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Evan Help Us: What’s going on with Rangers injuries, plus Kendrick or Drake?

Rangers insider Evan Grant answers questions about the Rangers’ injuries, umpires vs. catchers, potential trade targets and more.

Hello from the Help Desk where we could use some ourselves. Took a break from a 10-day road trip to return to Dallas and walked right into perhaps the worst allergy attack of the last 25 years. North Texas seasonal allergies are something, man. Between the sneezing, watering eyes and an itchy roof of the mouth (TMI, I know), it’s been a miserable day here.

But you had questions and we tried to come up with answers. Just judge us with some grace today. Between the Benadryl and the Mucinex, we have been struggling. Anyway, you’ve got questions, a lot of which are about injuries, and I’ll try to answer.

ME: On a Zoom Wednesday morning, Chris Young indicated that Josh Jung would be another “six or seven weeks.” He’s exactly five weeks out from surgery that surgeon Don Sheridan determined was a little more severe than had been originally anticipated. Before undergoing surgery, the Rangers had estimated that Jung would need 6-8 weeks before return; afterwards, they adjusted upwards to an 8-12 week process. Based on what Young said on Wednesday, it sounds like Jung is trending towards the longer-end of that range.

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Jung is not on the current road trip. When I talked to him last, he acknowledged the wrist area was still swollen and tight and the Rangers were working to break up scar tissue and improve mobility. I do know that next week he has a six-week check-in with the surgeon and if healing of the area is going according to plan, he can start to ramp up activities. Right now, he really can’t do much with the hand. On a personal level, I feel really bad for him. He’s an enthusiastic, talented player who has just had a whole bunch of early-career setbacks that simply couldn’t be foreseen.

On the positive side, he should be hitting his stride around the time the second half starts. Around the tie that a lineup typically hits summer doldrums, he could be just starting to rake.

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ME: On April 26, it was revealed that Bradford had a stress fracture in his 12th rib and would miss “about another month.” He did not travel with the Rangers on the current road trip, which is an indication he’s still not close to returning. I think June 1 is probably the most realistic target date at this point. But, given the Rangers dire lack of starting pitching, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Rangers bring Bradford back a bit sooner than would be typical if they had plenty of pitching options. They currently don’t. When he’s ready to throw even 75 pitches (as opposed to 90), he could become an option. I mean, there just aren’t many options for the Rangers right now.

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ME: Hard one to answer properly. Everybody is looking for an edge. When teams understood you could “steal” strikes by framing, it became a real priority for catchers. In catching instructor Bobby Wilson, the Rangers have an expert on the art. In Jonah Heim and (before him, Jose Trevino), the Rangers had two of the best in the art.

I guess the best way to explain this: Until we get an automated strike zone, it is in every team’s advantage to do everything it can to receive the ball in such a way that the umpire’s call best benefits the pitcher. As long as the human element is involved, it’s all about the art of presentation. Nothing wrong with trying to make a pitch look like a strike. That’s the catcher’s job. The catcher’s job is to get as many strikes as possible for the pitcher. No penalty for presentation. The umpires job is to call balls and strikes accurately and to not be fooled by presentation. To me, it’s pretty black and white. Got no issues with how the catcher receives the ball. You can’t legislate that, either. It is the umpire’s responsibility to call it accurately. I’m not sure if that sounds like an answer or a lecture. Don’t mean it as the latter. Just feels pretty much like one side has learned how to find an edge on the system and the other side is struggling to do it’s job.

ME: I never got a clear answer on why the Rangers and A’s played a doubleheader on Wednesday. But that’s how Oakland originally scheduled it. Best I can come up with, it gives Oakland a break from what would be a 17-day stretch without a day off. And gives them a day before they travel to Seattle. I’m not sure Oakland ownership cares about it’s players that much. Or its fans at all. My guess is somewhere there is some petty financial savings or incentive involved. Or better answer: It’s the A’s. Nothing has to make sense, I guess.

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ME: Honestly, too early to figure out what is the exact target. Everybody needs bullpen arms come the deadline. And good as Kirby Yates/David Robertson have been, I’d think you’d still like to have a true power arm at the back of the ‘pen for a playoff race. But the Rangers aren’t a quarter of the way through the season and they seem to already have run short of starters. Maybe that’s a non-issue come middle of July with potential returns of Bradford, Eovaldi, Scherzer, Mahle and deGrom. And this is assuming the Wednesday move of Dane Dunning to the IL is not a long-term issue. Bruce Bochy told our Shawn McFarland the Rangers think he’ll be fine in 15 days when he’s eligible. But ... we’ll see.

If you are the Rangers, you are going to have to be willing to deal either Josh Smith, who is increasing his value right now, or Ezequiel Duran, who isn’t. Beyond that, Justin Foscue would seem to be a potential trade piece, but his oblique injury is going to rob him of opportunity to raise his value. The Rangers have integrated a number of young position players on to the roster in the last year - Josh Jung, Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford. That’s a significant step for player development, but it also skims off a level of potential trade commodities.

Don’t know where I’d stand on including Jack Leiter in any kind of trade talk. If he pitches well, he’s too valuable to this club going forward. If he doesn’t, I think his value plummets again. Short of involving Sebastian Walcott, who is about to become the No. 1 prospect in the system, I’m not sure what the Rangers’ big-time trade inventory is. Good news: I really think come July this team may only need to finish off the roster, not overhaul it.

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ME: Last offseason, Dane Dunning, Jon Gray, Cody Bradford, Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning all pitched out of the bullpen in some role. And all of them were effective. They each have different attributes and liabilities. But just from my perspective, I think Gray has the best stuff to profile as a postseason high-leverage reliever.

If - If - the Rangers get Eovaldi, Scherzer, Mahle and deGrom back, that could be their postseason rotation. All five of the guys mentioned above could end up pitching out of the bullpen. It could be really interesting because at this point, the Rangers bullpen is shaping up as better than it was a year ago. Not sure there would be room for all of those guys out there. What I am confident of is this: When given legitimate bullpen weapons, Bruce Bochy is absolutely brilliant. The shuffling of pitchers for last year’s playoffs gave Bochy a much different looking ‘pen and he used that bullpen exquisitely.

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ME: Yeah, I asked him. And basically the same answer comes down regardless of who the GM is: They had higher priorities. In the case of Slaten, just think the Rangers believed a team wouldn’t be able to carry him all year. And the Rangers seemed to think Carson Coleman, whom they eventually drafted in the same Rule 5 draft, had a higher upside. Coleman, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, averaged 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings to 4.1 walks in the minors. Slaten, who like Coleman is 26, averaged 12.2 Ks to 4.5 walks. So, the numbers were slightly better. And the fact that Coleman could be moved to the 60-day IL as he recovered from Tommy John meant that he wouldn’t need to be on the 40-man roster for much of the year.

What they didn’t expect is that Slaten would end up being the best rookie pitcher in the AL. With Boston, he’s allowed just three walks in 20 innings. He’s been surprisingly good in an extended relief role. If he sticks with Boston all year, it will be the second straight year the Rangers ended up losing a pitcher to another organization on a Rule 5 claim. Mason Englert is with the Detroit organization. He spent all last year with the Tigers and, as such, is now their property. It allowed them to option him to the minors this year.

Given the Rangers’ issues with developing pitching, it does stick out that they’ve lost pitchers in consecutive years on Rule 5 claims. But it’s not like they’ve lost starters. They’ve lost guys who pitched in middle or long-relief. Right now, the decision not to keep Slaten looks like a mistake.

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ME: I’m not much into diss-track drama, but I think if there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that Drake is never the right answer. I live in fear of having to write a story about Drake showing up somewhere in a Rangers’ jersey. How am I going to explain how the season blew up?

ME: I think the addition of Robbie Grossman allows the Rangers to buy a little bit of time to make sure that Langford’s hamstring is healed and so is his bat. To me - and I’m no great observer of swing mechanics - it seems a bit like Langford has gotten nervous hands at the plate. Feel like the bat was moving a bit more than it did during spring training. That makes a swing longer. I think it’s an easy enough issue to fix once he gets a bit of a mental break, but trying to fix it all at the major league level and produce may have gotten him into some bad habits.

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I’m not sure what “extended” means in this context. He’s going to be out about 3-4 weeks and so I’d expect close to a week’s worth of rehab at-bats before the Rangers make a decision. I’m not sure at what point it becomes more of a glorified minor league assignment vs. a straight rehab assignment. But it will be interesting to see how they handle it once he’s back on the field. In the meantime, the hamstring strain was a bit more than they expected. So, he’s going to need a bit of rest.

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