Texas Rangers Designate Reliever Nick Goody for Assignment

The Texas Rangers announced on Thursday that they have designated reliever and offseason addition Nick Goody for assignment.

The Texas Rangers brought reliever Nick Goody in to the club this past offseason with hopes that he could bolster their bullpen and be part of a pitching staff with high expectations. However, like many of his pitching counterparts, Goody struggled to find his footing in a strange 2020 season and just prior to Thursday’s game, the Rangers announced that they had designated Goody for assignment and called up infielder Andrew Romine.

Texas claimed Goody from the Indians last offseason after the right-hander had delivered a strong season in which he made 39 relief appearances. He posted a 3.54 ERA in 40.2 innings while accumulating 50 strikeouts on the year. The 2019 season came just a couple of seasons after Goody produced a career best year with Cleveland in 2017 where he posted a 2.80 ERA in 56 appearances.

The Rangers were hoping Goody could build on a pair of strong seasons and become a key cog in their bullpen machine. However Goody struggled with command in his 17 outings for Texas and also became a little too prone to giving up the long ball on the year.

Goody has pitched 11 innings for Texas this year and issued eight walks. Opponents hit .298 off the 29-year old and 14 of the hits he gave up were home runs. Those struggles, along with the fact that Goody was due to likely make over $1 million next year in arbitration likely played a role is him being DFA’d.

Texas will still have a bullpen puzzle to piece together next season and it’s possible Goody could return for the 2021 campaign if needed. However one of the areas the Rangers have been the best at developing homegrown talent is with relievers and we’ve seen a number of young debutants this season. With names like Jonathan Hernandez, Rafael Montero, Kyle Cody, John King and Wes Benjamin all potentially playing a role in the bullpen next season alongside Brett Martin and Jose Leclerc who is set to return from injury, Texas’ bullpen isn’t likely to have a ton of open spots to start the year.