Sunday hops, 03-10-24.
A weekly compendium emptying the bench, with Rangers developments, rumors, and takes — and yes, a little TROT COFFEY.
Today we lose an hour, and in deference thereto, today I lose the paywall. This week’s Sunday Hops are free for Jordan Montgomery and the rest of you. Let’s get to it.
Emptying the Arizona notebook.
First, let’s rummage through my trusty, old-school, 5” x 7.75” spiral notebook (you have no idea how much harder these are getting to find each time I run out) for some tidbits that didn’t make it into one of the posts from my three days in Surprise. First, in case you missed any of those stories, here they are:
Other things:
Two weeks ago, I read into some things Chris Young said in a radio interview — before Texas had even opened its Cactus League schedule — about a plan to get Evan Carter time at all three outfield positions in camp. To me, it sounded like an exploration of alternatives for Bruce Bochy in the event that (1) he wanted to get Adolis Garcia a day off, or at least a day off his feet, and (2) Wyatt Langford forced his way onto the roster.
So I asked Bochy about it my first morning in Surprise. And . . . yep.
“We’re considering all options,” Bochy said. “Including putting Langford in left field and getting Adolis a day at DH. It’s good to have that kind of flexibility.”
Bochy was then quick to add that Ezequiel Duran could see time in left field as well. But it seemed somewhat clear that the thought process started with a Langford role. “Before we leave camp, I’d like to see all four candidates get some action at the DH role,’’ Bochy said. “We saw last year there can be a dip in numbers when guys DH. It was that way last year with (Mitch) Garver until he adjusted, then he became one of the league’s best.’’
Did you catch that? All four candidates. I don’t think he was talking about Duran.
Carter is starting today in right field, by the way.
Man, Nathan Eovaldi looked so good in his “B” game performance on Tuesday. Four innings with all of his pitches working. Mid-season form.
No — early-season and October form.
I’m not qualified to recognize this, but I am willing to irresponsibly speculate that Brock Burke has quieted that head whip in his delivery. The one that has looked like this:
To my unqualified eye, there was less of it when he threw in that same “B” game.
A bounceback year from Burke, who was so good in 2022 but less dependable in 2023 (he was excluded from the ALCS roster and was off the World Series roster, too, until reinstated when Max Scherzer went down), would be huge.
Justin Foscue is getting force-fed a bunch of work at first base, not only in games but also in morning drills in which he’s outnumbered by coaches, and for what it’s worth, he looks comfortable there to me. Far more so than Duran ever has. With Nathaniel Lowe a question mark for Opening Day, Jared Walsh is probably the better bet to break camp at first base — for one, Foscue tweaked a muscle in his side on Friday and the Rangers are playing things safe since they may already be without Lowe — but Foscue doesn’t appear overmatched by the relatively new position.
Same impression of Abimelec Ortiz. Big-bodied, but seems to have good feet and hands on ground balls and around the bag. The bat will be what gets the undrafted free agent to the big leagues if he makes it, but he looks like he can defend.
The Ides of March.
The Athletic reports that Dodgers non-roster reliever Daniel Hudson has an opt-out on March 15. That’s significant less because Hudson could be sprung loose (he’s probably earned a job in the Los Angeles pen) than because of the date. A couple weeks ago I pondered whether the first automatic opt-out date for veterans on non-roster deals would be March 15 or March 23 , as the CBA specifies that first date is five days before the regular season begins. Opening Day is March 28 for most teams, but March 20 for the Dodgers and Padres.
If in fact March 15 is an automatic opt-out date around the league for qualified non-roster veterans, there should be some free-agent movement this Friday for players whose current teams don’t add them to the 40-man roster. Keep an eye on this; it could be a source of rotation depth.
It also means Friday could be a key day for Jose Urena, who has more than six years of MLB service and thus gets the automatic opt-out opportunity if Texas doesn’t roster him by then. Walsh and Adrian Sampson don’t have the six-year minimum and so don’t qualify — assuming the Rangers didn’t grant them specific opt-outs in their deals.
Church.
It’s been a disappointing camp for the Rangers’ young starting pitcher options, especially troublesome given how thin they are in first-half rotation depth. But the team’s young hitters — Langford, Foscue, Davis Wendzel, Blaine Crim — have stepped up in big-league camp this spring.
As have a few young relievers. Both Yerry Rodriguez, who is out of options, and Grant Anderson have shown signs of real improvement. But among those with no major-league experience, it’s Marc Church who has emerged as a potential factor in 2024, if not to open the season then potentially soon after.
I ranked Church as the number 20 prospect in the system in August, highest among relievers. The 22-year-old’s walk rate ballooned in 2023 to 5.5 per nine innings, double what it had been the two previous years, but he’s harnessed his control in camp thus far — and the stuff has always been there. In seven spring training innings (six appearances), the righty has allowed no runs on just one hit and two walks, fanning seven with what can be a deadly fastball-slider mix.
Texas optioned Antoine Kelly this morning, while Church remains in camp. It probably can’t be ruled out that Church stays there all the way, but it could work against him a bit that he’s optionable.
Still, it’s looking very likely that he’ll make his big-league debut this season.
Rangers claim Barrero.
The Rangers made their first 60-day injured list move, shifting Rule 5 pick Carson Coleman off the roster. They’ll have the ability to do the same as needed with Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Tyler Mahle to make room for whichever non-roster players among Langford, Walsh, Sampson, Urena, Jesus Tinoco, Danny Duffy, Diego Castillo, and Matt Duffy they decide belong on the Opening Day roster.
The Coleman move, however, was made to clear a spot for the claim of former Top prospect Jose Barrero off waivers from the Reds.
The 25-year-old shortstop-center fielder — who was Baseball America’s number 33 prospect in the game going into 2022 — was Cincinnati’s Opening Day shortstop last year, but hit his way back to Triple-A. His power-speed profile reemerged at that level, as he hit .258/.333/.540 with 19 home runs and 20 stolen bases (21 attempts) in 80 games.
Of note, Barrero is out of options. It seems unlikely that he’d beat out Duran or Josh Smith for a shortstop/utility role, and so the Rangers’ plan may be to run him through waivers themselves toward the end of camp — when rosters spots around the league are tougher to experiment with as teams make room to add their own non-roster players for Opening Day — with hopes that they can slide Barrero through and outright him to Round Rock.
Already assigned to Round Rock: Kelly and fellow pitcher Cole Winn, catcher Sam Huff, and infielder Jonathan Ornelas, who were all optioned this morning, along with righty Jose Corniell, who heads to Frisco for what will be his Double-A debut.
Rankings update.
I noted this week that MLB Pipeline was set to update its farm system rankings, and it has done so. After slotting the Rangers 10th in August, they are now up to number seven.
Now that I’ve had my time on the backfields in Arizona, I’ve moved my work on the season-opening Top 72 Rangers prospects list to the front burner. Will have those rankings out soon.
TROT COFFEY!
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Red Sox remain in contact with Montgomery but “seem disinclined to (meet) the seven-year deal Montgomery seeks.”
I’m disinclined to believe that’s still the ask for Scott Boras — if it ever was.
I am also disinclined to give Montgomery a seven year deal. Don’t get me wrong… he was GREAT for us last year, but that was also the best year of his career and I don’t want to bet seven (or maybe even five) high dollar years to an aging pitcher.