The Rangers announced that shortstop Corey Seager has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list, as expected. They also recalled right-hander Luis Curvelo and activated righty Chase Silseth, who was just acquired from the Angels. In corresponding moves for those three, they have optioned infielder Josh Smith and righty Winston Santos while lefty Marco Gonzales has been designated for assignment.
Gonzales, 34, was added to the Texas roster ten days ago to serve a long relief role. He made two appearances, logging three innings in each outing. He only allowed one earned runs in those six innings despite walking four batters while only striking out three.
His 1.50 ERA on the year looks nice but the Rangers presumably knew he wasn’t going to be able to maintain that kind of pace. He was once a solid back-end starter but missed 2025 due to injury and has mostly been ineffective in the minors this year. For the Triple-A clubs of the Padres and Rangers, he threw 64 innings earlier this year with an 8.16 ERA.
Yesterday, he threw 68 pitches to get through three innings and was going to be unavailable for a few days. The Rangers start an important three-game series in Houston tonight, with the Astros just half a game back of Texas in the West division. Rather than play that series a man short, they have bumped Gonzales off the roster and into DFA limbo.
Given his results this year, he will likely be a free agent in the coming days. He won’t have much trade value. If he clears waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Rosters are sure to shuffle quite a bit in the coming days with the trade deadline coming up on Monday, so Gonzales will see what fate has in store for him.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
