Kuzul

A pair of starting pitchers found their way onto the disabled list this afternoon:

According to Jeff Wilson of the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Rangers have placed Rich Harden on the DL due to “a strained left gluteus muscle.”

There is currently no word as to who will replace him in the rotation as Alexi Ogando has been recalled to fill his spot on the roster.

Ogando has been impressive, posting a 2.05 ERA with 42 Ks over 30.2 innings between Double and Triple-A. Still, with the back end of their bullpen in place, he’ll likely hold little value in most fantasy formats.

As for Harden, he’s been struggling all year with a 5.68 ERA and 1.68 WHIP.  Just last night he allowed a home run to the Brewers.

He has also had control issues, walking 43 over 65.0 innings.  He should have value at some point this season, so if you have room on your bench, I would keep him stashed away.

According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, Daisuke Matsuzaka was placed on the DL today with “a right forearm strain.”  He was scheduled to start today, but Scott Atchison took his place with Dustin Richardson being recalled from Triple-A.  

Atchison is not likely the long-term answer to the rotation, so leave him at this point and see if there is any news in the next day or two.  

Pitching for the Red Sox, Matsuzaka does have value when healthy, so stash him away where possible.

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When this season started, I had high hopes for the Rangers pitching staff, and for the most part they have delivered.

There have been quite a few ups and downs, but in general I am quite happy with their performance thus far.

I expected Rich Harden to have a decent season and was somewhat skeptical of moving C.J. Wilson to the starting rotation. 

Boy, was I wrong.

C.J. Wilson has been a great success as a starter. Despite a rough stretch of four or five games, he has pitched extremely well. 

He is tied for the lowest ERA amongst Rangers starters with Colby Lewis at 3.62 while being tied for the team lead in innings pitched, again with Lewis. (Their stat lines are actually ridiculously similar.)

Until Tommy Hunter returned to the rotation (thank you baseball gods) on Saturday and tossed a complete game, Wilson was the only Rangers pitcher to go the distance, and he did it twice, though one was not the full nine innings.

He has allowed only four home runs, and those all came in the last week or so. 

There is probably not another Rangers fan out there that was as against C.J. Wilson moving to the rotation as I was, but I am quite happy to admit that I was wrong.

Harden, on the other hand, has been a complete disappointment. 

He has given up the most home runs on the team with 10. He leads the American League in walks with 40 and is second in the Majors to only Clayton Kershaw, who has 42.

The home runs don’t bother me nearly as much as the walks. I realize that walks will happen, but when they are occurring as often as they are for Harden, it is just ridiculous. 

There is a reason a walk is also referred to as a free pass. You are gifting that hitter a chance to come around and score, and runners have done plenty of that against Harden.

The other drawback to so many walks is that it pushes your pitch count up, which brings your innings pitched down. Despite having one more start than the other three consistent starters for the Rangers, Harden has thrown six innings less than Feldman and 10 less than Lewis and Wilson.

In 12 starts he has only thrown 59 innings. That means that on average he only goes 4.9 innings, or in other words, he wouldn’t even be eligible for the win should a win be the ultimate outcome.

The real problem with having such short outings where he barely covers half the game, or less, is that the bullpen gets worked that much more. While they have done a good job thus far, we can’t expect the continued wear and tear from such short outings to have no effect.

Especially as the summer heat rolls in, our starters must go deeper into the games, but I just don’t see Harden doing it. He has lost his control completely, and I have little hope he will find it.

He showed us what he is capable of back when the Rangers were in Oakland, but one good game doesn’t make up for the majority of bad ones. 

He obviously is not trade bait, and he will not likely get sent to the minors, but based upon the success of Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter, I am more than happy to let Harden be on his way and let the youth have their chance.

They gave it a whirl, and it didn’t pan out. Cut your losses and move on to something new. 

Even behind Hunter and Holland, there are other pitchers at AAA knocking on the door, and I can’t understand why the Rangers would keep beating a lame horse when they are competing to stay on top of the division.

This organization has a history of holding on to players a little too long, in my opinion, and it is time to make a move. I am all for giving a guy a chance to break out of a slump, but when you slump for over two months, you have had your chance.

Frank Francisco was pulled as the closer after two blown saves. Chris Davis was sent down after a tough couple of weeks. Taylor Teagarden went all the way to AA in a matter of weeks.

They are finally showing a willingness to take decisive action for the betterment of the team, so why are they so hesitant to make this move?

A similar case could be made for Scott Feldman, but I am willing to give him a little longer leash for a couple of reasons.

One, he is averaging an inning more per start than Harden.

Two, he is not issuing free passes; hitters are just finding holes.

And three, he showed us last season how could he could be with this team. He just needs to settle down and relax. I think the pressure of being the No. 1 guy has gotten to him. I am more confident in him finding his groove than I am Harden.

I am not a GM, nor do I claim to be, but it seems obvious to me that if a starter can’t consistently get you through six innings—or in Harden’s case, five—then it is time to bring in someone that can.

This is the most promising season we as fans have had in some time, and I would hate to see it thrown away because they are unwilling to make a move. 

When push comes to shove, this is a business, and if your employee is not performing up to expectations, it is time to show him the door. Especially when you have as much talent in waiting as we do, we can’t afford to waste any more time on Harden.

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With roughly a quarter of the 2010 MLB season in the books, the Texas Rangers currently find themselves in sole possession of first place in the AL West.

Entering play Thursday, the 23-18 record quite nearly has the team on track to match Nolan Ryan’s prediction of 92 wins. The current pace would leave the Rangers about one win shy of the mark if the numbers were extrapolated across a 162-game season.

In order to stay in contention, the organization hopes to have a number of issues resolved as the season progresses.

Offseason acquisition Rich Harden hasn’t panned out as of yet, but with the money invested in him, it remains likely the Rangers will continue to hope he will rediscover the velocity and command that once made him virtually unhittable, when healthy.

With fastballs consistently topping out between 90-91 mph, Harden has looked anything but dominant thus far in 2010, struggling to get deep into games and having nearly as many walks as strikeouts.

At first base, generally regarded as an offensive-heavy position, the Rangers quickly demoted Chris Davis after he failed to carry over his spring training production to the regular season. His replacement, highly-touted prospect Justin Smoak, has yet to put up gaudy numbers, yet has managed to get on base by drawing 16 walks.

While in previous years, pitching has been the main concern for the organization, this version of the Rangers may actually have more to worry about at the catcher position.

While prospects from the 2007 trade of Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves have helped the Rangers tremendously—Elvis Andrus already looks to be a perennial All-Star at shortstop and Neftali Feliz, at the very least, looks to be a solid closer/reliever—the main acquisition for the Texas Rangers in the trade, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, has yet to pan out.

In the 1994 movie Major League II , a veteran catcher/manager on the team, Jake Taylor, is asked to help rookie catcher Rube Baker with a problem. While the story takes some time to develop, the audience eventually learns that, while Baker is able to make all of the flashy plays, he struggles getting the ball back to the pitcher. At one point in the movie, Taylor begins to ask Baker questions as the following exchange ensues:

“Rube, what’s going through your head just before you throw the ball back to the pitcher?”

“ I’m thinking, ‘Damn, I don’t want to screw this up.’”

“Well, what are you thinking when you throw a strike to nail the runner down at second base?”

“Well, I, I’m not thinking nothing. I just throw it.”

“You see what I’m getting at?”

“You want the pitcher to pitch from second base?”

The notion that a professional-caliber catcher would have difficulty getting the ball consistently back to the pitcher seems laughable, yet is the exact reason that Saltalamacchia—the same player that gave the Rangers a win on opening day with his walk-off single—is stuck in AAA Oklahoma City.

By many accounts, during a game Tuesday, May 11, Saltalamacchia was unable to get the ball to the pitcher on at least 12 occasions. While the initial cause of the throwing problems resulted from thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosed during the 2009 season, Saltalamacchia has seemingly been able to make all of the other plays in AAA, including hitting .339 with three home runs and nine RBI in 19 games for the RedHawks.

While Saltalamacchia will visit a sports psychologist for the issue, which now seems to be more mental rather than physical, the Rangers hope he recovers sooner rather than later. Expected backup Taylor Teagarden was more than awful at the plate and has seen himself demoted to AA Frisco, leaving the Rangers with veteran journeyman Matt Treanor and unproven Max Ramirez.

The Texas Rangers will need more offensive production than what has been offered if the team plans to remain a contender and potentially make a playoff run. While no one expects Joe Mauer, most would love to see better than the .194 batting average that has been sported by the catchers on the roster.

A good portion of the 2010 losses have stemmed from an inability to get key hits with men on base. At times, this entails the bottom part of the order—for example, the catcher—being able to get a few timely hits. While it hasn’t caught up to the team yet, the Rangers can’t expect the rest of their division to play so inconsistently for the rest of the season.

For the record, Rube Baker eventually ironed out his problem by reciting lines from a lingerie catalog.

The Rangers know it won’t be that easy for Saltalamacchia, but they would sure rather him figure out his mental block sooner rather than later; their playoff future could hinge on it.

Brandon Land is the founder and columnist for View from the Bench Sports, found at viewfromthebench.com

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