TODAY: The MRI revealed a minor strain for Jung, according to RangersToday.com’s Jeff Wilson and other reporters. Both Jung and manager Bruce Bochy feel Jung will be recovered for Opening Day, with some slight disagreement on the timeline — Jung said he’ll miss two weeks, while Bochy feels Jung will be sidelined for three weeks.
FEB. 16: Camp only just opened this week, but the Rangers are already facing one potentially worrisome injury situation. Third baseman Josh Jung experienced discomfort in his calf while fielding grounders today and is headed for an MRI, tweets Jeff Wilson of RangersToday.com. The club will provide further details once the imaging has been performed and evaluated by medical personnel.
Jung just turned 26 years old this week and was the fourth-place finisher in American League Rookie of the Year voting this past season. The former No. 8 overall draft pick belted 23 home runs and slashed .266/.315/.467 with sharp defense at the hot corner. Were it not for a fractured left thumb that kept him out of action for six weeks, he’d very likely have been a top-three finisher and could’ve potentially even given eventual winner Gunnar Henderson a run for his money.
At this point, there’s no indication the team believes the injury to be serious, though the pending MRI exam suggests there’s at least some degree of concern. The Rangers are relatively deep in infield talent, so in the event that Jung needs to miss any time, they’ll have options. Ezequiel Duran stepped up in Duran’s absence last season, and Josh H. Smith has ample experience at the corner as well. Veteran Matt Duffy is in camp as a non-roster player this spring and would give the Rangers a solid glove and contact-oriented bat at the position if he makes the team.
On the topic of non-roster Duffys, Matt isn’t the only one in camp. Veteran left-hander Danny Duffy also inked a minor league pact with Texas this season and could be an important depth piece for a club that will open the season with Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle on the injured list and all likely out into the summer. The 35-year-old southpaw hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since the 2021 season due to injuries but has been with the Dodgers (2022) and Rangers (2023) for the past two seasons while working toward a return. Texas used him as a reliever in the minors in ’23, but Kennedi Landry of MLB.com tweets that Duffy is building up as a starter in camp this time around.
It’s a familiar role for Duffy, the longtime Royals hurler who’s made 204 of his 234 career appearances out of the rotation. Aside from a brief dalliance in the bullpen in 2015-16, Duffy was a fixture on Kansas City’s starting staff from 2014-21, during which time he logged a 3.82 ERA in 1015 innings while punching out 21.3% of his opponents against an 8.2% walk rate. Duffy is now 35 years old and hasn’t pitched in the bigs since undergoing surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in Dec. 2021. He’s pitched a total of 42 1/3 innings in the minors across the past two seasons. Expecting a full bounceback to his peak Royals form isn’t realistic, but if he’s healthy he should be a legitimate option to help the staff.
Getting any contributions from Duffy or fellow non-roster invitees José Ureña and Adrian Sampson would be a boon for the Rangers. Texas is set to enter the season with a rotation including Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and likely Cody Bradford. It’s a much weaker group than the World Series-winning outfit that finished out the 2023 season with Scherzer and current free agent Jordan Montgomery atop the staff. But general manager Chris Young has indicated he doesn’t anticipate any more additions to the big league roster at this point, strongly suggesting that the current group is the one the Rangers will carry into the season.
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News takes a look at the in-house depth options that stalled out last season. Former top prospects Jack Leiter, Cole Winn, Owen White and Zak Kent all struggled in various ways in ’23. Righty Kumar Rocker, the No. 3 pick back in 2022, underwent Tommy John surgery last May.
That group was expected to produce some pivotal long-term rotation pieces, but each prospect has seen his stock drop amid poor performance and/or injury. Grant notes that Leiter, who was shut down for nearly two months last year to work on his mechanics, spent the offseason working out with American League Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray and veteran catcher Curt Casali. The trio all attended Vanderbilt (at different times, obviously). Gray worked with Leiter on simplifying his approach and his plan on the mound. Grant chatted not only with Leiter but also White and Kent about some of the changes they’ve made as they look to get back on track and contribute at a time when the Rangers will be leaning more heavily on internal pitching depth than at any point in 2023.
Danny Duffy’s been around longer than I thought. I hope he makes a comeback.
The Rangers rotation has the potential to be a solid average group. There should be a couple solid vets back between June and August. It’s an altogether serviceable if unspectacular group.
Fingers crossed this is the year it clicks for Leiter.
Would love for something homegrown to break camp on the mound.
Or Cole winn
Or White
Josh Jung feeling discomfort in his calf?
Matt Chapman has entered the chat.
More like Evan Longoria.
I’m more than comfortable with duran as backup
Wrong answer. Duran played so poorly last year he didn’t even make the postseason roster. The best suggestion is to bring Elvis Andrus back on a veteran minimum as a rotational player as he played 2B, SS and 3B last year. Place Duran on an already incredibly weak bench. Send Josh Smith back to Frisco where he belongs.
What? Duran was great. He had a terrible cold streak and still ended up with a .276/.324/.443, that’s a good player for a utility guy. Duran will have to adjust to breaking pitches away to get better at the plate. He was way better defensively than I thought he was going to be. Perfectly acceptable backup and he’s twice the player than Elvis is at this point in his career.
If he was great he’d made the postseason roster. Duran was average to below average. Great is a term for all star and hall of fame players.
No, you’re evaluating him incorrectly. You don’t stack him up next to Seager that is not a fair comparison. Duran is a utility player, and in that role he did his job quite well. The reason he was left off of the postseason is because Smith is more versitile and is generally the better defender. Duran is a great backup and would probably break camp as a starter on a different team.
He’s still young, on his rookie contract. We don’t know what Duran will be in the end. My point is that he had a good year last year and is a capable utility guy, no need to waste money on Elvis.
Veteran minimum isn’t wasting money when we signed a 38 year old one inning reliever that gives you 65 inning max to 11M. There has to he a reason why “that reliever” has been with 7 different teams. Relievers are relievers because they are not good enough to be starters.
I’m referring to Daniel Robertson. The old geezer reliever we signed to 11M. You should be able to develop guys like that and not sign them.
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Yeah hoping the Jung thing is just precautionary for a cramp or something.
Duffy could be decent depth, especially early in the season. I think he’s got to find the arm slot again after a long layoff and major surgery. I don’t believe he’s ever been an elite command type of pitcher, but at this stage in his career he’ll need to be if he wants to pitch to a decision or “turn back the clock.”
I don’t think you give an MRI for just a cramp. Not suggesting it’s a serious injury, but there must be something else to it.
With his injury history, I’d send him for one if his toe twitched. I4 surgeries in 4 yrs if I’m not mistaken
Apparently you can never have too many Duffy’s in camp.
Both actually stand a decent chance at making the team as Matt can play all over the Infield and Danny, if finally healthy, could keep the back of the rotation warm until the big guns return
Duran stepped up in Duran’s absence? Now, that’s talent! lol
Duffy is likely to rebound big time if he is healthy. His command issues were likely caused by his time away from the game. He should be able to work through them as he returns. He will rebound quicker as a starter. He probably won’t be an ace but he could be excellent from the 4 or 5 spot in the rotation.
Spring Training and already some bad news on Jung. What a way to start the season…
Getting Matt Duffy on a minor league deal was a shrewd move. He is always a good guy to have come off the bench.
Read that Evan Grant article. You get the feeling that Grant is rooting for the Rangers to bomb out so he can say I told you so. He might cry if the team has a good first half.
Duffman! Still remember Duffys 30lb cat skeeter, R.i.p.