And the Rangers resume playing today. I'll be at the game tonight, and Ben will supposedly be monitoring the game day threads.
Derek Holland is back in the rotation and pitching Sunday, with the Twins' lefty-heavy lineup apparently a contributing factor in the decision to go with Holland rather than Tommy Hunter, who was originally scheduled to start on Sunday, or Dustin Nippert.
Of course, the Twins have a 766 OPS against lefties this season, vs. a 765 OPS against righties...
Also of note from those notes is that Matt Harrison threw a bullpen session, but is supposedly going to have multiple rehab starts before returning, and that David Murphy is still hurting. Harrison's situation may have played into the decision to put Holland back in the rotation, as his target return date was August 1, but if he's going to have multiple rehab starts before he comes back, he's probably looking at mid-August instead. Which means, rather than one or maybe two starts from Harrison's stand-in, the Rangers are looking at four or five starts, which could have been the tipping point in going with Holland rather than Nippert.
I'd have a little more confidence in the organization's decision-making on this if I didn't keep remembering that these are the same folks who felt the team would be better off with Kris Benson in the rotation than with Scott Feldman.
Orlando Hernandez will not be joining the Ranger bullpen. He's been informed the Rangers aren't planning on adding him to the active roster prior to his opt-out date on Monday, and thus he'll be exercising his opt-out option and will be looking to join another organization.
Anthony Andro has a Q&A up with Ron Washington, who is fired up about the second half.
T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers have talked to the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay, and the cost is expected to be Justin Smoak and at least two good young pitchers. I'm guessing we are talking about something like Smoak, Perez, and Beavan for Halladay, which is probably more than the Rangers are willing to give up.