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Ricardo Rodriguez

Rangers To Re-Sign Ricardo Rodriguez

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The Rangers have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Ricardo Rodriguez, according to Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Whether he’ll receive a MLB spring invite isn’t yet known.

Rodriguez was dropped from the 40-man roster last fall after an injury-limited campaign. Arm troubles aren’t a new phenomenon for the 26-year-old, who sat out the 2016 campaign owing to Tommy John surgery and has only once completed a campaign with more than 47 total innings.

Despite boasting a mid-nineties heater to work off of, Rodriguez has failed to generate many swings and misses over his twenty MLB appearances. He carries an anemic 6.8% swinging-strike rate in that stretch. Perhaps there’s more in the tank in that regard, as Rodriguez has compiled 287 strikeouts in 292 1/3 career minor-league innings. His most notable skill as a prospect, though, has been the ability to limit the long ball. Rodriguez has allowed just a dozen dingers in his seven years in the minors.

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.

Rangers Activate Elvis Andrus

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The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve activated shortstop Elvis Andrus from the 60-day disabled list and recalled right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez from Triple-A Round Rock. Catcher Jose Trevino was optioned to Double-A Frisco in one corresponding move, while Ryan Rua was optioned to Triple-A in another. The Rangers still need to make a 40-man move to accommodate the activation of Andrus from the 60-day DL, and they’ll do so closer to game time, according to the team.

Andrus has been out since being struck by a pitch and suffering a fractured right elbow back on April 11. While the injury didn’t require surgical repair, Andrus required a lengthy period of rest and rehab leading up to today’s activation. The timing was poor for the 29-year-old impending free agent, but he’ll still have three-plus months to build his case for potentially interested teams.

Of course, Andrus is far from a lock to even reach the open market. He’s in the fourth season of an eight-year contract extension that allows him to opt out of the remaining four years. While that seemed like an impossibility after Andrus’ bat failed to develop in the first couple years of the deal, Andrus’ offense has come around in the past couple of seasons.

Dating back to 2016, he’s hitting .301/.352/.459 with 30 homers, 78 doubles, 11 triples and 49 steals (in 68 attempts). At season’s end, he’ll have to decide whether to test free agency or forgo the opt-out provision to play out the final four years and $58MM in guaranteed money on his contract.

Rangers Designate Eliezer Alvarez

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June 2nd: Alvarez has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Double-A Frisco. The news was tweeted by John Blake, the Rangers’ Executive Vice President of Communications.

May 29th: The Rangers have designated infielder/outfielder Eliezer Alvarez for assignment, per a team announcement. His 40-man spot will go to righty Ricardo Rodriguez, who was activated from the 60-day DL.

Alvarez, 23, has mostly played at second base in the minors but has also shown up at short and in left field. He was playing this year at the Double-A level, where he carries a .189/.279/.283 slash through 185 plate appearances. Alvarez was acquired via trade during Spring Training.

As for the 25-year-old Rodriguez, he’s back from biceps tendinitis. He’ll look to maintain the momentum he gathered during an 11-inning rehab stint in which he allowed only one earned run. Rodriguez reached the majors briefly in 2017 after racking up a 61:10 K/BB ratio and working to a 1.34 ERA in 47 minor-league frames on the year.

Rangers Select Contract Of Bartolo Colon; Tommy Joseph Accepts Outright Assignment

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The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon and optioned fellow righty Nick Gardewine to Triple-A. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Colon, Texas moved righty Ricardo Rodriguez from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Additionally, Texas announced that Tommy Joseph has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Double-A Frisco.

Texas will turn to Colon, 44, to start tonight’s game in Oakland. The timeless veteran inked a minor league pact with the Rangers this offseason and delivered strong results in Spring Training, working to a 3.00 ERA with a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio in 18 innings of work. He’ll join Cole Hamels, Mike Minor, Doug Fister and Matt Moore in the Texas rotation as he looks to continue a career that, upon taking the hill tonight, will have spanned parts of 21 seasons.

Colon split the 2017 season between the Braves and the Twins, struggling badly in Atlanta before rebounding, to an extent, in Minnesota. “Big Sexy” turned in a 3.94 ERA and a 38-to-11 K/BB ratio through his first 10 starts with the Twins before fading and yielding 19 runs in his final 18 1/3 frames (over the life of five starts).

While the season, on the whole, wasn’t a good one for Colon, the popular righty is only a season removed from tossing 191 2/3 innings with a 3.43 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 with the 2016 Mets. In fact, from 2013-16 with the A’s and Mets, Colon averaged 195 innings per season with a 3.59 ERA, twice making the All-Star team (2013 and 2016) and twice pacing his league in BB/9 (2015-16). He’s one of many veteran arms the Rangers bought low on in the offseason in hopes of catching some lightning in a bottle.

For Colon, the opportunity is not without significance. He’s spoken many times about what it would mean to him to tally another four wins and move into the all-time lead for wins by a Dominican-born pitcher, overtaking Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Colon is also less than two months away from his 45th birthday, and if he can keep his remarkable career going to that point, he’ll fulfill a promise to his late mother in which he told her he’d pitch until age 45.

Joseph, meanwhile, has struggled to get on base in each of his two big league seasons and saw his overall offensive output decline in 2017. In total, he’s a .247/.297/.460 hitter in 880 PAs, but as an OBP-challenged slugger with significant defensive limitations, his appeal around the league was unsurprisingly somewhat limited. He’ll give Texas some depth at first base, though with Joey Gallo and Ronald Guzman ahead of him on the depth chart at first base and Shin-Soo Choo slated for regular DH work, it might take an injury or two to create a clearer opportunity for Joseph to return to the Majors.

Orioles Designate Tyler Wilson, Logan Verrett

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The Orioles announced that they’ve designated right-handers Tyler Wilson and Logan Verrett for assignment on Friday. That pair of DFAs will open enough room on the 40-man roster to formally select the contracts of catcher Chance Sisco, first baseman Pedro Alvarez and right-hander Richard Rodriguez — all of whom are being brought to the Majors as September call-ups. Baltimore has also recalled outfielder Joey Rickard and right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis from Triple-A Norfolk.

Wilson and Verrett have each taken the ball a few times this year for the O’s at the major-league level. But both have primarily operated at Triple-A — the former as a starter and the latter as a reliever.

Through twenty outings at Norfolk, Wilson worked to a 4.74 ERA over 114 innings, with 5.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. The University of Virginia product has pitched in the Orioles organization since being taken in the tenth round of the 2011 draft, and could remain there if he ends up clearing waivers.

As for Verrett, he allowed 5.10 earned per nine in sixty frames while striking out 7.4 and walking 3.3 batters per regulation affair. The former Mets swingman, a 2011 third-rounder, has also not previously been outrighted and thus would not have the right to refuse a minor-league assignment if no other team decides to give him a 40-man spot.

While Baltimore did not end up making any outside acquisitions in August, leaving room for the team to use those two hurlers for depth in September, the organization obviously decided it would rather see some other players. We previously discussed Sisco and Alvarez, but the O’s will also have a look at two new pitchers that have little experience between them at the game’s highest level.

Yacabonis, 25, struggled in his first, brief taste of the majors earlier this year. He has managed a 1.32 ERA in 61 1/3 outings at Triple-A though that has come with just 7.0 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. Rodriguez will make his MLB debut at 27 years of age after eight minor-league campaigns. He has pitched to a 2.42 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over 70 2/3 frames at the highest level of the minors this year.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/8/17

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Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Athletics announced that catcher Ryan Lavarnway has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Nashville after being designated for assignment. The 30-year-old veteran has showed nicely in a tiny sample of 13 PAs with Oakland this season and has also posted a solid .262/.346/.385 slash through 255 PAs with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He’s been outrighted on multiple occasions in the past, giving him the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he chooses. Lavarnway, though, has already accepted one outright from the A’s earlier this season.
  • Right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez’s contract has been formally selected by the Rangers, per a team announcement. He’ll fill the 25-man roster spot of Keone Kela, who hit the DL today due to shoulder soreness. Soon to turn 25, Rodriguez will be making his MLB debut when he first takes the mound for the Rangers, who signed him as an international free agent out of Venezuela back in 2010. Rodriguez missed the 2016 season after Tommy John surgery but has returned strong in 2017. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper wrote back in late June, Rodriguez blitzed through a span of 15 perfect innings out of the bullpen earlier this year, prompting Texas to move him from Class-A Advanced to Double-A. Through 47 innings this year, Rodriguez has a ridiculous 1.34 ERA with 11.7 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 (albeit against much younger competition least back in Class-A).
  • Veteran right-hander Javy Guerra is back in the Majors, as the Marlins announced that they’ve selected his contract to fill the spot of lefty Chris O’Grady, who is going on the DL due to a strained oblique. Guerra hasn’t been especially impressive in Triple-A this year (4.99 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 in 48 2/3 innings), but he’ll provide some depth for a Miami pitching staff that has been depleted by trades (David Phelps, AJ Ramos) and injuries.
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