When the Texas Rangers go to the bullpen on Thursday, which could be early and often with Ross Detwiler starting the game, there could be some new faces trotting out from right field.
While the Rangers' offense is coming to life and showing some power lately and the starting rotation has been the best in the American League for the past two weeks, the Rangers' bullpen has been an obvious weak link to the team that has won seven of their last 10 games.
The bullpen is allowing an alarming amount of home runs, especially in the middle roles. Keone Kela and Neftali Feliz have been pretty spotless, and Shawn Tolleson is starting to turn around a bad stretch he was going through. Other than those three, it's been a wreck.
Now, the Rangers have shipped two relievers out, according to the Dallas Morning News, with Stolmy Pimentel being designated for assignment and lefty Alex Claudio being demoted to Triple-A in favor of veteran Kyuji Fujikawa and lefty Sam Freeman, who was acquired during spring training from the Cardinals for cash.
Another option at Triple-A is former elite setup man Tanner Scheppers, who struggled earlier this season and was sent down to work on his mechanics. He now hasn't allowed a run in five Triple-A outings. Really, other than the aforementioned three in the back end of the Rangers' pen, everyone is expendable, so it could be a fluid situation for a while until the right mix is discovered.
