The latest on the Rangers, who lost to the Angels on Sunday but got the first major league glimpse of a player who could be a long-term linchpin:
- Newly promoted right fielder Nomar Mazara, the aforementioned potential building block, began his career in red-hot fashion Sunday. Mazara – the youngest player in the league (20 years, 350 days) – went 3 for 4 with a home run in a 3-1 defeat, and Jim Callis of MLB.com believes he’s capable of rivaling the injured Shin-Soo Choo’s offensive production while providing superior defense. On Mazara’s offensive skills, manager Jeff Banister said (via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News), “He controls the strike zone. He can be patient, but he can jump on a fastball early if he needs to. Offspeed stuff did not seem to bother him that much this spring. He can hit when he’s down in the count.” That assessment proved true Sunday, as Grant writes.
- In the next step in his recovery from March 2015 Tommy John surgery, Rangers ace Yu Darvish will throw live batting practice Wednesday, per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. “Now it’s time to turn him loose,” pitching coach Doug Brocail said. “He’ll throw some live batting practice and then get in games.” The Rangers plan for Darvish to throw three BP sessions and then have him begin a minor league rehab assignment toward the end of April. Darvish would then make six starts in the minors before rejoining the Rangers in late May, according to Sullivan. The Rangers will monitor Darvish’s pitch counts when he returns to the big leagues and want him to pound the strike zone with more fastballs. “I’m not asking [Darvish] to throw 25 percent more fastballs,” Brocail stated. “I’m asking him to trust it more to get more quick outs. Just more strikes so he doesn’t have to go deep in counts.”
- In the wake of catcher Robinson Chirinos’ forearm fracture, general manager Jon Daniels said that he considered outside options Sunday morning, but it was merely “due diligence” (link via Sullivan). The Rangers ultimately called up Brett Nicholas to serve as the backup to Bryan Holaday, who will be their regular catcher for at least a little while. “We’ve got a good start with Holaday here,” Banister said after Chirinos got hurt on a hit by pitch Saturday. “We are working through all of our other options right now. We’ve got limited, but multiple options.” The Rangers have two other potentially useful catchers under control in Chris Gimenez and Michael McKenry, but the former is recovering from a bacterial infection and the latter is on the mend from an abdominal strain.
Gogerty
AJ could be had pretty cheaply. Love him in Atlanta but he is not gonna hurt our season anymore being gone.
MiamiPhins34
Been there, done that. No thanks on a reunion.
charles stevens
Ditto
Gogerty
Haha, was worth a shot.
davidcoonce74
Always thought McKenry could be a good bet as a bat-first catcher; pair him with a defense-first catcher and maybe that’s decent enough.
mrpadre19
Trade for Derek Norris?
charles stevens
Sure we would welcome Norris. Problem is what we are willing to give up for him and what you guys think he’s worth is way off. So unless the asking price comes down we will just keep filling the gaps with spare parts. It worked out fine last year.
chieftoto
Trade for Pierzynzki and maybe solidify the rotation with Teheran and Norris, who are both looking good this season. It would only cost them one outfield prospect in Brinson. Seems like a fair trade considering how much value Teheran has.
MiamiPhins34
Brinson will be the Rangers CF of the future. If he were to be traded as the main prospect in a deal, it would be for someone better than Teheran.
chieftoto
Fair enough… Maybe Luis Ortiz for just Teheran and A.J.
charles stevens
No thanks. Luis Ortiz has Ace stuff. No need to make any trades involving our top talent. We can find another scrap catcher somewhere and the rotation will be ok until Darvish gets back next month.
chieftoto
I could easily see the Rangers making that trade. They always need to be a treats half good at all times so they will make a trade for a catcher. They need to bolster their starting rotation also cough *teheran* cough. Ortiz just doesn’t have ace material though. He’s a number three started tops. I see him as a Jorge De La Rosa kinda guy.
charles stevens
I think the Braves would be better served letting Teheran establish himself as front of rotation pitcher. I’m pretty skeptical of how things would turn out for him in the AL.
Theres absolutely no interest in AJ at all. He burned his bridge here on and off the field.
chieftoto
Agree now that I’ve thought about for awhile.
charles stevens
Zero interest in AJ. Already been down that road. I don’t see Brinson going anywhere unless a no brainer presents itself. The plan is for him to be roaming centerfield next year.
Okie_baseball
I don’t think the Rangers are moving any of the the big four prospects (Profar, Gallo, Mazara or Brinson) any time soon. JD is planning on these guys being the new core. Derek Norris is a good player and I would love to have him, but there is no reason to sacrifice any of the big prospects to get him. He could be had for less than those guys.
charles stevens
Mazara and Brinson aren’t going anywhere. I think JD would discuss Gallo and Profar but only for the right player. Norris is not that player despite what San Diego fans think.
Only thing that makes Profar somewhat available is the fact that Andrus is taking up space. In the perfect world we could dump Andrus and his ridiculous contract to make room for Profar. I just don’t see anyone biting on that though.
Okie_baseball
Nope we have tried to sell Elvis on a number of occasions and hit a brick wall. I am interested to see what Holaday does with his opportunity. Profar has so much upside if you let him play full time in AAA. Sell him high later if you want to but that guy is good enough to pull Norris on his own. He just needs to prove his health.
charles stevens
Its a shame we signed Andrus to that extension. Everyone at the time thought it was a great move to lock him up (me Included) but it will go down as the worst signing in JD’s tenure. Totally backfired.
Theres also the possibility that Beltre doesn’t get re signed. In that case you have 3 guys that can play 3rd next year. Can move Andrus to 3rd and let Profar have short with Gallo platooning 1st with Rua. Just a thought.
Possible 2017 lineup
Odor 2B
Brinson CF
Mazara RF
Fielder DH
Rua 1B
Choo LF
Profar SS
Gallo 3B
???? C
Andrus as the most expesnive bench player in history???
Deshields 4th outfielder. Sorry buddy I like you but unless we can move Choo or Fielder to a new team you get the short straw.
charles stevens
I hope Bobby Wilson doesn’t get too comfortable in Detroit. We need him on the next flight back..
a1b24312
Trade for Carlos Ruiz.
hashtag
#freegimenez