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Quick Hits: Maeda, Profar, Beltre, Cruz, Tanaka

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Kenta Maeda’s early struggles have cost him his rotation spot, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register) that Maeda will be moved to the bullpen when Alex Wood returns from the disabled list.  “This is not temporary for Kenta,” Roberts said. “We need him to get back on track, get some momentum. I don’t know what day he’s going to pitch but he’s open to it, and it’s a credit to him as a teammate.”  Maeda has a 5.16 ERA over 52 1/3 IP, thanks in large part to problems keeping the ball in the park; Maeda has already surrendered nine homers this season.

Here’s more from around baseball…

  • With Adrian Beltre possibly looking at a DL stint, the Rangers will recall Jurickson Profar from Triple-A, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  Beltre didn’t make his 2017 debut until May 29 due to a lingering calf injury, and collected at least one hit in all seven games he played before suffering an ankle injury on Tuesday.  Profar began the season on Texas’ roster but hit just .135/.289/.135 in 46 PA before being demoted to Triple-A.
  • Nelson Cruz underwent an MRI on his right calf today and wasn’t in the lineup for the Mariners’ game against the Twins.  Seattle manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other reporters that he expects Cruz to be out “maybe a day or two,” so the injury doesn’t seem serious, though Cruz has been bothered by his calf for over a week.  The veteran slugger is in the midst of another big season, hitting .299/.383/.563 with 14 homers over 230 PA for the M’s.
  • Should Masahiro Tanaka to be removed from the Yankees’ rotation?  ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand believes so, as Tanaka’s struggles (a 6.55 ERA and a whopping 23.3% home run rate) are hurting New York in the AL East race.  Since the team says Tanaka is healthy, Marchand figures Tanaka needs some type of breather just to correct whatever flaw has so negatively impacted his performance.  Tanaka also has a 5.60 FIP but other ERA indicators (4.19 xFIP, 4.13 SIERA) have a more sympathetic view of his work this year, and since there isn’t any change in his velocity or hard-hit ball rates, it could simply be that Tanaka has just been terribly unlucky allowing homers.  Still, that’s a pretty tough problem to have for a pitcher who calls Yankee Stadium home, especially in a season when home runs are up across the league.

West Notes: Angels, Rangers, Rockies, Padres, Mariners

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Hours after Marlins right-hander Edinson Volquez threw the first no-hitter of the year, Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols added another notable accomplishment to the 2017 ledger, belting his 600th home run. Pujols skied a grand slam off Twins right-hander Ervin Santana to become the ninth player in the history of the sport to go deep at least 600 times. The former Cardinal has already hit nine homers this year, and he figures to pass both Sammy Sosa (609) and Jim Thome (612) on the all-time list by the end of the season.

As Pujols joins his teammates and fans in celebrating his historic feat, here’s more from the West divisions…

  • An Adrian Beltre trade is something the Rangers will have to consider if they end up as sellers at the trade deadline, opines Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter links). Beltre has established himself as a franchise icon since joining the Rangers in 2011, but the potential Hall of Famer will turn 39 next April and is due $18MM in 2018 to conclude his contract. As such, it might make sense for the Rangers to shop him, though Grant doubts they’d be willing to eat any of the money left on his deal. It could be a moot point, anyway, as Beltre has the ability to block any trade via his 10-and-5 rights.
  • The Rockies will place left-hander Tyler Anderson on the disabled list Sunday, retroactive to May 31, with left knee inflammation, per Nick Groke of the Denver Post. While Anderson has dealt with the issue since early May, he doesn’t believe it’s serious. Neither does manager Bud Black, who indicated that Anderson’s DL placement is “precautionary.” Anderson is one of four Rockies to make 11 starts this year, but he has allowed home runs on 24.1 percent of fly balls en route to a 5.85 ERA over 60 innings. For now, Anderson’s spot in the rotation will go to well-regarded right-hander Jeff Hoffman.
  • The Padres entered the season with three picks from last winter’s Rule 5 draft on their roster, and one – outfielder/shortstop Allen Cordoba – has stood out, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Cordoba, then a member of the Cardinals organization, spent last season in the rookie-level Appalachian League. Now, he’s a .298/.333/.442 hitter over 111 plate trips with the Padres. Manager Andy Green has taken notice of the 21-year-old’s success, saying that Cordoba “continues to impress. He’s earned every bit of the opportunity that he’s receiving right now. Nothing’s been given to him. He’s earned the right to be out there. He’s earned the right to be hitting at the top of the order, and it’s been very, very impressive.”
  • Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said Friday that Jean Segura could miss two months with a high ankle sprain, but the shortstop has a much more optimistic outlook, relays Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. “I don’t think this is going to take a month,” Segura stated. “Maybe a couple of weeks. We’ll see how it feels the next couple of days.” Segura went on the DL on Friday after slashing a stellar .341/.391/.462 in his first 198 plate appearances of 2017.

Rangers Activate Adrian Beltre

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The Rangers have activated veteran third baseman Adrian Beltre, as had been expected. He’s starting and hitting cleanup in tonight’s lineup. Infielder/outfielder Drew Robinson was optioned to open a spot on the active roster.

This’ll represent the first action on the year for Beltre, the 38-year-old star. He excelled yet again last year, slashing .300/.358/.521 over 640 plate appearances while continuing to play excellent defense at the hot corner. Beltre is owed $36MM in total for this year and next under the extension he signed with the Rangers last April.

Beltre was held out until now, though, with ongoing calf issues that took longer than expected to resolve. He hasn’t played in less than 111 games since way back in 1998, when Beltre debuted at 19 years of age. He has averaged 147 games per year ever since.

In Beltre’s stead, long-time top prospect Joey Gallo had an extended opportunity and perhaps earned a lengthier run at the MLB level. While his batting average (.198) and on-base percentage (.305) leave plenty to be desired, Gallo has launched 15 home runs and carries a .525 slugging percentage through fifty games of action.

For tonight, Gallo is sliding over to first base, though that’s due in part to a minor injury issue for incumbent first bagger Mike Napoli (per Anthony Andro, on Twitter). It’s not yet known just how the team will handle things in the long run, though. Gallo has spent some time in the outfield in the past and might appear there, too, particularly while Carlos Gomez is on the DL. The DH slot would also be an option, though Shin-Soo Choo has commanded the bulk of the time there thus far.

Injury Notes: Sanchez, Chen, Cahill, Hughes, Beltre

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Aaron Sanchez won’t resume throwing until the blister/fingernail issues that have plagued him this season have completely subsided, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Blue Jays ace and 2016 American League ERA champ has already had three separate 10-day DL stints due to the issue, and at this point, he’s not even going to play catch until his finger is fully healthy. “I can’t keep having this issue every inning and have to go check,” Sanchez tells Nicholson-Smith. “This game’s already hard enough to have to go out there and compete. I’m beating myself up trying to go in there and pitch through it. It’s not doing me any good, it’s not doing the team any good.” There’s no timetable on his return at this point, though Sanchez says that if he needs to wait “30 days to find an answer for the rest of my career, then so be it.”

A few other notable injury scenarios from around the league…

  • Marlins manager Don Mattingly told reporters today that left-hander Wei-Yin Chen has undergone another platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing left elbow (Twitter link via the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Tim Healey). Chen had a PRP in that same elbow last summer and was able to return after an absence of about two months. At this point, however, the Marlins still don’t have any idea when the southpaw will be cleared to rejoin the rotation. As I noted yesterday when running down the various opt-out decisions that will impact the upcoming class of free agents, Chen’s injury makes it nearly impossible to fathom a scenario where he opts out of the remaining three years on his five-year, $80MM contract.
  • The Padres sent Trevor Cahill for an MRI on his injured right shoulder, but the test revealed no structural damage, tweets MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Cahill will nonetheless be shut down from throwing for the next 10 to 14 days, though, after experiencing continued discomfort in a weekend throwing session. Getting Cahill back to full health will be critical for a rebuilding Padres club that could look to cash in on his perhaps surprisingly excellent start to the season. The 29-year-old’s return to a starting role has yielded a 3.27 ERA with 11.1 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 60.2 percent ground-ball rate through 41 1/3 innings this season. Between that spike in strikeouts and Cahill’s modest $1.75MM salary, he’d generate plenty of interest if healthy.
  • Twins right-hander Phil Hughes also underwent an MRI to have his right shoulder checked out, but GM Thad Levine tells Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune that doctors are still evaluating the results (Twitter link). Hughes is slated to undergo further testing tomorrow, Miller adds. Hughes saw his 2016 season end early due to shoulder troubles that led to surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome, but he hasn’t regained his velocity thus far in 2017. The 30-year-old has demonstrated his characteristically excellent control (2.1 BB/9), but his 5.7 K/9 rate is a far cry from the 8.0 mark Hughes turned in during his stellar first year with Minnesota.
  • MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets that Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre could head to extended Spring Training this weekend to begin taking some at-bats in games. If that goes well, Beltre will still need a minor league rehab stint to ramp up after missing the entire season to date, though it’s a positive sign that he’s progressed to the point of getting in some extended spring work. It would seem that an early June return for Beltre is possible, barring any further setbacks in his recovery from a calf injury.

Quick Hits: Eibner, Torres, Padres, Gallo

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The Dodgers are experimenting with using outfielder Brett Eibner as a pitcher, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. Eibner pitched in college and reached 95 MPH with his fastball, and he’s now working on developing secondary pitches; it remains to be seen, of course, how those would play against big-leaguers. The Dodgers’ plan is to continue to treat Eibner primarily as an outfielder, but they envision using him as a pitcher more frequently than the typical position player taking the mound to relieve an exhausted staff. If Eibner were to prove effective as a pitcher, he’d become a useful and interesting tactical piece, reminiscent, perhaps, of a two-way player like Brooks Kieschnick, who first arrived in the big leagues as an outfielder but who also ended up pitching for Milwaukee in 2003 and 2004. The added versatility might also help Eibner from being shipped back and forth to Triple-A so frequently, Shaikin suggests — the Dodgers have already optioned him to Triple-A Oklahoma City four times this season. Here’s more from around the game.

  • The Yankees have promoted top prospect Gleyber Torres to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, as MLB.com’s Matt Kardos first tweeted. Torres hit well for Double-A Trenton, batting .277/.363/.504 over 135 plate appearances this season. The move suggests the 20-year-old could make his big-league debut in the not-too-distant future, meaning that the Yankees could perhaps continue to see relatively quick returns on the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to Chicago for Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford. (Warren, of course, is currently in the midst of a strong season in the Yankees’ bullpen.) Torres ranks second on MLB.com’s list of the game’s top 100 prospects, topped only by another recently traded player, White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada.
  • The Padres are doing “exactly what they should be doing,” Shaikin writes. The Padres are losing games (their current .348 winning percentage is worst in the Majors), but they’re also piling up prospects through Latin American signings, the Rule 5 Draft and trades of veterans, and they’re grabbing top draft picks as well, just as the Cubs and Astros did prior to their current runs of success. Interestingly, manager Andy Green says one challenge of leading a rebuilding club is getting his players to focus on getting better while ignoring Internet commentary about their current struggles. “Everybody is on Twitter. Everybody reads everything everybody says,” Green notes. “You’re fighting a cultural battle. You have to create something special inside the house, so guys will guard their minds, guard their focus and show up every day to play. Without a doubt, it’s a challenge, but a challenge I welcome every single day.”
  • Rangers infielder Joey Gallo’s wild season thus far is testing the limits of three-true-outcomes baseball, writes ESPN’s David Schoenfield. The “three true outcomes,” of course, are home runs, walks and strikeouts, and Gallo has piled up big numbers in all three categories, particularly the first and last. In 165 plate appearances this year, he has 13 homers, 21 walks and a ridiculous 65 strikeouts. He’s currently on pace to break Mark Reynolds’ record for whiffs in a season (223), and he could also top Reynolds’ record for most homers in a season with a sub-.200 average (32). Of course, Gallo’s immediate future is up in the air, since Adrian Beltre could soon return from a calf injury. (There’s hope Beltre can begin a rehab assignment next weekend, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently tweeted.) And as Schoenfield notes, Gallo has faded in recent weeks, with a May batting line of just .148/.268/.443.

West Notes: Giants, Dodgers, Mariners, Rangers

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Off to a major league-worst 14-24 start, the Giants look like sellers in the making. The problem is that the veterans they could attempt to move are lacking in trade value, observes Buster Olney of ESPN. The best of the bunch is Johnny Cueto, but the offseason opt-out clause in the right-hander’s contract takes away some of his appeal. Then there’s righty Jeff Samardzija, who owns a 5.44 ERA in 46 1/3 innings (albeit with a 3.43 FIP) and is due upward of $60MM through 2020, as well as aging outfielders Hunter Pence and Denard Span. The 34-year-old Pence is making $18.5MM both this year and next, while Span, 33, is on a $9MM salary through 2018 and has a $4MM buyout for 2019.

More from the West divisions:

  • The Dodgers will keep left-hander Alex Wood in their rotation when southpaw Rich Hill and righty Brandon McCarthy return from the disabled list next week, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Saturday (Twitter link via Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times). Wood opened the season in the bullpen, but the results have been too good to ignore since he moved to the rotation in late April. Across four starts and 22 innings, Wood has allowed four earned runs (all in his May 2 outing), with a whopping 34 strikeouts against four walks. Given that Wood, Hill, McCarthy and Clayton Kershaw are presumably on the cusp of occupying four-fifths of Los Angeles’ rotation, either Julio Urias or Hyun-Jin Ryu will end up as the odd man out.
  • The Mariners’ top four starting pitchers, James Paxton, Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and Drew Smyly, are all on the disabled list, leading general manager Jerry Dipoto to tell Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune: “You always try to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, but this has set a new bar.” In the latest blow to Seattle’s starting depth, fill-in Ryan Weber left his season debut in the fourth inning of the club’s loss to Toronto on Saturday and is now on the DL with right shoulder tightness. While Dipoto has a reputation as a transaction-happy GM, having averaged one move every 15 hours, 45 minutes since the Mariners set their Opening Day roster (per Dutton, on Twitter), he doesn’t expect to bolster his rotation from outside the organization. “It’s a tough time of year to find external help,” he said. “Our most realistic and best options remain those in house.”
  • Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre continues progressing toward a May return, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Beltre, who hasn’t played this year because of a strained right calf, took batting practice and fielded ground balls on Saturday. Manager Jeff Banister called the workout “very positive” and added, “It was as good as he has felt through this entire process.” Upon his return, Beltre will take over for Joey Gallo at third base, though the power-hitting 24-year-old should still rack up plenty of at-bats at other positions, including the corner outfield and/or first base.

AL West Notes: Meyer, Miranda, Reddick, Rangers, Mariners

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Prior to acquiring Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer (plus some cash to offset Nolasco’s salary) in the trade that sent Hector Santiago to the Twins last summer, the Angels had the opportunity to trade Santiago to the Orioles for lefty Ariel Miranda, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The Orioles were seeking a veteran arm for their rotation and dangled Miranda in talks with both the Angels and Mariners, ultimately flipping Miranda to Seattle in exchange for Wade Miley. Fletcher notes that the Halos were seeking more upside than Miranda brings to the table and felt that Meyer fit the bill. Indeed, the 27-year-old former first-rounder was a mainstay on Top 100 prospect lists throughout the industry several years ago, though shoulder injuries have derailed his career to date. Meyer will get a start for the Halos this week, while Nolasco has at the very least been a durable source of innings for manager Mike Scioscia. Miranda is currently in the Mariners’ rotation, though that’s out of necessity due to injuries throughout the Seattle pitching staff.

More from the American League West…

  • Though Josh Reddick is happy to be a member of the Astros and excited for the next four years in Houston, the right fielder said today on CSN Bay Area’s Athletics Insider Podcast that he hoped last summer to sign an extension with the Athletics (transcript via CSN’s Joe Stiglich, where readers can also find the full audio). “It was definitely somewhere I really wanted to make it happen,” said Reddick of Oakland. “Once we realized the numbers weren’t gonna line up, I think I knew deep down it wasn’t gonna happen because I didn’t hear back from them after I counter-offered what they offered me.” Reddick, who inked a four-year, $52MM deal with Houston this offseason, divulged that the A’s never offered a guaranteed four years in extension talks. He also expressed some lingering surprise that the A’s sold off so heavily in the 2014-15 offseason — the winter in which they dealt Josh Donaldson, Jeff Samardzija and Brandon Moss.
  • There are a few updates on some key injuries for the Rangers. Firstly, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes that right-hander Tyson Ross is set to throw a two-inning simulated game in Seattle this weekend. Ross’ rehab from TOS surgery was slowed by back spasms, but he recently tossed a 30-pitch bullpen session without issue. He’ll need three to four starts before he’s ready to return to a Major League mound, Sullivan notes, making an early June return feasible. And third baseman Adrian Beltre could potentially beat Ross back to the big league club, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that general manager Jon Daniels said today that the team is optimistic about a late-May return for Beltre.
  • Though the Mariners optioned first baseman Dan Vogelbach back to Triple-A Tacoma fairly quickly after promoting him in late April, manager Scott Servais voiced a strong belief that the young slugger is still a part of the club’s future, per Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Via Dutton, Vogelbach said that he lost his timing after getting off to a hot start to the season in the minors. Dutton adds that Danny Valencia is in line for another “extended look” at first base, though Servais also added that Taylor Motter, who has showed surprising pop thus far, will also be mixed into the first base picture as well. The 32-year-old Valencia got off to a terrible start this season but entered play tonight hitting .240/.321/.560 over his past 28 plate appearances (an admittedly minuscule sample). MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes that the M’s remain confident in Valencia due to his track record, and as Johns notes, there are some encouraging Statcast numbers that point to a potential rebound.

Injury Notes: Manaea, Beltre, Red Sox, Span

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Athletics lefty Sean Manaea exited yesterday’s game after just two innings due to left shoulder tightness, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The departure of yet another of the Athletics’ top starters is troubling enough, but Slusser adds that Manaea’s velocity was topping out at 90 mph on Wednesday — a far cry from the 95 mph at which he usually tops out and from the 92.5 mph he’s averaged thus far in 2017. Slusser has since tweeted that Manaea did pass some initial strength tests with his shoulder today and hopes to try throwing tomorrow.

Oakland already has Sonny Gray and Kendall Graveman on the disabled list, though they’ll welcome Graveman back to the rotation tonight. If Manaea needs to miss time, I’d imagine that right-handers Cesar Valdez and Paul Blackburn would be options to step into his rotation spot. Each is already on the 40-man roster, and Valdez is presently serving as the team’s long reliever after making a spot start last week.

A few more injury notes from around the game…

  • While the Rangers hoped at the time of Adrian Beltre’s most recent setback that he’d be able to join the club by the end of April, it’s now questionable whether he’ll even be ready to take the field at some point in May, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “It’s at the point where we didn’t necessarily see the progress results we thought we would see,” manager Jeff Banister tells Sullivan. Banister said there’s still no timeline on Beltre, adding that the team is still trying to reduce the swelling and soreness in Beltre’s strained calf. Joey Gallo will continue to man third base in Beltre’s absence.
  • Red Sox reliever Carson Smith has had a setback in his recovery from 2016 Tommy John surgery, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com writes. Smith was throwing off a mound a couple of weeks ago but has “had to slow down,” manager John Farrell told reporters. Smith is long tossing from 110 feet but is now two weeks removed from his most recent mound session. Boston had been targeting a June return for Smith, but a July return is now more realistic, per McCaffrey. The Red Sox have had rough luck when trading for potential setup arms; in addition to losing Smith for more than a year due to Tommy John surgery just months after trading for him, the team has yet to reap any benefit from its trade to acquire Tyler Thornburg this offseason, as Thornburg has been sidelined all season by a right shoulder impingement. CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich tweeted recently that Farrell said on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that Thornburg essentially needs to progress through Spring Training all over again, which would normally consist of seven to 10 appearances.
  • The initial MRI on Denard Span’s shoulder revealed no serious injuries to the Giants center fielder (Twitter links via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Chris Haft of MLB.com). Span, who has already been placed on the 10-day disabled list, said that his shoulder was in too much pain yesterday to even get through the first attempt at an MRI (via Schulman). Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters earlier today that the expectation is that Span will miss more than the minimum 10 days on the disabled list (Twitter link via Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News).

Injury Notes: Cespedes, Price, Rangers, Britton, Pederson

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Yoenis Cespedes was out of the Mets’ lineup for the third straight game Sunday, leaving manager Terry Collins to acknowledge that the left fielder could head to the disabled list if his left hamstring issue doesn’t heal by Tuesday (via ESPN.com). “I think we’d need to take a look at that,” Collins said of a potential DL stint for Cespedes, who did tell the skipper he “felt a lot better” Sunday. Cespedes has mashed this season for the slow-starting Mets (.263/.377/.632 with six home runs in 69 plate appearances), but they’re nonetheless decently equipped to handle his short-term absence. Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson and Juan Lagares give the Cespedes-less club a full complement of major league-caliber outfielders. (Update: Cespedes expects to return Tuesday, tweets Matt Ehalt of The Record.)

  • Red Sox left-hander David Price will throw a 45- to 50-pitch bullpen session Monday as he tries to work back from forearm trouble, per Ben Standing of MLB.com. Price still seems a ways off from making his 2017 debut, but a positive showing Monday would put him in position to face live hitters sometime soon. “Once we get through [Monday’s] work session and kind of begin to map out a little more of a structure on a calendar, I think we’re at that point [of facing batters],” said manager John Farrell. “Anytime you get to the number of pitches thrown that will be tomorrow, you can start to foresee a progression to hitters and ultimately to games, but we don’t have that in place right now.”
  • The Rangers continue to play it safe with third baseman Adrian Beltre in his recovery from a right calf strain, meaning he probably won’t debut until May, relays Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. “I think we need to continue to rehab,” said manager Jeff Banister. “The conservative nature is probably in our best interest.” Meanwhile, after upper back spams slowed Tyson Ross’ comeback from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, the expectation is that the right-hander will resume throwing from a mound by the end of the upcoming week, Banister told George.
  • Orioles closer Zach Britton will see a hand specialist Monday, after which he could resume throwing, writes Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Britton went on the disabled list last Sunday with a forearm strain – a scary injury for a pitcher – but an MRI came back clean on Friday. The Orioles believe sending the ace reliever to a specialist will help prevent a forearm strain from rearing its head again in the future, Ghiroli notes.
  • Center fielder Joc Pederson left the Dodgers’ win over the Diamondbacks on Sunday with right groin tightness, and the likelihood is that he’ll miss some games, according to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The Dodgers, already dealing with injuries to outfielders Andre Ethier and Franklin Gutierrez, will re-evaluate Pederson on Monday. A 25-plus-home run hitter in each of first two major league seasons, Pederson has gotten off to a sluggish start this year, with a .220/.322/.340 batting line and only one homer in 59 PAs.

Rangers Notes: Daniels, Palumbo, Beltre

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In his latest GM Q&A, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com sits down with Rangers GM Jon Daniels and discusses a number of trade- and front-office-related topics. The interview ranges from Daniels’ entrance into the industry, to his hiring as a general manager at the age of 28 to a number of trades (both good and bad) that he’s made as the Rangers’ top decision-maker over the years. Daniels candidly admits that he was in over his head when he was first named GM. “I’m still surprised,” Daniels tells Feinsand. “Very green at the time; admittedly not ready for it. But what are you going to do, turn it down? ’A contract to be the GM for a Major League team? No, sir, I’m not ready.'” Daniels goes on to detail the lessons he learned early in his tenure, including a vital one from his first major trade: one that sent Alfonso Soriano to the Nationals.

“The mistake we made was not in trading [Soriano], but when we made the deal for [Brad] Wilkerson, [Armando] Galarraga and [Terrmel] Sledge, no sooner had we made the deal and agreed to it at the Winter Meetings did we have 15 clubs calling on Wilkerson,” Daniels recalls. “…Had we engaged clubs on Brad Wilkerson at that point, we could have done pretty well. … [Y]ou make a deal and you have the new player, the bright shiny object, and you fall in love and don’t want to be open-minded to at least considering other things. That was the mistake we made.”

The entire Q&A is a highly recommended read. And once you’ve processed that, a bit more on the Rangers…

  • Rangers minor league lefty Joe Palumbo has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and Tommy John surgery is on the table as an option, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Palumbo rates as the club’s No. 6 prospect at MLB.com, No. 8 on Keith Law’s list at ESPN, No. 9 per Baseball America, and No. 7 per Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. The scouting reports on Palumbo range peg his ceiling anywhere from league-average starter to late-inning lefty, with multiple mentions of a significant uptick in the southpaw’s velocity last season. Unfortunately, the injury to Palumbo could wipe out a full season of development and sideline him into next summer. The 22-year-old posted a 2.24 ERA with a 122-to-36 K/BB ratio and a 50.2 percent ground-ball rate in Class-A last season and opened the 2017 campaign strongly for the Rangers’ Class-A Advanced affiliate.
  • Adrian Beltre still isn’t close to running at full speed as he rehabs a calf injury, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. While Beltre was doing light running as recently as Wednesday of this week, there’s still no firm timetable on when he’ll be able to begin a rehab assignment, let alone actually return to the Rangers’ lineup. In his absence, Joey Gallo continues to get an extended look and has impressed manager Jeff Banister. “I think he has done a stellar job handling it physically and mentally,” Banister tells Sullivan. “I haven’t seen any reaction other than he is engaged and ready to play.”
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