The Rangers announced today that right-hander Tyler Mahle has been placed on the 60-day injured list. Combined with yesterday’s outright of infielder José Barrero, the club opened two spots to select the contracts of right-hander José Ureña and first baseman Jared Walsh, moves which were previously reported.
Mahle, 29, underwent Tommy John surgery in May while with the Twins. He reached free agency after last year and signed with the Rangers, a two-year deal with a $22MM guarantee, with the club knowing they weren’t going to get any contributions from Mahle in the first few months of that deal. He’ll join Jacob deGrom, who is also rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day IL as both pitchers look to come back later in the year.
Notably, right-hander Max Scherzer has been placed on the 15-day IL but has not been placed on the 60-day IL and it doesn’t seem like he will, at least for now. He underwent back surgery in December and it was announced at that time that he would probably be sidelined into June or July. However, more recent developments have suggested he may be able to beat that timeline, with manager Bruce Bochy suggesting a few weeks back that Scherzer was ahead of schedule.
“My guess is we do not do that,” general manager Chris Young said about the matter yesterday, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. Today, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News relays that Scherzer threw a bullpen and characterized himself as “early February,” suggesting he’s perhaps about six weeks behind schedule.
Placing Scherzer on the 60-day injured list, whether it’s now or later, would mean he’s ineligible to be activated until late May. It seems like he may be able to return somewhere in that vicinity, so the Rangers are leaving that option open for now. If the timeline changes in the weeks to come, they could transfer him to the 60-day IL at that point and it will be backdated to his recent placement on the 15-day IL. In other words, even if he gets transferred to the 60-day IL a month from now, he could still be reinstated in late May.
The Rangers’ rotation will likely change a lot over the course of the year. They will start the season with Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford but reinforcements will be coming throughout the year. Michael Lorenzen was recently signed but he’ll need a few weeks to build up into game readiness. It sounds like Scherzer won’t be far behind him with Mahle and deGrom to follow as the season progresses.
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