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Matt Bush

Rangers Sign Matt Bush, Tim Dillard, Zac Curtis, Chase d’Arnaud

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The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve re-signed right-hander Matt Bush and left-hander Zac Curtis to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training. Also joining the Rangers organization on minor league deals that include Major League Spring Training invites are right-hander (and MLBTR contributor) Tim Dillard and infielder Chase d’Arnaud. Bush and Curtis were non-tendered by the Rangers on Nov. 30.

Bush, 33, is already known to be out for at least the first half of the 2019 season after undergoing September surgery to repair a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. It should be noted that Bush did not have Tommy John surgery, though the exact nature of the procedure he underwent was never announced. The most notable alternative to Tommy John surgery is “primary repair” surgery, made most famous by former Cardinals and Royals right-hander Seth Maness.

Regardless of the specifics, the Rangers again indicated in today’s release that Bush could be ready to pitch in July 2019. He was a useful reliever for the Texas organization from 2016-17 but struggled to a 4.70 ERA with career-worst K/9 (7.4) and BB/9 (5.5) marks in 23 innings of work this past season.

Curtis, 26, was an August waiver claim by the Rangers out of the Phillies organization but didn’t fare well in his minimal time in Texas. In just 6 2/3 innings, the lefty was tagged for seven earned runs on six hits and a staggering nine walks. Curtis did punch out eight hitters in that time, but control has been a considerable problem for him throughout his Major League tenure. In 38 career innings, he’s issued 34 free passes, hit another six batters and thrown four wild pitches (two in that tiny sample with the Rangers). That said, it’s a small sample of big league innings, and Curtis has thrown quite well in the upper minors, where he’s averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings with much better control in both Double-A and Triple-A.

For the 35-year-old Dillard, today’s announcement marks the end of an era. A former 34th-round draft pick back in 2002, Dillard has spent his entire career in the Brewers system and reached the Majors on four separate occasions. Though he enjoyed solid numbers in 2011-12 (65 2/3 innings, 7.7 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 4.25 ERA, 3.51 FIP), he hasn’t been back to the Majors since. That hasn’t stopped Dillard from developing a cult following through his social media antics, his guest writing here on MLBTR and his impressive bilingual lip-syncing abilities.

A veteran of 12 seasons at the Triple-A level, Dillard will join the Rangers in hopes of returning to the Majors after an absence of more than a half decade. His numbers took a turn for the worse after the Brewers’ Triple-A club moved from Nashville to Colorado Springs, but he’ll be back in Nashville once again if he opens the season in Triple-A, following some offseason realignment of Triple-A franchises.

As for d’Arnaud, he’ll turn 32 in January and vie for a utility role in spring — not dissimilar from the one he had with the Giants in 2018. Last season in San Francisco, d’Arnaud hit .215/.253/.366 with three homers in an even 100 trips to the plate. He’s spent parts of seven seasons in the Majors and is a career .222/.273/.316 hitter in 599 plate appearances. The former fourth-round pick has played every position on the diamond except catcher and will give the organization some infield depth — an area of perhaps increased importance as the Rangers near a deal to allow recent waiver claim Carlos Asuaje to play in Korea.

Rangers Non-Tender Matt Bush, Three Others

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The Rangers announced tonight that they have non-tendered righty Matt Bush. He’ll be followed out the door by three other players who were not arb-eligible: Ricardo Rodriguez, Zac Curtis and Adrian Sampson.

Bush is still recovering from surgery; evidently, the club isn’t terribly optimistic on his outlook. The former first-overall pick reemerged in Texas as a flamethrowing reliever, but his initially excellent showing has not held up over time. He’ll still be an interesting bounceback target for some other clubs, with a return to the Rangers also a possibility.

Matt Bush (Elbow) & Austin Bibens-Dirkx (Knee) Undergo Surgery

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The Rangers announced today that two of their pitchers have undergone surgery, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan was among those to tweet. Reliever Matt Bush had a procedure to address a partial UCL tear, while fellow righty Austin Bibens-Dirkx received work to his knee, the details of which remain to be provided.

Clearly, the news is especially concerning with regard to Bush, who had already been ruled out for the remainder of the season. It’s not clear whether he experienced a more recent change in conditions that precipitated the procedure or whether it was simply called for after his rehab efforts were halted.

Though he did not require Tommy John surgery, the Texas organization anticipates going without Bush for at least half of the 2019 season. It’s not certain just what was performed, though it could be that he received “primary repair” surgery.

Things had not gone well for Bush when he was on the mound this year. The 32-year-old posted a 4.70 ERA in his 23 innings, with just 7.4 K/9 against 5.5 BB/9, with declines in his fastball velocity and swinging-strike rate.

As for Bibens-Dirkx, he had helped the Rangers fill innings over the course of the season after re-signing on a minors deal in the winter. He was bumped from the rotation after an abysmal outing in mid-July but has been an occasional relief presence since that time. All told, Bibens-Dirkx carries a 6.20 ERA in 45 innings on the season, with 33 strikeouts against 14 walks.

Matt Bush Will Not Return In 2018

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Rangers right-hander Matt Bush is not going to make it back to the MLB roster this season, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports on Twitter. Elbow issues forced him to the disabled list in the middle of June.

Though Bush is said to be working through a throwing progression, he says that there simply won’t be time for him to ramp up fully during the month of September. It certainly doesn’t help that he wouldn’t be able to utilize the club’s minor-league affiliates for rehab work.

Most of all, the Rangers likely see little reason to push it in the midst of a cellar-dwelling campaign. Things have gone about as well for the 32-year-old Bush as they have for the rest of the roster. He carries only a 4.70 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 5.5 BB/9 in 23 innings.

Needless to say, that’s a disappointing set of results for the 2004 first overall pick, though his story remains fascinating. Bush had derailed his career with off-field choices, but remarkably reached the majors with the Texas club in 2016.

From an on-field perspective, though, there’s now reason for the Rangers to wonder what contribution they’ll receive from Bush in 2019. He was outstanding in his first MLB campaign, turning in 61 2/3 innings of 2.48 ERA pitching. Despite some downturns in his output in the following season, Bush still showed many of the same skills (12.3% swinging-strike rate, 97.9 mph average fastball). In his limited action in 2018, Bush lost a tick on his heater, saw his swinging-strike rate drop to 9.4%, and gave up a whopping 52.1% hard contact rate.

From the organization’s perspective, the silver lining of this lost campaign is what it means for Bush’s cost. He’ll enter the offseason with 2.143 years of service. We don’t yet know where the Super Two line will land, but Bush would be a likely candidate to exceed it based upon recent outcomes. Despite his 2016-17 output, this meager platform season will likely lead to quite a manageable arbitration salary, which not only ought to make Bush a cheap player to keep in 2019 but will also make for a lower salary floor to build off of in future seasons.

Of course, the Texas club would surely rather have paid up for a version of Bush that looked like a healthy, high-quality, high-leverage relief pitcher. Whether he can return to that form remains to be seen, thus adding another question mark to the Rangers’ pitching staff as the offseason approaches.

Rangers Acquire Austin Jackson, Cory Gearrin; Could Trade Jackson

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12:47pm: Jackson may never even play for the Rangers, per Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. General manager Jon Daniels told the outfielder “to hold off on reporting,” Fraley writes. It seems they’ll try to trade him.

12:05pm: The Rangers have acquired outfielder Austin Jackson, reliever Cory Gearrin and right-hander Jason Bahr from the Giants in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations, according to Texas’ executive vice president of communications, John Blake. To clear room on their 40-man roster, the Rangers moved relievers Matt Bush and Tony Barnette to the 60-day disabled list. Meanwhile, the Giants will select both outfielder Steven Duggar and righty Ray Black from Triple-A, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.

This trade amounts to a cost-cutting move for the Giants, who were narrowly under the $197MM competitive-balance tax threshold entering Sunday. Now, with the Rangers taking on the salaries of both Jackson and Gearrin (per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic), the Giants are seemingly in better position to make some moves around the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline as they try to hang in the NL West race.

San Francisco added Jackson on a two-year, $6MM free-agent contract last winter on the heels of a season in which the veteran was a key role player for the Indians. The 31-year-old Jackson has gone backward this season, though, as he took 165 plate appearances with the Giants and hit just .242/.309/.295 with no home runs, 14 unintentional walks and 59 strikeouts. He’ll now attempt to revive his season in his native Texas.

The Giants tried to get rid of Gearrin via outright waivers last month, but no one claimed him. The 32-year-old’s on an affordable $1.675MM salary in his penultimate season of team control, though he has seen his ERA increase from 1.99 in 2017 to 4.20 in 2018. Overall this year, Gearrin has tossed 30 innings and managed 9.3 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.

Along with helping the Giants get out from under the salaries of Jackson and Gearrin, the out-of-contention Rangers also added Bahr – who ranked as San Francisco’s 27th-best prospect at MLB.com. Bahr, 23, joined the Giants just last year as a fifth-round pick. He has since pitched solely at the Single-A level, including 84 2/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball this season.

With the Jackson experiment having failed for the Giants, they’ll introduce the well-regarded Duggar to their outfield mix. The 24-year-old Duggar, a 2015 third-round pick and MLB.com’s third-ranked Giants prospect, owns a .272/.354/.421 line in 356 Triple-A plate appearances this season. He’ll join a San Francisco outfield that hasn’t gotten average or better offensive production from anyone but Andrew McCutchen, Gorkys Hernandez and Austin Slater this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rangers Claim Deck McGuire, Place Matt Bush On 10-Day DL

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The Rangers have claimed righty Deck McGuire off waivers from the Blue Jays, per a club announcement. He’ll be optioned to Triple-A.

The Texas organization has also shifted righty Matt Bush to the 10-day DL with what is being called a right elbow strain. Southpaws Yohander Mendez and Brandon Mann have been called up to the MLB roster from Round Rock.

McGuire was designated for assignment recently after throwing 9 1/3 middling innings for the Jays. But he produced solid results last year in his first, brief MLB action and has been effective at Triple-A over the past two seasons.

Bush just hasn’t pitched to his prior standard thus far in 2018. His upper-nineties heater is down about a tick on average, his swinging-strike rate has dropped to 9.4%, and he’s averaging just 7.4 K/9 with 5.5 BB/9 along with a 4.70 ERA that may understate his struggles somewhat.

Rangers Designate Kevin Jepsen For Assignment

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The Rangers announced on Monday that righty Kevin Jepsen has been designated for assignment. His spot on the active roster will go to fellow right-handed reliever Matt Bush, who has been recalled from Triple-A. Additionally, the Rangers announced that infielder/outfielder Drew Robinson has been activated from the disabled list and optioned to Triple-A.

Jepsen, 33, broke camp with the Rangers after coming to Spring Training on a minor league contract. While he got off to a strong start to his season, yielding just two runs through his first 10 2/3 frames, his early output never appeared all that sustainable. Jepsen survived a 6-to-4 K/BB ratio and just a six percent swinging-strike rate through those 10 2/3 frames due largely to a .207 BABIP and an elevated strand rate. Over his past 10 appearances, he’s been tagged for nine earned runs on the strength of four homers allowed in just six innings.

In all, Jepsen’s abbreviated run with the Rangers wraps up with a 5.94 ERA and more walks (11) than strikeouts (eight) in 16 2/3 innings of work. It’s possible, of course, that he accepts an outright assignment to Triple-A upon clearing waivers and returns to the organization at some point later in 2018 to try to improve upon those numbers. But, given his level of service time, he can also reject an outright assignment and return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.

As for Bush, he’ll be looking to get back on track after surrendering nine walks through his first 11 2/3 innings of the season. The righty served as the closer in Texas at times in 2017 and has been a generally useful reliever in Texas dating back to his debut in 2016. He totaled nine innings with Round Rock after being optioned to Triple-A, yielding just two runs on nine hits with a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio.

Adrian Beltre Placed On 10-Day DL With Hamstring Strain

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TODAY: Beltre is indeed going to the DL, per a club announcement. The team activated righty Doug Fister and called up Ryan Rua.

Those moves required an additional roster spot , which was created by optioning reliever Matt Bush. That’s obviously a disappointing turn of events for Bush, who needs to iron things out after allowing nine walks in his 11 1/3 innings thus far in 2018.

YESTERDAY: The injury-plagued Rangers took yet another hit on Tuesday, as third baseman Adrian Beltre exited the team’s game against the A’s with a strained left hamstring (Twitter link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). A trip to the disabled list seems likely but is not official yet, Grant notes.

Beltre incurred the injury after lacing a would-be double the gap in right-center field, but he pulled up a few steps out of the batter’s box and hobbled into first base (video link via MLB.com). He walked off the field and headed to the clubhouse immediately.

As Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram details, Beltre seemed dejected after the game and said he’s set for an MRI tomorrow morning. “It’s not feeling great,” he told Rangers reporters. The 39-year-old was partially spiked by former teammate Jonathan Lucroy earlier in the game but made certain to not only tell the media that his injury had nothing to do with that incident but to also take the blame for being poorly positioned: “I was standing right in the middle. It was my fault.”

A trip to the DL for Beltre would put 75 percent of the Rangers’ starting infield on the shelf. Elvis Andrus is likely to miss around eight weeks with a fracture in his right elbow after being hit by a pitch last week, and Rougned Odor is still on the disabled list with a hamstring strain of his own.

[Related: Texas Rangers depth chart]

Texas isn’t without options, of course. First baseman/left fielder Joey Gallo is a natural third baseman and could slide across the diamond, thus opening the door for regular at-bats for well-regarded prospect Ronald Guzman at first base. Renato Nunez was recently claimed off waivers from the A’s and brings a few thousand innings of minor league experience at third base to the table. Wilson speculates that perhaps a DL trip for Beltre could push Gallo to the hot corner and create an opening in left field for top prospect Willie Calhoun; in that scenario, the Rangers would be getting full-time looks at a number of important young options in Gallo, Calhoun, Guzman and Jurickson Profar.

West Notes: Bush, Athletics, Greinke

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The Rangers are set to move right-hander Matt Bush back to the bullpen role in which he thrived for much of the 2016-17 seasons, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 32-year-old righty had been in the mix for a rotation spot to this point, but he expressed peace of mind with the decision to return to the ’pen, indicating that he’s “very happy” to have clarity over his role and that he feels the team made the right decision. As Grant notes, the decision likely means Texas’ rotation will consist of Cole Hamels, Matt Moore, Doug Fister and Mike Minor early in the year, with Martin Perez able to join that quartet as early as his health permits. Jesse Chavez is on hand as a long relief option, and Bartolo Colon could have an easy path to cracking the big league roster if Perez needs some DL time early in the year.

Elsewhere in the western divisions …

  • The Athletics’ offseason moves and budding farm system have made them into a more interesting club than many are giving them credit for, opines ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. The pairing of Matt Chapman and Matt Olson at the team’s infield corners gives them one of the game’s great young defensive players — one AL evaluator from another club likened Chapman’s glove to that of Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado — and an impressive young slugger whose fast rise in the big leagues mirrored that of Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins. (Olson hit .259/.352/.651 with 24 homers in 216 plate appearances.) Paired with one of the game’s most under-the-radar sluggers (Khris Davis) and interesting upper-level prospects like left-hander A.J. Puk, the A’s could surprise some in 2018, even if they’re not likely to vault up into to division contention just yet. Crasnick spoke to GM David Forst, manager Bob Melvin and scouts from other clubs about the improving young A’s club.
  • While there’s still plenty of time left in camp, there’s some rising unease within the Diamondbacks organization surrounding Zack Greinke, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Greinke himself noted that he’s somewhat “nervous” that he won’t be working in his typical low-nineties range by the start of the season given that he’s still sitting in the mid-eighties with his fastball. Picking up on those comments, in the context of the team’s plans for an Opening Day starter, skipper Torey Lovullo acknowledged being “concerned about where [Greinke is] at” and said he plans to “let everything kind of settle down” before the club decides who’ll take the ball to open the season. Of course, it doesn’t matter as much whether Greinke throws the first pitch as it does that he’s at full strength. As to that matter, Lovullo suggested he’s nowhere near panicking over the veteran hurler. Instead, he stressed, his “concern is minimal” that Greinke will ultimately get up to speed and be prepared to attempt a repeat of a strong 2017 effort.

AL West Notes: Jay, Beltre, Bush, Rangers, Peacock

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The Mariners were linked to Jon Jay back in November, and ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription required) reports that Seattle had enough interest to offer Jay a three-year contract.  The two sides didn’t reach an agreement, however, and Jay’s free agent sojourn only ended last week when he signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Royals.  It’s easy to second-guess Jay’s decision in hindsight, though of course he (like many other free agents) could hardly have expected the market freeze that left several players settling for contracts that fell well below their initial asking prices.  The M’s ended up going in a more unorthodox direction to solve their center field problem, instead acquiring second baseman Dee Gordon from the Marlins and converting him into an outfield role.

Some more news and notes from around the AL West…

  • In a recent appearance on 105.3 The Fan’s Ben And Skin Show (partial transcript from the Dallas Morning News), Adrian Beltre discussed his future both with the Rangers and as a player in general.  The 20-year MLB veteran is taking his career on an annual basis, noting that “I can’t tell you it’s going to be this year or next year or the year after that” when he finally hangs up his glove.  The main factors in Beltre’s decision include his health, his level of production and whether or not he is still on a contender.  Plus, Beltre is seemingly intrigued by the idea of going out on top, saying “It would be easier for me if we won the World Series this year or next year to go home.”  Beltre hopes to achieve that goal in a Rangers uniform, noting that he doesn’t want to be traded, though such a scenario could happen if Texas falls out of contention by the deadline (Beltre is entering the last year of his contract).  If he heads into free agency while still a Ranger, Beltre said “it would make it easy for me” to re-sign with the club if the Rangers promised to make a big push to contend in 2019.
  • The Rangers have decided to keep Matt Bush in the bullpen, manager Jeff Banister told reporters (including MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan).  Bush came into spring camp with the hopes of getting himself into the rotation mix, though the righty will instead be deployed as a setup man and potentially as a multi-inning reliever.  Banister believes Bush is most valuable to Texas in this role, and thus Bush isn’t a candidate to serve as the Rangers’ closer.
  • Brad Peacock may also be ticketed for a multi-inning relief role, as The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan writes that the Astros have used Peacock in two-inning stints in each of his three Spring Training appearances.  Houston places a high value on multi-inning relievers and could theoretically deploy several of their bullpen arms in that fashion, though Kaplan feels Chris Devenski could be in line for more one-inning outings after appearing to tire in the second half of the 2017 season.  Peacock has extra durability as a former starting pitcher and his stuff lends itself well to such a relief role.  He held hitters to just a .420 OPS during his first time through the lineup last season, easily the lowest OPS of any pitcher who made at least 20 starts.

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