Rangers already miss Michael Lorenzen with brutal Max Scherzer injury update

Things haven't been much better for the Texas Rangers to start the second half of the 2024 MLB campaign. And the going got even rougher for the reigning World Series champs on Friday.

Per Rangers Today's Jeff Wilson, Texas placed veteran right-handed pitcher Max Scherzer on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder fatigue. The transaction will be retroactive to July 31, though it's still a crushing blow for the club.

Texas recalled rookie southpaw Walter Pennington from Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move, whom the team recently acquired from the Kansas City Royals. Ironically, the Rangers would presumably love having the player they sent out to receiver the former in light of the Scherzer news -- Michael Lorenzen.

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Rangers already miss Michael Lorenzen with brutal Max Scherzer injury update

Less than a week after the Rangers ship out Lorenzen, they lose Scherzer for a considerable yet unspecified amount of time. What a bummer, especially for a club with hopes of salvaging their postseason hopes.

Unfortunately, Scherzer has spent a good chunk of this season on the IL, limiting him to eight starts. The 38-year-old is 2-4 with a modest 3.89 ERA, 1.093 WHIP and 38 strikeouts across 39.1 innings pitched.

Having Lorenzen would be nice right now. He operated as a de facto top-of-the-rotation arm for Texas while Scherzer was in and out of the lineup. Nonetheless, the Rangers ultimately understood they were far from contention, electing to cash in on a coveted bargaining chip before this year's trade deadline.

Currently 8.5 games behind the third/final Wild Card spot in the American League, Texas has failed to recreate their World Series-winning spark from 2023. Baseball Reference's playoff odds simulator gives the Rangers a 2.4 percent chance of making it to October. 

While parting ways with Lorenzen stings now because of Scherzer, you can't fault Texas for operating with the future in mind.