Rangers Promote Willie Calhoun, Place Nomar Mazara On DL
The Rangers announced today that top prospect Willie Calhoun is headed up to the active MLB roster. He’ll take the spot of outfielder Nomar Mazara, who’ll hit the DL with a thumb sprain.
Calhoun, who came to the Texas organization in last summer’s Yu Darvish swap, earned a brief taste of the big leagues late last year. While he was widely considered ready to hit at the game’s highest level, though, the Rangers kept him down to begin the present campaign — due in no small part to a need to refine his glovework.
While he had played quite a bit of second base in the past, Calhoun has focused on left field this year at Triple-A. The results will be on display when he suits up at the MLB level, though it’s not yet clear whether he’ll receive an extended opportunity this time around. It’ll certainly also be interesting to see Calhoun try to improve upon a tepid first effort (in a very small sample) against major-league pitching. Through 408 plate appearances this year for Round Rock, he carries a .306/.360/.444 slash with eight home runs and 27 walks to go with forty strikeouts — not nearly the output he managed in 2017, but still promising.
Calhoun’s play will obviously help dictate how much of a run he gets down the stretch. But the Rangers’ trade deadline outcomes and the health of Mazara will surely also be considered. There’s no reason at present to believe that Mazara will miss significant time, though the injury may well foreclose any possibility (however meager) that he could be traded in the next ten days.
Rangers Rumors: Beltre, Colon, Profar
- The Rangers won’t be trading pending free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre “unless circumstances change drastically,” TR Sullivan of MLB.com writes. Despite Beltre’s age (39), Texas would like to re-sign the franchise great. Beltre, for his part, is a 10-and-5 player who’d be able to block any trade. Meanwhile, fellow aging Ranger Bartolo Colon isn’t drawing much trade interest, Sullivan reports. The 45-year-old has been a serviceable addition for Texas (4.64 ERA, 5.23 K/9, 1.43 BB/9 in 106 2/3 innings), though he’s not going to move the needle for a contender. Infielder/outfielder Jurickson Profar would likely garner attention on the market, on the other hand, and Sullivan doesn’t close the door on the Rangers dealing him. The former star prospect, 25, is amid his best season, having hit .243/.326/.430 with nine home runs, eight steals and just 46 strikeouts in 350 plate appearances. Profar has produced those numbers on a low salary ($1.05MM) and still has two more years of arbitration eligibility left.
Rangers Notes: Trade Chips, Needs, Beltre, Perez
As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explores, a rough first half of the season for the Rangers was not without its implications for the future. Unfortunately, for every positive turn (the recent improvements of Rougned Odor, say), there has been a less-encouraging development (Joey Gallo‘s fall-off, for instance). Most disappointing of all, perhaps, is the fact that the club likely won’t be able to reap much of a return for its veteran assets at the deadline. As Grant notes, key potential chips like Cole Hamels and Adrian Beltre really aren’t performing as might have been hoped, while many of the team’s pending free agents haven’t really played their way into useful trade assets.
Here’s more out of Arlington …
- MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes that the Texas organization will be doing everything it can to acquire young, upper-level starting pitching at the deadline. Given the less-than-ideal crop of trade pieces, though, that seems like a tall order unless the team is willing to part with controllable talent. Closer Keone Kela is perhaps the team’s best reasonably available trade chip; he’s turning in quality work from the closer’s role and comes with three more seasons of control. Even if he’s made available, though, prying loose top-end young rotation pieces promises to be challenging.
- Meanwhile, GM Jon Daniels discussed his team’s situation heading out of the All-Star break with Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. There aren’t any truly untouchable players, Daniels said, though unsurprisingly he also noted that certain players “are a lot less likely to be talked about than others.” One name that figures to come up, of course, is Beltre. While Daniels indicated that he’s willing to listen to expressions of interest, he said the team will “have to be motivated to even have the conversation” due to the fact that Beltre’s “value to the organization is above how you typically view it.” This special situation — Daniels said the team views Beltre “as separate than most typical trade conversations,” and the vet has no-trade rights — will be interesting to watch. The future Hall-of-Famer certainly hasn’t been at his best in 2018, and isn’t cheap or youthful, but he will likely be in at least some demand given his lengthy track record and impeccable reputation.
- Daniels also addressed a few other matters, though of course you’ll need to read the entire piece to get the full scope. He cited a few younger players that have impressed in certain regards, including center fielder Delino DeShields, utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and first baseman Ronald Guzman. None of those players has really established himself as a future regular, though all seem to have places on the MLB roster moving forward. Daniels also suggested the team will be watching closely in the second half to decide whether to pick up its second-to-last option over southpaw Martin Perez, who’ll either be paid $7.5MM or cut loose with a $1MM parting gift. Perez turned in five middling starts before hitting the DL, but did show much better form in his first outing back just before the All-Star break.
Rangers Outright Carlos Perez
The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve activated catcher Carlos Perez from the 10-day disabled list and sent him outright to Triple-A Round Rock. In doing so, they’re creating a roster spot that’ll go to lefty Joe Palumbo who has been activated from the 60-day DL and optioned to Class-A Advanced Down East. Palumbo had been recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Perez, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Braves back in early May and appeared in 16 games with Texas before landing on the disabled list. In that time, he posted a lowly .167/.205/.286 slash with a homer and a pair of doubles in 46 plate appearances. He’s never been much of a threat with the bat in the big leagues, hitting a combined .218/.260/.322 in 663 PAs between the Angels, Braves and Rangers.
Of course, Perez’s calling card is his glovework behind the dish. He’s successfully halted 39 percent of stolen-base attempts against him at the big league level and has drawn generally positive marks for both his pitch-framing and pitch-blocking skills, per Baseball Prospectus.
Mariners' Interest In Cole Hamels "Was Greatly Overplayed"
- There was some buzz last month about the Mariners discussing a trade for Cole Hamels, though the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish hears that the Mariners’ “interest was greatly overplayed.” Whatever talks the M’s and Rangers had about Hamels could have been simply due diligence on the part of Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto, who “checks in on every player and will never toss away any proposal immediately.”
Pitching Notes: Bauer, Slegers, McCarthy, Cody
In a recent podcast with Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer suggested he’d only take one-year deals for the remainder of his career (partially due to the high stakes of a bet with a childhood friend). Although that seems radical and somewhat irresponsible on the surface, Eno Sarris dives into the subject in a piece for The Athletic and discovers that maybe the idea isn’t really all that bad. Although Bauer would be giving up a lot of security, he’d likely earn a significant bump in average annual value. Bauer has never had health issues, so in his case the health risks might not be as severe as other players seeking long-term deals to lock up the most total dollars possible. All in all, Sarris comes to the conclusion that the contract strategy could feasibly benefit Bauer in the long run.
Here are some other pitcher-related notes from around baseball…
- The Twins placed righty Aaron Slegers on the disabled list today with shoulder inflammation, and plan to recall rookie Fernando Romero to make a start in his stead. Slegers had a rough go of it in three appearances (two starts) this season, allowing eight earned runs in 12 2/3 innings with just five strikeouts. Romero, on the other hand, has made ten starts this season and turned in a reasonable performance thus far ( 4.38 ERA).
- Braves right-hander Brandon McCarthy is rehabbing his knee injury, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, but oddly enough he’s doing it at his home in Arizona with his own physical therapist. Obviously that’s far from the norm at this point in the season, particularly given Atlanta’s status as a contending team in the NL East. McCarthy came to Atlanta in a financially-motivated trade with the Dodgers, but has barely managed to exceed five innings per start in his tenure with the Braves thus far, and has posted an ugly 4.92 ERA.
- Another Rangers prospect has gone down with the dreaded ulnar collateral ligament injury, and will require Tommy John surgery, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. This time, it’s right-hander Kyle Cody, who had been attempting rest and rehab as an alternative to surgery. Cody was shut down for an extended period after experiencing issues during spring training; he’ll now go under the knife and likely be out until the beginning of 2020. The towering 6’7″ hurler was a sixth-round pick of the Rangers back in 2016.
Rangers Activate Martin Perez, Release Austin Jackson
The Rangers announced that they’ve activated left-hander Martin Perez from the 60-day DL and released outfielder Austin Jackson. Additionally, they placed reliever Alex Claudio on the 10-day DL because of a left ankle sprain.
Perez will start against the Orioles on Saturday, which will be his first major league outing since April 29. The 27-year-old missed nearly three months with right (non-throwing) elbow problems. Prior to that, Perez got off to a terrible start with a 9.67 ERA, 5.24 K/9 and 4.84 BB/9 in 22 1/3 innings.
This disastrous season aside, Perez has been passable since debuting in 2012, evidenced by a 4.60 ERA/4.40 FIP across 698 1/3 career innings. He also tossed at least 185 frames in each of the previous two seasons. Given Texas’ need for starters, Perez’s track record could influence the team to pick up his $7.5MM option for 2019 when the offseason rolls around. Otherwise, it could try to trade Perez or buy him out for $750K.
As for Jackson, his release comes three days after the Rangers designated him for assignment and ends a very short tenure with the organization for the native Texan. In a trade with San Francisco last weekend, the Rangers agreed to take on Jackson (and his $3MM annual salary through next season) to help clear payroll for the Giants and acquire pitching prospect Jason Bahr.
The Rangers never had any intention of using Jackson, who hit just .242/.309/.295 in 165 plate appearances as a Giant, and weren’t able to flip him elsewhere. Now, thanks to his woeful season thus far, the 31-year-old Jackson may either have to take a minor league deal (if a team offers one) or sit out the rest of 2018.
Rangers Have Inquired About Miguel Andujar
- More on the Yankees, whose starting third baseman, Miguel Andujar, has been in the rumor mill of late. The Rangers and “several” other teams have made more than one inquiry regarding Andujar in the past, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. And “multiple executives” informed Sherman that the Yankees are now trying to drive up Andujar’s value so they can sell high on the 23-year-old. General manager Brian Cashman shot that down, though, saying: “That is completely false. I think [Andujar] is a hell of a player. We have said ‘no’ to him [in trade talks] not just this year but from Double-A on up. I have not included him any deals and that should say how I feel about him.” Cashman goes on to defend Andujar’s questionable defense in Sherman’s piece and adds, “Where he was and where he is now, I feel vindicated not moving him.”
Daniels On Potential Beltre Trades
- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News takes a look at the situation in which the Rangers find themselves with Adrian Beltre. The third baseman has full no-trade rights and has not yet given indication about whether he’d prefer to play out the season with a contender, though he has said he wants to play with the Rangers again in 2019. “His value to the organization is above how we would normally consider trade acquisitions,” GM Jo Daniels tells Grant. “For us to consider anything, it’s got to be mutually beneficial, good for all parties involved.” Beltre, 39, hasn’t shown much pop but is hitting .288/.349/.401 on the season. He’s been DHing more of late in an effort to keep his legs healthy.
Rangers Designate Austin Jackson
The Rangers have designated outfielder Austin Jackson for assignment, per a club announcement. He had been acquired recently from the Giants but never reported to his new team, at its request.
As Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News explained at the time, the swap that brought Jackson and reliever Cory Gearrin to Texas was designed from the outset as a prospect purchase. “Our primary motivation was acquiring Jason Bahr,” GM Jon Daniels said of the deal. The Giants, who are just barely south of the $197MM luxury tax threshold, were willing to give up the young hurler in order to clear over $5MM in salary from their books as part of their own deadline maneuvering.
Jackson, 31, struggled badly at the plate this year in San Francisco. Over 165 plate appearances, he carries a meager .242/.309/.295 batting line. That power outage came along with a 35.8% strikeout rate that is far higher than the ~20% level Jackson has maintained in recent seasons.
It’s still possible, of course, that the Rangers will try to line up a trade involving the veteran outfielder. He did have a productive 2017 campaign, leading the Giants to give him a two-year, $6MM contract over the winter. But it seems unlikely that there will be much of a market for his services at the moment. Certainly, no other teams will have interest in taking on the salary, if any are even willing to give him a MLB roster spot.