Delino DeShields optioned to AAA Nashville

Texas Rangers transactions: Delino DeShields has been optioned to AAA Nashville, the team announced after today’s game. No corresponding move to replace him has been announced, but it is expected that Ronald Guzman will be activated from the injured list.

This is a surprising move, though one that has been bandied about as a possibility. With Logan Forsythe, Danny Santana and Hunter Pence all playing well, and none of them able to be optioned to the minors, Guzman’s return meant that one of those three would have to be waived, a relief pitcher would have to be sent down, or one of the outfielders with options would have to be sent down. Delino, hitting .183/.324/.287, was the odd man out.

I had thought that Texas might, at least for the time being, go with a seven man pen by waiving Jeanmar Gomez, who has an 8.74 ERA and has pitched once, for one inning, in the last 13 days. I thought wrong, however, and it would appear that Joey Gallo will be the every day center fielder for the time being, Danny Santana will be the backup center fielder, and Hunter Pence will be an every day player.

Pence has played well enough this season that it’s hard to argue with him getting more playing time. At the same time, if you are willing to play Gallo in center field every day, it would seem like Willie Calhoun is the guy who you would want to be moving him to center to open up time for. Maybe the Rangers make another move tomorrow, drop Gomez or another reliever, and bring up Calhoun as well as activating Guzman. That seems unlikely, however.