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Ronald Guzman

Rangers Select Hyeon-Jong Yang, Option Leody Tavares

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The Rangers have selected the contract of left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang, the team announced.  In corresponding moves, Leody Taveras was optioned to the alternate training site, while infielder Ronald Guzman (who underwent season-ending knee surgery on Friday) was moved to the 60-day injured list.

After signing a minor league contract with Texas during the offseason, the 33-year-old Yang will now get his first crack at the major leagues, and also lock in a $1.3MM guarantee for reaching the Rangers’ active roster.  Beginning his career with the Kia Tigers in 2007, Yang has posted a 3.83 ERA and 19.77% strikeout rate over 1986 career innings in KBO action.

2020 wasn’t one of his finer seasons, as Yang had a 4.70 ERA over 172 1/3 frames and a spike in his walk rate.  However, at the cost of $1.3MM and a minors deal, the Rangers felt it was worth seeing what Yang could do in North American baseball, even if he can just eat some innings at the back of the rotation.  Yang has tossed at least 171 1/3 innings in each of the last seven seasons, and durability was only part of his appeal, as that seven-year stretch also included two league ERA titles, the KBO MVP Award in 2017, and a championship ring with the Tigers that same year as Yang won Korean Series MVP honors.

That said, it isn’t yet clear if the Rangers will use Yang in the rotation or if he’ll be deployed in their injury-riddled bullpen.  Texas already has several left-handers among their current relief options, though Yang could be used in a long relief or swingman role to get him accustomed to MLB hitters.

Taveras made his own Major League debut in 2020 and posted some respectable numbers over 134 plate appearances, but he hasn’t hit at all this season, with only an .087/.160/.087 slash line in 50 PA.  Taveras’ demotion should fully clear the way for more playing time for Adolis Garcia in center field.

Ronald Guzman To Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

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Rangers first baseman/outfielder Ronald Guzman will undergo right knee surgery and miss the remainder of the season, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was among those to report. Guzman suffered a torn meniscus on April 12.

Guzman, who was playing his first-ever game in the outfield, had to be carted off after incurring the injury at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay. The Rangers immediately placed Guzman on the 10-day injured list, but the hope was that he would be able to rehab and return during the season. Instead, Texas will go the rest of 2021 without Guzman, who’s in his final pre-arbitration year.

Now 26, Guzman was a prospect of some note during his younger days in the Texas organization. But Guzman hasn’t produced much in the majors, where he has put up a .227/.304/.414 line with 31 home runs over 826 plate appearances. He finished with one hit (a homer) and a walk in 17 PA this year.

Guzman was splitting time at first base with Nate Lowe prior to the injury, and the latter has since commandeered the position. Lowe, whom the Rangers acquired from the Rays over the winter, has slashed .254/.346/.493 with five HRs in 81 trips to the plate this season.

Rangers Place Ronald Guzman On 10-Day IL, Select Adolis Garcia

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The Rangers have placed first baseman/outfielder Ronald Guzman on the 10-day injured list with a meniscus cartilage tear in his right knee, per a team announcement. In other moves, the team selected outfielder Adolis Garcia’s contract and transferred injured right-hander Matt Bush from the 10-day IL to the 60-day version.

It isn’t known yet whether Guzman will require surgery, but either way, it seems likely he’ll miss a fair amount of time. Guzman suffered the injury Monday during his first career start in left field and had to leave on a cart. It’s the latest tough development for the 26-year-old, who has generally struggled to produce dating back to his 2018 debut. Guzman took 17 trips to the plate this year before suffering the injury and batted just .063/.118/.250.

Garcia, whom the Rangers acquired from the Cardinals in 2019, saw brief major league action over the prior two seasons. He has hit .087/.125/.130 in 24 PA.

Rangers Announce Roster Decisions

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The Rangers are finalizing their plans for Opening Day, as manager Chris Woodward told reporters (including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) about some roster decisions.  The team will select the contracts of Ian Kennedy and Matt Bush prior to the opener, and the newly-acquired Josh Sborz has also won a job in the Texas bullpen.  At first base, Nate Lowe will assume regular duties while Ronald Guzman will work as the backup first baseman and likely be in line for DH at-bats while Khris Davis and Willie Calhoun are on the injured list.

Kennedy and Bush were both signed to minor league contracts in the offseason, and the two veterans could now be the Rangers’ top options for save situations with Jose Leclerc, Joely Rodriguez, Brett Martin, and Jonathan Hernandez all ticketed to begin the season on the IL.  Sborz and Taylor Hearn might also get some looks in the ninth inning as the Rangers figure to be relatively fluid with the closer role unless one of the candidates is particularly dominant.

Once his contract is officially selected, Kennedy will lock in a $2.15MM salary for the 2021 season.  The 36-year-old joined the Rangers after five years with the Royals, with the last two seasons spent as a reliever rather than Kennedy’s customary starting pitching role.  He took well to the new assignment at first, posting an impressive 30-save campaign as Kansas City’s closer in 2019, but struggled over 14 innings last season before his season was ended by a left calf strain in late August.

Bush, meanwhile, hasn’t appeared in a Major League game since 2018 due to a pair of elbow surgeries (including a Tommy John procedure).  Texas signed Bush to a two-year minor league deal in the 2019-20 offseason to allow him to rehab throughout the 2020 campaign, with an eye towards making him available this season.  The first overall pick of the 2004 draft, all of Bush’s MLB experience has come with the Rangers, as he posted a 3.35 ERA and 23.4% strikeout rate over 137 innings out of the Texas bullpen from 2016-18, though walks became an increasing problem over Bush’s three seasons.

There wasn’t much doubt that Guzman would make the roster since he is out of options, though he’ll need to start performing quickly in order to regain a foothold as part of the Rangers’ future plans.  Guzman has hit only .230/.308/.417 with 30 home runs over 809 Major League PA, but given the relatively small sample size and Guzman’s still-young age (26), it isn’t yet out of the question that he could break out at the plate.

Wilson writes that the Rangers are leaning towards using their final remaining 26-man roster opening on a position player, but the team would need to carve out a 40-man roster spot to accommodate either Charlie Culberson or Adolis Garcia (both in camp on minor league deals).  The same would be true if Texas included an extra pitcher on the roster, with minor league signings Luis Ortiz, Hunter Wood, and Hyeon-jong Yang all candidates.

AL Notes: Rays, Royals, Rangers

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The Rays have one clear priority for the offseason, writes MLB Insider Jim Bowden (via Twitter). They’ve let the other 29 teams know: they need catchers. That’s been the case for the Rays most offseasons. Tampa has long been unable to find a long-term solution at the catching position. Rays catchers (Mike Zunino, Michael Perez, and Kevan Smith) finished 25th in the Majors by bWAR in 2020 with -0.3 bWAR. None of the three are currently employed by the Rays, as Perez was selected off waivers by the Pirates, and Zunino and Smith are free agents. Ronaldo Hernandez currently sits atop their depth chart, and while the Rays have high hopes for the slugging 23-year-old, he has yet to appear above High-A. The free agent market isn’t likely to offer a ton of options for the Rays’ price range. Speculatively speaking, if they do go the free agency route, a reunion with Zunino might make the most sense. Other options they could consider include Matt Wieters, Tyler Flowers, Sandy Leon, Robinson Chirinos, and Alex Avila.

  • Bowden (via Twitter) also enumerates the Royals plan for the winter: acquire a starting pitcher, middle-of-the-order bat, and centerfielder. They also want to improve their overall on-base percentage, notes Bowden. The Royals tied with the Mariners for 25th in the Majors with a .309 OBP. A team 7.8 BB% also tied for 25th in the Majors. To this point, Hunter Dozier (.344 OBP) and Salvador Perez (.353 OBP) were the only Kansas City regulars with an on-base percentage over .330. Outfield prospect Khalil Lee might provide an internal solution. The 22-year-old walked at a rate of 11.9% in Double-A in 2019, and the oganization holds him in high regard.
  • The Rangers will give Sherten Apostel a look at first base in the lead-up to the season, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Apostel has come up as a third baseman, though at 6’4″, 235 lbs, there’s at least a question of whether he’d fare better defensively at first. Still, the Rangers believe he can stick at third, per Wilson. The issue is more that Isiah Kiner-Falefa is fresh off a Gold-Glove-winning season, and in the long-term, top prospect Josh Jung profiles for the hot corner. In the short term, Ronald Guzman could be unseated at first after slashing just .230/.308/.417 over 809 plate appearances the past three seasons. His 0.9 bWAR per 650 plate appearances doesn’t scream stability at first. Apostel, 22 in March, got a cup-of-coffee in 2020, though he’s likely to start the year in Triple-A. If he starts hot, however, the Rangers could make room for him at first.

Rangers To Select Greg Bird, Jimmy Herget

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The Rangers will select the contracts of first baseman Greg Bird and right-hander Jimmy Herget prior to tomorrow’s game, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Texas already opened a 40-man roster spot by putting injured closer Jose Leclerc on the 45-day IL, but they’ll need to create another spot tomorrow. First baseman Ronald Guzman has already been optioned to the Rangers’ alternate training site, per the Rangers’ press release announcing Leclerc’s injury.

Bird inked a minor league deal with Texas over the winter. The longtime Yankees prospect at one point looked like the first baseman of the future in the Bronx, when he debuted at 22 and slashed .261/.343/.529 slash with 11 homers through just 46 games back in 2015. Unfortunately for Bird, he missed the entire 2016 campaign after shoulder surgery and has been hobbled by injuries since. Lingering ankle issues required another surgery for the slugger, and his 2019 campaign was torpedoed by plantar fasciitis. With the emergence of Luke Voit, the Yankees cut Bird loose rather than tender him a contract this winter.

Now 27, Bird joins the Rangers’ roster as a lifetime .211/.301/.424 hitter. He’s not expected to serve as the everyday first baseman — that role is handled by veteran Todd Frazier — but Bird will be mixed in there and at designated hitter on occasion. In the meantime, Guzman, a former top prospect himself, will get some time to work things out at alternate camp.

As for Herget, he’ll be getting his second look in the Majors after debuting with the Reds a year ago. He only tossed 6 1/3 frames with Cincinnati and allowed three runs in that time. The 2015 sixth-round pick carries a career 3.12 ERA with better than a strikeout per frame in 150 2/3 Triple-A innings, but he’s also averaged four walks per nine in that time.

Rangers Option Ronald Guzman

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First baseman Ronald Guzman has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville, the Rangers announced Tuesday. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by right-hander Pedro Payano, who’ll start tonight’s game for Texas. Logan Forsythe is getting the nod at first base for Texas tonight.

It’s undoubtedly a dejecting outcome not only for Guzman himself but also for the organization, as the team had hoped that Guzman would blossom into an everyday player after getting an extended MLB audition as a 23-year-old in 2018. Last season, Guzman’s bat was below average, but he held his own with a .235/.306/.416 batting line and 16 round-trippers in 428 plate appearances.

This year, however, Guzman’s production has gone backward, as he’s batted just .193/.282/.396 in 227 plate appearances. That said, there’s also some reason to be optimistic about a rebound. Guzman isn’t striking out at a higher clip than he did in ’18 — though his 28 percent clip is still a bit high — and his walk rate has actually improved from 7.7 percent to 11.0 percent.

Statcast indicates that his hard-hit rate has improved a bit, and Guzman has already nearly matched his 2018 total of “barreled” balls in just over half as many plate appearances as he received last year. He’s lugging around an ugly .285 weighted on-base average, but based on the quality of the contact he’s made, Statcast feels he’s been decidedly unlucky (.324 xwOBA). That, to be clear, doesn’t indicate that Guzman should be a force at the plate, but perhaps his struggles aren’t likely to continue at this great a rate.

The Rangers and Guzman will hope that a reset in a lower-pressure setting will restore his confidence and give him a needed mental break. He’s currently mired in an awful 2-for-30 slide in the month of July and hasn’t had a multi-hit game since June 25. Guzman still has a long way to go before he comes close to living up to the potential that prompted Baseball Prospectus to rank him as the game’s No 94 prospect prior to the 2018 season, but he’s yet to celebrate his 25th birthday, so there’s still plenty of time for him to turn things around.

Taking a step back, the Guzman dilemma isn’t an entirely unfamiliar problem for the Rangers. They’ve seen several young hitters — e.g. Rougned Odor, Nomar Mazara, Willie Calhoun — all struggle to varying extents, either immediately upon debuting or sputtering out after some early promise. It’s a particularly glaring issue, as one can’t help but wonder where the Rangers would be in the standings if that group of players had played up to their abilities thus far. Instead, the quartet of Guzman, Odor, Mazara and Calhoun have performed at sub-replacement level in 2019. And the Rangers, who’ve now dropped eight games in a row, look more like potential sellers than the likely buyers they appeared to be coming out of the All-Star break.

Rangers Considered Optioning Nomar Mazara, Ronald Guzman

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The Rangers welcomed back All-Star slugger Hunter Pence from the injured list Tuesday. Pence’s return forced the Rangers to option someone else from their 25-man roster to Triple-A Nashville. They chose outfielder Willie Calhoun, which left him “speechless.” Demoting Calhoun was not a slam-dunk decision on Texas’ part, though. The club also considered optioning two regulars – right fielder Nomar Mazara and first baseman Ronald Guzman – Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Mazara was billed as a potential superstar coming up through the minors with the Rangers, so sending him back would have been especially notable on their part. To this point, however, Mazara hasn’t matched the hype since his initial promotion to the majors in 2016. The Rangers realize it.

“We want him to be better,” manager Chris Woodward told Wilson of Mazara. General manager Jon Daniels believes Mazara has “been a solid contributor,” but “he’s got another step he can get to.”

Daniels may be right – Mazara’s just 24 years old, after all. Still, it’s difficult to regard Mazara’s career .259/.319/.428 line (91 wRC+) and 1.7 fWAR across 2,077 plate appearances as anything but a disappointment. Likewise, his 2019 has been a letdown. As has typically been the case during his time in the majors, southpaw pitchers have handled the lefty-swinging Mazara. He hasn’t been great against righties either, though. In all, Mazara has hit a personal-worst .258/.310/.433 (86 wRC+) with 12 home runs and a replacement-level fWAR (0.1) over 361 trips to the plate. While Mazara’s on pace for his fourth straight 20-home run season, the HR-heavy nature of today’s game means that accomplishment doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did.

As for Guzman, it seems his position helped spare him of a demotion. Sending him down would’ve left the club with too many outfielders, Wilson notes. Also 24, Guzman has been a decidedly below-average offensive player (83 wRC+) since his 2018 debut. So far this season, Guzman has hit a punchless .201/.286/.413 (73 wRC+) with eight HRs and minus-0.4 fWAR in 217 PA. Like Mazara, lefties have stymied Guzman this year – he has batted .111/.203/.296 against them – which has led the Rangers to use righties Danny Santana and Logan Forsythe against them.

Barring in-season turnarounds from Mazara and Guzman, one wonders how much longer the Rangers will rely on them as key parts of their lineup. Mazara’s team control is running out – next year will be his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility – meaning he’s not guaranteed to stick in Texas for much longer as it is. Guzman won’t be eligible for arbitration until after 2020, so he could be with the organization for a while longer. However, a team with designs on contending can’t keep turning to an offensive albatross at a bat-first position.

Rangers Notes: Gallo, Pitching, Gardewine, Petricka

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The latest out of Arlington…

  • Joey Gallo will start game-simulation workouts on Monday with the hope of being back from his oblique strain as early as next weekend, though the team will surely be as cautious as possible with the star slugger.  With Gallo on the verge of a return and Willie Calhoun even closer to completing his own injured list stint, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com both address how the Rangers will handle this incoming glut of outfield/DH possibilities.  Gallo had largely been playing center field at the time of his injury, but since the defensively-superior Delino DeShields has been hitting well in Gallo’s absence, manager Chris Woodward made it clear that “if DeShields is on the team, Delino will play center.”  This leaves Sullivan thinking that Gallo will play in left field when he returns, though such a deployment would mean one of Hunter Pence, Shin-Soo Choo, or Nomar Mazara would have to sit every day, as the other two players would handle right field and DH duties.  Grant notes that Gallo would be slotted in at first base since Ronald Guzman is optionable and isn’t hitting particularly well, though Woodward has hinted that he would prefer not to switch Gallo back to first base (his former position) in midseason.
  • “We’ve probably pursued every starting pitching depth option out there,” Rangers assistant GM Shiraz Rehman told reporters, including Grant and Sullivan.  “We’ve talked with a lot of clubs, but they are concerned about their depth, too. They need pitchers, also.”  Aside from Mike Minor’s ace-like performance and some solid work from Lance Lynn, the Rangers haven’t received much out of their rotation this season beyond some decent (but likely unsustainable) efforts from Adrian Sampson and Ariel Jurado, leaving Texas looking for controllable starting help as they both look ahead to their long-term plans while seeing if the team can stay afloat in the wild card race this season.  Grant suggested that the Marlins’ Hector Noesi and the Giants’ Ty Blach could fit what the Rangers are looking for in the short term — experienced pitchers throwing at Triple-A, and potentially acquirable from teams that aren’t in the pennant race, and thus more apt to let such veterans go to a team that would offer them a Major League opportunity.
  • One familiar arm could be back in the pitching mix, as Rehman said that the team is trying to re-sign Nick Gardewine after releasing the right-hander earlier this week.  Gardewine has spent much of the season on the Triple-A injured list, and thus couldn’t be put through outright waivers after being designated for assignment, hence his release to create a 40-man roster spot.  Gardewine has a 3.71 ERA, 3.12 K/BB rate, and 8.8 K/9 over 323 innings in the minors, plus 13 innings for the Rangers over the 2017-18 seasons.
  • The recently-acquired Jake Petricka has been on the Rangers’ radar for a while, as Sullivan reports that the team was interesting in signing the right-hander to a minor league deal during the offseason.  Petricka instead opted for a split contract with the Brewers, and appeared in six games for Milwaukee in April before being outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster.

Ronald Guzman Switches Agencies

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Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman has changed agencies and is now being represented by the Boras Corporation, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports.  As Grant notes, Guzman becomes the latest in a notable line of Boras clients on the Texas roster, including Joey Gallo, Elvis Andrus, and Shin-Soo Choo.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a teenager in 2011, Guzman has spent his entire pro career in the Rangers organization, steadily developing until a strong 2017 season earned him a spot (94th) on Baseball Prospectus’ list of the game’s top 100 prospects prior to the 2018 campaign.  After making his big league debut last season, Guzman has shown hint of his left-handed power but below-average (87 wRC+, 88 OPS+) production and a 28.4% strikeout rate overall, hitting .230/.301/.423 with 22 homers over 574 plate appearances for Texas.  Earlier this season, Guzman spent just over a month on the injured list due to a hamstring injury.

Guzman is still just 24 and controllable through at least the 2023 season, and the Rangers could gain an extra year of control (and avoid Guzman gaining Super Two status) by optioning the first baseman back to Triple-A at some point.  He won’t gain arbitration eligibility until after the 2020 season and, at this point, doesn’t appear to be a realistic extension candidate for a Rangers team that is heavy on left-handed bats and first base/DH types.

Guzman’s change in representation can be viewed in MLBTR’s Agency Database. If you see any notable errors or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.

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