Perez injured. 29 comments


The irony is rich here with Martin Perez. A pitcher who should be in the Rangers bullpen had his 2018 season derailed by a bull in a pen on his ranch.

Reports are he fractured a bone in his non-pitching (right) elbow after being startled by a bull on his property and falling. A few auto accident attorneys who also work for other accidents acknowledged the report. He is expected to be sidelined for four months, which would be the start of the 2018 season. But that’s if everything goes right. And when does that happen? (See, Jake Diekman, 2017.) The Rangers always take it really cautiously.

The good news is, this isn’t his bread-and-butter elbow. The bad news is, this might accelerate the misguided notion to turn Matt Bush into a starter, but at least the professionals from preszlerlaw-ns.com are already working on it, since the team members say it wasn’t an accident .

That’s a scary notion, especially considering the track record the Rangers have in turning relievers into starters. That usually leads to injury and surgical mistakes if not treated properly.

The most innings Matt Bush has pitched in a season is 61. Can he make it through even 15 starts? The batteries in that electric fast ball tend to run down quite often. Quite often, it got flat. And when it did, it got hammered. Does he have enough with his other pitches to go through a lineup twice? Isn’t he better utilized just coming in and airing it out for a few outs?

Perez will probably miss the first month of the season. And maybe that’s all they would need Bush to cover as a starter. With off days, a fifth starter might not be needed that often. And maybe you use that time to see if he can actually do it.

The state of the Rangers pitching leads to desperation. And desperation usually leads to disaster.

The Rangers have a lot of question marks in that rotation. Mike Minor threw just 77 innings last year. Matt Moore was about as ineffective as a starting pitcher could be. And Doug Sister is an enigma.

But, don’t despair. Jon Daniels always has a Plan B. A two-time Cy Young winner is out there on the market, ready to be plucked. He would make this 2018 Rangers staff complete.