Good morning. Please forgive any typos or missed articles this morning as I’m putting this together smack in the middle of aura effects heralding in a migraine that is sure to only be half as painful as being a fan of the Texas Rangers.
Kennedi Landry writes that Jose Leclerc is the latest casualty of being employed to throw baseballs for the Rangers.
Jeff Wilson writes about Leclerc’s new spring elbow woes after shoulder issues derailed his 2020 season.
Evan Grant notes that Leclerc is expected to miss significant time which is a blow for a bullpen that already saw Jonathan Hernandez hit the shelf.
Levi Weaver writes that a lot of problems in the lineup could be solved if Khris Davis started hittin’ a bunch of dingers for Texas.
Wilson notes that, in addition to the Leclerc news, Davis and David Dahl left yesterday’s spring training action with injuries, though neither of those are expected to be Leclerc-level catastrophes.
Fangraphs and Dan Szymborski begin their positional power rankings with a look at first base which the Rangers are hoping is improved in 2021.
Nate Lowe is supposed to help with those first base improvements and Landry notes that, while it’s taken him a bit to get going this spring, he’s sticking to his process.
The final pick of the first round (Competitive Balance Round A) in the 2019 MLB draft Davis Wendzel kicks off Grant’s top ten in the DMN Rangers prospect rankings.
Jonathan Mayo and the MLB Pipeline folks have a breakdown of the MLB farm systems following their big spring update and the Rangers make it out more favorably than expected.
And, as Grant notes, Fox Sports Southwest is becoming Bally Sports Southwest just in time for Opening Day but the real BS is we’re still stuck with C.J. Nitkowski this season.
Have a nice day!