The Rangers have selected the contract of outfielder Billy McKinney and placed outfielder Evan Carter on the bereavement list, per a team announcement. Injured righty Tyler Mahle moves from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. That move was largely a formality in the wake of the revelation that Mahle will be sidelined beyond the July 31 trade deadline due to his current rotator cuff strain. Texas also recalled righty Dane Dunning from Triple-A Round Rock and and optioned fellow righty Cole Winn to Round Rock in his place.
McKinney, 31 next month, is a former first-round pick and top prospect who has moved into a journeyman phase of his career. He opened the season on a minor league deal with the Mets but was released in mid-May after some considerable struggles with their Triple-A club in Syracuse. He caught on with the Rangers and has clobbered Triple-A pitching in his new environs, slashing .295/.433/.487 in 24 games and 97 plate appearances in the organization.
The Rangers, McKinney’s eighth big league team, represent a homecoming opportunity for McKinney. He’s not only a Texas native but a graduate of Plano West High School, located just about 30 miles northeast of Globe Life Field. It could be a short stay with his hometown club, as Carter is eligible to be reinstated as soon as Friday.
McKinney has also played with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Mets, Brewers, Dodgers, A’s and Pirates. He’s appeared in 321 major league games and tallied 943 plate appearances, slashing .209/.284/.386 with 34 homers, a 9% walk rate and a 26.8% strikeout rate in that time.
Mahle hasn’t pitched since June 10, when he yielded four runs against his former Twins teammates. He’s had a strong season in terms of bottom-line run prevention numbers, with a 2.34 ERA in 77 frames. However, Mahle’s subpar 18.2% strikeout rate, .253 average on balls in play, 4.6% homer-to-flyball rate and 82.3% strand rate all point to some potential regression; his 4.61 SIERA is more than two runs higher than his actual ERA.
Regardless, Mahle was a dependable arm for the Rangers when healthy and would either have been a key member of the rotation in the season’s second half or a trade chip of some note heading into the deadline — depending on which direction the Rangers choose. It’s still possible he’ll be traded if the Rangers sell off, given his status as a free agent at season’s end, but the injury creates plenty of uncertainty surrounding his status and hampers Texas’ ability to extract a return of much note.
They say cats have nine lives.
Billy McKinney: hold my saucer of milk.
McKinney and Chasen Shreve continue to live the dream. Collecting that service time every day in the MLB counts
Billy was a trade piece from the Cubs to the Yankees for Aroldis Chapman during the 2016 trade deadline.
Yes, I remember another failed Cashman trade as Gleyber couldn’t handle the New York pressure and playing better out of New York. Cub fans should thank Yankees for that trade and finally broke the curse of the Goat
Calling it a “failed” trade is about as lame a take that one could have.
The Cubs also sent Adam Warren back to the Yankees in the Chapman trade after the Cubs had traded Starlin Castro for him in the offseason
Dudes gonna get his 10yr card and have logged MAYBE 500 games.
Nothing wrong with that.
Simply making eight major league ball clubs is an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations Billy; nice to see perseverance get rewarded.
But you can’t push Billy ’round
Billy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Billy, Billy won’t go home.
Ahahahahahaha!
Billy is fine
He got a 1.8 million dollar signing bonus
He is set for life