Rangers Release Ben Revere
The Rangers announced today that they have released veteran outfielder Ben Revere. He had been with the club on a minor-league contract but was not slated to make the MLB roster out of camp.
Revere, 30, topped three hundred plate appearances in the majors every year from 2011 to 2017. But the light-hitting center fielder failed even to appear at the game’s highest level in 2018, managing only a forty-game run at Triple-A in the Angels organization.
There was never a clear opening for Revere in Texas, though perhaps it was possible to imagine a way for him to crack the roster. He received only 22 plate appearances in camp, however, and never gained traction. Presumably, the speedy Revere — he has 211 career steals in the majors — will look for a better opportunity elsewhere.
Rangers Claim Kyle Dowdy From Mets
The Rangers announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Kyle Dowdy off waivers from the Mets, bringing their 40-man roster count to a total of 38 players. Dowdy was New York’s selection in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, meaning he’ll need to stick on Texas’ big league roster or else be exposed to waivers for a second time. If he clears, he’d need to be offered back to the organization from which he was originally selected: the Indians.
Dowdy, 26, posted unsightly results in a combined 124 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year: a 5.15 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. However, as Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser examined in depth earlier this spring, Dowdy caught the attention of scouts last season after an enormous velocity jump. Once regarded as a “pitchability” right-hander, with a fastball in the upper 80s and low 90s, Dowdy began working out on a weighted-ball program and altered his arm angle during the 2017-18 offseason. A fastball that previously topped out at 94 mph began sitting in the 94-96 range and even scraped 99 mph on radar guns.
The results weren’t there last season in the minors, and it was a similar tale for Dowdy this spring (seven runs on 15 hits and seven walks with seven strikeouts through 11 1/3 innings), but the rebuilding Rangers will at least take a look at the sudden hard-thrower in hopes of refining his newfound velocity.
Rangers Release Zach McAllister
The Rangers announced that they’ve given right-hander Zach McAllister his unconditional release. It’s a somewhat surprising development given that McAllister had signed a Major League contract with Texas in the offseason and enjoyed a solid Spring Training to date. In a dozen Cactus League innings, he’s allowed four runs on 12 hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts.
With McAllister now out of the fold, the locks for the Texas bullpen include Jose Leclerc, Jesse Chavez, Shawn Kelley, Chris Martin and Jeffrey Springs (the latter of whom was informed last week he’d made the team). Right-hander Jeanmar Gomez is also in line to make the roster following the sudden retirement of Jason Hammel. Out-of-options righty Connor Sadzeck, presumably, is a candidate to open the year in new skipper Chris Woodward‘s bullpen as well, though offseason acquisition Kyle Bird is also still in camp.
McAllister, 31, struggled through an awful 2018 campaign with the Indians and Tigers, posting a combined 6.20 ERA in 45 innings of relief between the two clubs. He did turn in a quality 39-to-10 K/BB ratio in that time, though, and McAllister’s 95.3 mph average fastball velocity was as strong as ever. Prior to that ugly season, McAllister was a mainstay in the Cleveland bullpen from 2015-17, where he worked to a 2.99 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 through 183 1/3 innings of relief.
Rangers Return Rule 5 Pick Jordan Romano To Blue Jays
The Rangers have returned Rule 5 selection Jordan Romano to the Blue Jays after the right-hander cleared waivers, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Having been placed on waivers Thursday, the 25-year-old Romano was offered to his previous club today and will rejoin the Blue Jays after failing to make the Rangers’ Opening Day roster.
Despite a respectable 3.86 spring training ERA, Romano has posted an unimpressive 6:5 K:BB ratio in 9 1/3 spring innings with the Rangers. Romano had been selected in December’s Rule 5 Draft after a solid 2018 season at the Double-A level, in which he posted a 4.13 ERA while striking out 125 batters in 137 1/3 innings. Upon returning to the Blue Jays, Romano will not be required to be placed on the 40-man roster.
Jason Hammel Announces Retirement
In a surprising development, veteran right-hander Jason Hammel has told the Rangers that he is retiring after 13 Major League seasons. Hammel had signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this winter, and was informed yesterday that he had made the team’s Opening Day roster.
Hammel’s decision doesn’t come entirely out of left field, as he recently stated that he had no interest in pitching in the minor leagues, and would hang up his spikes if he didn’t remain in the Show. As per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link), Hammel simply “decided he needed to go and be with his family, something you could tell was weighing on his mind this spring.”
Rangers GM Jon Daniels told The Athletic’s Levi Weaver and other media that Hammel “was very apologetic about the timing” of his decision, coming so soon after the team decided to include him on its 25-man roster. With Hammel now out of the picture, Jeanmar Gomez (another minor league signing) will break camp with the team.
Originally a 10th-round pick for the Rays in the 2002 draft, Hammel rose from that unheralded draft position to pitch 1810 1/3 Major League innings from 2006-18, starting 298 of his 377 career games. Never a big strikeout pitcher or a particularly hard thrower, Hammel relied on solid control and durability to become a rotation piece for six different teams over the course of his career.
That skillset resulted in just shy of $60MM in career earnings for Hammel, including a pair of multi-year free agent deals with the Cubs and Royals. Hammel’s stint with the Cubs from 2014-16 was the productive stint of his career, as he posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.5 K/9, and a 3.62 K/9 rate over 446 innings (all of them in 78 starts) for Chicago. Unfortunately for Hammel, a late-season elbow injury kept him from participating in the Cubs’ historic playoff run in 2016, though his 166 2/3 frames of 3.83 ERA pitching in the regular season netted him a well-earned World Series ring.
We at MLBTR congratulate Hammel on a fine career, and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his post-playing endeavors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Rangers, Giants Discussed Shin-Soo Choo Trade
- The Giants and Rangers discussed a trade that would have sent Shin-Soo Choo to the Bay Area, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (subscription required), though “the talks failed to gain momentum and at this point are barely active.” Choo would’ve been something of a curious add for the Giants, given that he has moved into more of a DH role in recent seasons. Choo’s bat is still potent (.264/.377/.434 with 21 homers in 665 PA last season), and while his glovework was below-average (-5 DFS, -3.9 UZR/150 in 507 1/3 innings as a corner outfielder) in 2018, the Giants might have felt the tradeoff was worth it, even if Choo’s defense would have likely further fallen off in Oracle Park’s larger outfield. The Giants could also have possibly seen the trade as something of a bargain, since Rosenthal notes that the Rangers “would have included significant cash” to cover the $42MM remaining on Choo’s contract through 2020. The talks didn’t revolve around the idea of dealing Choo for one of the hefty contracts (i.e. Jeff Samardzjia, Mark Melancon) on the Giants’ payroll.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/22/2019
Here are a few minor moves to round out the day’s transactions …
- The Brewers announced that they inked reliever Michael Tonkin after he was released by the Rangers earlier today. Tonkin has pitched in parts of five seasons with the Twins and threw last year in Japan. The 29-year-old allowed just two hits and one earned run in his 4 2/3 innings this spring, though that’s obviously quite a limited sample. Tonkin threw 51 innings last year for the Nippon Ham Fighters, carrying a 3.71 ERA with an unsightly (and uncharacteristic) combination of 5.8 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9.
- Righty Christian Bergman was cut loose by the Cubs, who had signed him in early February. The 30-year-old reliever was knocked around in limited spring action. He carries a 5.59 ERA in 215 2/3 total innings in the big leagues, compiled over the past five seasons.
Hunter Pence Makes Rangers’ Roster; Willie Calhoun Optioned To Triple-A
The Rangers have informed veteran outfielder Hunter Pence that he’s made the Opening Day roster, tweets MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. Young outfielder Willie Calhoun, meanwhile, will be optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Sullivan also adds that Rule 5 pick Jordan Romano has been informed he will not make the roster.
While many fans may have hoped that Calhoun would seize the outfield opportunity in front of him and realize the offensive potential that long provided him with top prospect status, Pence emphatically outplayed him this spring. The pair leads the Rangers in spring at-bats, but while Pence has impressed with a .356/.431/.667 batting line, Calhoun has mustered just a .217/.296/.261 output.
Beyond the raw spring stats (which should always be taken with a grain of salt), the Rangers simply don’t have everyday at-bats for Calhoun in the big leagues right now. Joey Gallo, Delino DeShields Jr. and Nomar Mazara are lined up in the outfield, with Shin-So Choo slotted in for regular DH work. At this stage of their respective careers, Pence is better-suited for a bench role, as Texas surely still wants Calhoun to log regular plate appearances to continue his development.
Pence, who spent the offseason making significant alterations to his swing, will seek to reestablish himself as a credible big league outfielder on the heels of that excellent spring. The three-time All-Star finished up a five-year, $90MM contract with the Giants last season and managed just a .249/.297/.368 slash over the final two seasons of that contract.
The 24-year-old Calhoun, acquired as the centerpiece of the trade that sent Yu Darvish to the Dodgers in 2017, saw his bat take a step back both in Triple-A and in the Majors in 2018. After hitting a combined .300/.355/.572 between the Triple-A affiliates for Texas and L.A. in ’17, Calhoun hit a solid but diminished .294/.351/.431 in Triple-A with the Rangers this past season. In 108 big league plate appearances, he hit .222/.269/.333 with a pair of home runs. Calhoun’s glovework has been questioned in scouting reports over the years, but he’ll also look to get his swing back in track in his latest minor league assignment. He has an option remaining even beyond the current season, so the Rangers still have ample time to help him tap into his upside.
Romano, 26 in a month, was selected out of the Blue Jays’ organization in this year’s Rule 5 draft and pitched 9 1/3 innings with the Rangers this spring. He allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks with six strikeouts in that time. Romano logged a 4.11 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 142 1/3 innings last year (nearly all at the Double-A level). He’ll need to be placed on the waivers and offered back to the Blue Jays if he clears.
Yohander Mendez Diagnosed With UCL Sprain
Rangers lefty Yohander Mendez has been diagnosed with a grade one sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. He’s expected to miss approximately half of the coming campaign.
Though Mendez avoided the worst-case outcome of Tommy John surgery, he’ll still need to take a slow path back to competitive pitching. Per Grant, the current plan is for a six-week rest period followed by a full ramp-up back to top speed.
If all goes to plan, the 24-year-old southpaw will miss about ten weeks of the coming season (along with the final two weeks of camp). With a potential mid-June return, there’s still every chance that Mendez will throw significant innings in 2019. It’s likely he’ll open up back at Triple-A once his rehab assignment is up, though it’d be foolish to attempt to predict what the Texas pitching staff will look like by the middle of the summer.
Mendez cracked the majors in his age-21 campaign and has seen action in each of the past three seasons. The results have not been promising. Through 43 big-league innings, Mendez has allowed thirty earned runs on 46 hits with 25 strikeouts against 20 walks. He also coughed up 64 earned in 122 1/3 minor-league frames last year.
The Rangers will hope that they can otherwise emerge from camp without dings to a pitching unit that has quite a few health risks. Mendez will presumably be a candidate for a 60-day injured list placement, which would open up a 40-man roster spot to utilize on any late-spring claims or other roster decisions.
Yohander Mendez Leaves Game Due To Elbow Tightness
- Rangers southpaw Yohander Mendez left today’s Cactus League start due to tightness in his throwing elbow (MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan was among whose to report the news). “Anytime a pitcher comes out saying it’s their elbow, it’s never a good sign. We’ll find out as soon as we can,” manager Chris Woodward said, adding that Mendez would undergo tests on Monday. The 24-year-old Mendez has a 6.28 ERA, 5.2 K/9, and 1.25 K/BB rate over 43 career MLB innings from 2016-18, but was fighting to win a job within the Rangers’ righty-heavy bullpen.