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Relief pitcher Jose Leclerc has been activated from the disabled list, the Texas Rangers announced this afternoon. To make room for him on the active roster, Texas has designated pitcher Sam Dyson for assignment.
This move was expected, with Ken Rosenthal reporting last night it would be coming down today. Its great to get Leclerc, who was terrific earlier this season, back, and the decision to drop Dyson is understandable.
Nevertheless, its a sad day today with Dyson being cut loose. The Rangers picked up Dyson for almost nothing in July, 2015, and he was a revelation. Dyson stepped up and filled in admirably in the closer role when Shawn Tolleson struggled last year, and he was instrumental in the Rangers winning two division titles.
Shin-Soo Choo wrote, in a column he does for a Korean paper, about how sad he and his teammates were about Dyson leaving, how they cried together after Wednesday’s game. That’s one of the things that makes it disappointing to see some fans celebrate this move, to revel in Dyson being gone. The cliche is that we’re just rooting for laundry, but these are human beings, with families and lives outside of the three hours we watch them. This is hard for both Sam Dyson and for his teammates, and I think its important to keep that in mind.