The Rangers announced they’ve selected the contracts of first baseman Greg Bird and righty Jimmy Herget. To create 40-man space, the team designated righty Ariel Jurado for assignment.
Bird, 27, turned in an impressive showing upon his call-up in 2015 but has fallen flat since. He dealt with numerous injuries and couldn’t replicate his early success with the Yankees. The Texas org picked him up on a minors deal over the offseason.
As for Herget, who’s closing in on his 27th birthday, this’ll be his second look. He threw 6 1/3 innings last year with the Reds, failing to record a strikeout. In 58 1/3 Triple-A frames last year, he worked to a 2.91 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 5.5 BB/9.
Jurado, 24, was dropped after getting quite a few looks over the past two seasons. He carries a 5.85 ERA in his 177 career innings at the game’s highest level. He hadn’t yet appeared in 2020.
welcome to Boston Ariel
This guy
Great name for a pitcher with a nearly 6 ERA. The ball will fly out of Boston. No thanks. Just give what you got a chance as an audition for next year. Either you hit the jackpot or more likely you got lemons.
really think any of those guys is better than Jurado?
Let’s see if Bird can stay healthy with the Rangers. Good luck and thanks for the memory against Andrew Miller. Hopefully that’s not your only career highlight.
I wouldn’t mind if Jurado left. It was a smart move last season trading Chris Martin for Kolby Allard, because now he slides into the role that Jurado has filled the past couple of seasons (and he’s better). Jurado has had a few good stints, but he’s just not that good, and we need to move on.
As for Bird, and our 1b situation, we need help. We might have been 3-2 right now if Guzman would’ve hit better. Let me explain. Tuesday (the first game against the D-backs), Kyle Gibson took the mound, and he was pretty good. But in the first inning IKF had a grounder hit to him that he threw to first base. The throw was on a line, albeit a little low. Guzman would’ve scooped it right up, but with his bat being so bad of late, Frazier has taken over his 1b duties. There were two outs when it occurred, and that would’ve been the third out. Instead, that error led to 3 un-earned runs that made us eventually lose the game 4-1. All in all, Bird has improved his defense, and hopefully his bat picks up too, because we need solutions…
Bro it’s not that deep