Rangers announce flurry of roster moves in wild weekend news dump

The Texas Rangers benched two players and confirmed another three out for the season.

The Texas Rangers are shutting up shop, for all intents and purposes.

On Saturday, manager Chris Woodward dropped shortstop Elvis Andrus and second baseman Rougned Odor from the lineup in favor of younger prospects. He also confirmed pitchers Corey Kluber and Jose Leclerc along with infielder/outfielder Danny Santana will miss the remainder of the 2020 season with injuries.

It was quite the news dump as the Rangers prepared to take on the Seattle Mariners.

The Rangers hope to give prospects a chance for the rest of the season.

The pitchers haven’t really been part of the season for Texas. Kluber pitched once and while Leclerc made two appearances early in the campaign. Both have shoulder tears which will keep them out long enough for Woodward to see no use in bringing them back.

As for Santana, nagging arm injuries have kept him out of the lineup. He won’t be coming back this year because of it.

Andrus and Odor were benched, at least on a temporary basis. The former gave way for Anderson Tejeda, who will be making his first career start at shortstop. The latter has been unavailable for two weeks with an eye infection. However, when he is cleared to play he will do so on a limited basis.

The idea is to get a better look at the young players in the Rangers organization by taking veterans out of the lineup more often.

“It’s not going to be do or die. I just want to see their mentality, how they handle the day to day preparation and the at-bats,” according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com.

The Rangers also went into Saturday’s matchup without outfielder Joey Gallo in the lineup, though he is not expected to be among the players who will have their appearances limited going forward this season, according to Levi Weaver of The Athletic.