NEWSFLASH: Rangers Activate Hamilton; Davis Optioned To AAA
Chris Davis, pictured above flipping his bat after striking out on Friday, May 29th, was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday.Transactional chaos in the wake of perhaps the most understated three-game home sweep -- this one over the Tampa Bay Rays, punctuated by an effortless 5-2 victory on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball -- enjoyed by the Texas Rangers in quite some time:
● Struggling first baseman Chris Davis has been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City (Jeff Miller, D Magazine)
[Said the 23-year-old slugger of his long-expected demotion: "It was only a matter of time. Obviously, I wasn't making adjustments. You can't expect them to keep sticking me out there every day, not really being any kind of a threat at the plate. I'm not down about it.
"You don't ever want to be sent down, but at the same time it's kind of a relief to know I can just go get my head straight and kind of take out all the outside influences and just go get back to baseball. Give myself a chance to get back to where I need to be. I really appreciate how long they've stuck with me, more than they really had to ... We’ll go back to square one tomorrow and see what we need to do."
Really, I don't know that there's a lot to be said about this entire thing that hasn't already been said a million times. We analyzed Davis's problems at the plate in excruciating detail back on June 19th, and three days later outlined the feasible options at the Rangers' disposal that would enable the ballclub to mitigate the offensive damage it was incurring at the time, and if the notion of demoting Davis made tremendous sense then, his miserable performance since his memorable 4-for-5 outburst against the Diamondbacks on June 25th only made the decision that much easier.
Davis has suffered a 4-for-28 slump since that purported "break-out" effort, which is only further indicative of the reality that one good -- or even great -- game has zero predictive value. Save the hyperbole for a torrid multi-week run at the plate and don't exhaust it on five or six good-looking plate appearances. Even Neifi Perez had his share of four-hit games.
Hank Blalock is reportedly your new everyday first baseman, which isn't really a solution per se, because, realistically, he is what he is at this point in his major league career -- a hack-n'-flail slugger who can still crush mistake pitches but lives and dies by his aggressive nature, inherent streakiness and uppercut swing, which produces numerous swinging strikes on down-and-in breaking pitches and outside offerings, and whose apparent inability to reach base more than 30 percent of the time essentially makes him a glorified version of Mike Jacobs circa 2008, which is suboptimal.
Yes, he'll have his big nights. He'll also have his 0-for-4, three-strikeout nights, such as the one he compiled against the Rays on Sunday evening, and while he's not quite valueless, he's still a pretty marginal major league first baseman. The popular refrain with respect to Triple-A Oklahoma City first baseman Justin Smoak is that he's "not ready" for the challenges presented by big league baseball, but Texas is running out of viable options, and if Davis doesn't resurrect his bat and Blalock's on-base percentage continues to slip, more major changes could be afoot.]
● Outfielder Josh Hamilton (abdominal surgery) has been activated from the 15-day disabled list, replacing Chris Davis on the active roster (Daniel Pauling, MLB.com)
[Hamilton underwent surgery to repair a partial tear of his right abdominal muscle on June 10th and was expected to miss approximately four to six weeks, yet will remarkably make it from the operating table to the starting lineup in just 26 days -- a testament to the progression of modern sports medicine.
It's my expectation that Hamilton will be consigned the starting job in center field in very short order, albeit perhaps not right away; the David Murphy/Marlon Byrd/Nelson Cruz outfield configuration has proven defensively sufficient in Hamilton's absence, and consequently there's not a huge impetus to summarily drop Hamilton right back into his high-risk stomping grounds. The more relevant question: Will he hit?]
● Right-hander Vicente Padilla (right shoulder inflammation) experienced "some discomfort" during a Sunday bullpen session and has had his scheduled Tuesday evening start against the Angels pushed back to Wednesday or Thursday, with the Rangers expecting to reassess his injury after another scheduled bullpen session later today; fireballing right-hander Dustin Nippert (strained right deltoid muscle) will be activated from the 60-day disabled list and start in Padilla's stead on Tuesday evening (John Henry, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
[Whither Doug Mathis? Finding adequate room on the 40-man roster is a simple enough exercise, as right-hander Brandon McCarthy (stress fracture, right shoulder) may be out until mid-August at the earliest and can be placed on the 60-day disabled list with little concern, but the situation figures to become increasingly tight as we pass the regular season's 81-game mark, with the likes of minor leaguers John Bannister and Joaquin Arias likely riding the roster bubble until it inevitably pops.]
● The Rangers confirmed the signings of five Latin American prospects on Sunday, including Curacaon outfielder Chris Garia and shortstop/right-hander Jurickson Profar, Venezuelan shortstops Luis Mendez and Luis Sardinas and Mexican left-hander Daniel De la Torre (Daniel Pauling, MLB.com)
[The acquisition of Sardinas -- whom is believed to have fetched a seven-figure signing bonus -- was first confirmed by industry publication Baseball America on Saturday, which ranked the "wiry" middle infielder as the sixth-best prospect in this year's international amateur free agent class. Regarded as the prototypical agile shortstop with above-average defensive tools, the 6' 0", 150-pound Venezuelan reportedly fared better in live game situations than he did in batting practice, which is rather unusual in that Latin American prospects are often groomed for the sole purpose of performing well in scouting showcases and do not usually invest significant quantities of time into playing in organized games.
Profar, who like Garia and Sardinas is a switch-hitter, was profiled on Friday morning and continues to insist upon playing as a shortstop, stating that he "[doesn't] like sitting on the bench for four days" between starts in spite of his immense promise as a pitcher. According to Jamey Newberg, Profar took batting practice at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Sunday and belted home runs from both sides of the plate, and while raw power doesn't always translate into game power, it's obviously a vital element.]
9 Comments | in Analysis, The Season, Transactions
Reader Comments (9)
I guess this moves Blalock to 1st and hopefully Hamilton to DH with the nice job Byrd did while Hambone was out. Just can't see where Jones would fit, maybe to spell Cruz at right every few nights or rotate with Blalock at 1st as well. Interested to see how this will work.
Wow.
I was beginning to think they would never do that & leave Davis up all year to easily break the all-time strikeout record. Kudos for them for sticking with him so long, but this was the right thing to do. Bet we see what Smoak can do soon.
I remember those rumors I heard in March that Smoak was already a better hitter than Davis, but the club didn't want to ruffle any feathers by leapfrogging Davis.
I don't have the antipathy for Blalock that some have, though. He's not bad as a backup plan until Smoak is ready to have a go.
Meanwhile the pitching just continues to baffle the mind. Every time I think I have this club pegged they surprise me with good baseball & gutsy wins against good clubs. At this rate, won't Ron Washington be at least top 3 for Manager of the Year?
Has to be.
How about this as an option--giving Hamilton playing time at 1st base? The only thing that I see from putting him back in the outfield is future injury.
Blalock is well below replacement level at first, so why not go get a replacement level 1st baseman from another club? The minors are plenty stocked with guys good enough to be underwhelmingly decent. They can be had for nothing in terms of prospects or money. Why confine yourself to in house options or expensive trade targets? Go bargain hunting.
Its time to think seriously about releasing Blalock.
Release Blalock??? What would MY do without his BFF??
MY and his BFF can sit down with their agents and explore all the many options on the market for no field corner infielders with OBP of .290.
Man, no love for Hank Blalock, even after he single-handedly won 2 games for this team last week?
Harsh.
How about this conspiracy theory? Hank builds his trade vaule by playing FT at 1B and gets traded at the deadline. Smoak or Davis comes up to replace him. A genius move by JD. Now all that needs to happen is for Hank to uphold his end of the deal.
JD: Perhaps it is harsh. It's very difficult to remain rational about a player who once upon a time compared favorably to a young George Brett and has deteriorated to a point where he's currently a slightly below-average major league hitter. I love big individual performances as much as the next guy and appreciate Hank's major contributions to those two games we won this past week, but when they come from a guy like Andrus or Holland, you know that it's a meaningful part of their development into future major league stars. With Blalock, it's just kinda there, because you know big nights for him aren't going to be indicative of future success. He is what he is. Unfair? Probably. But I can't help it. Bum
Rob: Not sure how many teams will be in a market for a player of Blalock's unique qualifications (that is, a 1B/DH guy who can't reach base at a replacement-level clip but does admittedly have above-average power), but your thought does lead into an interesting notion -- if Texas does sell off at the deadline (which, frankly, I'm doubting will happen -- they seem likely to stand pat if anything), what is the salary/talent trade-off? That is to say, how much cash will Texas include with Player A to fetch a better prospect(s)? Heck, are they even capable of doing so right now?