Rangers Activate Mark Lowe, Alberto Gonzalez Designated For Assignment

Mark Lowe was missed. The Rangers bullpen dealing with so many injuries sometimes needed him but instead Ron Washington had to go to Michael Kirkman or Tanner Scheppers. It was expected that with Lowe back in the mix, one of them would be sent back to the minors.

But nothing this team does is conventional. Alberto Gonzalez was designated for assignment in a move that isn’t really surprising considering Gonzalez was, well, never used. What is surprising is that the Rangers are going to go with a bench of Craig Gentry, Mike Olt and Geovany Soto which means that Michael Young is their DH/Utility Man.

DH/Utility Man was probably a phrase never used before in the history of man kind, because DH is the exact opposite of utility man. You see, once a DH is in the game he can only DH. He can’t go into the field. He can’t show off his “utility”. That’s why I don’t understand using a catcher as DH. Basically, if something happens where you need your DH in the field, you have to have your pitcher bat. Which isn’t that big of a deal until you realize you only have three men on the bench to pinch hit.

A three-man bench never makes sense. I like a lot of what the Rangers organization has done, and in some weird ways most decisions can be justified. This one, quite simply cannot be.

The only thing that I can see this doing is opening a spot on the 40-man roster for Jurickson Profar to make his major league debut once the bullpen is rested. In the mean time, this move, even if it is only for one game is as stupid as the decision to have Young at shortstop. And I don’t have to tell you guys how stupid that one is.