The Rangers announced to reporters, including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com (Twitter links), that they are selecting right-hander Ian Kennedy and outfielder Travis Jankowski to their 40-man roster. In corresponding moves, right-handers Glenn Otto and Jake Odorizzi will be placed on the 60-day injured list.
Kennedy, 38, spent many years as an effective starter but has made the transition to relief work recently. He started the 2021 season on a minor league deal with the Rangers and eventually made 32 appearances with the club, posting a 2.51 ERA while striking out 27.8% of batters faced. He got flipped to the Phillies and saw his ERA tick up to 4.13 after the deal but it was still a solid enough season that the Diamondbacks gave him a deal for $4.75MM plus incentives. Unfortunately for both sides, that didn’t work out, as he posted a 5.36 ERA last year with a 19% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 24.4% ground ball rate. He had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason but fared well in spring, registering a 2.25 ERA in eight innings, striking out eight opponents and walking three. He’ll give the Rangers an experienced hurler to add to their bullpen mix.
Jankowski, 32 in June, is a veteran outfielder who has appeared in each of the past eight major league seasons. He’s never really been much of a threat at the plate, as shown by his .236/.319/.310 career batting line. That amounts to a wRC+ of 77, indicating he’s been 23% below league average. However, he provides value on the basepaths and in the field. He’s stolen 72 bases in his 470 career games. His work in the outfield has been graded as worth +21 Outs Above Average, +16 Defensive Runs Saved and he has a mark of 11.0 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Leody Taveras was slated to be the club’s regular center fielder between Adolis García and Robbie Grossman but Taveras recently suffered an oblique strain. The club has some younger outfielders on the roster like Bubba Thompson and Ezequiel Durán but adding Jankowski will give them an experienced glove-first option.
The news on Otto isn’t terribly shocking, as it was recently reported he would be shut down for the next three weeks due to a lat injury and is still getting further testing. Even if that three-week shutdown period returned him to health, he would then need a few more weeks to ramp back up to game shape. As for Odorizzi, during that same update on Otto, general manager Chris Young gave the vague but ominous report that he’d be out “longer than shorter” due to arm fatigue. While no firmer diagnosis has been provided, it seems the club doesn’t expect him back in the next two months.
With Otto and Odorizzi both facing extended absences, starting depth will likely be an ongoing focus for the club. The rotation has plenty of talent in Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray and Martín Pérez, but there’s also plenty of injury history in that group. For the next couple of months, the club’s rotation depth is probably going to be topped by Cole Ragans and Dane Dunning, though both of those hurlers seem set to start the season in the big league bullpen.
These were virtually guaranteed moves, based on Bochy’s bullpen comments from earlier. Ranger nation do yall see a trade on the horizon?
Was thinking trading for Reynolds. But not after they signed Jankowski who is much better.
Rangers don’t have the trade capital that the pirates want in return. If Rangers called about Reynolds and Ben Cherington saw their number on the caller ID, he just call the guys over to point and laugh at the number. They wouldn’t even pick up, straight to voicemail.
Not true. Rangers easily have enough to get Reynolds. Would still have plenty to get Bednar as well. Farm would be hurting after that.
Rangers likely won’t part with the prospects the Pirates dream their 800 ops non center fielder is worth. They will cave and Rangers will get him for a fair price.
There is no way the Pirates come down on their offer for Reynolds this year. They made it clear they are not budging and some of you won’t get the hint. They lock him up on extension or trade him within 2 years AFTER this season. It’s no urgency to trade him now. If clubs are going to pay what they ask for, no reason to trade him for less.
An further more, when your Stanton, Judge, Ohteni, etc go down with injuries, IF Pirates don’t lock up Reynolds by July, Yankees, Angels, Rangers, Mets, etc will have a bidding war for Reynolds. There will be NO low balling by clubs in need of a solid OF
Nope. They announced their OD rosters, and their GM seems allergic to trades (Odorizzi being the lone exception)
Odorizzi was born with a Band-Aid.
Sure wasn’t born to win, probably why he’s a Texas Ranger.
So what great franchise do you support Rocker?
That would likely be a Braves fan – John Rocker wore 49 back in the day.
Supporting him sure is a choice
Wasn’t tough enough to wear 69 like slow pitch bopper.
The Rangers are run like a train wreck, they want to compete I am sure, but the moves they make are all over the board. They definitely didn’t learn from the teams who rebuilt the right way through drafting and then spending money when they were ready to win with their developed talent. They’ve drafted decently, but instead of waiting for that talent to arrive, they went and spent all their money on the most expensive middle infield in baseball and the most expensive injury prone rotation in baseball. Absolutely zero bullpen, and they aren’t going anywhere currently, so spending all that money was a complete waste. Could’ve waited another 1-2 years for the homegrown talent, and continued stocking up high draft picks. Instead they have blown their wad for an 80 win team who will never improve because they should have rebuilt the proper way. Such a strange organization, they should’ve hired Luhnow and started over. But they will live in mediocrity under the current plans.
Nah, bad take
You have to give them credit for not wanting to be irrelevant for 5+ years. They rebuilt for a few years, and they have a lot of guys right on the cusp. Signing semien and Seager a year before contending was a good move. Let them get their first year jitters out of the way. They’re not nearly as bad as you’re making them sound.
You may be right, but I applaud teams that try to win. Teams that actually spend like they’re capable of. Almost all teams could spend more if they wanted to. Heck, last year, each team got 40M in addition to whatever some get from revenue sharing, and still they don’t spend.
Saying they have no bullpen shows you don’t know what you’re talking about. Hernandez, Burke, Leclerc, Smith, Barlow when he’s called up make a very solid back half of the bullpen. Now you have Dunning, Ragens, and Hearn in there to provide quality innings to keep those back end relievers fresh. Health in the rotation is a major question mark but if they stay relatively healthy, Rangers compete for a wild card this year.
Hearns sucks in any role you put him in. I’d wish they’d release him instead of taking a roster spot.
Hearn was actually pretty decent as a long reliever out of the bullpen. 3.41 ERA/1.14 WHIP. Warrants another look.
I stand corrected, they were the 12th ranked bullpen in baseball last year. Not exactly zero bullpen, but not a great bullpen either.
And with the better rotation there won’t be as much pressure on the bullpen to cover as many innings
Who in the Rangers organization hurt you?
What team did you build, since you know do much about team building would love to hear your accomplishments?
Why Jankowski? He was horrible in spring training.
Jankowski has been horrible for a very long time now
Yet in 2 more years he will qualify for a max mlb pension (and you won’t).
the max mlb pension is 15 years service time,not 10..so your wrong LONGTIME.that being said jankowski is still a decent player
Multiple sites on the internet say 10 – must be true
the max pension is 10, but it’s still going to be a lot more years for Jankowski since he doesn’t even have 6 years of accumulated service time.
Jankowski has an elite obp. Elite speed. Elite defense. He will walk, steal bases, score runs and save runs. If they are smart enough to play him everyday he will put up a war right up there with Judge Soto Trout. Unfortunately gms are stupid.
I like Jankowski but your comparisons are way off base. He would need to hit for significantly more power to even partially enter that stratosphere of players.
My comments are way on base. Just like Jankowski would be if teams would have played him enough. He is always on base in ootp.
75 career OPS+.
Thats all I had.
They needed to give him 600 abs a season to get real results.
He needed to show something, anything, in order to earn ab’s.
He didn’t.
The two times hes had significant playing time, hes profiled as a decent l4th OF.
In the 5 years since then, nada.
He did. 2 .332 and a .364 obp seasons with elite base running and defense. Imagine what he could do with more reps!
Hey. My friend had a mental breakdown, loves Jankowski and this is the argument he would make. I am just helping out.
PS Love the user handle
Kolby Allard’s available.
Oh, wait…
Allard is a runt
Thanks again, Rangers.
The legacy of Travis Jankowski lives on! No doubt in my mind if he was a Cardinal outfielder he’d be thought of as one of the best players in the game. I’ll set the over/under on clubs Travis is affiliated with this year at 4 and I’ll take the over.
Old has beens. Thought Rangers wouldn’t do this anymore. ⚾️
Jankowski is only on the team for about a week until Taveras comes off the IL. Kennedy will be gone as soon as Barlow comes up, I assume they want to keep the pitching depth early on so they chose to send Barlow down to keep the extra arm in Kennedy.