The Texas Rangers optioned relief pitcher Luis Curvelo to AAA Round Rock after yesterday’s game, the team announced yesterday. In addition, the team also announced yesterday that utility man Sam Haggerty, who was designated for assignment on Friday to make room for Elias Diaz on the active roster, cleared waivers and was released.
Curvelo came up a week ago, along with Robbie Ahlstrom, when the Rangers optioned Gavin Collyer to AAA Round Rock and placed Chris Martin on the 15 day injured list. He
made three appearances while he was up, including facing two batters in Saturday’s blowout loss before leaving the game after taking a comebacker to the leg, and pitching a scoreless inning to finish Sunday’s blowout win. I thought it was odd Curvelo was pitching the day after he left a game due to injury — I thought Jakob Junis, who hasn’t pitched since last Tuesday, might get an inning just to keep him from getting rusty — but the Rangers apparently decided he was heading back to the minors after the game anyway, so might as well get some innings from him.
The Rangers haven’t announced a move to fill Curvelo’s spot on the active roster, but the beats are indicating that Cole Winn, who went on the injured list on May 24, is expected to take his place. Winn threw 16 pitches for Round Rock on Friday on a rehab assignment, and is eligible to be activated from the injured list today, though they will probably wait until tomorrow to officially make the move since the Rangers are off day.
Haggerty, meanwhile, is a free agent now. After a solid 2025 season in a platoon role for the Rangers, he was brought back to again be a righthanded platoon bat, but didn’t hit against righties (.182/.182/.182 in 11 plate appearances) or lefties (.152/.222/.182 in 36 plate appearances) this season. The Rangers currently have Justin Foscue as their short-side platoon DH and Michael Helman filling that role in center, though it remains to be seen whether either of those are viable solutions going forward.
