The Rangers continue to trim down the roster in advance of Opening Day
The Texas Rangers have informed a number of players that they will not be making the club’s Opening Day roster, per Evan Grant.
Four of the players Grant lists are Alejandro Osuna, Dustin Harris, Hunter Strickland and Jesse Chavez, and we discussed those moves yesterday when they were announced by the team.
The other nine players who have been informed by the team that they are not making the major league club, per Evan, are pitchers Adrian Houser, David Buchanan, JT Chargois, Matt Festa and Joe Barlow, catchers Tucker Barnhart and Chad Wallach, and infielders Nick Ahmed and Alan Trejo.
Houser had a strong camp, and may have made the team as part of the rotation had the Rangers not signed Patrick Corbin. But with Corbin anticipated to join the rotation at some point in April, and Houser not having an opt-out until May 15, it appears the Rangers are choosing to stash Houser in AAA for the time being, rather than add him to the 40 man roster and keep him up now.
Evan mentions Ahmed, Barnhart, Barlow and Festa as players the Rangers like and would like to see go to AAA, but Ahmed and Barnhart, at least, have enough service time that they can opt out and seek another deal.
These moves leave four players on minor league deals in camp — pitchers Patrick Murphy and Caleb Boushley, outfielder Kevin Pillar, and outfielder/infielder Sam Haggarty. Murphy doesn’t have an opt-out until July 1, so the Rangers could stash him in AAA without losing him. There are sixteen pitchers in the major league camp for thirteen spots currently, and fifteen position players for thirteen spots. The final two position player spots appear to come down to Evan Carter, Ezequiel Duran, Pillar, and Haggarty.
UPDATE — I realized after hitting publish that, given who is left in camp, this would seem to indicate that Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker will both start the season in the major league rotation.