While the Texas Rangers were somehow hanging around the top of the AL West through the first month of the season, they had basically one guy to thank for carrying their offense, especially after their best player, Adrian Beltre, hit the disabled list with a quad injury.
Kevin Kouzmanoff was a career journeyman who was brought in on an invite to spring training and ended up raking through Cactus League play and essentially daring the Rangers not to put him on the Opening Day roster.
They didn't, but it didn't take him long to get there after Beltre's injury.
Once that happened, Kouzmanoff earned himself AL Player of the Week honors and carried the Rangers' offense to the tune of a .362 batting average, two homers and 10 RBIs in his 13 games before he injured his back shortly after Beltre's return and required back surgery.
On Thursday in a conference call, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels announced Kouzmanoff needed another back surgery and will not return this season. At this point, when you're talking about two back surgeries in a matter of months, it's questionable the 33-year-old returns at all, especially to the Rangers.
Kouzmanoff caught fire, and wasn't going to sustain what he was doing, but it sure was fun to watch for a couple of weeks. Now, we wonder if we'll ever see him again.
