Walker to COVID list, Reks up

The Texas Rangers have placed Steele Walker on the COVID injury list, the team announced today. Walker joins Mitch Garver, Glenn Otto and Brett Martin on the COVID list.

To replace Walker, the Rangers have added outfielder Zach Reks as a replacement for a player placed on the COVID list. Because Reks hasn’t been down long enough since being optioned to be officially recalled, the Rangers had to use the “replacement” designation for him. I don’t think it matters in terms of any impact on Reks or the roster, though.

I thought that the Rangers would send Tyson Miller back down to get an extra arm up for the pen, after Miller went two-plus innings yesterday and six pitchers pitched in all. But for now Miller stays up, and I imagine the Rangers are hoping Martin Perez, who has been good all year, can go deep enough into the game where the unavailability of Miller (and likely Garrett Richards, who went two-plus innings, as well as possibly Dennis Santana) are not factors. Kolby Allard is in the bullpen as a long man, if one is needed.

On a separate note, though the Rangers haven’t officially announced it, the minor league transactions page shows that Willie Calhoun cleared waivers yesterday and was outrighted to AAA Round Rock. My guess is that Calhoun is weighing whether to reject the outright assignment and elect free agency. While one would think that electing free agency would be Calhoun’s obvious choice, the fact that he went unclaimed would indicate that he would only get a minor league deal from another club, and he may not want to take the rather significant pay cut he would experience as a result.