Rangers shortstop Corey Seager has appendicitis and will undergo an appendectomy. President of baseball operations Chris Young relayed the news to reporters, including Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, saying that Seager will be “out a period of time” but hasn’t been ruled out for the entire year. Per Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports, infielder Dylan Moore will be added to the roster with outfielder Evan Carter moved to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Though Seager isn’t completely ruled out for the season, it’s obviously a rough blow. Seager is the best player on the team. Despite missing some time due to hamstring strains and only playing in 102 games, he has produced four wins above replacement, in the eyes of FanGraphs. He has 21 home runs, a 13% walk rate, 19.6% strikeout rate, .271/.373/.487 batting line, 137 wRC+ and excellent grades for his shortstop defense.
No club ever wants to lose its best player to an injury but the Rangers are in an especially precarious spot. They have been hovering around .500 for most of the year, currently sporting a 68-67 record. That puts them 4.5 games back of a playoff spot with a month left to go.
They’re not totally knocked out but they’ve taken a few big punches lately. In the past month-plus, they have lost Seager, Carter, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Burger, Sam Haggerty, Chris Martin, Jon Gray and Cole Winn to the injured list. Carter recently suffered a wrist fracture and this transfer means he’s ineligible to return before mid-October. Semien’s foot injury is going to cost him four to six weeks. Eovaldi’s rotator cuff strain is likely season-ending.
The club still has a chance to make a late charge for a postseason spot but doing so without so many key contributors will be tough. There’s also a ticking clock right now due to some granular MLB rules. The Rangers tried to avoid the competitive balance tax this year but reportedly went just over the line when making upgrades to the roster ahead of the trade deadline. They could sneak back under the tax line if a few players are claimed off waivers. However, a player would only be postseason eligible with a new club if claimed prior to September 1st. Since waivers are a 48-hour process, the Rangers would have to put guys on the wire in the next 24 hours or so, or else they would suddenly have significantly less appeal to other teams.
Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Danny Coulombe, Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong and Patrick Corbin are all impending free agents. They therefore have no value for the Rangers beyond this year. If the club decides to punt on 2025, they could place some or all of them on waivers. It’s unlikely all of them would get claimed but Kelly definitely would and a few others probably would as well. Adolis García can be retained for 2026 but is a non-tender candidate and could make sense for the wire as well.
Time will tell if Seager’s injury pushes them to make that bold decision. For now, Josh Smith will likely step in for Seager at shortstop, per Wilson. That will leave playing time at second, which will be taken by some combination of Ezequiel Durán, Cody Freeman and Moore.
Moore and the Rangers just signed a minor league deal a few days ago after he had been released by the Mariners. He’s having an awful season, which prompted that release. He has a .193/.263/.359 batting line and 35.7% strikeout rate.
He has been better than that in the past. He came into the year with a career .206/.316/.384 line and 102 wRC+, despite striking out in 29.8% of his plate appearances. He had 104 stolen bases and had played every position except catcher.
Though he hasn’t been good this year, he’s essentially free for the Rangers. Since the Mariners released him, they remain on the hook for the majority of his salary. The Rangers only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on their roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Mariners pay.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images
Used to be a two week or so injury. I think of Reggie Sanders having one about 20 years ago. What’s the recovery time like now?
Now blisters on non throwing hands are a 10-14 day IL stay! These guys now are soft!
I had surgery for one a few years ago. I insisted on getting discharge that same night. Three tiny incisions on my abdomen. I didn’t take the Oxy they gave me and opted for double-dosing Advil. Was back at my desk job three days later. Felt fine a week later. It’s about pain management and regaining strength.
Through the miracle of laparoscopy. Appendicitis used to be a full incision surgery. The potential remaining complication is infection. And of course in Seager’s case he has to be able to do a lot more than sit at a desk to be recovered. My guess is he’s effectively out for the rest of the season. Tough break, but it could be worse.
Thanks for the response. Not sure what some of these comments are on about, or applied additional meaning to my comment, when I just stated the former recovery time and asked what advancements had been made in the last few decades.
Agreed. I had the surgery when I was all trained up for an IronMan. Good shape going into the surgery. I did a sprint triathlon the following week (against medical advice), and the fatigue was impressive. Never did the IronMan that was scheduled just two weeks later because of the hit to my endurance. I m a physician and what I learned from that experience was that surgery (even laparoscopic surgery) creates an inflammatory response that exhausts you and sets you back for a while; even when you are in good or great shape before the surgery. I never missed a day of work other than my surgery day, but work isn’t athletics for most of us. He will be back in the game soon, but it will take a bit for him to return to peak performance.
I would concede the Season…. why rush him back?
Because he’s on my fantasy team. Godspeed young Luke!
A ha!
The Mariners relief pitcher Trent Thornton was out with an appendectomy this season and I believe it was around two months…
Rangers must have broken a mirror in the clubhouse given the streak of injuries.
After losing Eovaldi, they went out and scored 20 runs. This team doesn’t give up. I’m still holding out hope.
If they score 20 runs every game for rest of season think they may win playoff
But did u actually see the pitches they were hitting. It was like 8yo little league
Sheesh even Dodgers are getting hurt on other teams, Eovadli and now Seager.
Seager still a favorite here. I’m happy he’s happy and closer to family. It’s a bummer we couldn’t keep him though.
Yeah, like that’s the reason he signed with Texas. Not the money.
The money and no state taxes were a big part. But I’m still happy for the man.
Retirement must be looking pretty good
to Bochy about now
I think WAR is a bunch of statistical BS
Yes, I do have some training in statistics at the college level
Why is it statistical BS?
Because First Doug confirmed it.
SD
Because he doesn’t understand it
What a lame response
WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement, an advanced statistical measure that quantifies a player’s total value to their team by estimating the number of wins they add compared to a hypothetical replacement-level player. A replacement-level player is a readily available, low-cost player (often from the minor leagues or available for the league minimum salary) who can fill a position at a major league level. A higher WAR indicates a player is significantly more valuable than a readily available substitute, while a WAR of 0 means a player performs similarly to a replacement-level player.
Present your argument.
And explain how WAR has such a consistent correlation with actual team wins if it is “statistical BS”
beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/12/26/18155292/correlat…
Statistics can be very easily mis applied or incorrectly calculated and still present what appears to be a valid set of facts
CM
Present your argument for why it’s “statistical BS”
You don’t have one
I had one when I was 29 years old. Recovery time before I could workout at the gym was 2 to 3 weeks.
He played his 100 games this year. Of course, hes done for season
Seager has officially injured every part of his body. Appendix completes the injury prone story. And he’s typically good for at least one surgery per season, in addition to random strains, sprains, twists, and breaks.