Kolby Allard, Brock Burke, Joe Palumbo start next three

The Texas Rangers play four games in three days against the Los Angeles Angels to start this coming week, and rookie lefthanders Kolby Allard, Brock Burke and Joe Palumbo will start the first three of those games, with Mike Minor starting the series finale on Wednesday.

I think this has been anticipated, but the Rangers made it official today, saying Burke would make his major league debut in Game 1 of the doubleheader, and Joe Palumbo will pitch Game 2 of the doubleheader. Both pitchers are in AAA right now, meaning roster moves will have to be made to add them.

My guess is that the Rangers option a reliever — Adrian Sampson or Ian Gibaut would seem to be the obvious choices — on Monday evening. On Tuesday, they would recall Burke before Game 1, and recall the optioned reliever as their 26th player for the series, since under MLB rules, teams can have a 26th player active for a doubleheader scheduled at least 48 hours in advance, and the rule you have to be in the minors for 10 days before being recalled is waived for the 26th man. After Game 1, Burke would be optioned back to Nashville, and Joe Palumbo would replace him and start Game 2. The 26th man would be sent back down after Game 2.

Under that scenario, Palumbo would stay in the rotation going forward. Burke will, I suspect, be in the rotation for September, when rosters expand. Ariel Jurado is still slated to start on Thursday, but with his recent struggles, his days in the rotation appear numbered.