In a surprising bit of news, the Rangers have released lefthanded pitcher Miguel de los Santos.

De los Santos was designated for assignment on September 1 in order to make room on the 40 man roster for Jurickson Profar, whose contract was purchased. It was expected that de los Santos would be claimed, as he's a lefthanded pitcher with an outstanding changeup and was viewed as someone who potentially could be an impact reliever.

Once a player is designated for assignment, that player must be traded or waived within 10 days. Once the player is waived, he can either be outrighted or released. Since de los Santos had never been outrighted before, one would have assumed he'd have been outrighted if he cleared waivers. Given that that didn't happen, there must be something else at work here.

I had initially thought that a player could be released without clearing waivers, in which case the Rangers may have released him with the understanding that he would then be signed to a major league deal in the offseason, but it doesn't appear that's possible.