Rangers’ MRIs On Mahle, Bradford Come Back Clean

March 12: Mahle’s MRI came back clean, tweets Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The plan will be for him to get back on the mound within the next few days.

Texas had another injury scare pop up when southpaw Cody Bradford reported elbow soreness, but he’s also received a clean MRI, president of baseball operations Chris Young announced this morning (via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). He’ll still be shut down from throwing for the next four to five days in hopes that the discomfort subsides, but the imaging seems to have ruled out a severe injury.

March 11: The Rangers scratched right-hander Tyler Mahle from today’s scheduled Cactus League start with what the team termed “forearm soreness,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers called the move precautionary, but forearm discomfort is always an ominous development for a starting pitcher — particularly one who’s still working toward his first full season since 2023 Tommy John surgery. At this time, the team has not planned an MRI, per Victory’s Jared Sandler.

Mahle, 30, started five games for the Twins in 2023 and pitched quite well before an elbow impingement and flexor strain prompted a four-week shutdown. Not even two weeks later, Minnesota announced that Mahle would require Tommy John surgery, ending his 2023 campaign.

Mahle became a free agent at season’s end, and the Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22MM deal. It’s a backloaded contract — $5.5MM in 2024, $16.5MM in 2025 — reflecting the idea that the hope was for Mahle to pitch a bit late in 2024 and be a full-fledged member of the 2025 starting staff. It was a heavier commitment than is typical for starters who sign two-year deals while they’re on the mend from UCL reconstruction in the first place, and the fact that Mahle pitched only 12 2/3 frames last year makes the commitment all the more substantial.

At his best, Mahle was an underrated mid-rotation arm with an air of further upside. Home runs plagued him frequently during his early days with the Reds, and it comes as no surprise that his splits away from the launching pad known as Great American Ball Park were far more encouraging than his output at home. Mahle showed plenty of ability to miss bats and posted roughly average walk rates for most of his career.

A healthy Mahle would slot into the middle of a boom-or-bust Texas rotation that’s rife with talented arms and even more packed with questions. Jacob deGrom was baseball’s most dominant arm until injuries derailed his mid-30s. He’s pitched 197 1/3 innings since 2021. Nathan Eovaldi was excellent in his first two seasons with the Rangers but has already had a pair of Tommy John procedures in his career. Jon Gray has been on the injured list in each of the past six seasons. Cody Bradford missed about half of the 2024 season with a back injury. Jack Leiter, who started in place of Mahle today, is a former No. 2 overall pick who has struggled immensely in the big leagues (8.83 ERA, 35 2/3 innings) and through much of his pro career in the minors. Former Vanderbilt teammate Kumar Rocker has surpassed Leiter in terms of prospect stature, but he’s less than two years removed from Tommy John surgery himself.

If Mahle ultimately needs some downtime, the Rangers can still go with a rotation including Eovaldi, deGrom, Gray, Bradford and one of Leiter/Rocker. Prospect Emiliano Teodo is also on the 40-man roster but the club intrigued by the possibility of him in a relief role, while non-roster candidates in camp include Adrian Houser, David Buchanan, Dane Acker and Caleb Boushley.