On German

I'm surprised about how much complaining there is about Franklyn German being DFA'd today, given how much complaining there usually is when he's brought into the game.

With the Rangers needing a fresh arm in the pen who can given them innings, after the wringer the pen has been through the past two days, calling up Loe makes sense.  And to make room for him, the Rangers really had three choices, assuming they didn't put someone on the d.l.  They could option Doug Mathis, they could option Josh Rupe, or they could cut ties with Franklyn German.

Despite German's gaudy ERA, he hasn't been that good this season.  He's allowed a lot of inherited runners to score, and he's got a lousy K/BB rate (15/13 in 21 2/3 IP).  He's throwing strikes only 57% of the time (compared to 62% on average), and throws a first pitch strike only 40% of the time.  I think the Rangers were willing to take a flyer on him because he's a big guy who throws hard, they need some strikeout guys in the bullpen, and they felt maybe they could catch lightning in a bottle.  But his career-long control problems continued to be an issue here, and at the end of the day, he was expendable.

I'm guessing the team is going to have Kam Loe up for a few days, send him back down on May 25 to make room for A.J. Murray, and have Doug Mathis go back to the bullpen.  I think, as much as anything, this is a sign of how much the Rangers like Mathis and Josh Rupe, who they clearly preferred to keep up in the majors, rather than having them do the OKC shuttle.

My bigger issue with German isn't cutting him loose now, but in putting him on the 40 man roster (and on the 25 man roster) at the start of the season, rather than letting him pitch in Oklahoma and seeing how he did there before committing to him.  And clearly up a 40 man slot probably was somewhat of a consideration, given that Thomas Diamond will have to be activated from the 60 day d.l. soon, and given that Nelson Cruz may end up coming back to the majors before too long.

German didn't suck this year, but he wasn't anything special, either, and with Frankie Francisco re-establishing himself and with Warner Madrigal progressing, I think the team felt there were better options than German for the flamethrowing righty role in the pen.  I wouldn't have minded sending Mathis or Rupe down and keeping German around, but given that I didn't think German necessarily should have been here in the first place, I don't have an issue with cutting him loose now.

UPDATE -- Evan Grant says it was primarily a matter of German walking too many batters and allowing too many inherited runners to score, with Frank Catalanotto and Josh Rupe's situation also playing a role.