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Rangers acrobat Willie Calhoun missed nearly three months of the 2021 season after breaking his arm after being hit by a pitch, but he is expected to return to the roster this week, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. With 18 games left at the club to take a look at Calhoun before determining whether to offer him a contract in arbitration this winter, and manager Chris Woodward offered no certainty when discussing the future of Calhoun. “Unfortunately, he didn’t play enough for us to really assess him,” said Woodward (via Grant). “So we may have to make a very difficult decision one way or the other. We are going to have to take risks.”
Calhoun, 27 this offseason, was the headliner the Rangers received from the Dodgers in 2017 Yu darvish Trade. However, he has yet to establish himself as a consistently productive hitter and beat a rather pedestrian .254 / .323 / .385 in 226 appearances at home plate before making his way to the injured list. Calhoun’s lack of playing time and career .248 / .304 / .418 hitting line to date will limit his arbitrage price. That, coupled with the fact that he has one minor league option left in 2022, could be a saving grace. As long as the Rangers don’t mind putting him on the 40-man roster, there isn’t much to offer him, but Woodward’s mention of a “tough decision” seems to indicate that there is at minus a debate on how to proceed.
Some additional notes from the division …
- Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is getting more defensive reps at first base and may start to see time in games there, manager Dusty Baker told reporters this week (link via Chandler Rome from the Houston Chronicle). Alvarez, 24, played first base in the minors but has yet to appear in the majors. He’s only played 317 innings in defense since his 2019 debut – all of which have come in left field. The ‘Stros have Yuli Gurriel as an everyday first-baseman option, and his $ 8million club option for the 2022 season is a no-brainer to exercise after a formidable 2021 season. Still, putting Alvarez to work early would provide a safety net if Gurriel were to have to exercise. running out of time and would also give the Astros an option on the days they hope to rest Gurriel, who turns 38 next June. Beyond the 22 campaign, when Gurriel will be a free agent, it would obviously be a bonus if the ‘Stros felt comfortable playing Alvarez at first base at least part-time. Considering the knee issues he has had in his career already, Alvarez may not be a full-time option in either left field or first base for Houston, but the more ways they have to handle him. keeping him and his outstanding career .293 / .375 / .584 batting line (906 home plate appearances) in the lineup, the better.
- Sailors recipient Tom murphy spoke with Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish about his rebound from a horrific start to the year – a stretch he called “the lowest point of my baseball career.” Murphy’s place on the roster looked threatened at one point, but he has rebounded since mid-May, hitting 0.236 / 0.346 / 0.408 with eight homers in his last 208 trips to plate. His season line still rests at an awful .205 / .304 / .373, but that’s weighed down by those first six weeks. Murphy did not play in 2020 after getting fouled with a bullet in the foot and suffered a fracture during “summer camp” for the Mariners, so the slow start after such a long layoff is somewhat understandable. He will be eligible for refereeing for the second time this winter, giving the Mariners three potential options behind the dish alongside Luis Torrens and prospecting Cal Raleigh. If Murphy’s struggles had continued, he clearly would have been a non-tender candidate. That possibility cannot be expressly ruled out even with the rebound, but the upcoming increase in its modest salary figures of $ 875,000 will be relatively small. Murphy hit 0.273 / 0.324 0.535 in 281 home plate appearances with the Mariners in 2019.
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