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Rangers Activate Jonah Heim From Injured List

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The Rangers announced they’ve reinstated catcher Jonah Heim from the COVID-19 injured list. In a corresponding move, left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang was returned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Heim has been out for a little more than a week in health and safety protocols. He’ll now return to the catching group, where he’ll be backed up by Jose Trevino and Yohel Pozo. Acquired from the A’s over the offseason, Heim has hit .208/.245/.370 across 230 plate appearances during his first season in Texas.

Yang was selected last week when the Rangers lost a few players to the COVID IL. Because he was added as a replacement player, he has been removed from the 40-man roster without needing to be placed on waivers. The southpaw made just one appearance over the past few days, tossing two scoreless innings against the Astros on Saturday.

Heim becomes the first player affected by the Rangers’ recent coronavirus spread to make it back. Texas is still without Drew Anderson, Charlie Culberson, Dane Dunning, Mike Foltynewicz, Brock Holt and Spencer Howard because of virus-related reasons.

Rangers Sign Chase Anderson To Minors Contract

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The Rangers have inked right-hander Chase Anderson to a minor league contract, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link).  Anderson became a free agent two days ago after being released by the Phillies.

Should Anderson reach the Rangers’ active roster, Texas will owe him only the prorated portion of the minimum salary, as Philadelphia will cover the rest of the approximately $672K owed to Anderson from his guaranteed $4MM salary for the 2021 season.  That makes it a pretty low-cost investment for the Rangers, who have been auditioning younger pitchers in the rotation but might need Anderson to soak up some innings.

For Anderson, he gets a chance to salvage something from what has been a very rough two-year run for the veteran righty.  Since the start of the 2020 season, Anderson has a 6.94 ERA over 81 2/3 combined innings with the 2020 Blue Jays and the 2021 Phillies, with a garish 21 home runs allowed within that short sample size.  Anderson was still managing to strike out a respectable number (24.7% strikeout rate) of batters during his season with Toronto, yet even that ability fell off the table this year, as Anderson had only a 16.3% strikeout rate over his 48 innings with the Phils.

Rangers Promote A. J. Alexy

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The Rangers announced they’ve recalled right-hander A.J. Alexy to start this evening’s game against the Rockies. It’ll be the 23-year-old’s major league debut. Alexy was already added to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

An eleventh-round pick of the Dodgers out of a Pennsylvania high school in 2016, Alexy spent the first year of his career in the Los Angeles system. The Dodgers included him as part of a three-player package to land Yu Darvish at the 2017 trade deadline. Alexy pitched very well at Low-A the following season, but he missed much of 2019 to injury and obviously couldn’t log any minor league action last year.

Despite missing almost two full seasons, Alexy hasn’t shown much sign of rust this year. He’s split the 2021 campaign between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock, pitching to a 1.66 ERA over 65 innings. Along the way, Alexy has struck out a whopping 29.8% of batters faced, although he’s partially offset that by issuing walks at a lofty 10.6% clip.

Alexy has been an inconsistent strike-thrower throughout his career. Both Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs and Baseball America suggest he’s likely to wind up in a bullpen role someday because of those control issues. Nevertheless, both outlets slotted him among the back half of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects thanks to the quality of his arsenal. Each of FanGraphs and BA suggest Alexy has a pair of plus offerings: a mid-high 90s fastball and a sharp 12-6 curveball, in addition to a passable changeup that serves as his third pitch.

The Rangers have almost no certainty in their starting rotation at the moment. Each of Spencer Howard, Dane Dunning and Mike Foltynewicz are on the COVID-19 injured list, forcing Texas to turn to a series of rookies in their place. Alexy becomes the third Rangers starter to make his MLB debut within the past week, joining Jake Latz and Glenn Otto. Amidst a larger-scale retooling effort, Texas figures to give continued chances to younger players over the season’s final five weeks as they look ahead to 2022.

Latz, however, has been returned to Round Rock after one appearance. Because he was selected as a COVID replacement, he needn’t be exposed to waivers to be removed from the 40-man roster. Latz will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter if he’s not re-selected to the big league roster before November.

West Injury Notes: Paddack, Gray, Ibanez, Ohtani, Astros

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Padres starter Chris Paddack appears to be ready to come off the IL to start Monday’s game in Arizona, according to Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Acee says that Padres manager Jayce Tingler didn’t confirm the plan, but then later listed Paddack as Monday’s starter on Twitter.

For Paddack, his third big league season has been a disappointing one, logging an ERA of 5.13 over 93 innings. That’s a spike from last year’s 4.73 and his 3.33 mark from 2019. His strikeout rate has also gone in the wrong direction. After a solid 26.9% rate in his debut season, it dropped to 23.7% last year and sits at 22.5% so far this year. However, his walk rate has stuck around 5% in every season, which is excellent. (MLB average is 8.7% this year.)

Despite those struggles, the team has certainly missed Paddack. Since the righty went on the shelf July 31st with an oblique issue, the team has been on a disastrous slide. They’ve gone 9-15 so far in the month of August, surrendering the final National League playoff spot to Cincinnati. During that time, the rotation was missing not only Paddack, but also Yu Darvish. They tried to patch over those absences with the addition of Jake Arrieta, only to see him land on the IL himself after just one start of 3 1/3 innings. With Darvish having already returned and Paddack on the way, that could allow the team to steady the ship and finish strong, as they try to retake the Reds over the season’s final weeks.

Other notes from the west…

  • Rockies starter Jon Gray left last night’s start after 48 pitches. Manager Bud Black told reporters, including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, that the move was precautionary and related to some forearm tightness. Nick Groke of The Athletic gets a bit more granular, explaining that the injured area appears to be away from the ulnar collateral ligament, hopefully negating the worst fears of Rockies fans. Though the extent of the injury remains to be seen, it makes sense for the club to be cautious, as they are 11 games out of a playoff spot. Gray is a free agent at year’s end, but the Rockies are reportedly hoping to sign him to an extension. They will also have to decide on whether or not to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. Gray would surely warrant the offer if he’s healthy. Over 806 2/3 career innings, Gray has an ERA of 4.52 while pitching primarily in the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the league, producing 15.7 fWAR.
  • Rangers infielder Andy Ibanez left last night’s game with left hamstring tightness, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. She quotes Rangers manager Chris Woodward as being “not optimistic” about the injury. Regardless of the eventual severity of the injury, the club has every reason to be cautious, as they have one of the worst records in the league and no shot at contending. If this is the end of the season for Ibanez, it will go down as a solid rookie campaign for the 28-year-old. He’s hit .260/.304/.415, wRC+ of 96, while splitting time between first, second and third base, as well as one game in left field.
  • Shohei Ohtani was hit on the hand by a pitch in last night’s game, while serving as the designated hitter. However, he stuck around for the remainder of the contest and x-rays on the hand came back negative. Angels manager Jeff Madden told reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, that Ohtani should be fine to make his scheduled start on Tuesday. That is good news for the club and baseball fans in general, as Ohtani is having the most unique and fascinating season that baseball has seen in quite some time, if not ever. He’s currently the MLB home run leader with 41, and has an overall slash line of .264/.363/.623, producing a wRC+ of 160 which is currently bested by only two other qualified hitters. (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bryce Harper) All of that is combined with Ohtani’s 105 innings in the Angels’ starting rotation with an ERA of 3.00.
  • The Astros could be getting a couple of players back this week. Jose Urquidy is pitching in a rehab game tonight, which could be his last before returning, according to Jake Kaplan of The Athletic. Urquidy has only been able to make 14 starts this season because of injuries but has been excellent when healthy, putting up an ERA of 3.38. It’s unclear who would be bumped from the rotation in his absence, but some have speculated that Luis Garcia could be an option. Garcia has already set a career high in innings pitched this year and has seen his results slip a bit recently. Since July 26th, he has an ERA of 4.22. The club has already moved another young starter, Cristian Javier, to the bullpen as a way to manage his workload. The Astros could also be welcoming Chas McCormick back later this week. General manager James Click told various reporters, including Mark Berman of Fox 26, that the outfielder could be back as soon as Friday. The club hasn’t suffered much in McCormick’s absence, given that Jake Meyers has been manning center field and has been on a tear. Since having his contract selected last month, in the first 20 games of his career, Meyers is slashing .323/.348/.523.

Rangers To Promote Glenn Otto

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The Rangers will promote right-handed pitching prospect Glenn Otto to make his Major League debut tonight, per an announcement from their VP of communications, John Blake. They’ll need to formally select his contract to the Major League roster in order to do so, but Texas currently has multiple vacancies with several players in Covid-19 protocol.

The team has yet to specify whether Otto will be a permanent addition to the 40-man roster or a replacement player who can be removed from the roster without being exposed to waivers. He’d be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft this winter though, so he’ll be formally added to the 40-man at some point between now and late November one way or another.

Otto, 25, was one of four players acquired from the Yankees in the trade that sent outfielder Joey Gallo and left-hander Joely Rodriguez to the Bronx. He currently ranks 12th among Rangers farmhands at Baseball America, where he draws praise for a newly added slider that has given him legitimate out pitches against both right- and left-handed hitters.

While Otto’s call to the big leagues is in part out of necessity — Dane Dunning, Mike Foltynewicz and Drew Anderson are all currently in Covid protocols — the right-hander has very much earned this opportunity with his results. He’s racked up 95 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A so far in 2021, pitching to a combined 3.20 ERA with outstanding strikeout and walk rates (35.4 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively). Otto has been particularly impressive in his two most recent Triple-A outings, firing 11 shutout innings with just two hits and three walks allowed against the top affiliates of the Padres and Dodgers.

Otto adds to a growing stable of young arms who could potentially form the core of the Rangers’ staff for the foreseeable future. He’ll join Dunning, fellow deadline acquisition Spencer Howard and lefties Kolby Allard and Taylor Hearn as immediate options for the Rangers, who also have a pair of Top 100 pitching prospects on the rise: 2018 first-rounder Cole Winn and this year’s No. 2 overall pick, Jack Leiter. The team could very well turn to the open market to add to that group this offseason, as general manager Chris Young has already stated he expects the team to be “very active” in free agency this winter.

Rangers Select Hyeon-jong Yang, Ryan Dorow

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The Rangers are selecting the contracts of left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang and infielder Ryan Dorow before this evening’s game against the Indians, according to Levi Weaver of the Athletic (Twitter link). Catcher Jonah Heim is landing on the COVID-19 injured list, joining four other Rangers (Charlie Culberson, Brock Holt, Drew Anderson and Mike Foltynewicz) on the COVID list. It seems Spencer Howard and Dane Dunning could join them, as neither player accompanied the team to Cleveland as part of health and safety protocols. Weaver notes that left-hander Jake Latz is expected to be selected tomorrow as part of the roster maneuvering.

Yang returns for his second stint on the active roster. The KBO veteran signed a minor league deal with Texas over the winter and was selected to make his big league debut in late April. Yang went on to make eight appearances — including four starts — and posted a 5.59 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk rates (15% and 11.8%, respectively) over 29 innings. Texas designated the 33-year-old for assignment and passed him through outright waivers in June. Yang has worked 45 frames with Triple-A Round Rock this season, posting a 5.60 ERA.

Dorow, who just turned 26 over the weekend, was selected by the Rangers in the 30th round of the 2017 draft out of Division III Adrian College in Michigan. That’s not the draft profile of a likely big leaguer, but Dorow has earned a look at the highest level against the odds with solid numbers up through Double-A. The right-handed hitter owns .260/.347/.405 line across 1455 professional plate appearances, including a .333/.394/.600 showing over 99 trips to the plate with Double-A Frisco this season. He’s struggled in his first look with Round Rock, hitting .210/.305/.359, but Dorow has ample experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop in the minors.

Like Dorow, Latz is in line for his first MLB opportunity. A fifth-rounder out of Kent State in that same draft, Latz has spent most of the season in Frisco. The 25-year-old has a 4.69 ERA over 63 1/3 innings, but he’s punched out a very strong 30.9% of batters faced. That’s come with a slightly elevated 10.3% walk rate, but Texas will give Latz a look in the hope he can carry over his strong bat-missing capabilities to the highest level. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Latz as the #50 prospect in the Texas organization in May, praising the southpaw’s above-average curveball.

Because that trio has been (or will be, in Latz’s case) selected to replace players landing on the COVID-19 IL, they can be removed from the active and 40-man rosters upon players’ returns from the COVID list. It seems they could be on the big league club for the near future, though, since COVID spread within the Texas clubhouse has now dealt a significant hit to their infield and rotation depth charts.

Young: Rangers Expect To Be “Very Active” In Free Agency

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The Rangers had a quiet 2020-21 offseason, at least in terms of free agency, as the club focused on creating opportunities for younger players to prove themselves at the Major League level. Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus, Rafael Montero and Rougned Odor were traded away. Nate Lowe, Dane Dunning and Jonah Heim were acquired and dropped right into the big league mix. Even the team’s limited free-agent activity was focused on younger names with multiple seasons of control: David Dahl, Mike Foltynewicz, Kohei Arihara.

The 2021-22 offseason could be a bit more active for the Rangers, however, as general manager Chris Young told reporters this week that he expects his club to be active in free agency this coming winter (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News).

“With the financial flexibility we have moving into the offseason, I expect us to be very active in the free agent market, targeting players who fit kind of our next few years and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Young said.

[Related: 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List]

The mention of “financial flexibility” is something of an understatement. The only two guaranteed salaries on the Rangers’ books for the 2022 season are those of Jose Leclerc ($4.75MM) and the aforementioned Arihara ($2.6MM). Looking solely at guaranteed contracts can be misleading when gauging a team’s payroll at times, as many clubs have large arbitration crops that will inflate that number further, but that’s not the case in Texas. Only Mike Foltynewicz, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Matt Bush, Ronald Guzman and Willie Calhoun are up for arbitration this winter. Foltynewicz and Bush are non-tender candidates. Kiner-Falefa will be getting a raise on a $2MM salary. Guzman and Calhoun are first-time players whose platform seasons have been disrupted by serious injuries; neither will be costly.

The Rangers do still owe the Yankees about $12MM for the remainder of the Odor contract next season, and they’ll pay nearly $7MM to the Athletics as part of last offseason’s Elvis Andrus/Khris Davis swap. Even with arbitration raises and dead money owed from previous trades, however, the Rangers shouldn’t expect to pay any more than $30-35MM for the current roster. Considering this is a team that just opened a brand new park and trotted out an Opening Day payroll of $165MM as recently as four years ago, that level of bare-bones payroll commitments should leave them open to just about anything this winter.

That doesn’t mean that the Rangers will necessarily go wild and sign multiple players to $100MM-plus contracts this winter, of course. The current club is more than just a handful of free agents from competing, but it sounds as though the Rangers are willing to begin spending to augment the roster as they await the arrival of more prospects on the MLB scene. The Rangers’ farm isn’t necessarily elite, but Baseball America listed their system 11th on last week’s midseason farm rankings.

The upcoming class of free agents will be one of the deepest in recent memory. Much has understandably been made of the star-studded crop of free-agent shortstops — Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien, Javier Baez — but the market will also be deep in outfielders (Nick Castellanos, Starling Marte, Kyle Schwarber, Michael Conforto and more) and in starting pitching (Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Marcus Stroman, Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander, among others). The looming collective bargaining talks between the league and players association could give some teams pause, but those that are motivated to spend will have ample high-quality targets to pursue.

Rangers Place Three On Covid-19 List

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The Rangers have placed infielder Brock Holt and right-handers Drew Anderson and Mike Foltynewicz on the Covid-19-related injured list, per a club announcement. Lefty Wes Benjamin and first baseman Curtis Terry are up from the taxi squad to fill spots on the active roster, but the Rangers will play today’s game with a 25-man active roster. Texas has also scratched catcher Jonah Heim due to Covid protocols and will start Jose Trevino behind the dish instead, per an additional announcement. Heim has not yet been placed on the Covid-related injured list.

Today’s placements come just days after Charlie Culberson was placed on the Covid IL. They’ll leave the Rangers with a rather short-handed bench and likely result in some additional roster machinations in the days to come. However, while the Rangers are down a pair of third basemen — Holt and Culberson — Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that a promotion of top third base prospect Josh Jung is “not in the plans” for the team. Yonny Hernandez and Andy Ibanez will split time at the hot corner while Holt and Culberson are away from the team.

The Rangers now have four open spots on the 40-man roster and will be able to promote players from Triple-A — even those not on the 40-man roster — as replacements without needing to subsequently pass them through waivers in order to return them to Round Rock once Holt, Anderson, Foltynewicz and Culberson make their returns.

Rangers Sign Buck Farmer To Minor League Contract

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The Rangers announced that right-hander Buck Farmer has been signed to a minor league deal.  Farmer will report to Triple-A Round Rock.

After being released by the Tigers earlier this week, Farmer will move on to the second organization of his nine-year professional career.  Farmer was a fifth-round pick for Detroit in the 2013 draft and he made his big league debut the very next season, beginning an eight-season run in the Tigers’ bullpen (with a few appearances as a starting pitcher).  While Farmer’s career 5.33 ERA over 320 2/3 innings isn’t impressive, it isn’t entirely indicative of a player who has been at times been a very valuable multi-inning workhorse out of the pen.

The 2021 season itself reflects Farmer’s inconsistency.  He posted a 12.66 ERA over his first 10 2/3 innings, resulting in the Tigers designing the right-hander for assignment.  Farmer cleared waivers and was called back up to the active roster in June, then posting a 3.65 ERA over his next 24 2/3 frames.

Farmer is controlled through the 2022 season, and the Rangers are only responsible for a prorated league minimum salary for Farmer in 2021 if he reaches their MLB roster — Detroit is paying the rest of what remains of Farmer’s $1.85MM salary for the 2021 campaign.  There isn’t much risk on the Rangers’ part in taking a look at what Farmer has to offer, as the team looks ahead to putting some potential pieces together for its 2022 team.

Rangers Select Nick Snyder

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The Rangers announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Nick Snyder and recalled infielder Nick Solak. Righty Joe Barlow has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a blister on his right index finger, and lefty John King was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Additionally, utilityman Charlie Culberson has been placed on the COVID-19 IL. Culberson has flu-like symptoms, relays Levi Weaver of the Athletic, but he has not tested positive for the coronavirus.

Snyder joined the Rangers as a 19th-round draft choice in 2017 out of a Florida junior college. He’s worked exclusively in relief as a professional, posting strong performances at every level up through Double-A. Snyder has compiled a 3.05 ERA across 105 career innings in the minors, punching out a strong 29.6% of batters faced while walking a tiny 6.7% of opponents. Entering this season, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs noted that Snyder works in the 93-96 MPH range with his fastball. He’s been dominant with Double-A Frisco this season, working 16 1/3 frames of 1.65 ERA ball, but has very little in the way of Triple-A experience.

Solak began the year as Texas’ regular second baseman. After a strong start to the season, his bat tailed off considerably. He was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock in late July, carrying a subpar .225/.295/.353 line for the year. Solak has earned himself another look with a strong .353/.409/.459 showing over 93 plate appearances with the Express. The rebuilding Rangers figure to give the 26-year-old another regular look, as Solak was one of the more promising offensive players in the organization during his time as a prospect.

King’s injured list placement was backdated to July 7, and today’s move rules him out for sixty days from that date. He’ll be eligible to come back in early September after missing a couple months with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The southpaw has been on a rehab assignment with Round Rock but recently felt some unexpected soreness, as Kenndi Landry of MLB.com wrote this week. The expectation still seems to be that King will make it back next month, and today’s transfer gives him a little extra recovery time while opening up 40-man roster space.

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