When rosters expand on Sunday after the minor-league season is over, there will be a handful of new faces in the Texas Rangers dugout. One will surely be Engel Beltre, and Jim Adduci, who tore up the Cactus League this spring could likely be another.
But two faces will be very familiar to Rangers fans as it was announced the club will recall both Lance Berkman and Neftali Feliz on Sept. 1.
Berkman has seemingly been ready for a couple of weeks now after a successful rehab assignment that saw him go for 4-for-11 with a homer and a few walks. He'll provide another veteran bat at the Ron Washington's disposal, worst case. Best case is this near-two month break has refreshed his aging knees and hips and he can give the Rangers another month and a half like the similar stretch he had to start the regular season.
The Rangers will still rotate their infielders into the DH role, but this will provide Washington the opportunity to roll with his everyday infield from time to time and also sit a struggling Jurickson Profar, while giving the Rangers some more pop at the DH spot in the order.
Feliz is a whole other story. He hasn't pitched in the bigs since May 2012 when he was a starter for the Rangers before being shut down to undergo Tommy John surgery. He's been working his way back for the past month and now appears ready after going two innings a couple of time in the minors and now just needs to go back-to-back days.
Feliz's fastball isn't roaring in the upper 90s yet, but he's sitting in the low 90s and will return as a reliever to provide some depth to a bullpen that has struggled at times this year with guys being overworked.
He won't be a savior, by any means, but he could, best-case, be a reliable sixth- or seventh-inning guy and could just provide solid depth and reinforcements.
