Chances are good that Derek Lowe will become a free agent after being designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers. (Image Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports)

Derek Lowe has been designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers in an effort to create an opening on the team’s active roster for Josh Lindblom, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Lowe’s $1.125 Million salary and poor performance on the mound will likely prevent another team from claiming him off of waivers, suggesting that he’ll be end up back on the free agent market once the Rangers release him.

Lowe had joined the Rangers late in Spring Training on a minor league deal and ended up winning a spot on the Opening Day roster, guaranteeing his salary. He’s thrown 13.0 IP for the Rangers on the year, allowing 13 runs on 16 hits. A ground ball pitcher throughout his career, Lowe’s been hit hard on the year, giving up three home runs in his nine appearances. Lowe has thrown more than 2,600 innings in his MLB career and has seen success as both a starter and reliever, but the production hasn’t been there since the end of the 2010 season. Since he’s a combined 19-28 with a 5.23 ERA in 342.2 IP, adding a 1.553 WHIP, 3.3 BB/9, and 5.3 K/9.

It’s tough to predict whether another team will be willing to give him another chance at a Major League bullpen unless he expresses a willingness to pitch in the minor leagues first. He’d only cost a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for the remainder of the season (Texas would be on the hook for the remainder of his salary) but Lowe is going to turn 40 on June 1st and hasn’t shown much on the mound. It’s questionable whether he’s done enough to justify another opportunity.

Lindblom was one of the two players that Texas received in their December trade that sent Michael Young to the Philadelphia Phillies. He’ll be making his Rangers debut with the callup, as he’s spent the season at Triple-A. In 43.1 IP over eight appearances (seven starts) he’s 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 0.877 WHIP.

A trip to the disabled list will pull Ian Kinsler out of the Rangers lineup but will allow the team to callup Jurickson Profar. (Image Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)

Ian Kinsler continued to experience discomfort while trying to swing a bat prior to Sunday’s game, prompting the Texas Rangers to place their second baseman on the disabled list. Top prospect Jurickson Profar has been recalled from Triple-A, according to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.

Kinsler had been out of the lineup for the Rangers the past two days as he copes with what has been described as a strained intercostal muscle in his right side. Initially it was believed that he wouldn’t miss much time, but when things failed to improve after a couple of days off it became evident that the team would need to make a roster move. Kinsler had been hitting .302/.369/.500 in 180 PA on the year. It’s unclear exactly how much time he’s expected to miss.

Considered the consensus top prospect in all of baseball entering the season, Profar’s arrival in Texas has been long awaited. Much of the delay has stemmed simply from the the lack of a spot in the lineup to play him regularly. Profar has been hitting .278/.370/.438 through 166 PA on the year at Triple-A, his first experience at the level. He’d received a brief callup by the Rangers last September, receiving 17 PA in September in which he collected three hits (a home run and two doubles). He’ll presumably receive most of the playing time at second base in Kinsler’s absence. What the Rangers elect to do with him once Kinsler returns remains to be seen.

Texas Rangers designated hitter Lance Berkman has been connecting well enough to give his new team a big boost at bat this season as he prepares for likely retirement after the 2013 season. Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Lance Berkman threatened to retire in the off-season between 2012 and 2013, but it seems he made the right choice joining the Texas Rangers for what could be his last fling. He may be 37, but he can still make contact and produce big hits.

The Rangers needed to find another bat once they chose not to re-sign Josh Hamilton, and while neither Berkman nor Texas pretends he is the long-term solution it is shaping up that he was just the right answer for this year. With about 25 percent of the season completed, the Rangers are in first place in the American League West Division and Berkman has been a solid contributor.

In 35 games Berkman has hit just three home runs, but he has nine doubles and has driven in 21 runs, is batting .286 and has a .414 on-base percentage. Going into this weekend’s play the Rangers are 27-14 and lead the second-place Seattle Mariners by seven games.

A six-time All-Star, mostly with the Houston Astros, and then the St. Louis Cardinals, during his 15-year career Berkman has been a solid player, but not usually the No. 1 gun in a lineup. He is past his prime and not going to fill that role for Texas, either, but he still hits well enough to matter and to scare pitchers, and he has been very smart at the plate this season.

A left-handed hitter, Berkman has put together some excellent lifetime statistics while not having them be quite strong enough for serious Hall of Fame consideration. During this on-going, and perhaps last season for him, Berkman has 363 home runs, 1,221 RBIs, and a lifetime average of .295.

At his age, and with thoughts stretching ahead to retirement, Berkman was wise to continue his career with an American League team as a designated hitter. He is on the older side to patrol a lot of ground in the outfield, so this role is a natural for him. Although the nicknames probably get mentioned more often in the city where he is playing, besides his 220 pounds Berkman does carry around a couple of heavy duty nicknames: Big Puma and Fat Elvis.

Over the course of his career Berkman has driven in more than 100 runs six times and in 2002 he led the National League with 128 RBIs. His finest all-around work came in 2006 with the Astros. That season Berkman smashed 45 homers, drove in 136, and batted .315. His on-base percentage was .420 and his slugging percentage was .621.

Surely when the Rangers passed on reupping with Hamilton long-term there was a fear that there might not be enough pop in the Texas batting order. And even after the Rangers signed Berkman there had to be some questioning what his value was going to be. After all, Berkman was injured most of last season, playing in just 32 games with 97 plate appearances.

You have to believe that a guy who had a distinguished career would not want to retire on a note like that if he had regained his health. Well, Lance Berkman did get back to full strength, and even if this is his last hurrah, at the moment things are taking form for a much more satisfying departure. Being a contributor to a winner that has World Series potential is a lot more fun than languishing on the disabled list.

Japanese import Yu Darvish has been overpowering hitters as the main man in the Texas Rangers starting rotation, raising his record to 6-1 Sunday with a victory over the Houston Astros. Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers were right. They won the Yu Darvish sweepstakes when they outbid other Major League clubs for the Japanese hurler last year. The more he pitches the more it appears that he was worth the bucks.

Darvish is 6-1 with a 2.73 earned run average and is becoming a genuine ace in his second season in the bigs.

It cost the Rangers more than $51 million to gain the right to negotiate with Yarvish and then they signed him to a six-year, $60 million contract. That’s a substantial investment and yet the deal is looking pretty good. Aces are hard to come by at any cost.

Darvish’s latest success story on the mound was authored just the other day when he pitched seven innings, struck out eight, and gave up three runs in a victory over the Houston Astros. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound righty is leading the American League in strikeouts with 80 in eight games.

By older standards of business as a full-fledged member of a baseball rotation when pitch counts weren’t so emphasized and starts every four days were common, Darvish would just about have completed one full year of service.

Put in that context his numbers are eye-poppingly good. Last year Darvish made 29 starts and finished 16-9. His ERA went up a bit as the summer wore on, but he did a first-rate job as a rookie and was a last-minute selection to the American League all-star team.

Now put his 2012 and his month-plus of 2013 together and this is what you get: 37 starts, a 22-10 record over 244 innings with just 186 hits allowed, and 301 strikeouts. His earned run average is 3.65 and is on the way down.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Those are all-star statistics.

And Darvish is still only 26 despite his longevity in Japan. He was a wunderkind overseas with a 93-38 record and a 1.99 ERA in Japan. Also in Japan he won two Most Valuable Player awards, three strikeout titles, and was a five-time all-star. That was enough of a track record to attract interest from a multitude of big-league clubs.

Everyone in the Rangers’ organization believed that Darvish would be improved in 2013 and just to make the point on April 2 started the season by nearly pitching a perfect game against the Astros. He carried the perfecto into the ninth, but after 8 2/3 innings Darvish yielded a single. He also struck out 14 that day.

Earlier this month Darvish had another 14-strikeout game. It’s a habit with him now. And that was against the Red Sox, not the Astros again.

Yu Darvish has pretty much established himself as the king of the Rangers’ staff. It’s too soon to predict, but he could well be on his way to establishing himself as the king of the league the way he did in Japan.

A herniated disk continues to plague Matt Harrison, as the left-hander underwent a second back surgery. (Image Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports)

Just over a week ago Matt Harrison underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, an injury that landed the left-hander on the disabled list in mid-April after making just two starts for the Texas Rangers. Harrison reportedly began to experience some additional discomfort and numbness in his left leg on Tuesday, prompting the team to schedule him for an MRI early Wednesday morning. Doctors discovered some additional herniation in the disk – which is apparently common in this type of injury – and he underwent a second procedure on his back Wednesday afternoon.

Initially the Rangers expected that Harrison would be out of action until the All Star Break. It remains unclear if this second procedure will result in a change to that timetable.

In two starts before being shut down Harrison was clearly struggling on the mound. He’d allowed 10 earned runs on 14 hits (including a pair of home runs) in just 10.2 IP, posting an 8.44 ERA and 1.969 WHIP while losing both games. Texas replaced him in the rotation with Justin Grimm.

Harrison emerged as one of the Rangers’ top starting rotation options last season, going 18-11 with a 3.29 ERA in 32 starts. The now 27 year old posted career best marks in a number of statistical categories on the year, including throwing 213.1 IP with a 1.261 WHIP. He made the All Star team and finished 8th in AL Cy Young Award voting. He’d signed a six year contract extension with the Rangers prior to the 2012 season that looked like a near-bargain after the first year of the deal.

Mike Napoli had some big home runs during his time with the Rangers. (Image Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports)

Five home runs by five different players in five consecutive innings. That’s what the Texas Rangers did on this date two years ago, defeating the Kansas City Royals by an 11-6 final. Mike Napoli got things started, connecting for a two-run shot in the 3rd off of Jeff Francis. Francis would give up a solo shot in the 4th to Ian Kinsler before coming out of the game. David Murphy added a two-run homer in the 5th, off of reliever Blake Wood. Adrian Beltre and Mitch Moreland hit solo shots in the 6th and 7th innings off of Nate Adcock.

To some degree the game was a microcosm of the Rangers season, as they rode a powerful offense (Napoli, Kinsler, and Beltre all topped the 30 HR mark) all the way to the World Series before losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Kinsler, Murphy, Beltre, and Moreland are all still parts of the Rangers lineup. Napoli has since left for Boston, for whom he homered yesterday against the Royals.

It takes both a deep lineup and some good timing to go on a run like that which the Rangers accomplished in this game. We’ve got a deep lineup of writers here across FanSided MLB so let’s check in once again with some of the work from this past week.

Patience is key for fans of the Houston Astros right now, as the team appears to be in the midst of a lengthy rebuilding process. There have been, however, a few glimmers of hope to come out of the this team so far on the young season. One of those happens to be the timely contributions that the team received from right-handed reliever Paul Clemens in the past week. The 25 year old rookie has twice come up clutch, shutting down an opposing offense that had torched the Astros pitching early in each game. As Greg Thurston, our Senior Editor at Climbing Tal’s Hill, writes, however, this could just be the beginning of Clemens’ legacy in Houston:

Clemens would leave the game after 74 pitches, one mangled finger, and one legendary performance. The cameras stayed on Clemens in the dugout as he pulled on the pinky to try and straighten it out a little better. Then, as he talked with pitching coach Doug Brocail, Clemens delivered a fist-bump with the same hand that housed the damaged digit. Legendary status achieved!

Major League Baseball has already taken some flack for their scheduling practices this month, despite the fact that there’s little way to predict snow storms in Denver, Chicago, and Minneapolis would end up postponing multiple games already this season. The Twins, in particular, have been taking a lot of heat for the weather – something that’s clearly out of the team’s hands. The frustrations have led to some openly questioning the Twins’ decision to make Target Field an outdoor stadium. Chris Holm at Puckett’s Pond argues, however, that the team made the right call in bringing outdoor baseball back to Minnesota:

Retractable roofs tend to lead to more games being played under the roof than necessary. Because they take time to open and close, teams with them often err on the side of caution and close the roof at first sign of inclement weather.

Finally for this week, we have one more conversation surrounding Giancarlo Stanton’s eventual fate – because the Miami Marlins have to trade him at some point. To date there have been many discussions but few reasonable solutions offered as to what the Marlins could reasonably expect to receive when/if they look to move Stanton. Old friend John Parent took a stab at a reasonable proposal over at Grading on the Curve, our recently rebranded minor league and prospects site. John’s idea wasn’t half bad, though it’s still unclear if either side would actually go for it. We’ll leave the specifics of his proposed deal for John to explain, but he comes up with a solution that just might be viewed as fair by even the sharpest of critics:

When all is said and done, if this trade were actually proposed it would take a lot of guts for either side to pull the trigger. It may take even more to walk away, however. The deal is probably the best one Miami could imagine in return for Stanton, whose escalating salary and unhappiness with the organization combine to mean he’s probably eventually going to be traded anyway. By holding on, you risk injury and the player losing value. It’s better to deal while interest is its highest.

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Tepesch suffered the injury in just his third MLB start, and he currently has a 3.46 ERA this year in a solid start to the season. He has been diagnosed with a right wrist contusion, according to a tweet from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. A contusion is just a fancy word for a severe bruise, so Tepesch has a good chance of making his next scheduled start. He’s going to be listed day-to-day by the Rangers, and the young right-hander should be able to continue his quality start to the season.

If we take into account Tepesch’s outing yesterday, he now has a 3.07 ERA and actually had 18 strikes out of 21 total pitches yesterday.

Texas Rangers relief pitcher Joe Nathan collected his career 300th save against the Tampa Bay Rays April 8 and continues to add to his lifetime total. Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Texas Rangers closer Joe Nathan came into the 2013 season with 298 career saves and he very quickly added two more to lift his lifetime total for 300, making him a member of an elite corps of relievers who have reached that mark.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander has added three more saves already this month, so as long as he stays healthy he will be jumping up the charts all season long.

There are a select group of individual milestone targets that Major League players chase. For hitters, historically reaching 3,000 hits or 500 home runs pretty much guaranteed you a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, due to the recent spate of cases where players were accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs to help their games, that is no longer an absolute. The same was true for 300-game winners among starting pitchers and iffiness of enshrinement parallels the hitters’ situation.

Given that Major League baseball records date to 1876, the save is relatively new. The save as an official baseball statistc has been kept since 1969 and it was created due to the lobbying of the late Chicago baseball writer Jerome Holtzman. Historians have gone back and re-examined the performances of older relievers to reconstruct their save totals, but basically all of the highest save totals have been compiled in the last 40 years.

That reflects the growing reliance on relievers by managers and it reflects various re-definitions of what constitutes a save. At this point in time there is no career save total that guarantees a relief pitcher selection to the Hall in Cooperstown. The treatment of Lee Smith in Hall of Fame voting makes that clear. Smith not only held the record for the most saves in history for years, but he is still third on the all-time list with 478 and can’t make a breakthrough in the voting.

At the same time the current record-holder, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who came into the season with 608 saves and has added four more so far, hardly ever has his name mentioned without the phrase “future Hall of Famer” attached to it. No. 2 on the all-time saves list in Trevor Hoffman with 601.

Rich “Goose” Gossage and Bruce Sutter have been voted into the Hall of Fame. Gossage had 310 saves, Sutter 300 on the dot, but also had a losing record at 68-71. Dominance is in the eye of the beholder.

With Nathan’s ascension to the 300-save level, there are now 24 guys in the 300-club. Most are retired. Francisco Rodriguez is knocking on the door with 294.

Here is the top 10: 1) Rivera; 2) Hoffman; 3) Smith; 4) John Franco, 424; 5) Billy Wagner, 422; 6. Dennis Eckersley, 390; 7) Jeff Rearden 367; 8) Troy Percival 358; 9) Randy Myers 347; 10) Rollie Fingers 341.

Eckersley is in the Hall of Fame, but he also spent considerable time during his career as a starter and won 197 games. Among those not in the Hall of Fame, John Smoltz‘s pitching career most closely approximates Eckersley’s. Smoltz had 213 wins and 154 saves. Fingers is in the Hall of Fame as a pure reliever.

The list of 300-save men not in the Hall consists of John Wetteland, 330, Francisco Cordero, 329, Roberto Hernandez, 326, Jose Mesa, 321, Todd Jones, 319, Rick Aguilera, 318, Robb Nen, 314, Tom Henke, 311, Jeff Montgomery, 304, Doug Jones, 303, and Jason Isringhausen, 300.

Anyone who has collected 300 saves has accomplished something. It takes a long time to accumulate that many. Most of the players on this list had flawed careers, sometimes due to injury, and sometimes they were moved to the bullpen because they failed as starters. The fact that they acquired as many as 300 saves shows they did an awfully lot right, too.

Nathan has a lifetime record of 51-28 with a 2.86 earned run average. Like many long-time closers–he is 38–Nathan has had seasons where it seemed as if he could not get anyone out and seasons when it seemed futile for batters to bother checking in.

At Nathan’s age you have to wonder how long he can keep going. Nathan has appeared in 654 games, but thrown only 800 innings. He hasn’t started a game since 2000. That is unlikely to change.

As a true closer, Nathan is going to keep taking the call for one batter, two, or even three at a time, but no more. He may not gain as much attention as a Rivera, but if Nathan has a 35-save year, which he is definitely on pace for, he could be on the edge of the top-10 all-time by October.

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Borbon will most likely go without being traded and will instead be scooped up after he clears waivers. That’s unless the Rangers lower their asking price for a team like the Orioles or Twins, or if a team really likes Borbon or really wants to add another outfielder into the mix. Most teams interested would much rather wait until ten days after the DFA period, because nobody wants to make a trade unless they have to. With a lukewarm market, the Rangers might not be able to find a trade partner for Borbon unless somebody, again, really wants him. I doubt that happens, and the Rangers are trying to get what they can within this window. If they want something, they’re going to have to cut down and settle for a low-level prospect.

The best asset that the left-handed hitter provides is his speed, but his swiftness on the bases is outweighed by his inability to get on base at a high rate. He offers no pop, but he can be a quality depth outfielder for a team. Depth outfielders usually don’t generate much trade interest, so we’ll see what the Rangers can get out of him.

For now Joba Chamberlain will be a big piece of the Yankees bullpen, but opposing teams, such as the Rangers, could express an interest again before the trade deadline. (Image Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports)

With questions looming about the state of the team’s bullpen health, there still appeared to be a resounding sentiment that the New York Yankees could be open to moving one of their “extra” arms over the offseason. Multiple teams were reported at various points to be scouting the Yankees’ pitchers, most notably the Texas Rangers’ interest in right-handed Joba Chamberlain.

It would seem, according to George King of the New York Post, that despite Texas’ “legitimate interest” in Chamberlain, the two sides never actually engaged in any discussions about a potential deal.

Chamberlain has been hampered by injuries over the past two seasons. Midway through the 2011 season he began to deal with some injury discomfort, ultimately leading to Tommy John Surgery. Between that recovery and a fractured ankle (that he suffered while playing with his kid), Chamberlain would only throw 20.2 IP before the 2012 season concluded. He’d struggle with command in those outings and was largely unimpressive pitching in a middle relief role.

Chamberlain seemed to bounce back this Spring, posting some strong numbers that clearly appealed to the Yankees brass. While not a primary option, the team clearly is banking on Chamberlain returning to form and offering up a reliable arm towards the back of the bullpen. David Robertson will continue to be the team’s principal setup option in front of Mariano Rivera, but Chamberlain could be counted upon as that next line of defense.

There was never much depth to the speculation that Texas had interest in Chamberlain. No names were thrown out as potential fits should the two teams attempt to work out a deal, though at one point a Mike Olt for Chamberlain swap was proposed by a few sources. Such a move would have likely been viewed as a significant overpayment on the part of the Rangers, particularly since Chamberlain will reach free agency this coming offseason where Olt will still be under team control for six more seasons. If King’s report is to be believed, the two sides never reached the stage where names were exchanged regarding a potential deal.

It’s unclear if Texas maintains interest in Chamberlain or if the two sides could speak down the road about a deal. Should the Yankees make Chamberlain available leading up to the July trade deadline it would not be surprising to see the Rangers step in with a renewed interest.