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Demarcus Evans

Rangers Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Rangers announced a pile of roster moves today, in addition to a couple of moves that were announced after yesterday’s game. Last night, left-hander Taylor Hearn and infielder Ezequiel Duran were optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. Today, a third opening was created when right-hander Matt Bush was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 25, with right forearm soreness. Those openings will be filled by Steven Duggar, Glenn Otto and Josh Sborz. Duggar was recently acquired from the Giants in a trade. Otto has been reinstated from the COVID IL while Sborz was recalled from Round Rock. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Otto, right-hander Demarcus Evans was designated for assignment.

Evans, 25, was a 25th round pick of the Rangers back in 2015. He was added to the team’s 40-man roster prior to the 2019 Rule 5 draft. His last start was back in A-ball back in 2017, as he’s been purely a reliever since then. He logged 30 1/3 MLB innings over 2020 and 2021 with a 4.75 ERA. He racked up strikeouts at a healthy 27.6% clip in that sample, though with a 11.9% walk rate and 20.5% ground ball rate.

He’s generally fared well in the minors but is having poor results so far this year. Through 12 innings for Round Rock, he has a 7.50 ERA. He’s still getting strikeouts 29.8% of the time, but with a 24.6% walk rate and 11.5% ground ball rate. He’s in his final option year, meaning a team that acquires him could stash him in Triple-A for the rest of the year, provided they’re willing to give him a spot on the 40-man roster.

As for Bush, 36, the news of forearm soreness is potentially ominous, especially given his lengthy injury history. In 2018, he underwent surgery to deal with a partially torn ligament and attempted to return in the latter half of 2019. At that point, he suffered a torn UCL and required Tommy John surgery, the second time he would have to undergo that procedure. The Rangers signed him to a two-year minors deal to cover his rehab over 2020 and eventual return in 2021. A flexor strain limited him to just four innings last year, after which he was outrighted and then re-signed to yet another minor league deal by the Rangers. He made the Opening Day roster this year and has thrown 26 2/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 36.8% ground ball rate. He’s emerged as a high-leverage option for the club, racking up a save and eight holds on the season.

The club hasn’t provided any estimates on his absence and he will surely undergo more testing. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News relays that this move is being characterized as “precautionary” but also adds that the club was insisting that Bush was not injured as recently as yesterday. More news will surely be released in the days to come, though Bush has now thrown just over 30 total innings over the past four years due to persistent arm troubles, making it fair to wonder just how much the Rangers can rely on him going forward. For what it’s worth, Bush himself doesn’t seem overly concerned, telling Levi Weaver of The Athletic that he just needs a few days’ rest. Manager Chris Woodward says that the overworked bullpen couldn’t afford to give a roster spot to an unavailable reliever, which necessitated the IL placement.

Rangers Place Kyle Gibson On Injured List

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The Rangers announced a series of roster moves Tuesday, most notably placing right-hander Kyle Gibson on the 10-day injured list due to a right groin strain. Texas also placed righty Hunter Wood on the IL with a fairly ominous designation of “right elbow discomfort.” Gibson’s placement is retroactive to May 22, while Wood’s is backdated to May 23. No timeline was provided for either pitcher, though Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that the initial hope is Gibson will only be forced to miss a pair of starts. In their place, lefty Wes Benjamin and righty Demarcus Evans were recalled from Triple-A.

It’s a sudden and unexpected development for the Rangers, though the expectation of a relatively brief absence is good news for the club and its fans. Gibson, 33, was absolutely shelled for five runs in a third of an inning in his 2021 debut, but he’s been one of the best pitchers on the planet in nine starts since that time. Dating back to April 7, the longtime Twins righty has pitched to a 1.50 ERA with a 20.3 percent strikeout rate, a 6.9 percent walk rate and a 52.7 percent ground-ball rate.

The 2021 season is the second of three in a $28MM contract Gibson inked with Texas back in the 2019-20 offseason. The first of his three years on the deal didn’t go well at all — 5.35 ERA in 67 1/3 innings — but like Mike Minor and Lance Lynn before him in Texas, he’s now exceeded all expectations on a three-year pact that surprised some onlookers. For a Rangers club that is 22-27 at the moment, losing its best starter even for a brief period of time is a notable hit to absorb.

Of course, the Rangers weren’t expected to contend this season anyhow, as the club has been outspoken about its decision to move in a younger direction. With that in mind, Gibson’s run of excellence and a contract that now looks eminently affordable would make him one of this summer’s most obvious trade candidates — provided today’s injury indeed proves to be minor in nature. Should he require a lengthier stint, experience a setback in rehab and/or deal with additional groin issues down the road, that could adversely impact the Rangers’ ability to extract a strong return in a trade.

Wood, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and was called to the big league club not long ago. He’s tossed five innings and held the opposition to a pair of runs, making for a fine start to his Texas tenure. The right-hander has a solid track record at the MLB level, having compiled a 3.34 ERA in 91 2/3 frames between Tampa Bay, Cleveland and his new surroundings in Texas. The hope, as always, is that the elbow discomfort proves to be minor, but the lack of specificity suggests the Rangers will perform additional testing to determine what’s at play.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
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