Chirinos to i.l., Trevino, Nicasio active

Texas Rangers transactions: Robinson Chirinos has been placed on the injured list with an ankle injury, the team announced today. To take the place of Chirinos, as well as Edinson Volquez, who was placed on the 45 day injured list yesterday, on the active roster, the Rangers have brought up Jose Trevino and Juan Nicasio from the Alternate Training Site.

Trevino was sent down when the rosters went from 30 to 28 active players, as the Rangers felt they couldn’t afford the luxury of three catchers at that point. Trevino is now back, and will presumably be splitting time with Jeff Mathis until Chirinos is ready to return.

Nicasio, a righthanded pitcher who turns 35 later this month, takes the 40 man roster spot previously occupied by Volquez, as well as his spot on the active roster. Nicasio originally came up in the Colorado Rockies’ system as a starter, but switched to relief work after his first few seasons in the majors. He had a breakout 2017 season that resulted in the Seattle Mariners signing him to a 2 year, $17 million deal for 2018-19, but he had an awful year in Seattle in 2018, and was shipped to the Philadelphia Phillies that offseason as salary ballast in the trade that sent Jean Segura to the Phillies, with J.P. Crawford and Carlos Santana going to the M’s.

Nicasio put up a 4.75 ERA in 47.1 IP for the Phillies in 2019, and signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this past offseason. He will presumably be in a middle relief role.

In other transactional news, Greg Bird, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week, has cleared waivers and become a free agent.