Josh Hamilton has two at-bats since his return from arthroscopic knee surgery nearly a week ago, and they resulted two strikeouts. He did the same thing before the surgery when he was trying to hold off on surgery and serve only as a pinch-hitter.
It's pretty clear the Rangers have a use for Hamilton, but it needs to be in more than a pinch-hitting role.
With the Rangers moving forward with their sights set on the AL West title and at the worst, a Wild Card spot, it's about time to start wondering if we'll see Josh Hamilton on a postseason roster, much less again this season.
On this team, there is no room for another designated hitter. That's Prince Fielder's gig, and no one else's. There's no room on a postseason roster to carry a bench bat that can't run or play in the field. So the hope for the Rangers regarding Hamilton has to be that the surgery went well and cleaned up what needed to be cleaned, allowing Hamilton to play in the outfield so we can end this Mike Napoli in left field experiment.
That's not likely, but there are 12 more games to make it happen, or Hamilton might be left off a postseason roster, at least in the first round.