SURPRISE, Ariz. – Talk about quick decisions. The Rangers may have some answers on a few opening day roster spots by the end of the week.
Decisions will be made for them if the “couple” of unvaccinated players on the 40-man roster don’t accept a Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID-19 vaccine by Sunday. The Rangers open the season April 8 at Toronto and plan to travel on the evening of April 5 from Arizona. The Canadian government’s current regulations for entry into the country call for all non-essential visitors to have been vaccinated 14 days before entering the country.
Because of the short window between the start of camp Monday and the travel date, players who haven’t taken a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine won’t have enough time to get both shots. It leaves only J&J as an option. And that would have to be administered by March 22.
President of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels said the message to players has been simple: “It is what it is. The games are on the schedule and the laws are the laws.”
There is a further complication: The J&J vaccine, which reportedly isn’t as effective as the two-dose treatments, has been hard to find. The Rangers have asked their unvaccinated players to receive the vaccine before Sunday. The Rangers have not disclosed which players are currently unvaccinated.
Players who don’t receive the vaccine would be placed on the restricted list and would not be eligible for the first series. Nor would they receive pay or service time.
The Rangers are still trying to get clarification from MLB on whether they’d be able to add a player not on their 40-man roster and then remove that player from the 40 without exposing him to waivers. That is how MLB handled players who tested positive for COVID or were deemed direct contacts in 2020 and 2021.
Casting call: The Rangers announced minor league deals, with invitations to major league spring training for outfield defense specialist Jake Marisnick, reliever Brandon Workman and starter Matt Moore. According to a source, they are also in agreement with reliever Dan Winkler, pending a physical.
Marisnick, who turns 31 on March 31, can play all three outfield positions. He has saved 75 runs, according to Fangraphs, since 2013. He spent most of his career with Houston but split last year between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego. The right-handed hitter could be a late-game defensive sub for whoever ends up in left field, where the Rangers currently have a hole.
Winkler, 32, pitched 39 2/3 innings in 47 games for the Cubs last year and averaged more than a strikeout per inning. He relies heavily on a slider and has traditionally been very tough in right-on-right matchups, but he gave up 25 free bases on walks (18) and hit batters (7) against 105 total right-handers faced.
Moore, 32, pitched in 13 games for Detroit in 2021 and was with the Rangers in 2018. Over the last five seasons, he is 11-27 with a 5.89 ERA in 359 major league innings. Workman, 33, spent last year split between the Cubs and Boston and posted a 5.46 ERA in 29 games (28 innings).
White stripes: Here’s that rarest of rarities: positive spring training injury news. Outfielder Eli White, who had surgery on his throwing shoulder last September, may be ahead of schedule in his recovery. The things that happen when teams can’t monitor their players’ recoveries during a lockout.
White reported to camp with only a week remaining on his throwing program and started throwing to bases Monday. He is already swinging a bat and took perhaps the day’s most impressive round of batting practice. While the Rangers knew he’d be able to swing this spring, they weren’t certain about throwing.
Manager Chris Woodward said the Rangers were impressed with how well White applied the ideas from pre-lockout conversations with new offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker. Woodward echoed again that White “has as a high a ceiling as anybody in the organization.”
Briefly: The Rangers made the return of lefty Martin Perez official Monday. Perez, per sources, will receive $4 million in base salary. … 2020 first-rounder Justin Foscue, who had been at minor league camp for the last two weeks, did not participate in Monday’s first workout with some minor lower back stiffness.
+++
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
