Guzman to return to Rangers’ lineup Thursday. That won’t be good news for one player
Barring an unforeseen complication, Ronald Guzman will be the starting first baseman for the Texas Rangers on Thursday as they open a four-game series at Houston.
That’s bad news for somebody on the Rangers’ roster.
Guzman has been sidelined since April 7 because of a strained right hamstring, and logged his fourth game on rehab assignment Tuesday with Double A Frisco. He went 4 for 18 (.222) with a home run.
The Rangers will need to create a spot on the 25-man roster to reinstate Guzman from the 10-day injured list, and manager Chris Woodward said that the Rangers have essentially made up their mind on how they will accomplish that.
Their plan as of Wednesday morning was to alert the player losing his roster spot after the Rangers’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“We kind of know what we’re going to to, but it’s not an easy one,” Woodward said.
There are a few ways the Rangers could go:
Designate either Logan Forsythe or Danny Santana, both infielders, for assignment. Doing so would create the risk of ending the player’s time with the organization, either via a waiver claim, a trade, an outright release or the player taking free agency after rejection outright assignment to the minors.
Option center fielder Delino DeShields to Triple A Nashville. It’s a move that would go against the Rangers’ plans for evaluating young players for the future. It would create more playing time for Hunter Pence.
Option either left-hander Brett Martin or right-hander Ariel Jurado to Triple A from an eight-man bullpen. Sending out Martin would leave the bullpen without a lefty, and demoting Jurado would eliminate him as a possible rotation replacement for Shelby Miller. A seven-man bullpen is common, but the Rangers typically prefer to carry an extra reliever.
Designate right-hander Jeanmar Gomez for assignment. The Rangers would trim from their eight-man bullpen and also create a 40-man spot they will eventually need for outfielder Scott Heineman, who is on the 60-day IL and nearing a rehab assignment.
Place an injured player on the IL. The Rangers didn’t have any candidates that the media had been made aware of entering Wednesday’s game.
This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 10:48 AM.
