Brandon Mann recalled, Delino DeShields optioned

Texas Rangers transactions: Brandon Mann, lefthanded pitcher, has been recalled by the Texas Rangers today, a move that I think we expected, given that the Rangers have blown through their long men in two of the last three days and had Carlos Tocci and Ryan Rua pitching yesterday. What is surprising, however, is that, to get a fresh arm up, the Rangers have optioned Delino DeShields to AAA Round Rock.

DeShields was out of the lineup on Saturday, and has been mired in an awful slump. He is slashing .065/.157/.087 in 52 plate appearances since the beginning of July, and since May 11, is slashing .170/.271/.215 in 237 plate appearances. For the season, he has a .204/.300/.270 slash line, but his defense has been good, and so I think we didn’t expect him to be in jeopardy of being sent down. Apparently, we are wrong.

Mann is here to be an available arm in the bullpen, with Matt Moore and Austin Bibens-Dirkx likely unavailable, and Alex Claudio possibly not available. What will be interesting to see is how the Rangers handle things once the pen gets rested back up. Scott Heineman, a righthanded hitting outfielder who can play all three positions in the outfield and who is slashing .294/.362/.430 for Round Rock, could get brought up to man center field once the Rangers are ready to send a pitcher back down — I’m skeptical they are planning on playing Carlos Tocci out there every day.

We will also want to hear what the organization has to say about the plan for DeShields in AAA Round Rock — if there are specific things they want him to work on, if this is intended to be a short-term break to clear his head, or if there’s something else going on.