Jon Daniels addresses Rangers injury problems

Questions abound as the Rangers ended up using the disabled list on Friday for the 17th time, which is easily the most of any team in the Majors.

The team has the most roster members on the disabled list with 13, with the Nationals coming in a distant second at 7. Obviously, general manager Jon Daniels has had to answer several questions, especially as it relates to the DL’s newest member, trade acquisition Prince Fielder. The most interesting piece of news surrounding Fielder is that when he was given to the Rangers by Detroit in exchange for second baseman Ian Kinsler, neither Texas nor the Tigers gave their respective players physicals. As Fielder now faces season ending neck surgery, and after it was revealed that neck problems may have been bothering Prince while he was in Detroit, the one big question was simply: Why?

Daniels took to several media outlets on Friday, including MLB Network Radio, ESPN Dallas radio, and CBS Radio affiliate 105.3 The Fan to explain the medical procedures surrounding the slugger.

"We’re looking at everything right now, and will throughout this offseason, as far as opportunities to get better ourselves: the decision making process, different checks along the way, whether or not what we’re doing for our physicals is the right policy, the wrong policy, et cetera. We have a pretty good track record, but you always gotta review everything and try to make it better.With that being said…we did a physical during Spring Training, and [Prince] passed…he really didn’t have any symptoms that anyone was aware of. He said he had periods of a stiff neck, he told us about that recently, we didn’t know that at the time. He never got a treatment in Detroit, never had any issues, never had any doctor visits. Obviously never any missed time, so there was no reason, even if we had brought him in, to do anything other than have a standard physical, which never includes a cervical MRI."

Daniels acknowledges that no standard physical includes a cervical MRI, but it is something that the team will have to look at doing for future procedures. He said that, based off of conversations with Prince and his doctors, he doesn’t believe that Detroit knew anything about the neck problems but that they may have bothered Fielder before, resulting in his poor performance towards the end of the 2013 season.

As far as it relates to Profar, Daniels admits that that the news that Profar suffered a setback in rehab hit him a little harder and more unexpectedly than Prince Fielder’s injury. Profar suffered a shoulder muscle tear in Spring Training, prohibiting him from throwing. His setback happened this week as a result of sleeping incorrectly on the injured side. The Rangers announced that Profar would have to restart his rehab process, which puts him back out at another 8-12 weeks.

All three radio shows brought up the idea of signing Kendrys Morales, who currently sits on the free agent market and would profile nicely with Texas’ needs, but if the team signs him before the First-Year Player Draft, the Rangers would sacrifice the 30th overall pick. After the Draft, Morales is no longer linked to draft pick compensation and can sign without further penalty. It is also speculated that Morales’ agent, Scott Boras, would seek a multi-year deal.