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The Texas Rangers have traded righthanded reliever Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves for righthanded starting pitcher Tyrell Jenkins and lefthanded reliever Brady Feigl, per reports on Twitter.
Jackson, 25, was selected by the Rangers with the #45 overall pick in the 2010 draft, while Jenkins was picked #50 overall. Jackson appeared to be poised to carve out a spot in the Rangers’ bullpen after getting a cup of coffee in 2015, but despite rampant injuries and ineffectiveness in the major league pen, LuJack couldn’t claim a regular spot, and wasn’t even called up in September. He seemed to fall out of favor with the organization in 2016 as he struggled to throw strikes all season, and may have been bigger than the club had hoped for.
Jenkins, 24, had 8 starts and 6 relief appearances for the Braves in 2016. In 52 innings, he struck out 26 and walked 33. The Henderson, Texas, native has struggled with high walk totals and low K rates in the minors, but as someone who worked mostly in the rotation in the minor leagues, he will presumably be looked to for starting pitching depth in Round Rock.
Feigl, who turns 26 this month, is a lefty reliever who was signed by the Braves as an undrafted free agent out of Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland in 2014. He had a nice pro debut, but then needed Tommy John surgery in April, 2015, and has pitched just 6 innings since.
This seems to be a classic “change of scenery” deal, as the Braves and Rangers swap guys who haven’t quite lived up to expectations, and will look to start with a clean slate with their new clubs. I don’t really have a ton to say about this, other than I’m disappointed that things didn’t work out better in Texas for LuJack, and I hope things click for him in Atlanta.
Jackson and Jenkins are both on the 40 man roster, so this doesn’t impact that situation for Texas -- the 40 man roster is still at 39, and will go to 40 when Carlos Gomez officially signs.
Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot they took someone in the Rule 5 draft today. The 40 man roster is at 40. Someone will have to be dropped to make room for Carlos Gomez when he signs.