Pedro Figueroa to Have Tommy John Surgery

Apr 22, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Pedro Figueroa (32) pitches the ball against the Oakland Athletics during the eighth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

As if the Texas Rangers did not have enough injuries to worry about, The Texas Rangers website is now reporting that reliever Pedro Figueroa has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon in his left elbow and will require Tommy John surgery, which he will undergo in the next week. Pedro Figueroa was off to a decent start, having an ERA of  4.00, but it was evident very quickly the night he went down that something was wrong. The Texas Rangers seem to be a hot bed for injuries right now as they lead all the majors in that category by a very long shot.

On the plus side the Texas Rangers will get both Adrian Beltre and Matt Harrison back this weekend, and Shin-Soo Choo looks to be more sore than anything else. But what the Texas Rangers really need after Figueroa going out is another quality reliever, like maybe that would have been a good place for Tanner Scheppers to wind up if he himself was not also on the disabled list. The Texas Rangers may have looked at oft criticized lefty Michael Kirkman, but, you guessed it, on the DL. What about Neftali Feliz? On the DL. Maybe we should change the name of the team to the Texas Disabled List. Either way, the Texas Rangers are going to have to find a way to replace Pedro Figueroa in the pen, and pretty quickly as well. Unless of course Martin Perez and Yu Darvish can just start pitching every other day…