Evan Grant says Kason Gabbard's departure last night was due to forearm stiffness, and Gabbard and Ron Washington both say Gabbard should make his Friday start. That would be a good thing...
Gil LeBreton is worked up about the injury, though, invoking Justin Thompson and implying the Rangers didn't do their homework in trading for a pitcher with a history of arm problems.
Grant also says progress is being made with all three unsigned first rounders, and it is starting to sound like Blake Beavan, Neil Ramirez, and Julio Borbon are all going to be signed. As I mentioned last night, I think Beavan is the only one who there's much danger of not signing, with the Rangers likely going above slot for both Borbon and Ramirez.
Also from Grant is this clarification on the compensation picks:
That's what I figured would be the case...otherwise, if the top 5 selections one year didn't sign, those 5 teams would get the 2nd through 6th picks of the next year's draft, with the team with the second-worst record getting the 7th pick.
Grant also says that the Rangers are still talking to 5th rounder John Gast, but not 4th rounder Garrett Nash.
A day after the Mets put Paul LoDuca on the disabled list, backup catcher Ramon Castro went down with a back problem. Mike DeFelice is currently the Mets' only backup catcher...which leads me to wonder, should Castro end up having to go on the d.l., if the Rangers might not be talking about sending Adam Melhuse (or even Gerald Laird) to the Mets.
And if you are feeling masochistic, Mike Pindelski takes a look at the Chris Young trade, and concludes it was pretty awful for the Rangers.