Notes: Regarding The Rangers

With Joey Gallo hurt, Ronald Guzman in Triple-A and Asdrubal Cabrera getting released, the Rangers finally had enough playing time available to satisfy all of their outfielders. So, what do they do? Call up Scott Heineman to crowd the outfield situation once again and bring up Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a third baseman, leaving Danny Santana playing two positions – first base and center field – where he makes very little sense going forward.

To be fair, there’s some reason behind each of the moves. Heineman was tearing it up in Triple-A, hitting .372/.435/.581. Still, that was just 33 games. Last year, he hit a much more modest .295/.355/.429. He turns 27 in December, and he’s a much better option in the outfield corners than in center. He projects as a fourth outfielder for the long haul, and he wouldn’t seem to deserve to start against righties over any of the current options.

The Rangers were committed to Kiner-Falefa as a catcher at the beginning of the year, but he was grading out as the worst at the position in the majors while splitting time with Jeff Mathis behind the plate. He continued to catch upon being sent to the minors, but he made his season debut at third in Double-A on July 20 and now it doesn’t look like he’ll see any more time behind the plate this year. Unfortunately, Kiner-Falefa’s bat is much more suitable for the catcher spot than it is for the hot corner. He hasn’t embarrassed himself while coming in at .253/.318/.352 in 475 major league at-bats and it’s possible he’d be doing somewhat better than that if he didn’t have to deal with the stress of catching, but this is still a player who has a career .683 OPS in the minors and who has played a total of 10 games in Triple-A.

Instead of handing Kiner-Falefa the third base job, the Rangers should try Santana there if they’re looking at him as a part of their future plans (and it seems like they are). Santana, a massive surprise in hitting .321/.349/.589 in 299 at-bats this year, has made only four starts at third base in his major league career, but he’s spent a ton of time on the left side of the infield at shortstop. His skills seem better suited to infield duties than they do to center field, where the numbers have been very unkind to him. I wouldn’t want to count on Santana as a 2020 regular, but if I were going to do so, second base and third base are the two positions that make the most sense for him.

The Rangers are in a rather tough situation with so many fringy players they need to make decisions on, and it hasn’t made things easier that, the injured Gallo excepted, their best hitters this year have been Santana and a pair of 36-year-olds with no defensive value in Hunter Pence and Shin-Soo Choo. Nomar Mazara’s Statcast numbers are improved this year, but his actual production has been the same as usual. Willie Calhoun taking a step forward is really good news, yet one still wonders about his upside given his lack of defensive value and the likelihood of pedestrian numbers against lefties. Rougned Odor is hitting of late, but he’s still at .209/.276/.443 for the year and he remains a disaster on the basepaths. Delino DeShields has a solid .348 OBP, but he’s been terribly inconsistent as a major leaguer and he’s not an exciting option as a regular. While Guzman’s step backwards has been discouraging, he’s still just 24 and he’s a very good defender; he can’t be written off as a regular. Keeping Mike Minor, Lance Lynn and Santana at the deadline suggests the Rangers intend to contend as they open their new ballpark in 2020, but unless ownership wants to make an Anthony Rendon-sized splash, it’s going to be tricky figuring out how best to upgrade the offense this winter.

American League notes

- The Rangers are bringing up the newly acquired Kolby Allard to face the Brewers on Friday. I’m not very optimistic about Allard; he was rightfully heralded as a top pitching prospect a couple of years ago, but his velocity has decreased. If he finds an extra couple of miles per hour on his fastball at some point, he has the secondary arsenal to turn into a really good pitcher. As is, I think his fastball is too light for him to succeed in the rotation.

- Texas is also getting back Shawn Kelley from the injured list. Jose Leclerc didn’t exactly run away with the closing gig while giving up four runs in three save chances in his absence, so Kelley is probably the better bet of the two for fantasy purposes right now.

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- It’s too bad Sam Dyson didn’t let anyone know he was hurt before he was traded to the Twins at the deadline. He appeared set to split save chances with Taylor Rogers in Minnesota, but now that Dyson is on the injured list with biceps tendinitis, Rogers is again the clear favorite for saves.

- DJ Stewart was recalled by the Orioles after hitting .284/.391/.545 in 267 plate appearances in Triple-A and, if Tuesday’s head injury doesn’t send him to the IL, will probably play fairly regularly between left field and DH. There shouldn’t be any mixed-league value to be had there, but at least he’s another interesting bat to go along with Trey Mancini and Anthony Santander in the outfield mix. Ideally, Mancini will be a first baseman or a DH next year, leaving the Orioles with three open spots in the outfield. Stewart should be useful enough against righties to figure into those plans.

- Although I figured the Tigers would give him a long look, I had Travis Demeritte just 117th in last week’s outfield rankings after he was picked up from the Braves for Shane Greene. Demeritte, who has started all six games in right field for Detroit since getting called up, had hit 20 homers for Triple-A Gwinnett, but it seems like everyone who has played regularly in Triple-A this year has hit 20 homers. Demeritte batted .227 in two seasons in Double-A before busting out to the tune of a .286/.387/.558 line this year. Contact issues make him a long shot to turn into a quality regular, especially since his glove forced him out of the infield and into the outfield corners. Still, he has decent pop and if he wants to keep running, he might have some fantasy value; he has two steals already for Detroit after going just 4-for-7 in Triple-A.

National League notes

- The Marlins finally have Isan Diaz and Lewis Brinson up. The crazy thing is that they’re sticking with Starlin Castro and again pulling their best player, Brian Anderson, off his natural position in order to use Castro at third. But the Marlins are going to Marlin. Castro seemed to exit his season-long slump with a hot week a month ago, but he’s just been treading water again since and now that he can’t be traded, he has absolutely no use to the Marlins going forward; cutting him loose is an obvious move.

Still, the more important thing here is that the Marlins are giving Diaz a look after he hit .305/.395/.578 with 26 homers in Triple-A. If he played for an average team in an average ballpark, I might suggest taking a chance on him in a mixed league. However, he just doesn’t have a ton of upside as a Marlin. It doesn’t help that he’s not much of a basestealer.

Brinson followed up his horrible April in the majors by hitting .270/.361/.510 with 16 homers and 16 steals in 81 games in Triple-A. Considering the alternatives, he should have been back as the Marlins’ center fielder six or eight weeks ago. He’s hardly a great bet now, but at least he’s better defensively than anyone else the Marlins have run out there. There’s still the chance that he’ll hit a little, but he’s just an NL-only guy for fantasy purposes.

- Mike Foltynewicz apparently found his slider in the minors, and he used it a whole bunch in a win over the Twins on Tuesday. It shouldn’t be taken as definitive word that he’s back to the pitcher he was in 2018 – he was always a poor bet to post another sub-3.00 ERA – but he is worth another try in mixed leagues while starting every five days for a first-place Braves team.

- For the first time since 2006, Robinson Cano suffered a major injury that didn’t happen to coincide with a steroid suspension. He finally seemed to be heating up at the plate, too, but his hamstring tear will probably cost him the rest of the year or at least something very close to it. One wonders if the Mets might pick up the newly DFA’d Joe Panik to help with Cano out. It would be better if they could find a legitimate center field option and shift Jeff McNeil to second and Michael Conforto to right, but probably their best hope there is Billy Hamilton getting DFA’d by the Royals.

- Steve Cishek gave up two homers and three runs in his first appearance after Craig Kimbrel went on the IL due to knee inflammation, and David Phelps ended up with the save for getting one out Monday. Now Pedro Strop is back to give the Cubs another option in the ninth. Still, since it sounds like Kimbrel should be back within two weeks, it’s not like anyone from this situation absolutely has to be picked up. I still think I’d grab Cishek first given the way Strop was pitching before going down.

- It looked like Josh VanMeter was in a great spot for the Reds after both Yasiel Puig and Scooter Gennett were traded, but he’s started just two of the last six games. He’s a left-handed hitter, so it makes some sense that he’d sit against lefties. However, he was still on the bench against a righty on Monday. The Reds are bypassing Van Meter in order to give a look to 25-year-old Aristides Aquino, who took advantage of the crazy conditions in Triple-A to hit .299/.356/.636 for Louisville. Aquino previously hit .216/.282/.397 and .240/.306/.448 in two years in Double-A. The power is real, but I’m not buying all of the way in there. VanMeter is younger and more versatile, he’s excelled in his limited opportunities in the majors this year and he has a somewhat better overall track record, so it’s disappointing he’s not in there. Besides, it’s not like the Reds don’t have room for both, since VanMeter can play second base. Phil Ervin also probably deserves a shot, but even though he’s been terrific, he continues to be limited to starting against lefties.

- David Dahl’s unfortunate ankle injury has put Raimel Tapia back in line for fairly regular playing time in Colorado, but I’d rather see what Yonathan Daza can do. Daza was promoted to the majors last week after hitting .363/.404/.548 with 11 homers and 12 steals in 418 plate appearances for Triple-A Albuquerque. I don’t think he’s a long-term regular, but he’d seem to have at least as much offensive potential as Tapia while also being a much better defensive option in center. Tapia probably has some mixed-league value if he plays regularly, but that’s true of almost anyone who gets to play in Coors half of the time. With Garrett Hampson also in the mix, it’s merely a situation worth watching at this point.