Jeff Mathis Hopes To Continue Playing In 2021
Veteran catcher Jeff Mathis hopes to play in what would be a 17th Major League season next year, tweets T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. The 37-year-old Mathis is wrapping up a two-year deal with the Rangers right now, and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram explored the reasons that Texas might look into bringing Mathis back despite his lack of production at the plate.
Mathis hasn’t hit a lick in Texas, nor was he really expected to. The Rangers signed him to a two-year, $6.25MM deal on the heels of a .207/.274/.297 showing at the plate in two seasons with the Diamondbacks. He’s gone on to put together an even less-palatable .160/.215/.244 output in 297 plate appearances as a Ranger. Mathis was signed entirely for his glove and the experience that he can bestow upon younger catchers and pitchers alike.
He hasn’t matched the defensive and framing numbers he put forth in his D-backs run this time around, but Mathis is still generally regarded as a defensive savant and, as Wilson writes, is the preferred receiver for right-handers Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. Wilson adds that Jose Trevino — the likely starter in 2021 with Sam Huff expected to open in Double-A or Triple-A — “loves” Mathis and has learned quite a bit under his tutelage. Manager Chris Woodward called Mathis’ knowledge and mentorship “invaluable.”
The question for the Rangers, of course, is whether they’ll aim a bit higher in looking for catching help this winter. The free-agent market will have defensively sound alternatives who can offer more at the plate than Mathis. Granted, J.T. Realmuto probably isn’t heading to Arlington, but the Rangers could look at quality defenders like Jason Castro or Mike Zunino who offer more ability with the bat.
That said, the Rangers are already leaning toward a youth movement and taking a longer-term focus. That mentality comes with a payroll reduction and lowered expectations in the win column. It’s tougher to entice free agents to sign with a team when the president of baseball operations is on the record having recently called 2022 and beyond “probably the more likely window for us” while plainly acknowledging that the team’s payroll will decrease. Mathis, on the other hand, has already expressed a willingness to discuss a return in a similarly limited role for the 2021 season, Sullivan notes.
There’s no guarantee that Mathis will be back with the Rangers or any other club next season. He hasn’t hit better than .200 in a season since 2017, and his perennially high strikeout rate has spiked to a career-worst 35.8 percent with the Rangers. The lack of offensive value is glaring, even if clubs still love the glove and the intangibles he can bring to a young team. But Mathis sounds like a man who plans to be a baseball lifer one way or another, telling Wilson, “Baseball’s all I know” and expressing interest in one day becoming a coach.
If offers as a player don’t materialize this winter, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rangers or any number of other clubs express interest in bringing Mathis aboard in a coaching or player development capacity. He’s played with the Angels, Blue Jays, Marlins, D-backs and Rangers across nearly two decades in the big leagues, making countless connections along the way that are now scattered throughout an even wider slate of organizations.
Rangers’ Luis Garcia Becomes Free Agent
The Rangers have granted right-hander Luis Garcia free agency, per a team announcement. The club previously designated Garcia for assignment on Tuesday, but the reliever subsequently cleared waivers.
Garcia will head back to the open market eight months after signing a minor league contract with the Rangers in January. The 33-year-old wound up throwing 8 1/3 innings with Texas this season and surrendering nine runs (seven earned) on 10 hits and nine walks, though he did strike out 11 hitters along the way.
This will count as the third straight subpar season for Garcia, who has also spent time with the Phillies and Angels, but he has mostly posted respectable numbers in the majors. Since he debuted with Philadelphia in 2013, Garcia has logged a 4.26 ERA/4.32 FIP with 8.31 K/9, 4.77 BB/9 and a 55.1 percent groundball rate. Garcia has also averaged 96.2 mph on his fastball during his time in the bigs.
Daniels On Rangers’ Youth Movement
Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels has now set forth a clear strategic directive for the organization, as covered by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The veteran executive says the club’s recent youth movement will likely carry over into the 2021 season.
The Texas team looks a lot less gray of late. The roster is “younger and intentionally so,” per Daniels, who says that will likely “continue[] into next year.” If there was any doubt as to the Rangers’ near-term intentions, Daniels issued a tell-tale cautionary warning against “looking at free agency as the short cut.”
It’s tough to know what to expect from newcomers such as Leody Taveras, Anderson Tejeda, Sam Huff, and Sherten Apostel. But the Rangers believe their current crop of young talent is more “ready for this opportunity” than was the case last year, says Daniels.
There could be some rough patches along the way, but the Rangers intend to find out what they’ve got. “The biggest change is we want to allow them to grow at the major league level,” Daniels explains.
This obviously isn’t the spot the Rangers had hoped to be in at this stage of the season. The club pursued improvements over the winter and had its sights set on contention. But with a host of disappointing performances from key players, the youth movement reflects the reality that there won’t be a quick offseason fix.
Rangers Sign Andrew Romine
The Rangers have signed infielder Andrew Romine to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’s part of their 60-man player pool and will head to their alternate site.
Prior to joining the Rangers, Romine most recently spent time with the White Sox, who signed him to a minor league deal in the winter before releasing him in July. He has combined for a .235/.291/.300 line in 1,323 plate appearances among the Angels, Tigers and Mariners since he first became a major leaguer in 2010. Romine hasn’t played in the bigs since 2018.
While Romine hasn’t had much offensive success so far, he has been quite versatile as a defender. Most of his work has come at shortstop, third base and second – positions that have been sore spots for the Rangers in 2020. General manager Jon Daniels told TR Sullivan of MLB.com and other reporters Tuesday that shortstop Elvis Andrus and second baseman Rougned Odor aren’t guaranteed starting jobs going forward. However, it seems tough to believe Romine will wind up unseating either one of those struggling players. He’ll have to earn a roster spot first, after all, and even that may be a tall order.
Latest On Corey Kluber’s Future
Coming off a third straight sub-.500 season, the Rangers spent a good portion of last winter trying to build a high-end rotation capable of pitching them to the playoffs in 2020. The plan hasn’t worked for the Rangers, one of the AL’s worst teams.
Aside from Lance Lynn, who’s amid his second straight quality season, no one from the Rangers’ season-opening staff has provided much. Mike Minor‘s no longer on the team, having struggled before the Rangers traded him to the division-rival Athletics before the Aug. 31 deadline, while offseason pickups Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles have put up terrible numbers. For the Rangers’ rotation, though, there was no bigger addition than two-time AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, whom they acquired from the Indians in December.
While he came to the Rangers as a two-time AL Cy Young winner, Kluber was fresh off an injury-shortened season in which his production took a sharp turn for the worse. The Rangers were hoping he’d rebound, but it didn’t happen in 2020, as Kluber threw just one inning (back on July 26) before succumbing to a Grade 2 tear of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder.
Kluber won’t return this year, and as someone who could reach free agency in the offseason, it’s possible his Rangers tenure is over. However, it seems the club would like him back, as TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets that general manager Jon Daniels said Tuesday the team approached Kluber about a revised contract worth less than the value of the hurler’s 2021 option.
Kluber’s upcoming option is valued at $18MM, but the Rangers could instead buy him out for $1MM and let him head to free agency after two straight rough years. Otherwise, Kluber could try to rebuild his stock on a Texas team whose rotation will be a major question mark going into next season. There’s no guarantee Lynn will stick around, as he could fetch the team a decent return in a trade, while it’ll be hard to count on Gibson and Lyles a year from now. Furthermore, no one else Texas has started has stepped up to claim a spot, so it could make sense for the club to keep Kluber around at a discount rate if he’s willing to accept a salary to their liking.
Rangers Designate Luis Garcia
The Rangers announced that they’ve designated right-hander Luis Garcia for assignment. They also activated outfielder Willie Calhoun, recalled righty Demarcus Evans and optioned outfielder Scott Heineman.
The 33-year-old Garcia was a winter minor league pickup for the Rangers, with whom he threw 8 1/3 innings this season but had little luck keeping runs off the board. Opposing offenses battered Garcia for nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and nine walks. The former Phillie and Angel now owns a 4.26 ERA/4.32 FIP with 8.55 K/9, 4.77 BB/9 and a 55.1 percent groundball rate in 315 major league innings.
Calhoun’s now back after missing just under a month with a left hamstring strain. At 17-30 and in possession of the AL’s second-worst record, playoff hopes are dead for the Rangers, but perhaps Calhoun will be able to end the season on a positive note. The former top 100 prospect seemed to turn the corner at the plate in 2019, but he could only manage a .172/.206/.224 line with no home runs in 63 plate appearances this season before his IL stint.
Rangers Place Elvis Andrus On 10-Day Injured List
The Rangers have placed shortstop Elvis Andrus on the 10-day injured list in between games of today’s doubleheader with the Athletics. Andrus has been sidelined due to a back strain and will be replaced on the active roster by callup Sherten Apostel, who will be in the starting lineup for the second game.
This is the second time this season that Andrus has been sidelined by a back strain, as a previous IL stint cost him just shy of two weeks of action. With so little time left on the schedule and the Rangers out of the playoff race, it’s probably safe to assume Andrus’ 2020 season is over.
The back injuries and a lack of production have combined to make 2020 a nightmare for Andrus, who is hitting only .194/.252/.330 with three homers. After seemingly breaking out with a .299/.348/.457 slash line over 1257 PA in the 2016-17 seasons, Andrus again struggled, batting .267/.311/.383 in 1076 PA in 2018-19.
With three straight seasons of subpar play now in the books, it remains to be seen what role (if any) Andrus will play in the Rangers’ future plans, as the team was already planning to give some more time at shortstop to younger players down the stretch. Texas still owes Andrus $14MM in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and there is a $15MM club option for 2023 that could become guaranteed if Andrus receives either 1100 PA over the 2021-22 seasons, or just 550 PA in 2022. That 2023 vesting option becomes a player option if Andrus is either claimed on waivers or traded, which will make it even more difficult for the Rangers to potentially move Andrus in some type of bad-contract swap.
Apostel will make his MLB debut tonight, and has a chance to establish himself as a potential roster piece for 2021. Originally acquired from the Pirates in July 2018 as a player to be named later in the Keone Kela trade, Apostel has hit .249/.368/.426 over 1162 career minor league plate appearances, though he hasn’t played beyond the high-A level. The 21-year-old Curacao native is ranked as the Rangers’ 10th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline, and its scouting report contains the intriguing detail that “Texas fielded constant trade inquiries about him from other clubs.” Apostel is known for plus power and an outstanding throwing arm (no surprise, as he was also a pitching prospect in his younger days), at third base, though his eventual defensive future could be at first base rather than the hot corner.
Rangers Promote Sam Huff
11:40am: The Rangers have formally selected Huff’s contract, per a team announcement. Outfielder Scott Heineman was optioned to the alternate training site to open a spot on the active roster.
10:40am: The Rangers are set to promote catching prospect Sam Huff to the Major League roster in the wake of Jose Trevino‘s left wrist injury, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports (via Twitter). Manager Chris Woodward acknowledged last night that promoting Huff was at least something the team would discuss (Twitter link via T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com).
Huff, 22, entered the season ranked as the game’s No. 99 prospect at Baseball America — the infusion of 2020 draftees has since pushed him off the list — and currently ranks second among the organization’s prospects there. He ranks 75th overall at MLB.com. Other outlets, such as FanGraphs, aren’t as bullish given questions about his ability to stick behind the dish and his lofty strikeout rates. There’s no questioning Huff’s raw power, however, which draws 70 grades on the 20-80 scale in most scouting reports.
A seventh-round pick back in 2016, Huff split the 2019 season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, where he hit a combined .278/.335/.509 with 28 homers, 22 doubles, a pair of triples and six steals (albeit in a dozen attempts). He’s been an average or better offensive producer at every minor league stop — well above average, in most cases — and boasts a career 34 percent caught-stealing rate thanks to a plus arm that generally receives 60 grades.
On the negative side of the coin, Huff has punched out in 29.7 percent of his minor league plate appearances to date and walked at just a 7.3 percent clip. MLB.com’s scouting report notes recent improvements in his framing and footwork but also observes that only five players as large as the 6’5″, 240-pound Huff have ever caught 300 games in the Majors. Given that lack of precedent, a broad range of outlooks is to be expected.
Huff has yet to play a game against Double-A pitching, so Major League opposition should present a particularly formidable test. Even if Huff returns to the minors at some point, the club is hopeful that he can emerge as a viable long-term piece of the puzzle. The Rangers have leaned heavily on 36-year-old veteran Robinson Chirinos since 2014 (last year’s one-year departure for the Astros notwithstanding), but Texas traded him to the Mets at the deadline.
The hope at one point may have been that Trevino could’ve been next in line, but he’s now 27 years of age and yet to produce in the upper minors or at the MLB level. Broadly speaking, the Rangers have lacked a top-tier catching prospect for quite some time. Huff is their most well-regarded young backstop in recent memory, and he’ll now get his first big league audition over the next few days. If he sticks in the Majors, he’d be controllable all the way through the 2026 season and wouldn’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2023-24 offseason, but further optional assignments could alter those timelines.
Kluber, Leclerc, Santana Won’t Return To Rangers This Season
SEPT. 9: Santana underwent elbow surgery and will miss seven to eight months, TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. That could jeopardize at least some of Santana’s 2021 campaign, which will be his final arbitration-eligible season. After Santana made a prorated $3.6MM this season, the Rangers will have to decide whether to keep him on the heels of a rough year.
SEPT. 5: Three injured Rangers players are done for the season, as manager Chris Woodward told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that Corey Kluber, Jose Leclerc, and Danny Santana won’t return to action in 2020. Kluber and Leclerc were each already on the 45-day injured list with teres major problems, while Santana has been on the 10-day IL since August 28 due to a right elbow strain.
The Rangers expected all three to be key contributors this season, hoping for a repeat of Santana’s breakout 2019 numbers, Leclerc to return to his 2018 form after a somewhat shaky 2019, and for Kluber to bounce back from an injured-plagued 2019 season that ultimately closed the book on the former ace’s tenure in Cleveland.
Instead, Kluber pitched in just one inning of one game for Texas before hitting the IL with a grade 2 tear of the teres major muscle. Leclerc only banked two games before suffering a strain in his own teres major muscle, while Santana has been limited to 63 PA in 15 games (and only a .145/.238/.273 slash line) thanks to two trips to the injured list. A right forearm strain put Santana on the 10-day IL on August 2 and kept him out of action until the middle of the month.
Leclerc is under contract through at least the 2022 season, while Santana has one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining before hitting free agency in the 2021-22 offseason. Santana obviously won’t earn much of a raise on his $3.6MM salary for 2020, but given how the Rangers (like many teams) are planning on a lower payroll next season, it is conceivable that Santana could be non-tendered and then pursued at a lower price than a salary in the ballpark of $3.6 or $3.7MM.
Of course, a big chunk of money will be coming off the Rangers’ books in the form of Kluber’s contract, as Texas is surely unlikely to exercise its $18MM club option on the veteran righty for the 2021 campaign. With just 36 2/3 total innings pitched since the start of the 2019 season, Kluber will be hard-pressed to find anything more than a single guaranteed year on his next contract, though his track record could still land him another Major League deal. We aren’t far removed, after all, from the dominant five-year stretch Kluber delivered in the Indians’ rotation from 2014-18 — 2.85 ERA, 10.1 K/9, 5.51 K/BB rate, two AL Cy Young Awards, and an average of 218 innings pitched.
Rangers Place Shin-Soo Choo On Injured List, Activate Rougned Odor
The Rangers placed outfielder Shin-Soo Choo on the 10-day injured list due to a right hand sprain, the team announced. Choo’s placement is retroactive to Setpember 8. Rougned Odor will take Choo’s spot on the active roster, as the second baseman has recovered from an eye infection and been activated from his own 10-day IL stint.
With the Rangers at 14-27 and well out of contention, it seems eminently possible that we’ve seen the last of Choo this season. This injury could also spell the end of Choo’s Rangers tenure, as he’s due to reach free agency in the winter.
Choo, now 38, signed a seven-year, $130MM contract with the Rangers before the 2014 season. He was coming off strong offensive runs with the Indians and Reds at the time, and has continued as an above-average batter with the Rangers. The switch-hitting Choo has only produced 8.7 fWAR in Texas, though, largely owing to an inability to contribute much value on defense. And 2020 has been Choo’s worst season as the plate as a Ranger, as he has hit a measly .229/.318/.395 in 126 PA. Regardless of whether Choo plays again this year, he’ll have to decide in the offseason if he’s going to call it a career or seek another deal.