Rangers Notes: Kiner-Falefa "Has the Edge" at Third Base, Injury Updates, Bullpen Depth, Looming Roster Decisions
ARLINGTON, Texas — Isiah Kiner-Falefa has all but earned a spot in the Opening Day lineup.
While nothing is official yet, manager Chris Woodward admitted on Wednesday that Kiner-Falefa is heavily impacting the roster decisions for the Opening Day roster.
"Isiah is making his case. He has the edge right now. I'll be honest about that," Woodward said. "I'm just looking for consistent quality of at-bats. And he's given that. He's been our best guy, honestly."
That would mean Todd Frazier would move over to first base, which is not expected to be a problem.
"He is open to it. He wants to win. He doesn’t care. He sees what Kiner is doing, everybody does. I don’t think anybody is surprised by the move," Woodward said. "I told him in Spring Training, when Kiner was doing well, this could become an option if Kiner forces our hand. We are kind of at that point right now. Todd was all for it, he doesn’t really care. He just wants to win. It doesn’t matter where he is playing."
The starting rotation, the backbone of the 2020 Rangers team, is healthy and in good form just over a week away from Opening Day. However, the depth behind them, along with the relief out of the bullpen, is not so fortunate.
Injury Report
Here are the latest updates on the Rangers' injuries, provided by general manager Jon Daniels:
Position Players
- Robinson Chirinos (ankle): He's feeling better every day. Daniels is optimistic he could be ready for Opening Day. It is still unknown whether he will be active or not.
- Willie Calhoun (hip flexor strain): MRI revealed a Grade One strain in his right hip flexor. The Rangers anticipate him to miss the "first few days or week" of the regular season.
- Eli White (oblique strain): He will miss Opening Day.
Pitchers
- Joely Rodríguez (lat muscle strain): He threw off a mound on Wednesday. He is progressing, but will miss Opening Day.
- Brett Martin (COVID-19): Martin is feeling well, but will start the season on the COVID-designated IL.
- Rafael Montero (non-injury related): Montero showed up to camp late due to the birth of his child, which leaves him behind in his throwing program. He is progressing nicely and will throw a bullpen session on Thursday, but will not be ready for Opening Day.
The Rangers have the ability to backdate any players put on the standard 10-day Injured List (not the COVID-19 list) back to July 20. This would make them available as early as July 30.
Bullpen Options
Having Rodríguez, Martin, and Montero out of the picture for Opening Day, that opens up three spots in the Rangers' bullpen. RHP Jose Leclerc is locked in as the closer and RHP Jesse Chavez, RHP Nick Goody, RHP Jonathan Hernandez, and LHP Taylor Hearn are unofficial locks for the bullpen.
While LHPs Kolby Allard and Joe Palumbo are stretched out to fill in if one of the starters goes down, the Rangers may have to get creative with how they use their left-handed pitchers. LHP Wes Benjamin, who originally was thought to be somewhat down the pecking order, has made himself a legitimate candidate with his impressive work at camp so far.
“Those three have all been pitching pretty well,” Woodward said. “We need it. We have some righties we trust to get lefties out, but we need that lefty in the bullpen to handle some of the tough lefties. All three of those guys are in the mix.”
Some non-roster pitchers like Cody Allen, Edinson Vólquez, Derek Law, Luis García, and Ian Gibaut are all candidates as well, especially with the roster being set at 30 players for the first two weeks of the season. All of these pitchers are right-handed.
Players with Opt-Outs
The Rangers have nine players they need to make decisions on by Saturday's deadline for players that have outs in their contracts.
- RHP Cody Allen
- 1B Greg Bird
- RHP Luis García
- RHP Ian Gibaut
- C Tim Federowicz
- RHP Derek Law
- OF Rob Refsnyder
- C Blake Swihart
- RHP Edinson Vólquez
With three relievers sidelined to begin the season, it will be interesting to see how many non-roster pitchers make the team out of camp. Greg Bird is also in the thick of the competition at first base, which is being heavily affected by Isiah Kiner-Falefa's impressive tear at camp.
Daniels admitted the Rangers haven't made any decisions yet on these players given the short nature of camp.
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