The Rangers received yet even more terrible news on the prospect front Tuesday, as 2016 first-rounder Cole Ragans will undergo the second Tommy John surgery of his young career, per a team announcement. Ragans underwent Tommy John surgery last March but re-tore the ligament in his right elbow and will now miss a second season of development. The Rangers have already lost 2018 second-round pick Owen White and 2018 fourth-rounder Mason Englert to Tommy John surgery this season, thus wiping out the 2019 campaigns for three intriguing young prospects within the team’s minor league ranks. Ragans ranked as the team’s No. 10 overall prospect, per MLB.com, while White checked in at No. 12 and Englert sat at No. 23.
Some more news and notes out of Arlington…
- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News examines the struggles of both Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara thus far in 2019. It’s been a catastrophic season for Odor, who entered play today with an almost unfathomable .137/.212/.253 batting line through 105 plate appearances. Mazara, meanwhile, is in a substantial funk that has dropped his overall line to .227/.287/.417 through yesterday’s game. Odor’s struggles have gotten to the point where an optional assignment almost has to be considered as a means of getting him back on track. He’s signed through the 2022 season but has yet to consistently produce at the big league level. He had a similar run of poor results in 2018 before snapping out of his slump and catching fire for much of the summer, and some work in the minors could help to clear his head and point him in that direction. Mazara likely has a longer leash given his more consistent track record and the need to evaluate him heading into his next arbitration raise. Even if the organization decides it best to shop Mazara this winter, demoting him would tank his trade value, so it seems best to allow him to continue trying to sort things out at the MLB level. It’s worth noting, of course, that as of this writing both Mazara and Odor have a pair of hits in tonight’s game.
- Shelby Miller’s hold on a spot in the rotation would appear to be tenuous, at best. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote yesterday that the organization’s plan was to keep Miller in the rotation but cap him at 70 pitches per start, but he wasn’t even able to last that long in tonight’s outing against the Royals. Kansas City jumped all over Miller on Tuesday, clobbering him for eight runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout in just 1 2/3 innings. Grant tweeted shortly thereafter that Miller seemed likely to be moved to the bullpen in favor of the younger Ariel Jurado, who has a 3.57 ERA through 22 2/3 innings in Triple-A and has fired off 9 2/3 scoreless innings out of the big league bullpen. Texas signed the 28-year-old Miller to a one-year deal this offseason in hopes that he could rebuild some stock and perhaps turn himself into a trade chip, but he’s allowed 31 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings with more walks allowed (23) than strikeouts recorded (20).
boltonbrutality
Just when you think it can’t get any worse…Rangers are looking more and more lost each and every day
jb19
Feel bad for the prospects needing TJ so young.
jorge78
Two hits for Odor and Mazara?
HA! Even a blind dog can find the food bowl once in a while.
They need to go.
As for Miller tonight, the defense played horribly behind him tonight.
The Ranger Fan
Miller was done two starts ago.
jorge78
I know. Just saying he got some bad breaks tonight.
It certainly doesn’t gloss over his poor season so far.
The Ranger Fan
Wow it’s hard to believe this is the same team that leads the league in runs scored per game, our pitching has gone from mediocre to horrendous at best, the bright spot is Mike Minor has been decent since the all star break last year,possible trade bait before deadline. Found out today one of our farm rookies needs Tommy John,Also heard on radio Texas leads all MLB teams in this category, how and why, all I know is I will continue to support my team and look forward to the new stadium set to open in 2020, Going to take pictures of the stadium this weekend. Root for the home team and hope for some free agent pitching to come our way.
bush1
I wonder if the new park can actually help recruit better pitching. Obviously the current ballpark scares the crap out of any decent pitcher to sign unless the Rangers completely overpay. Probably have to wait it out a year to see how it plays first though.
I’ve always thought that parks that play with such an advantage to hitters puts that team behind the 8 ball with recruiting pitching, which obviously makes it harder to win.
The Ranger Fan
You make a good point, maybe they are designing the stadium to be a pitchers park, with the roof closed all summer because of our Texas heat it should be an advantage to pitching. I love the looks of the old stadium but it’s way too hot. And hopefully we won’t have some crazy semetrical wall like some stadiums. Like our old stadium.
jima-2
Obviously caught the TJ virus from the Angels when they were there. You Texans have my sympathy. This injury cascade is maddening.
mikecav19
I just want to encourage everybody in the great state of Texas to root for the Astros!!!!!
The Ranger Fan
Never gonna happen
User 1104686089
The Stros problem is that they built a good team by tanking for so long. It means that everyone grew up with Houston being awful, or in the NL. The main populace has had a hard time buying in and Texas and Oklahoma was seized by the Rangers long ago. All thats left is the general area around Houston and some Austin folks.
jbigz12
Shelby Miller shouldn’t have a spot on a ML team whether it’s in the rotation or otherwise. Time to pull the plug.
bush1
If LaRussa was still in the league he’d gladly sign Miller to a $100 million dollar contract.
User 4245925809
He is. Special adviser to Dombrowski for several seasons and always in the box office at Sox games sitting next to him.
The Ranger Fan
He should be cut if he can’t even go a couple innings.
g-dub777
I’ve read all the posts above regarding this season. I would like to ask Jon Daniels what the common denominator is?
bush1
I’m pretty sure you answered your question in the question.
g-dub777
I’m pretty sure you are correct!!!
jjd002
That Odor contract was a bad one the minute the ink dried.
The Ranger Fan
Not sure what happened to odor but he has what we Ranger fans call the Ian Kinsler syndrome, Homer or pop out or strike out.
kodion
Hasn’t been the same since The Punch …and he wasn’t even on the receiving end!