We've been speculating on who will stay and who will go when JHJ and Brad Wilkerson are ready to return...
Evan Grant suggests that the decision on what two players will go down has already been made, and it is just a question of who goes down first and who goes down second:
Hairston went 1-for-3 with a home run for Triple-A Oklahoma on Sunday. He should be activated Tuesday, and then the Rangers will have to send somebody back to the minor leagues.
It probably won't be Diaz.
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The Rangers' decision will come down to either Nelson Cruz or Matt Kata. Both are in slumps. Kata, who was 0-for-4 Sunday, is hitless in his last 20 at-bats and has just one hit in his last 39. His season average has fallen to .186. He also made a critical defensive mistake Sunday.
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Whoever sticks around this week, however, will probably be sent down when Brad Wilkerson returns from the disabled list.
This is as it should be. Cruz has the second lowest VORP in baseball among positional players right now, ahead of just Jason Kendall, and Matt Kata has the second lowest VORP on the team.
And then, once Sammy gets his 600 and we do the warm fuzzies there, we can ship Sammy out and bring Jason Botts up to DH.