Volquez, 37, returned to Texas on a minor league deal this winter after pitching 16 innings for them in 2019. He openly pondered the possibility of retiring last summer, suggesting that he hoped to get back on the mound with the Rangers late in the season and then call it a career. At the time, it seemed Volquez was simply hoping to go out on his own terms, but he clearly felt strong enough last September to give things another go in 2020. He cracked the club’s Opening Day roster and has pitched 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs, although virtually all the damage against him came in one ugly outing.

What’s next for Volquez isn’t clear. The right-hander has been limited to just 21 2/3 big league frames over the past three seasons after undergoing his second career Tommy John surgery late in the 2017 season while pitching for the Marlins. To this point, he’s amassed 1546 1/3 Major League innings while pitching to a 95-89 record with a 4.45 ERA and 1323 strikeouts. Volquez was an All-Star in a 2008 campaign that saw him finish fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and he’s pitched in parts of three postseasons — including as a key member of the Royals’ World Series-winning rotation in 2015.

It was already known that the Rangers would select Volquez’s contract, but the same wasn’t true for either Gibaut or Refsnyder. The team signed both players to minor league deals last offseason, but Gibaut does have previous experience with the Rangers. They acquired the 26-year-old Texas native from the Rays last July and he went on to throw 12 1/3 innings with a 5.11 ERA and 10.2 K/9 against 5.8 BB/9 in his Rangers debut. He’s the owner of a much more palatable 2.75 ERA with 12.1 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 72 Triple-A innings.

Refsnyder has also fared nicely in Triple-A, having slashed .296/.372/.436 in 1,804 plate appearances. However, the 29-year-old – once a promising prospect – hasn’t been able to put it together in the majors. As a Yankee, Blue Jay and Ray from 2015-18, he batted .218/.308/.302 with just four homers in 423 PA. Now, after spending last season with the Reds’ and Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliates, he’ll get another shot in the bigs.

Taveras has been in the Rangers organization since they signed him out of the Dominican Republic for a $2.1MM bonus in 2015. So far, the switch-hitter hasn’t played above Double-A, where he batted .265/.320/.375 in 293 trips to the plate last season. While that’s not earth-shattering production, Taveras is still just 21 years old, and he’s widely regarded as one of the Rangers’ top prospects. MLB.com ranks Taveras third in the Texas system and likens him to Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte, who has carved out a nice career.

Volquez re-signed with Texas on a minor league deal last winter, following an abbreviated season that saw him post a 6.75 ERA over 16 innings.  It was Volquez’s first action since July 2017, as Tommy John surgery and then another elbow injury kept the righty on the shelf for over two full seasons’ worth of games.  The frustration had Volquez considering retirement last summer, though returning to the mound seemed to reinvigorate him for one more season beyond his final few appearances in September 2019.

Woodward pointed to Volquez’s recent success against left-handed batters (holding them to .670 OPS in 2019) as a reason for keeping him on the roster.  “First and foremost, the stuff is there,” Woodward said.  “I wasn’t going to keep him unless he showed he can get people out….The fact that he has been pitching a long time.  He has pitched in big games.  The leadership aspect in the clubhouse is second to none.”

Volquez turned 37 earlier this month, though the longtime starter could find a second act to his career by moving into a full-time relief role for the first time (while being durable enough to offer the Rangers a potential multi-inning or long relief option).  Volquez’s good numbers against lefty hitters could make him something of a reverse-splits candidate for a Texas bullpen that is somewhat thin on southpaws, as Brett Martin will miss the start of the season recovering from a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Both of these hurlers had already been inked to minor-league deals with the Texas organization. Their inclusion on the list was expected, but the club had waited to make the formal moves until the veterans had entered the United States and made it through testing protocols.

Nicasio, 33, has topped forty MLB frames in each of the past nine seasons. He hasn’t been terribly effective of late; last year, he finished with a 4.75 ERA in 47 1/3 innings with the Phillies. But Nicasio has had his share of success and carried eye-popping peripherals in the 2018 campaign (despite a substandard 6.00 ERA).

As for Volquez, who turns 37 tomorrow, it once seemed he’d already be retired by this point. But he chose to return last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery and was able to reacquire all of his arm strength. The results weren’t there in his brief 2019 action and he struggled early in camp, but the Rangers obviously feel there could still be some gas in the tank.

In each case, the MLB opportunity is perhaps greater than might have been expected. The new three-batter minimum rule and shortened second training camp give these veteran pitchers added appeal. Both have experience as starters and historically carry neutral platoon splits. With extra active roster spots to work with early on, the Rangers could well carry and frequently utilize both Nicasio and Volquez.

When it comes to bullpen arms, especially, this time of year can be like open season for cost-conscious GMs. Sure, there have been a few teams willing to spend at the top end of the market this offseason—with Will Smith, Drew Pomeranz and Will Harris all netting guarantees of at least $24MM in free agency—but many a good bullpen gets solidified this time of year through more low-key signings.

The Nationals, a team hamstrung in recent seasons by poor relief pitching, finally got over the hump in 2019 in part because their bullpen gelled down the stretch. Daniel Hudson, a guy the Angels signed to a minor-league deal in February last year, ultimately ended up on the mound for the Nats when they formed the celebratory dogpile. That trajectory from bargain-bin depth pickup to central cog in a World Series-winning unit is pretty good evidence as to why we should maintain a close eye on transactions in the run-up to camp.

So, which bullpen signing thus far has the best chance of being this coming year’s version of Hudson? An exhaustive list of all relief signings to this point in the offseason sounds, frankly, exhausting—for both author and reader. Perhaps a better format is to consider a few choice arms signed to relatively budget deals, with at least some proven track record of success in the majors.

Alex Wilson, signed only today by the Tigers to a minors deal, stands out as one arm that could deliver a solid return for a tiny investment. Though he’s not a strikeout artist by any means, with a 6.13 career K/9, Wilson still maintains a career 3.44 ERA—even after a dreadful sample of 11.1 innings with the Brewers last year.

San Diego’s minor league signing of Kyle Barraclough also promises to yield dividends—assuming manager Jayce Tingler’s staff can get him back to the form he showed from 2015-17 as a member of the Marlins when he logged a 2.87 ERA with 219 strikeouts in 163 IP. Last year represented a low point so far for Barraclough, as his brief stay in D.C. saw him post a 6.66 ERA across 25.2 innings; that ERA figure is not exactly a good omen, but the righty is still just 29 and has demonstrated an ability to strike out batters with consistency.

Like the Padres, the Reds are looking to wrap their rebuild this coming year and may do so with some cheap innings from Tyler Thornburg. Now 31, Thornburg has had a disastrous past few seasons after logging an impressive 1.9 fWAR as a reliever with the Brewers in 2016. Statcast indicates his raw stuff is still there, however, and part of his struggles can be tied to presumably fixable control issues.

Tyler Clippard is perhaps the most accomplished reliever on this list, having logged over 800 innings with a respectable 3.14 career ERA with nine separate big league teams. The Twins will now become his tenth team after a nearly decade-long courtship, providing him with a one-year, $2.75MM deal last month. Clippard was rather good in 2019, posting a 2.90 ERA in 62 innings with the Tribe, but less so from 2016-18, when he bounced between five teams while posting a 3.98 ERA across 192 innings. The now 34-year-old is probably the most stable option here, but it’s worth noting those quality results last year were undercut by a 4.94 xFIP.

Edinson Volquez was reportedly set on rejoining Texas’ staff after rehabbing himself back from injury with the Rangers last year. He’s never worked exclusively as a reliever, although his repertoire—and periodic inconsistency—has often caused observers to wonder what he would look like as a late-inning pen option. Last year, the Rangers got seven scoreless innings of relief work from the journeyman, so perhaps there’s a second chapter in Volquez’s career yet to be written.

Surely, there are still quite a few arms out there who could find themselves pitching October innings after signing frugal winter deals. Of this admittedly subjective selection of signings, which do you like best? Which other minor league or low-cost pickups do you like heading into 2020? (Poll link for app users)

Volquez and the Rangers have been in talks for several weeks about a new minor league deal, as the veteran is looking to play in his 15th Major League season after considering retirement earlier this year.  Volquez missed all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery and then faced the threat of another surgery last year after suffering an elbow sprain in April.  At the time, Volquez indicated that he was just hoping to return for a final appearance or few appearances in 2019 before hanging up the spikes, but it seems like he’ll again look to win himself a spot on the Texas roster.

Volquez won’t be in line for a starting job now that Texas has revamped its rotation, though the 36-year-old can provide some depth in the event of an injury, and also work out of the bullpen.  Full-time relief work would be something of a new frontier for Volquez, who has started 273 of his 287 career appearances, though he performed well in the very small sample size of his 2019 pen work.  Volquez didn’t allow a single run in his seven games (6 2/3 IP) as a reliever last season, while posting an 11.57 ERA over 9 1/3 innings as a starter.

Gibaut wasn’t eligible for arbitration, though he was still non-tendered earlier this month as a way for the Rangers to clear some roster space.  2019 was Gibaut’s first season of big league action, as the 26-year-old posted a 5.65 ERA over 14 1/3 combined innings for the Rays and Rangers.  An 11th-round pick for Tampa Bay in the 2015 draft, Gibaut has a 2.44 ERA, 3.03 K/BB rate, and 11.2 K/9 over 221 2/3 career minor league innings, though that impressive track record was hit with some heavy control issues last season.  In addition to a 7.5 BB/9 over 18 total minor league frames, Gibaut also had a 6.3 BB/9 in his brief MLB tenure.

Federowicz hit .160/.213/.347 over 83 PA with the Rangers last season, and the veteran backstop will return as a potential Triple-A depth option, as Texas is known to be looking for upgrades to its lackluster catching situation.  Federowicz has appeared in parts of eight Major League seasons, and owns a career .568 OPS over 443 plate appearances with six different teams.

While Rendon’s Lone Star roots surely don’t hurt, the Rangers can’t count on a local discount. Agent Scott Boras indicated to reporters yesterday that geography isn’t going to be an “overriding consideration” for his client, as MLB.com’s TR Sullivan was among those to cover (Twitter link). That hardly takes the club out of contention — state tax advantages are still a factor and the ties may still matter on the margins — but it serves to highlight that the Rangers won’t necessarily come away with their top target.

If Rendon decides not to help christen Globe Life Field and the Rangers can’t circle back to land their other top potential match in Josh Donaldson, the possibilities look quite a bit less appealing. But the Texas organization would at least have plenty of powder dry to spend elsewhere. And it could put its third base opening to use to pursue upside.

Should the Rangers turn to the rest of the market, Maikel Franco could be a fall back option, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. Franco did manage a serviceable 105 wRC+ as recently as 2018. In the absence of a more thrilling alternative, Franco would at least deliver a chance of liberating unrealized potential for a team with a chance of achieving “upstart” status in 2020. Still, Franco appears even less likely to make the leap than Nomar Mazara, the Rangers’ own underdeveloped star, shipped to Chicago yesterday.

Franco would certainly come cheaper than Rendon, for good cause, as Rendon’s superstar turn emerged in the national spotlight upon winning a World Series title – while Franco produced a career worst -0.8 bWAR before an inelegant end to his Philadelphia tenure via non-tender. Nick Solak is the nominal incumbent, but he can move around the diamond depending on who GM Jon Daniels adds to their collection of quasi-ill-fitting position players.

Not much further down Daniels’ checklist? Finding an offensively capable option behind the plate, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The Rangers have some interest in a reunion with Robinson Chirinos and have also been connected to fellow top-remaining free agent Jason Castro. But the club still faces competition for these and other backstops.

It’s tough to imagine the club will fail to come away with a new option to supplement the existing group of backstops. Jose Trevino ended the year on a high note and should compete for a roster spot. Jeff Mathis returns as well, the definition of a glove-first player in its extreme after a truly woeful .158/.209/.224 across his 248 player appearances in 2019. Depending on Trevino’s development and their ability to add to third wheel, the Rangers are open to using the new 26th roster spot to hold a third catcher. Trevino has an option remaining, however, so that’s not a necessity, and at 37 in March, Mathis’ playing days are likely nearing an end. Of course, they also have Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the roster serving as a third catcher/utility option, and they added former Tampa Bay Ray Nick Ciuffo to the Triple-A ranks. Ciuffo, in the mold of Mathis, is a strong receiver who has yet to hit his stride at the plate. 25 in March, Ciuffo is the youngest of the three primary catchers by a few years, while Kiner-Falefa turns 25 just a few weeks after Ciuffo.

The Rangers have other irons in the fire, too. As Wilson reports, the club is working on lining up some minor-league pacts of note. Daniels indicates that the club believes it’ll be able to bring back a few pitchers — lefty Jeffrey Springs and righties Matt Bush and Edinson Volquez — on non-roster contracts.

It wasn’t long ago that an elbow injury prompted Volquez to strongly consider retirement. As recently as late July, Volquez had said he merely hoped to be able to return to a big league mound in September to go out on his own terms rather than be forced into retirement by injury. However, as the veteran righty progressed through his rehab and began to feel healthier, he expressed interest in returning to the Rangers for the 2020 season, and it seems the two sides are now working to make that reunion happen.

To his credit, Volquez, who feared early in the season that he might require another Tommy John surgery, did make it back to the mound in September. The 36-year-old was tagged for six runs in 8 1/3 innings, though seven of his nine outings were scoreless and four of the runs he yielded came in one appearance. Upon returning to the hill, his fastball averaged a hearty 95.4 mph.

Volquez, who has pitched in parts of 14 Major League seasons, was originally signed by the Texas organization as an international amateur back in October 2001. He was they key piece that went from Texas to Cincinnati in the 2007 Josh Hamilton trade and found himself in another notable swap when the Reds included him (along with Yasmani Grandal, Yonder Alonso and Brad Boxberger) in the deal that netted righty Mat Latos from the Padres. Volquez was a key member of the Royals’ rotation when they won the World Series in 2015 and owns a lifetime 4.45 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 0.93 HR/9 and a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate in 1540 2/3 Major League innings.

Payano, 24, didn’t enter the year as a top prospect but put himself on the organizational radar with a 28.3% strikeout rate in the Double-A Texas League. He was knocked around in 11 games in the Pacific Coast League (as most pitchers are) and scuffled in his six-game MLB debut, too, but he comes with three option years and did show a swing-and-miss slider in the bigs, so perhaps another team will take a look.

Much like Payano, St. John, 26, is an optionable arm who made his big league debut this year despite an unheralded prospect reputation. He, too, was quite good in Double-A and got knocked around in Triple-A, but he’s run strong minor-league strikeout rates since being moved to the bullpen full-time in 2018.

Springs, also 26, will take St. John’s place as a left-handed bullpen arm in Arlington. He was terrible in 26 innings before succumbing to left biceps tendinitis, but the changeup specialist was a little more well-regarded than his designated counterparts as a prospect.

The most-noteworthy name in today’s transaction series, though, is that of Vólquez. The 15-year veteran plans to retire at the end of the season but had been pushing for a return from a right elbow sprain. Even though the Rangers are out of contention, the 36-year-old had wanted to go out on his own terms, which fortunately seems to be in the cards.

More out of Arlington…

• Hunter Pence isn’t bothered by seeing his role with the club reduced as Texas auditions younger players down the stretch, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. Rather, he took the reduced role in stride and called a team meeting to urge that the entire roster buy into the youth movement. “I’m going to put my best foot forward no matter the situation,” Pence explained. “I’m happy every day I am at the park, and I’m going to give everything I have … Part of being on a team is not worrying about playing time. Whether I play less, more or the same, I will give what I have.” Fellow veteran Shin-Soo Choo echoed the sentiment, praising Woodward’s communication and the manner in which he cares for his players. Choo is under contract with the Rangers next season, so the play of the team’s young talent down the stretch could impact his role next season. Pence, a strong candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, is a free agent at season’s end, though one can only assume he has interest in re-upping with his hometown team.
• While Shawn Kelley had been closing games for the Rangers prior to landing on the injured list last month, he’ll return to a setup role now that he’s been activated, Woodward said yesterday (link via Brian Dulik of MLB.com). Jose Leclerc lost the handle on ninth-inning duties earlier this season but has regained that role for the time being despite a recent blown save and a total of four runs allowed in seven innings since the All-Star break. With Texas fading from Wild Card contention, it makes sense to put Leclerc back into the role the club envisioned when signing him to an extension during Spring Training. The Rangers are obviously invested in helping the flamethrowing young righty return to form and surely still hope that he’ll be a top-tier late-inning option for them for the foreseeable future.
• The Rangers announced yesterday that veteran righty Edinson Volquez is embarking on a minor league rehab assignment, beginning with the club’s Rookie-level Arizona League affiliate. The 36-year-old Volquez made a brief return from his second career Tommy John surgery early in the season, only to go down with another elbow issue that has sidelined him since April. Volquez initially feared a third tear of his UCL, but it seems he’s avoided that fate. Now, he hopes to make it back to a big league mound for one last run in 2019 so that he can retire on his own terms following the season.

• The Rangers have shut left-handed prospect Taylor Hearn down for the season because of renewed irritation in his pitching elbow, though doctors don’t believe it’s related to his ulnar collateral ligament, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. Hearn originally suffered the injury during a nightmare of a major league debut against the Mariners on April 25. The 24-year-old Hearn started the game, but he ultimately recorded only one out and gave up five runs (four earned) on four walks and three hits. MLB.com ranked Hearn as the Rangers’ 11th-best prospect the day of his first promotion. He’s now 26th on the list.
• Better news from Grant, who reports injured Rangers righties Edinson Volquez and Shawn Kelley are progressing toward returns. Volquez, who’s set to retire after the season, will start a rehab assignment Wednesday as he works back from an elbow strain that has shelved him for almost the whole year. Biceps soreness has kept Kelley out since July 12, though the Rangers could activate him Tuesday. The 35-year-old has served as the Rangers’ closer at times this season, saving 11 of 15 chances, and has posted an effective 3.00 ERA/4.10 FIP with 8.73 K/9, 1.36 BB/9 and a 30.1 percent groundball rate in 33 innings.
• Athletics lefty Jesus Luzardo got through a two-inning rehab appearance unscathed Monday, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. Luzardo will now move from the rookie level to Single-A ball, where he’ll make a three-inning start Saturday. The prized 21-year-old hasn’t been able to make his much-anticipated major league debut this season on account of shoulder and lat injuries. Luzardo could, however, serve as a late-season reinforcement for the wild card hopefuls.
• The Tigers placed righty Jordan Zimmermann on the IL on Monday with a right cervical spasm, the team announced. It’s the latest setback in an ugly Detroit tenure for Zimmermann, whose five-year, $110MM contract has been a bad investment for the club from the get-go. This season, Year 4 of the deal, Zimmermann has logged a 7.13 ERA (with a better, albeit unspectacular, 4.80 FIP) in 72 innings.

Volquez has been rehabbing an elbow strain for most of the season. That came on the heels of a lengthy absence owing to Tommy John surgery, which cost him the second half of 2017 and all of 2018.

Having come this far, Volquez says, he’d like to get back on the bump. “I don’t want to go out like this,” he says. “If there is a chance, I can do it for two months or two weeks, why not.”

Volquez still has to progress to facing live hitters and embark upon a rehab assignment. While the stakes will be low, given his decision not to continue pitching beyond the present season, he’ll need to show he’s capable of holding up to game action.

Odds are, the Rangers will hang onto Volquez and give him a shot to get back to the majors. He agreed to continue working back in part due to the team’s desire to have him around its young players, and the Texas club may well need some serviceable arms down the stretch. That said, Volquez would make for a somewhat interesting, no-risk depth stash for a contender given his 60-day injured list status.

No matter how things shake out at the end of 2019, Volquez will ride off into the sunset as a proud participant in 14 seasons of MLB action, with over fifteen-hundred innings. There have been ups and downs, and Volquez never fully realized his early potential, but he has turned in some quality campaigns. From an ERA & innings standpoint, he was at his best in 2008 with the Reds (3.21 ERA, 196 IP), 2012 with the Padres (4.14, 182 2/3), 2014 with the Pirates (3.04, 192 2/3), and 2015 with the Royals (3.55, 200 1/3). Through 271 starts and 17 relief appearances at the game’s highest level, Volquez owns a 4.43 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9.

In addition to the aforementioned organizations, Volquez pitched for the Dodgers and Marlins. He’ll begin and end his career with the Texas organization … unless he really finds something at the very tail end of 2019. “Maybe if some team offers $10MM, I might change my mind,” says Volquez. “But I just want to come back this year and prove it to myself. I want to go out the front door. I don’t want to go out the back door.”

Some updates on other injury situations from around the game…

• Wilmer Flores was placed on the 10-day IL with a right foot contusion on Tuesday, though Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told media (including Arizona Sports 98.7 radio) that an MRI revealed Flores suffered a fracture.  Ildemaro Vargas was called up from Triple-A to take Flores’ spot on the roster, and he’ll provide utility depth in the middle infield as second baseman/center fielder Ketel Marte now looks like he could receive more time at the keystone.  Flores signed a one-year deal worth $4.25MM in guaranteed money last winter and has hit .281/.326/.398 over 138 PA for the Snakes, with much of that production coming in the last few weeks following an ice-cold start at the plate.
• While on a minor league rehab assignment, Rays infielder Matt Duffy re-aggravated the hamstring injury that has kept him on the IL all season. (Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report the news.)  Duffy will be re-evaluated tomorrow.  The infielder has been solid (.292/.354/.364 over 640 PA) since joining the Rays in August 2016, though he has appeared in just 153 games since that time, largely due to an Achilles injury that cost him the entire 2017 season.
• In more positive news for the Rays, Joey Wendle told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that is no longer wearing a cast on his fractured right wrist.  Wendle said he is “free to move forward as I can tolerate” any discomfort while beginning baseball activities, though he said he will be cautious in his process to try and avoid any setbacks.  One can’t fault Wendle for wanting to be entirely ready in the wake of two lost months for the utilityman, as Wendle has played in only eight games this season due to his wrist fracture and an earlier hamstring injury.
• Veteran righty Edinson Volquez has begun to play catch, Rangers manager Chris Woodward told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson and other reporters, as Volquez continues to make his way back from an elbow sprain.  Volquez made just two starts for Texas before being placed on the injured list, and he even hinted at retirement should his injury be another UCL tear (Volquez has already undergone two Tommy John surgeries).  Playing catch is a preliminary step, but nevertheless a good sign that Volquez may have avoided a more serious injury.

Odor, 25, was off to a dreadful start at the plate this season for Texas, slashing .167/.255/.214 over his first 47 plate appearances. He rebounded with a solid .253/.326/.424 (97 wRC+, 2.5fWAR) 2018 after an awful showing the previous season; perhaps most encouragingly for the six-year vet, he nearly doubled his career-best walk rate, to 8.0%, and ranked among the best in the league with an outstanding 45% hard-hit rate. Odor’s shown an even further increase in plate discipline this season, so perhaps the early-season malaise can be chalked simply up to small-sample bad luck.

Santana, 28, was off to a strong start for AAA-Nashville over his first 40 plate appearances, but hasn’t hit much – in the minors or majors – since a .319/.353/.472 (132 wRC+) showing in 430 PAs for Minnesota in 2014, a performance fueled by a startling .405 BABIP. He has experience at nearly every position on the diamond, though, and should infuse a thin Ranger roster with some much-needed flexibility.

More on the injury front from around the game:

• Late-inning man Jeremy Jeffress is expected to return to the Brewers after one more rehab outing, skipper Craig Counsell tells reporters including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). Jeffress has been moving at about the pace that was hoped when it was announced he’d open the year on the injured list with a somewhat balky shoulder. He has been knocked around a bit on his rehab assignment, though that’s hardly the focus. Jeffress says he’s gaining velocity and feeling stronger as he goes. He’ll soon get the chance to try to replicate his magnificent 2018 season.
• Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy will not require surgery to repair his fractured left index finger, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That seems generally promising, if only because it’s always preferable to avoid the risks of a procedure. It’s not clear exactly how long he’ll be sidelined; at last look, the club expected he’d be out of commission through at least the end of the month, but that seems like the bare minimum. Whatever the duration, it’ll be more than desirable for a team that currently sports the league’s worst offense.
• While there’s still no precise timeline, a return to action is now in sight for Mariners reliever Sam Tuivailala. He’s still at least a month away from the majors but is nearing live BP sessions, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports via Twitter. The 26-year-old hurler, who is working back from a torn Achilles, appears to be a bit ahead of schedule as compared to expectations last fall. He still has a fair number of additional hurdles yet to clear, of course, but it’s generally promising for the increasingly interesting M’s.
• The Rangers still lack clarity regarding the severity of the elbow injury to veteran starter Edinson Volquez. For now, the plan is to put him on the shelf for the next four to six weeks before bringing him in for imaging and a medical review, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was among those to cover (Twitter link). It’s a bit of an unusual situation, but it seems the hurler preferred to wait; the team agreed since he’d be sidelined regardless and the results would be more reliable after swelling has gone down. Volquez has suggested he’ll retire if he has again blown out his ulnar collateral ligament. If that’s not necessary, he could presumably return to pitch this year in Texas. It seems we’ll all wait a while longer to learn the outcome.