Khris Davis leaves game with leg issue

Khris Davis left today’s Texas Rangers game after he pulled up grabbing his leg running to first on what was going to be a bunt single. The beats are all indicating that it looks significant — a hamstring or a quad most likely — and given the nature of these sorts of injuries, it would seem to be almost certain that Davis will be starting the season on the injured list.

The Rangers were going to have to make a decision on Davis, who they acquired in the Elvis Andrus trade as a way to take on salary from the A’s, in the first week or two of the season, when Willie Calhoun is ready to return from the injured list. Davis is limited to DH duties, and as a righty he is on the short side of a platoon. Keeping Calhoun, Davis, Ronald Guzman and Nate Lowe to essentially share the DH/1B roles would be difficult from a roster construction standpoint. Davis, however, now appears destined to join Calhoun on the injured list to start the 2021 season.

With Calhoun and Davis both on the injured list, the Rangers would be in a position to have Nate Lowe and Ronald Guzman at 1B and DH to start the year, and may actually need to find someone to help round out the bench. Renato Nunez, who was briefly with the Rangers a few years back, may not make the Detroit Tigers roster, and as a righthanded hitter who could be a free agent soon, Nunez may be someone they could might have interest in taking a look at on a short-term basis.

UPDATE — Per John Blake, Davis has a left quad strain.