So, we all saw Nomar Mazara's stellar debut on Sunday as he accounted for the Rangers' only run of the game.
Yeah, it was exciting to see Mazara go yard and collect three hits, but this isn't the way the Rangers wanted it to happen.
The reason? Well, Shin-Soo Choo was scratched from Saturday night's game after pregame warm-ups with a calf strain and starting catcher Robinson Chirinos left the game after fracturing his forearm. They're out two and three months, respectively.
Yikes.
The injury bug that never really bit the Rangers too badly in 2015 (once the season began, anyway) has reverted to 2014 when they came early and often.
The Rangers hope it stopped on Saturday, but those are two pretty key pieces now out of the Rangers' lineup for an extended period of time.
Choo was one of the key catalysts to the Rangers' run late in the year last season, and Chirinos had been one of the team's best hitters so far this year and was the most experienced of a very inexperienced group of catching depth.
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While Choo is the bigger name, Chirinos' injury is arguably a bigger deal. That means Bryan Holaday, a good backup catcher, is now the Rangers' starter. Brett Nicholas was called up on Sunday but has never played in the bigs and wasn't even active for Sunday's game.
There has been talk dating back to the winter that the Rangers could be interested in trading for a frontline catcher like Jonathan Lucroy or Derek Norris, but the price was too high. I don't think it got any cheaper on Saturday night.
