The Rangers welcomed back All-Star slugger Hunter Pence from the injured list Tuesday. Pence’s return forced the Rangers to option someone else from their 25-man roster to Triple-A Nashville. They chose outfielder Willie Calhoun, which left him “speechless.” Demoting Calhoun was not a slam-dunk decision on Texas’ part, though. The club also considered optioning two regulars – right fielder Nomar Mazara and first baseman Ronald Guzman – Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
Mazara was billed as a potential superstar coming up through the minors with the Rangers, so sending him back would have been especially notable on their part. To this point, however, Mazara hasn’t matched the hype since his initial promotion to the majors in 2016. The Rangers realize it.
“We want him to be better,” manager Chris Woodward told Wilson of Mazara. General manager Jon Daniels believes Mazara has “been a solid contributor,” but “he’s got another step he can get to.”
Daniels may be right – Mazara’s just 24 years old, after all. Still, it’s difficult to regard Mazara’s career .259/.319/.428 line (91 wRC+) and 1.7 fWAR across 2,077 plate appearances as anything but a disappointment. Likewise, his 2019 has been a letdown. As has typically been the case during his time in the majors, southpaw pitchers have handled the lefty-swinging Mazara. He hasn’t been great against righties either, though. In all, Mazara has hit a personal-worst .258/.310/.433 (86 wRC+) with 12 home runs and a replacement-level fWAR (0.1) over 361 trips to the plate. While Mazara’s on pace for his fourth straight 20-home run season, the HR-heavy nature of today’s game means that accomplishment doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did.
As for Guzman, it seems his position helped spare him of a demotion. Sending him down would’ve left the club with too many outfielders, Wilson notes. Also 24, Guzman has been a decidedly below-average offensive player (83 wRC+) since his 2018 debut. So far this season, Guzman has hit a punchless .201/.286/.413 (73 wRC+) with eight HRs and minus-0.4 fWAR in 217 PA. Like Mazara, lefties have stymied Guzman this year – he has batted .111/.203/.296 against them – which has led the Rangers to use righties Danny Santana and Logan Forsythe against them.
Barring in-season turnarounds from Mazara and Guzman, one wonders how much longer the Rangers will rely on them as key parts of their lineup. Mazara’s team control is running out – next year will be his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility – meaning he’s not guaranteed to stick in Texas for much longer as it is. Guzman won’t be eligible for arbitration until after 2020, so he could be with the organization for a while longer. However, a team with designs on contending can’t keep turning to an offensive albatross at a bat-first position.
the rangers leak more news than the lakers
They actually are usually really hard to get a read on as they keep everything close to the vest. If I had to guess this was a very calculated leak to light a fire under Maz and Guzman and let them know more publicly to get going.
yea nah they leak alot
They’ve been using Santana a bunch lately at first so maybe just recall Calhoun in place of Guzman and let him find his swing again in Triple A.
Calhoun is a joke and has a bad attitude hope he gets traded to the mets orange get the mr baseball treatment
Calhoun hits .117 against lefties in a line up that is dominated by people who struggles against lefties the only reason he had anywhere near decent batting average was he was left out of the lineup every time there was a lefty throwing his defense struggled and so he got the boot
The smart thing to do would give him everyday reps at second cause that’s where his weak arm is better suited and replace odor eventually
Isn’t this .117 in like 17 ABs??
The Royals sent down Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas and both turned out to be players. They need to go down and realize the opportunity the have so next time up they hit the ground running.
The Royals need to send them down?
Dom Smith could be a good pickup for this team.
If the Rangers are “rebuilding” then Caberra should have been sent away first – Mazara and Guzman look like little scared kids swinging at left-handed pitchers – just completely lost!
Couldn’t Gallo start at first?
Yes, why not?
He’s more valueable at other positions.
He could but the Rangers decided this year that it was best to keep him just in the outfield so he could spend more time working the bat instead of multiple positions. I would say that idea has worked so far.
Maybe in 5 years, hes like a duck out of water at first, Playing first is “extremely difficult”.
The rangers have said they dont want to shuffle him around anymore bc they think that contributed to his early struggles, and gallo has said he prefers to stay in the outfield. So, no.
I still remember people screaming Mazara was better than Judge lol.
I’m surprised Rougned Odor hasn’t been sent down yet.
Think he is out of options?
Not out of options but has 5 years of service time now so he can refuse and become a free agent and the Rangers would be on the hook for his full salary owed.
Oz10 if he refused assignment and became a FA then his contract would be void. The Rangers would pray he would refuse assignment.
The Rangers have 49 million reasons to hope and pray Odor turns it around. That extension is another bad Daniel’s contract…..
Any interest in trading for Brandon Belt?
No one does. And what they have is clog of players they want to keep… adding another, especially at that salary, would make the problem worse.
They may take Belt if the Giants took Odor. Maybe they can work out a way to put Samardzja in the deal too. W so many bad salaries on the Giants they might be capable of something here. Would have to involve Odor’s salary going back though.
That would be best case for Texas in my opinion. Put Calhoun at 2B and have Belt at 1st. Odor’s owed 36 after this year and Samardzija/Belt would be owed 50.
I understand the idea of optioning Mazara, some rangers fans even called for him to go instead of Calhoun but the part thats always bugged me is everyone seems to forget Mazara is 6 months YOUNGER than Calhoun. Theyre both slow, both dont play great defense in the OF. At least Mazara has the arm to play RF. His WAR disappoints but hes proven over multiple MLB seasons hes going to hit 255 with 30 2Bs, 20HR, 80RBI without being a complete mess in the OF. Its not stellar but its atrocious either.
I like Calhoun i wish he got a more extended shot to play, its not like hes playing any better than Mazara, and hes had a really rough go since returning from injury.
The easiest solution would be Texas end up slipping a few more games back in the WC and selling at the deadline. Santana and Pence are clear cheap rental pieces to trade and it opens up time for Calhoun to continue.
Also I wouldnt mind Texas at least listening to offers on Minor. Im not saying hes doomed to regress really badly, but i gotta think his value is at an all time high. With the new stadium having a roof and AC i gotta think pitchers arent going to be as pessimistic to sign in Texas and if someone gets jumpy and offers up anything resembling the Chris Archer package we gotta pull the trigger. Plus theres going to be options to replace Minor in the offseason between Cole, Bummy, Wheeler, and Ryu. Even Keuchel, Odorizzi Miley and Pineda arent bad considerations to add a decent arm.
This is part of the issue with promoting guys too young. The answer is usually ‘they’re better than what we have’. And that’s usually true. But there are two other issues to consider.
1-They aren’t likely finished developing. Mazara had a 23% K% in the minors with a 431/200 K/W, indicating holes in his swing.
2-You aren’t maximizing their value. It’s like Machado. He was a good player when he was promted, but not as good a player as he would become. So they spent 2 service years on him when he had an OPS of .747, instead of having those 2 service years when he might have had an OPS of .847. A lot of times, when you promote someone at age 20-21, you are providing on the job training at the expense of service time.
Good points!
Mazara is what he is. A below average hitting DH being asked to cover a corner outfield spot. The Rangers haven’t lost anything on him and he’ll be out of baseball in a couple years.
Comparing him to Machado is pretty out there. Machado was an elite defender at a premium defensive position. Machado hit at a league average level in 2013 (wRC+ 102) and still produced like an All Star with 5.0 fWAR.
Promoting Mazara meant he’d have access to the best coaches, analytics, scouting reports and competition to improve. It’s not like he was completely outmatched at the plate resulting in a major production slump from confidence isues. He doesn’t have major injuries which have stunted him, either. His K rates have been consistent with his full season in AA, and it’s expected the walk rate would drop against significantly better competition. The bottom line is he had a limited ceiling to begin with and he’s shown no significant progress towards evolving as a hitter despite this being his 4th full year in the majors.
Calhoun is a pull hitter, slow footed, defense average at best, weak arm. He can hit the long ball on occasions. He will make a good bench player on some team that needs a little power. Jon Daniels proved they don’t care anything about defensive first baseman when he traded Mitch Moreland, a gold glover.. Santa would be an improvement over Odor at second, at least so far this season. Mazara is playing way below his potential. Pitchers have adjusted to him but he has yet to make adjustments, Maybe AAA could get his eyes watching the ball and adjust his swing. Marza is young and his future in front of him. When he puts it together he’ll be an all star on some team. I hope the Rangers trade Kiner-Falefa before they ruin is career, The kid can play 3rd base with the best of them.
Mazara is playing at his potential, he’s just not that good.
The Rangers AAA affiliate is Nashville. Their association with round rock ended after the 2018 season.
Odor is my biggest concern. Guzman has a year in majors, and plenty of time to figure it out. With a deep outfield of choo, gallo, dd, pence, santana and taveras, martinez and bubba coming up maz is expendable. But with odor u got a guy u locked up and has 5 yrs experience and looks like he just came up from double a. Hes a head case. One week he hits 5 homers and looks like a superstar, then goes into a 6 week slump. WTH r u gonna do with that?
Do you think the rangers would take a package of Jose Martinez, Carlos Martinez and adolis Garcia for mazara and maybe another prospect?
Good Article… my sentiments exactly. Woody has never been reluctant to pull the string this year and has been upfront with his players….BUT, he shudda man-up with JD and note that Mazara and or Guzman need to go to AAA.
An Xtra OF’r is a nice convenience with this summer heat. Especially if he can hit like Willy.
SORRY… BAD CHOICE JD