Howard, Santana to i.l., Snyder up, Richards activated

The Texas Rangers placed pitcher Spencer Howard on the 10 day injured list with a split fingernail/blister and pitcher Dennis Santana on the COVID-19 list due to COVID-19 symptoms, the team announced today. To replace them on the active roster, the Rangers activated pitcher Garrett Richards from the injured list and recalled pitcher Nick Snyder.

Howard was scheduled to start tomorrow’s game, but instead the Rangers will go with a bullpen game on Friday. Jon Gray is also on the injured list with a blister, so the Rangers are currently rolling with a twelve man bullpen, at least until Gray returns at the start of next week.

Santana is awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, and contact tracing is being done, so we could see some additional players on the COVID-19 list over the next day or two.

Richards started the year on the injured list with a blister, so there’s an epidemic of that among the Rangers pitchers right now. Richards was expected to be activated today, so that is not a surprise.

Snyder, meanwhile, has some of the best stuff of any Ranger reliever, but started the season in AAA, likely in part in order to manage his innings and outings, given he had Tommy John surgery in 2020 and was shut down at the end of 2021 due to a shoulder fatigue.