Joey Gallo to the majors, Adrian Beltre to the disabled list

Texas Rangers rumors:  Joey Gallo is no longer a member of the AA Frisco Roughriders, but whether he is going to be a member of the Round Rock Express or the Texas Rangers is still unknown.

Per Jeff Wilson, Gallo did not travel with the Roughriders when they left on their road trip today, and the original plan had been for the 21 year old Gallo to go to AAA Round Rock.  With Adrian Beltre about to be put on the disabled list, however, Wilson says that the Rangers are "mulling" whether to send him to the major leagues instead.

Gallo, a supplemental first round pick of the Rangers in 2012, was promoted to Frisco around this time last season.  He had destroyed the Carolina League at a .323/.463/.735 rate to earn the promotion, and spent 68 games with the Roughriders last year, logging a .232/.334/.524 line.  Gallo has had 146 plate appearances over 34 games for Frisco this year, and has registered a .314/.425/.636 slash line, with 49 Ks against 24 walks.

Gallo is considered the top prospect in the Rangers system, and as a third baseman, he's a natural fit to replace Beltre while Adrian is on the d.l.  However, the general consensus is that Gallo is not quite major league ready at this point, and putting him in the majors would mean adding him to the 40 man roster, which would mean burning an option on him when he gets sent back down when Beltre is ready to return, and using a 40 man spot on him this winter, which would reduce the team's flexibility.

If the Rangers don't call up Gallo, they could opt to bring Rougned Odor back to the big leagues.  Odor was sent down to AAA three weeks ago, and since going down, has put up a .297/.375/.641 line in 73 plate appearances over 18 games for Round Rock.

Another possibility would be bringing up utility man Ed Lucas from AAA, and letting him hold down the fort until Ryan Rua is ready to return.  Rua is currently on the 60 day disabled list, but is hoping to be able to go on a rehab assignment later this week, and would be eligible to be activated on June 10.  Rua started the year as the Rangers' regular left fielder, but has spent most of his minor league career playing second base and third base.

UPDATE -- Right as I hit publish on this story, Jon Daniels announced on The Fan that Joey Gallo was coming up to the major leagues.  So disregard all that I wrote up there -- Gallo is going to be a big leaguer tomorrow.

UPDATE II -- John Blake just tweeted that the Rangers have purchased the contract of Joey Gallo, and have placed Adrian Beltre on the 15 day disabled list.

UPDATE III -- Jon Daniels has apparently said that the Gallo call-up is a short-term thing, and that he will be up only for so long as Beltre is on the disabled list.