Texas Rangers add six to 40 man roster

The Texas Rangers have added six players to their 40 man roster today, the deadline for adding players to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

Those players are pitchers Brett Martin, Joe Palumbo, Ariel Jurado and Jonathan Hernandez, catcher Jose Trevino, and catcher/infielder/outfielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

We talked about the Rule 5 deadline being today this morning, and at that time I thought Martin, Palumbo, Jurado, Trevino and Kiner-Falefa were likely to be added, and threw out Sam Wolff as a possible sixth. Instead of Wolff, who will miss much of 2018 due to tendon flexor surgery in his right elbow, the Rangers added Hernandez, a 21 year old righthander who split the 2017 season between low-A Hickory and high-A Down East, putting up a 4.03 ERA in 111 innings of work, with 110 Ks against 44 walks and 7 home runs.

The two lefties, Martin and Palumbo, spent all of 2017 with Down East, though all spent significant time on the d.l., and Palumbo will likely start the 2018 campaign on the 60 day disabled list, as he is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will likely be on the shelf until mid-2018.

Trevino, Kiner-Falefa and Jurado were all at AA Frisco this year, and are guys who could end up seeing time in Arlington in 2018.

With these six players added, as well as Robert Herrera, who was acquired via trade earlier today, the Rangers’ 40 man roster is now at 37.