Derek Holland came off the disabled list last weekend and is set to start Friday's game in Seattle coming out of the all-star break. Colby Lewis is set to come off the DL when the Rangers head from Seattle to Oakland, a park he has historically excelled in. Slowly but surely, the Rangers missing pieces over the last month and a half are starting to return to action, and there's more coming behind those two.
Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando are set to begin rehab assignments this week in Round Rock with the Triple-A Express. Ogando could return to the big-league club as soon as next week, while Feliz won't be too far behind assuming his rehab assignment goes well. Where Feliz will go once he returns — rotation or bullpen — seems to be the bigger question than if he'll be back soon.
Koji Uehara is also set to begin a rehab assignment this weekend in Round Rock while Mark Lowe will throw a bullpen session with the team in Seattle this weekend before likely kicking off a rehab assignment of his own.
With Feliz most likely going to the bullpen as long as Roy Oswalt can stay somewhat effective, that makes for an unbelievably deep, talented bullpen with he, Ogando, Uehara and Lowe joining the likes of Joe Nathan, Mike Adams and Robbie Ross.
Ron Washington said his team doesn't make any excuses about injuries, but there's no doubt it will be nice to get all of those injured guys back.
"We need to get healthy," Washington told the media. "We've done a good job of holdling this together, but you never heard anything coming out of Texas like, 'Woe us, we lost this, we lost that.' No, we just play baseball. We want those guys back because they are very important to our success."
