By Bobby Riza, Clarendon Enterprise
The Texas Rangers have faced an unprecedented onslaught of injuries seemingly since their season ended with the Game 163 loss to the Rays. Since that moment it seems as if the Rangers have lost piece after piece.
When the club shipped Ian Kinsler to Detroit, they thought they had filled three needs, finding a power left handed bat in the lineup, securing a long term solution at first, and creating an opportunity for Jurickson Profar to play every day.
Profar went down with a shoulder injury before Spring Training, and Fielder underwent season ending surgery Tuesday to fuse two vertebrae in his neck. These two, who were expected to produce in a big way this year, are only a few of the key pieces on the roster that have gone down. Left handed pitchers Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, and Martin Perez have each dealt with a major injury. Harrison is expected to miss the remainder of the season with spinal surgery, Holland underwent knee surgery and is expected back mid-July, and Perez had season ending Tommy John surgery earlier this month.
If the Rangers are to survive this storm and make a serious playoff push, they will have to rely on bench players and young prospects to step their game up and deliver now when their team needs them the most. Players like Robinson Chirinos, Rougned Odor, and Nick Martinez have made the most of these chances with all three coming through for their team with clutch at-bats, key defensive plays, or excellent pitching performances.
One thing is clear if any sort of playoff run is to be made in Arlington, role players must step up and perform as they have done to date.
Only one question remains: what are the Rangers to do if they lose another big piece like Darvish, Beltre, or Rios? Only the Rangers know and they desperately hope that they don’t have to employ Plan M.
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