Rangers Place Jake Burger On Injured List
The Rangers announced that first baseman Jake Burger has gone on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 13, with a left quad strain. They’re unlikely to make the corresponding roster move until Friday, when they resume play with a weekend series against the Tigers.
Injured list placements can only be backdated by up to three days. Burger last played on July 12. That’s why the Rangers made the IL transaction tonight rather than waiting until Friday. He would only miss five games if he’s able to return after a minimal stint. Burger suffered the injury while running out a ground ball during last Friday’s win in Houston. He remained in the game for one more defensive inning before being subbed out. Burger made a pinch-hit appearance the next night and sat out the following day’s series finale entirely.
Ezequiel Duran was in the lineup at first base for the final two games against the Astros. He’s the only backup infielder on the active roster. Texas could recall one of Justin Foscue, Blaine Crim or Josh Jung to take Burger’s roster spot. Rowdy Tellez is also a possibility after signing a minor league contract on July 5. He has gone 5-15 with a couple home runs in four games with Triple-A Round Rock. Texas would need to select Tellez onto the 40-man roster to bring him up, but they already have a vacancy in that regard after waiving Billy McKinney last week.
Regardless of the corresponding move, first base is a clear target for GM Chris Young and his staff over the next two weeks. They acquired Burger from the Marlins in an offseason trade. They shipped out Nathaniel Lowe a few weeks later. Burger has connected on 11 home runs but is hitting .228 with a dismal .259 on-base percentage in his first season in Arlington. This is his second injured list stay of the year. Even if he’s expected back in a week, he hasn’t played well enough to keep the front office from looking elsewhere. The Rangers have gotten nothing out of the designated hitter spot either, so Burger could still see some at-bats there if Texas displaces him as the first baseman.
Duran is hitting .150 with no homers in 90 plate appearances. Foscue and Crim have combined to make 23 major league appearances in their careers. Crim has had a strong year at Round Rock, but he’s a 28-year-old in his third full Triple-A season. Tellez, a left-handed hitter, posted a .208/.249/.434 slash in 185 plate appearances for the Mariners earlier in the year. Seattle released him last month.
The Rangers just optioned Jung two weeks ago. He had the worst month of his MLB career in June. Texas sent him down to get his swing back on track. He has only gotten into seven Triple-A games with unremarkable numbers (.250/.300/.321 in 30 plate appearances). Jung has no first base experience, so the Rangers would only recall him if they intend to move third baseman Josh Smith back across the infield while Burger is out.
Adolis Garcia Drawing Trade Interest
Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia has been drawing trade interest from several teams as the deadline creeps closer, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. It’s not yet clear whether or how aggressively the Rangers will sell at this year’s deadline. Texas sits one game below .500 and 8.5 games out of first place in the American League West, but the Rangers are just 3.5 games back from the final Wild Card spot in the American League.
Garcia, 32, is in the midst of a second straight down year at the plate. He slugged 97 home runs for Texas from 2021-23 while batting a combined .246/.305/.472 (113 wRC+), but he’s hitting .228/.282/.401 in 1010 plate appearances dating back to last season (91 wRC+). He’s been hot for the past month, however, as evidenced by a .266/.312/.469 slash over his past 141 trips to the plate. He’s ripped six homers and eight doubles in that span and done so while striking out at a reasonable 21.3% clip (against a 6.4% walk rate).
That dip in strikeouts is particularly encouraging. Garcia fanned in nearly 27% of his plate appearances from Opening Day through early June, and he punched out at a 27.8% rate last year. He’s cut down considerably on his chase rate and his swinging-strike rate during this recent hot stretch, and when he does make contact, the quality is strong: 92.8 mph average exit velocity, 13.9% barrel rate, 48.5% hard-hit rate.
In addition to a recent uptick in offensive performance, Garcia is enjoying a bounceback year defensively as well. The two-time All-Star and 2023 Gold Glove winner saw his once-excellent defensive grades crater in 2024. Defensive Runs Saved (-5) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-13) both felt he was one of the worst defensive outfielders in the sport last year. It’s possible there was some carryover from a knee injury suffered late in the 2023 season, as Garcia’s average sprint speed in 2024 sat at a career-worst 26.7 feet per second. He’s not all the way back up to peak levels in 2025, but his 27.3 ft/sec is an improvement. DRS again has him among the game’s elite outfielders (+14), while OAA (+1) feels he’s at least back on the positive side of things.
Garcia is controllable via arbitration for one more season beyond the current campaign. If Texas falls too far out of the playoff picture, it makes sense to listen on him, although there’s an argument that they should be open-minded even if they push more firmly into the postseason chase in the next couple weeks. Garcia has always had strikeout and OBP concerns. He’s due what should be a notable raise on this year’s $9.25MM salary as he heads into his final season of club control. In Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter, the Rangers have two long-term outfield spots locked in place.
There’s no top outfield prospect on the immediate horizon, but Garcia is only controlled one more year, will command a notable eight-figure salary and up until June 10 or so had the look of a plausible non-tender candidate. His well-timed hot streak and a generally short supply of impact bats on the market might allow the Rangers to bring in some young talent and free up some payroll space at a time when Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin and half the Texas bullpen (Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong, Luke Jackson) will be up for free agency at season’s end.
KBO League’s KT Wiz Sign Patrick Murphy, Release William Cuevas
The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they have signed right-hander Patrick Murphy to a deal worth $277K. Right-hander William Cuevas was released in the corresponding move to open up an international roster spot. (Hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.)
Murphy had been pitching for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, but he was released from his minor league contract earlier this week, likely with this KBO deal already lined up. This is the second time Murphy has headed overseas to pitch, as he had a 3.26 ERA over 38 2/3 innings in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2024. He followed that performance up with a return to North America and a 3.18 ERA in 22 2/3 frames with Triple-A Round Rock, though with a 16.8% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate providing some less-inspiring peripherals.
With a promotion to the big leagues not looking too likely, the 30-year-old Murphy will now instead to South Korea for another chapter in a pro career that began as a third-round pick for the Blue Jays in the 2013 draft. Murphy’s MLB career has consisted of 39 2/3 innings with the Jays and Nationals from 2020-22, and the grounder specialist has a 4.76 ERA to show for his time in the majors. Since his last appearance in the Show, Murphy has also pitched in the Twins’ minor league system on top of his stints in NPB and with the Rangers.
Cuevas is another former big leaguer who posted an 8.06 ERA in 22 1/3 innings with the Red Sox and Tigers during the 2016-18 seasons. He has since carved out a long career with the Wiz, including a championship ring in 2021 for the first Korean Series victory in franchise history. Cuevas has a 3.93 ERA in 872 1/3 innings over parts of seven KBO League seasons, but a 5.40 ERA in 98 1/3 frames this season saw the 34-year-old fall out of the Wiz’s plans. In between his two stints with the Wiz, Cuevas played in the Mexican League in 2022 and with the Dodgers’ Triple-A club in 2023.
Joe Coleman Passes Away
Former big league pitcher Joe Coleman has passed away yesterday, according to multiple reports. He was 78 years old.
Coleman was a baseball lifer. His father, also named Joe Coleman, pitched in the majors in the ’40s and ’50s. The younger Coleman was born in 1947 and grew up around the game. “I can remember a time that I sat on Mr. (Connie) Mack’s knee for a picture,” Coleman once said. “After the games I used to run around the infield and slide into every base.”
By the mid-’60s, Coleman was pitching in high school. The very first Major League Baseball draft was held in 1965 and Coleman went third overall. The Athletics went first and took Rick Monday, followed by the Mets taking Les Rohr. The Washington Senators, the franchise which would eventually become the Texas Rangers, took Coleman with the third pick.
Shortly after being drafted, Coleman got some cups of coffee in the majors. He made two starts in his draft year, at the age of 18, and one more start in 1966. He would get lengthier stints in subsequent seasons. He logged 134 innings in 1967, posting a 4.63 earned run average. He followed that up with 223 innings with a 3.27 ERA in 1968.
Going into 1969, the Senators hired Ted Williams to manage the club. Coleman and Williams didn’t get along, but the pitcher still managed to post good numbers. Over the 1969 and 1970 seasons, Coleman logged 466 1/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA.
Perhaps due to the contentious relationship with Williams, Coleman was shipped out of town shortly after the 1970 season. He was sent to the Tigers alongside Ed Brinkman, Jim Hannan and Aurelio Rodríguez in exchange for Elliott Maddox, Denny McLain, Norm McRae and Don Wert.
The change of scenery worked out well for Coleman and the Tigers. He posted a 3.15 ERA in 286 innings in 1971. The following year, he dropped his ERA to 2.80 in 280 innings, getting selected to the All-Star team in the process.
Detroit ended up atop the American League East in that strike-shortened season. In the ALCS, which was a best-of-five series at that time, the Athletics took the first two games in Oakland. The series shifted back to Detroit and Coleman got the ball for game three. He tossed a complete game shutout as the Tigers won 3-0. His 14 strikeouts that day were an ALCS record at the time. Though Mike Boddicker tied the record in 1983, it wasn’t topped until Mike Mussina got to 15 in 1997. The Tigers would also win the fourth game of that series but dropped the fifth and were eliminated. That one brilliant performance would eventually go down as Coleman’s only postseason appearance.
He stayed in Detroit for a few more years, though with declining results. His ERA climbed to 3.53 in 1973, 4.32 the year after that and then 5.55 in 1975. He went into journeyman mode from there, pitching for the Cubs, Athletics, Blue Jays, Giants and Pirates throughout the rest of the decade. He finished his playing career with a 3.70 ERA over 2,569 1/3 innings.
After his playing days were done, he went into coaching, doing some minor league work within the systems of the Mariners and the Angels. He would eventually get up to the majors with the latter club, serving as bullpen coach. He then spent a few years as the pitching coach of the Cardinals from 1991 to 1994 before returning to the Angels, serving at times as bullpen coach and pitching coach. He later spent some time coaching in the minors for the Rays, Tigers and Marlins. His son Casey Coleman pitched for the Cubs and Royals about a decade ago, making three straight generations of Coleman men pitching in the majors.
We at MLB Trade Rumors join the baseball world in sending our condolences to the Coleman family and everyone else in mourning this week.
Photo courtesy of Malcolm Emmons, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: Firings in Washington, Bad Braves, And An AL East Shake-Up
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- MLBTR’s Top 40 Trade Candidates and the general market conditions (1:10)
- The Nationals firing president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez (3:40)
- Does this shake-up increase the likelihood of a MacKenzie Gore trade? (14:10)
- The Braves losing Spencer Schwellenbach to the injured list as they keep losing games (18:30)
- The Yankees lose another starter, with Clarke Schmidt likely to undergo Tommy John surgery (31:00)
- The Blue Jays surging to the top of the American League East and what they might try to do at the deadline (33:45)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Could the Mariners get Josh Naylor from the Diamondbacks without giving up Harry Ford? (46:25)
- The Rangers have a bunch of impending free agents such as Patrick Corbin, Jon Gray, Luke Jackson, Chris Martin and Shawn Armstrong. Should they trade them and could they get anything of note? (49:20)
- What do the Mets do at the deadline? (52:25)
Check out our past episodes!
- Depleted Mets’ Pitching, The Pirates Are Open For Business, And More! – listen here
- The Braves Say They Won’t Sell, Jeimer Candelario DFA’d, And Injured D-Backs – listen here
- Reacting To The Devers Trade And Aaron Civale – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Rangers Re-Sign Billy McKinney To Minor League Deal
The Rangers re-signed Billy McKinney to a minor league contract, reports Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News. The lefty-hitting outfielder had elected free agency yesterday after going unclaimed on outright waivers.
McKinney was very briefly on the MLB roster. Texas selected his contract last Tuesday when Evan Carter was on bereavement leave. He played twice during Carter’s three days away before being designated for assignment once the younger outfielder returned. McKinney was ripping the ball before his promotion. He hit .295/.433/.487 with 17 walks and 22 strikeouts through 97 plate appearances with Triple-A Round Rock. It’s a marked improvement over his .184/.285/.307 showing with the Mets’ top affiliate earlier in the year.
A former first-round pick and top prospect, McKinney has appeared in parts of eight MLB seasons. Texas is his eighth club, as he has only appeared in more than 50 games for one franchise (the Blue Jays). He’s a career .208/.283/.384 hitter in 951 big league plate appearances. McKinney has logged over 1500 trips to the dish in Triple-A, where he owns a .268/.358/.487 slash line.
Billy McKinney Elects Free Agency
3:55pm: McKinney has elected free agency, per an announcement from the Rangers.
3:06pm: The Rangers have sent outfielder Billy McKinney outright to Triple-A Round Rock, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency but the log doesn’t indicate whether or not he will do so.
McKinney, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers at the end of May after being released from a minor league deal with the Mets. Texas added him to the roster but his stint in the majors was predictably brief. He was added to give the club an extra outfielder while Evan Carter was on the bereavement list. Carter returned three days later and McKinney was bumped back off the roster. As he’s out of options, McKinney had to be bumped off the 40-man, not just the active roster.
In that short window, McKinney got into two games and stepped to the plate eight times, recording one single, one walk and one strikeout. He now has a career batting line of .208/.283/.384 in 951 plate appearances dating back to his 2018 debut, with that production translating to a wRC+ of 79.
His minor league production this year was enticing but also nothing new for him. He slashed .295/.433/.487 for a 136 wRC+ in 24 games for the Express before being called up. Dating back to 2018, the year he first made it to the big leagues, he has a combined .259/.364/.471 line and 116 wRC+ on the farm. That had led to plenty of big league chances, with McKinney having spent time with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Yankees again, Pirates and then the Rangers.
He hasn’t been able to translate his big league chances into much success, which has led to him exhausting his option years, thus propelling him into journeyman status. If he elects free agency this week, he can see what other opportunities are out there for him. If he decides to report to Round Rock, he could hope for big league playing time later in the year. An injury could pop up at any time and Adolis García is a plausible deadline trade candidate.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rangers To Sign Rowdy Tellez To Minor League Deal
TODAY: The deal between the Rangers and Tellez is now official, as relayed by Sean McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Tellez will report to Triple-A for tonight’s game.
July 4: The Rangers are signing free agent Rowdy Tellez to a minor league contract, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Tellez was released by the Mariners last week.
Now more than ever, Tellez seems to be a one-dimensional player, offering big power against right-handed pitching and not much else. He has put up negative defensive metrics at first base in every season of his career, including -5 DRS and -5 OAA in 393 innings this year with Seattle. Unsurprisingly, he is also a poor baserunner, with the second-slowest sprint speed among qualified runners in 2025. According to FanGraphs, he has also produced negative baserunning value in all eight seasons of his career.
Of course, no one ever expected Tellez to be a valuable defender or baserunner. What was surely more disappointing to the Mariners were his declining contact and on-base skills. He was chasing and whiffing significantly more than he had in recent years, and the result was his worst walk-to-strikeout ratio since his first big league cup of coffee in 2018. His power was still present. Indeed, he was barrelling balls up at the highest rate of his career (15.9%), and accordingly, he crushed six doubles and 11 home runs in just 62 games and 185 trips to the plate. Yet, despite the fact that the Mariners shielded him from left-handed pitching so effectively, his worsened plate discipline canceled out his .891 OPS on contact, and his overall batting line with Seattle was below league average (92 wRC+).
With all that said, Tellez’s .217 BABIP with the Mariners was well below his .259 career average entering the season, and the 54-point gap between his .293 wOBA and .347 xwOBA is the 12th-highest in the league (min. 180 PA). So, there is still some reason to believe that Tellez can overcome his shortcomings to be a productive major leaguer in 2025. And if any team is going to give him the chance to try, it makes sense that it’s the Rangers. Their team-wide 91 wRC+ against right-handed pitching is the fifth-worst in the sport, ahead of only the Pirates, Royals, White Sox, and Rockies. With Joc Pederson still weeks away from making his return from the IL, signing Tellez is a low-risk and potentially high-reward move by Texas.
Billy Hunter Passes Away
Former big league player, coach, and manager Billy Hunter passed away at age 97 earlier this week, the Orioles announced. Long associated with the Orioles organization for most of his career, Hunter was the last surviving player who played for both the St. Louis Browns (the Orioles’ previous incarnation) and for the franchise’s first season in Baltimore in 1954.
A veteran of six MLB seasons overall, Hunter made his big league debut with the Browns in 1953 and was an All-Star as a rookie, quickly gaining notice for his strong glovework at shortstop. Following the now-Orioles’ 1954 debut season, the club included Hunter as part of the largest trade ever in terms of pure volume — a 17-player swap between the Orioles and Yankees that sent Hunter to the Bronx as part of a trade package that also included future Cy Young Award winner Bob Turley and World Series perfect game hero Don Larsen.
Hunter saw a good chunk of playing time at shortstop in 1955, but the Yankees went with longtime shortstop Phil Rizzuto down the stretch and into the postseason. Shifted into more of a clear backup role in 1956, Hunter nevertheless earned a ring for his contributions to the Yankees’ championship season, though he didn’t see any action during the 1956 World Series. New York then sent Hunter to the Athletics that offseason as part of another gigantic deal, this time a 14-player swap that saw such notables as Clete Boyer, Bobby Shantz, and Art Ditmar head to the Yankees. Hunter spent parts of the 1957 and 1958 seasons with the A’s, and finished his Major League career with 76 games with the Indians in 1958.
After a year of minor league ball, Hunter transitioned into a scouting role, and then worked as a minor league manager in the Orioles’ farm system. This work led to a job as Baltimore’s third base coach, a role Hunter held from 1964-77. He left the coaching staff in June 1977 to become the Rangers’ new manager, and Texas promptly went 60-33 with Hunter in the dugout. Though the Rangers still won 87 games in 1978, Hunter was fired before the final day of the regular season. That was his last gig in pro baseball, as Hunter went onto become a baseball coach and then athletic director at Towson State University.
Hunter appeared in 630 career games and hit .219/.264/.294 over 2052 plate appearances in the majors. His career resume includes that first-year All-Star nod, as well as three World Series titles — his 1956 ring with the Yankees, and two as a coach with Baltimore in 1966 and 70. The Orioles inducted Hunter into their franchise Hall of Fame in 1996.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Hunter’s family, friends, and loved ones.
Rangers Designate Billy McKinney For Assignment
With Evan Carter returning from the bereavement list today, the Rangers have designated Billy McKinney for assignment. It was a quick stint in Arlington for the 30-year-old outfielder.
McKinney signed a minor league contract with the Rangers in May after he was released by the Mets. Following a strong month at Triple-A Round Rock, he got the call to the majors earlier this week when Carter was placed on the bereavement list. He went 1-for-7 with a walk and a run in two games. While he didn’t get much of a chance to prove himself for Texas, his .295/.433/.487 slash line and 137 wRC+ for Round Rock might be enough to convince a team in need of outfield depth or a lefty bench bat to take a chance on him via trade or a waiver claim.
A first-round pick in 2013, McKinney has never been able to live up to that billing. He has, however, carved out a legitimate major league career for himself. He has appeared in the majors each year since 2018, suiting up for the Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Pirates, and Rangers. He also spent time in the Cubs’ minor league system early in his career. Over the past eight years, he has appeared at all three outfield spots as well as first base and DH, playing a total of 323 MLB games. He will look to increase that number once his DFA is resolved.
As for the Rangers, they are surely pleased to have Carter’s hot bat back in their lineup and his glove back in center field. The 22-year-old has an .816 OPS and a 133 wRC+ this season, and a .965 OPS and 173 wRC+ over the past month. He has also compiled 2 DRS and 3 OAA in center field and has yet to make an error all season. Even better, the Rangers are also hoping to have Wyatt Langford back from the injured list this weekend. Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News notes that Langford is eligible to return tomorrow and reports that the young outfielder is already back in the clubhouse ahead of today’s game.