One Rangers game since Wednesday afternoon...that kind of takes the wind out of your sails, although the Rangers continue to maintain a lead in the American League West, so you can't complain too much, I guess.
Plus, Evan Grant says the rest has allowed the Rangers to juggle the rotation. The starters for the Yankees series will be, in order, Kevin Millwood, John Koronka, Kam Loe, and Vicente Padilla, who needs a little extra time to allow his turned ankle to heal.
That bumps the #5 starter spot back to Friday against the Astros, and as I expected it seems that Robinson Tejeda will get the start then.
Grant also says that Erubiel Durazo is likely to elect to take free agency today. A bit disappointing, as the Rangers currently have two backup infielders who aren't getting to play (Drew Meyer and D'Angelo Jimenez), and it seems like replacing one of those guys with Durazo would be a better use of the roster, particularly given that Phil Nevin has stopped hitting.
The good news on that front, though, is that, according to T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers would likely call up Jason Botts if they needed a DH. Botts has been hitting well in AAA this year, and you've got to hope that, if Nevin continues to struggle, the Rangers will make the move with Botts (assuming, of course, they don't go with my Plan A and get Bobby Abreu from the Phillies).
Kat O'Brien says that the Rangers have decisions to make on their closer and second baseman, given that Ian Kinsler is about to be healthy and Francisco Cordero pitching much better. I don't really care if Cordero is a setup guy and Akinori Otsuka is the closer, or vice versa...I don't think which has which role makes much difference.
The second base job, of course, is a much bigger deal, although there's nothing in O'Brien article to indicate what they are going to do there.
Incidentally, after I pointed out that Alfonso Soriano has been slumping, he had a couple of homers over the weekend. This follows a pattern from the last couple of years, where whenever I point out Soriano is cold, he starts hitting. I think he should put me on the payroll.