 2019 after being limited to just 1 2/3 innings in Spring Training.
- With a series of off-days on the horizon, the Astros will move Brad Peacock to the bullpen for the next couple of weeks, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Houston has been operating with a shorter bullpen than usual in order to carry two out-of-options players on its bench in Tony Kemp and Tyler White. Whether that arrangement proves sustainable over the course of the entire season remains to be seen, as manager A.J. Hinch even spoke of distinctly noticing a difference in carrying a 12-man pitching staff as opposed to a 13-man pitching staff in the early stages of the 2019 season.
Sign Big Sexy, Rangers!
Come back to Arlington Big Sexy!
for the angels it kind of feels like 2002 again. hope someone develop into a fiery leader like erstad.
That angels core was so awesome. Erstad, Salmon, Anderson, Kennedy, Eckstein, Molina.
Forgot Spiezio and Glaus. The pitching was good too. Washburn, Lackey, Ortiz, Percival, Rodriguez.
And don’t forget the man with a rubber arm, Scot Shields. Loved his 2 seamer. Also Ben Weber haha
Shields was a great longtime setup man. Also can’t forget Donnelly.
Donnelly was awesome as well. It sucked when he got struck in the face by a ball during BP. Broke his nose. He wasn’t really the same after that.
Also I wanna give a shoutout to the Angels lefty specialist at the time, Scott Shoeneweis!
That and he took roids…
I can’t wrap my head around this halfway tanking thing that Jon is doing. If you’re going to tank, get the number one pick at least!
If you like teams that tank all the way, go be a Cubs or Astros fan.
Oh give it up already. The Astros had nothing anyway and had to make the sale go through. Paring back the payroll was necessary to rebuild the entire organization from top to bottom after McLane’s neglect in player development. It was also necessary because Crane took on considerable debt to make it go through. Once a solid foundation was built financially he’s put money back into the product. People always leave the financial aspect of the sale of the franchise out of their “tanking” comments, but it was absolutely the right move. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. The Astros played it masterfully. They could have been a franchise in peril without the financial cutbacks, and they already sucked anyway.
Don’t be mad at Houston for knowing how to draft players and develop them. I hope one day you get over the pain of being the adopted team of Texas. Go watch your new stadium get built because that’s the only way you’ll get fans to go see that dumpster fire.
if the only way your team can draft effectively is by tanking to get easier, high picks, its not something I would be bragging about.
pretty sure they’ve done a fine job continuing to draft and develop well.
Can’t wait to see how Houston is gonna be able to pay all those players coming up.
You mean like two world series champion teams?
The Rays actually started this it just didn’t get noticed because they were bad for so long. From 2005-07 they used the same strategy, they had new management.
What is halfway about their tanking this season? Have you seen their rotation and their bullpen?
We also gotta remember,we’re only 12 games into a 160 plus game season,I wouldn’t write the Rangers off till at least the all star break, We actually have a few pitchers doing well, Minor and Sampson are good examples.
Poor Keuchel. Every pitching related article seems to say “________ is in search of pitching help but are not interested in Keuchel”
Boras about the get fiiiiiiiired!
Angels are looking more like expected the last few games. They’ll be that much better when Heaney and Shohei return.
Don’t forget Justin Upton too.
“Poor Keuchel”!?! Dude made his greedy bed with mattress pad of an agent, Borass! Tisk, tisk, Dallas took a big risk! Twice–once on 5yr, $90MM and once on 1yr, $17.1MM. No sane team wants Dallas…not even the team in Dallas. If Rangers want a replacement arm–and a good teammate in the clubhouse–they’re bringin’ Big Sexy back. But not Borass’ boy, Keuchel. Keep pitching simulated games in Borass-land, Dallas…the Sugar Land Skeeters are bound to come callin’ in the next month or two.
Lol sugar land skeeters. That’s great
“Hinch noticing…..a difference…..”
Good or bad?
Hmm
I honestly think the Brewers and Angel’s could line up in a trade like sending Chase Anderson, Barnes and Thames for some prospects. That would open the door for Nelson, Jefferess and Taylor to be added
I can see Chase and Thames maybe but you’re not getting much in return
Edwin Jackson should go to the Rangers so he can continue to play for teams he hasn’t yet.
Is he worth taking a look at
Just signed with the Athletics
bring sexy back
Big Sexy is like the pitcher at the Home Run Derby now. The Rangers at least should kick the tires on Keuchel.
you mistake the rangers for a team that wants to compete
It’s not that the Rangers don’t want to compete, It’s Jon Daniels not wanting to spend and also trying to catch lightning in a bottle, By signing low rate project players he can try to flip at the trade deadline for prospects, Everything is about saving this year and one year contracts.Its all about the new stadium now and building the farm. Attendance will be high next year because of wanting to see the stadium, and attendance in no way effects money for contracts these days because of T.v revenues,merchandising, The new stadium is twice the size but 12-15 thousand less seating capacity the the stadium were in now, I have seen it and read the info put out. We the fans want a competitive team.But
But at what cost do we get Dallas Keuchel, is he better than what we have now as starting pitching, James shields might be a better one year option, Jackson may be worth a look, The Rangers are not spending on long term this year,My quess is because of the new Stadium. We are also trying to wait on the homegrown like Houston did in the past. so glad to see The Mariners doing good and keeping Houston from the top spot.
How long will it take Dallas to get ready. (Month) we could be buried by then so it may not be worth it unless it was cheap and long term.
Please stop telling me what’s “unsurprising”
The problem with Keuchel is the lose of a draft pick and international money along with the high salary demands. He, so far, has not been willing to come down from the high salary and multiple years demands( thanks to Boras). He is just not worth it. Maybe someone will sign him after the draft in early June.