Texas Rangers Demote Delino DeShields, Promote Matt Bush

By Bill Pivetz | May 13, 2016

Mar 11, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Delino DeShields (3) in the first inning during a spring training game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Maryvale Baseball Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports /

The Texas Rangers made a surprising, but necessary, move by demoting outfielder Delino DeShields. Can he get back to his 2015 ways while in Triple-A?

The Texas Rangers sit in second place in the American League West, 1.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners. The team made a couple of moves in hopes to make that jump into first place. An announcement was made that the team demoted outfielder Delino DeShields. In a subsequent move, the team promoted veteran minor-league pitcher Matt Bush. Both moves have a fantasy impact.

Let’s start with the first move. Delino DeShields was fantastic last season, his rookie year. In 121 games, he hit .261 with 22 doubles, 10 triples, two home runs and 37 RBI with 25 steals. He had a 101:53 K:BB ratio with a .344 on-base percentage. He was undrafted last season, but finished 156th overall on the Player Rater.

This season started decently. In his first 12 games, he hit .326/.420/.465 with one home run, three RBI and a 16:6 K:BB ratio. Then, things started to go downhill. In the next 18 games, he hit .143/.203/.190 with one home run, five RBI and a 16:5 K:BB ratio.

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It was only a matter of time before the Rangers made the move. Texas has outfield depth. Ian Desmond proved that he is more than serviceable in the outfield. Drew Stubbs is also a good hand. Nomar Mazara has been good since getting the call. The team also has Shin-Soo Choo and Josh Hamilton returning from injury down the line.

This was Delino DeShields’ job to lose. Hamilton doesn’t have a chance to start considering his injury history. Same with Choo. He is getting up there in age and Father Time takes no prisoners. Desmond, Stubbs, Mazara and even Ryan Rua have been holding down the outfield this season.

As for Bush, his career has been a rocky one. He started as a shortstop in the San Diego Padres farm system back in 2004, but transitioned to a pitcher after struggling at the plate, hitting 192 and .221 in his first two seasons.

He signed a minor-league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010. Bush had a 3.29 ERA and 0.878 WHIP and a 4.83 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in two seasons.

The Rangers signed Bush to a minor-league deal two months after his release from prison. In 12 Double-A games this season, he is 0-2 with five saves, 2.65 ERA, 0.765 WHIP and 9.5 K/9. He will join an already-deep Rangers bullpen led by Shawn Tolleson, Sam Dyson and Tom Wilhelmsen.

Except in deep leagues, Matt Bush should remain on the waiver wire. Unless something drastic happens to most of the relief pitchers, he will not see much action.

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The bigger announcement of the two is Delino DeShields getting demoted. He was drafted in the 19th round as the 46th outfielder. He is still owned in 35.8 percent of ESPN leagues, dropped in 8.4 percent of then. Granted, some of them may be keeper/dynasty leagues and those owners don’t want to give up on him just yet. Those in standard leagues likely dropped him already. If not, go ahead and take care of that.

I can see Delino DeShields coming back to the main roster sometime this year. Hopefully he performs well in Triple-A to force the Rangers to bring him back. Worse comes to worst, he’ll be back by September when the rosters expand.

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