The Texas Rangers have activated shortstop Corey Seager from the injured list, the team announced today. In addition, the team announced that relief pitcher Chase Silseth, acquired from the Anaheim Angels in a trade Wednesday, has officially reported and been added to the active roster, and that relief pitcher Luis Curvelo has been recalled from AAA Round Rock. To make room for the trio on the active roster, the Rangers have optioned infielder Josh Smith and pitcher Winston Santos to AAA Round Rock,
and have designated pitcher Marco Gonzales for assignment.
The Rangers 40 man roster now stands at 39.
The return of Seager for this series was expected, and despite his rough start to the season, the Rangers are better with him in the lineup. Josh Smith was recalled last week when Josh Jung went on the injured list, and after going 1 for 14 in the interim, he returns to Round Rock.
Silseth was added to the 40 man roster Wednesday, but wasn’t able to report to the team before yesterday’s early start in Tampa, so he’s now officially on the active roster. Marlboro Santos was called up yesterday to take Jakob Junis’s spot on the active roster when Junis went on the injured list just prior to yesterday’s game. I’m guessing that Santos, who last pitched on July 26, throwing just 31 pitches, was in Tampa in case they needed another arm who could give them innings during the series, which is why he was activated then and now is going back down with Silseth and Curvelo both coming up.
Curvelo last pitched on July 28 for the Express. He’s not really a length guy, having not thrown more than 36 pitches in a game (majors or minors) this season, and so it is surprising that he is replacing Marco Gonzales, who has been the long reliever since the Rangers purchased his contract a couple of weeks ago. He only appeared in two games, and was surprisingly effective, but he also has an ERA north of 8 in AAA this year, so you can see why the Rangers wouldn’t be pushing their luck by hanging onto him, especially since, after his lengthy outing yesterday, he would be unavailable for the Houston series.
