Here’s how a serious injury to Mendez could affect the Rangers’ Opening Day roster

It wasn’t just Bloody Sunday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

The empty Texas Rangers injury report now has three players on it less than two weeks from the season opener, and they aren’t players no one knows. Joey Gallo, Ronald Guzman and Yohander Mendez are anywhere from gimpy to not good.

The good news is that the Gallo, the starting left fielder, and Guzman, the starting first baseman, are on the gimpy side. Gallo (mild strain, right groin) said that he will be in the Opening Day lineup March 28 against the Chicago Cubs, and Guzman (left knee stiffness) is going to be, too.

Mendez isn’t going to make the team but was expected to be rotation depth at Triple A. That might not be the case now after he left his start Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks with left elbow tightness.

It might be as bad as it looked.

Mendez turned right around after his final pitch, with one out in the third inning, and second baseman Rougned Odor signaled for athletic trainer Matt Lucero to come to the mound.

“It doesn’t look good,” manager Chris Woodward said afterward. “He wasn’t going to throw another pitch.”

Depth is the Rangers’ biggest issue. If the five starters stay healthy, the Rangers will be better than their low expectations. But that’s not going to happen.

Teams almost never make it through a season with a starter going down. The 2011 Rangers managed to do it, and they were a World Series team.

Somewhere along the line, though, something will happen that puts a starter on the injured list and a pitcher at Triple A will be asked to be a serviceable replacement. Mendez was expected to be one of those guys.

If he misses an extended stretch, Adrian Sampson and Ariel Jurado become the first two guys in line. The Rangers want to avoid calling up prospect Taylor Hearn early in the season, even though he’s a a bigger part of the future.

As the Rangers try to set their roster, one of the factors is preserving depth. Could an serious injury to Mendez force them to keep Jason Hammel, who has said he won’t go to the minors if he doesn’t make the team, in the bullpen?

The Rangers, who seem to discuss every possibility, will likely discuss that one if Mendez’s injury is as bad as initially feared.