Texas Rangers Roster Moves

The Texas Rangers have made some important roster moves in the past couple of days that have changed the landscape of this team. After the loss suffered by the Houston Astros this afternoon, the Rangers headed into tonight’s game 3.5 games back for the division lead.  With the lead shrinking, this team is going to need as many healthy players as they can get and they will need to be performing at a high level.

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Adrian Beltre has not played a game since May 31st after he suffered a sprained left thumb. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list and after a longer than hoped for recovery, was activated before yesterday’s game. In his first game back, Beltre went 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and a run scored on an Elvis Andrus double. Beltre was slotted back into the clean-up spot and provided the power right-handed batter they have been lacking in between the Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland. Beltre is the leader of this team and they have missed him while he has been gone. The return of Beltre brings up the issue of what to do with Joey Gallo now that the third base spot is taken. Since being called up, Gallo has hit .221/.312/.471 with five home runs and 31 strikeouts in 77 plate appearances. For now, Gallo remains with in the majors due to his ability to hit. The corresponding move to the Beltre activation was reliever Jon Edwards was optioned to the Round Rock Express.

A major move that was made today was the the Rangers recalled outfielder Michael Choice from the Express. Choice was one of the Minor League top performers for the Rangers last week and has hit .242/.299/.404 for the Express so far this season. Choice played in 86 games for the Rangers last year and hit .182/.250/.320 which was one of the reasons that he started off with the Express this season. To balance out the roster, the Rangers optioned another reliever to the Express, this time Alex Claudio who was recalled from the Express last Friday. Claudio has pitched in a total of 18 games for the team this season and has a 2.87 ERA. This past week, he gave up just one run in two innings, although that one run was the in the extra innings game against the Chicago White Sox in the bottom of the 11th that cost the Rangers the game. Choice adds to the depth of the outfield and if he can hit like he did this past week would be given a chance to take over for Leonys Martin if Martin continues to struggle.

According to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Shin-Soo Choo was held out of the lineup today with back spasms. The lineup was adjusted to allow Gallo to play left field and Ryan Rua moved to right field. If Choo returns soon, it will be interesting to see how the outfield looks on a daily basis with Hamilton, Choo, Choice, Martin, Rua, and Gallo assuming he stays in the majors.

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