Rangers closer Jose Leclerc will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2021 season, general manager Chris Young announced to reporters Monday (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry).
Leclerc has battled elbow soreness since last week, so this news isn’t surprising, but it will rob him of an entire season and the Rangers of their best reliever. The 27-year-old threw just two innings last season as he dealt with a strain of his right teres muscle, and this latest injury will continue to throw a once-promising career off course.
Between 2016-19, Leclerc threw 187 innings of 3.16 ERA ball, and though he walked almost 15 percent of batters during that span, he helped offset that with a 33 percent strikeout rate and a fastball that averaged upward of 95 mph. The Rangers were so impressed with Leclerc’s work that they signed him to a four-year, $14.75MM extension before 2019. It looked like a worthwhile gamble at the time, but it hasn’t worked out as hoped for Texas because of Leclerc’s arm troubles. His deal still includes one more guaranteed season, in which he’s also sure to miss time as he recovers from this surgery, and two years with club options for $6MM or more or buyouts worth $750K or less apiece.
With Leclerc done for the season, it’s unclear who will open the season as the Rangers’ closer. Ian Kennedy and Matt Bush look like the most logical candidates, as they have game-ending experience and the Rangers selected their contracts over the weekend. Taylor Hearn and Josh Sborz are also among those who could be in the mix. Regardless, the loss of Leclerc is a significant one for the Rangers.
First Odor, now this. Hits just keep on coming for the Rangers. Oh well, not like they were going to compete in 2021 anyway.
Odor sucked so it isn’t too sad to see him go
Odor was the opposite of a hit
I just can’t badmouth Odor. He will always be a hero in my eyes after putting Bautista in his place. He can be Chris Davis 2.0 and I still don’t care bc of that legendary punch.
Getting rid of Odor automatically gives the Mariners and Astros each two or three more wins. He had more home runs against those two teams than any other team by a lot.
No matter. Getting rid of Odor also gives the Rangers 2-3 more wins.
Well, it looks like Leclerc has more saves against the Angels than other team. Of course most of these stats happen because they play each other more often but I see today as a win-win-win-win for the AL West today. Michael Scott would be proud.
And Oakland finds a way to make wins out of almost everything that happens(at least during the regular season) so it could be a rare win-win-win-win-win situation.
As a jays fan i have to say i was pretty surprised Jose didnt do anything back. Odor punked him pretty bad, joey bats looked shook
Yeah losing odor is not a big deal. It will be a help
Odor evens this out, but it still sucks.
Do you think the Rangers would be interested in any of the Pirates relievers?
That’s a shame. Bet they will they kept Montero.
*wish