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Matt Bush, the first overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, is getting a chance from the Texas Rangers to make his major league debut after previous bids ended amid assault accusations and a four-year prison sentence for driving drunk and hitting a motorcyclist in 2012.

TR Sullivan of MLB.com first reported word of the potential promotion, and Jon Morosi of Fox Sports confirmed the roster move.

The San Diego Padres made Bush, then a shortstop with highly intriguing potential, the top selection in a 2004 draft class that also featured starting pitchers Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver and Homer Bailey, along with slugger Billy Butler.

In February 2009, the Padres traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays after he allegedly assaulted a pair of San Diego-area high school lacrosse players, according to Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Less than two months later, the Blue Jays released him after he allegedly threw a baseball past a woman’s head at a party, per Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

He signed a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays in January 2010 and spent two seasons with the organization without incident. However, during 2012 spring training, Bush was involved in a drunken driving hit-and-run accident in which he hit the motorcycle of a 72-year-old, causing the Rays to place him on the restricted list and ultimately release him. 

In December 2012, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison after pleading no contest to driving under the influence with serious bodily injury. The plea agreement allowed six other charges to be dropped, but his driver’s license was suspended for 10 years.

Bush was released from prison last October. Now a relief pitcher, he signed a minor league contract with the Rangers in December.

He pitched three scoreless innings and tallied three strikeouts for Texas during spring training before being optioned to Double-A Frisco. His success continued in the minors, as he posted a 2.65 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings across 12 games for the RoughRiders.

Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News passed along comments from Rangers general manager Jon Daniels earlier this week on the Ballzy podcast about the ongoing process of helping Bush stay on the right path:

Take baseball out of it. He’s an alcoholic. There’s going to be that element to his life regardless of his occupation. He’s continuing the process day to day. We have a support network here and he has one.

Knock on wood, everything’s been very good.

Meanwhile, Sherrington asked Bush about potentially getting the call to the big club, and he said: “It’s just really going to be an extremely special moment for me.”

Don’t expect to see Bush pitching many high-leverage innings during his first go with the Rangers, however.

Although Bush has looked terrific at times during spring training and his stint in the minors, he has fewer than 90 innings of professional pitching experience. Furthermore, none of that has come above the Double-A level, and most of those innings were before he went to prison.

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After having one of the worst seasons in his MLB career, Kyle Lohse will look to rebound with the Texas Rangers. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Lohse and Texas agreed to terms on a deal. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed the report, and added the deal was worth $2 million, with another $1.5 million in performance bonuses. 

In a way, Lohse’s decline serves as a microcosm for the Milwaukee Brewers‘ fortunes in recent years.

When Milwaukee signed the 37-year-old right-hander for three years and $33 million, he was coming off a successful 2012 season in which he finished 16-3 and posted a 2.86 ERA. The Brewers had finished 83-79, missing out on the playoffs after reaching the National League Championship Series in 2011.

Lohse was supposed to be one of the anchors of Milwaukee’s starting rotation and help get the team back into the playoffs. Instead, his performance declined over the next three seasons, and the Brewers went from contending to all-out rebuilding.

There’s no way getting around how poorly Lohse pitched in 2015. Brewers manager Craig Counsell moved him to the bullpen in August after he posted a 6.31 ERA and 5.19 FIP to start the year.

Following a loss to the Cleveland Indians on July 22, Lohse perfectly summed up how his season was unfolding, per Genaro C. Armas of the Associated Press: “Ever see a guy try to pull something off the shelf, drops it, tries to put it back, knocks it over some more and the whole thing falls down? Yeah, about like that.”

Beyond the obvious concerns about his performance, Lohse’s drop in velocity, per BrooksBaseball.net, raises a major question about whether he still has any value as a major league pitcher:

Lohse is a sinker-ball pitcher, which is notable considering how successful opposing hitters were against the pitch, also courtesy of BrooksBaseball.net:

Even if Lohse deviates from his past tendencies and relies less on his sinker, hitters had a lot of success against what is historically his secondary weapon—a changeup—last year.

A number of former starting pitchers have transitioned well to a bullpen role in the past, so there’s the chance Lohse could have a career renaissance as a reliever.

If 2015 is any indicator, a transformation won’t be on the cards. Lohse had a 3.81 ERA in his 15 relief appearances, while his strikeout-to-walk rate fell from 2.87 as a starter to 1.69 out of the pen.

The Rangers seem a somewhat odd destination for Lohse since they aren’t in dire need of starting pitching. Their starters rank eighth in combined ERA (3.69). Granted, they also rank 21st in combined FIP (4.46). Texas has room for improvement, but nothing from Lohse’s performance last year leads one to believe he’s the guy to address the issue.

A.J. Griffin left his start on May 7 with shoulder stiffness, which opened up a spot in the rotation. Yet, Yu Darvish’s return to the active roster appears to be imminent. Assuming Darvish doesn’t suffer any setbacks in his rehab, he won’t be in the minors much longer.

Perhaps Rangers general manager Jon Daniels views Lohse as insurance in case any other starting pitcher goes down between now and the end of the year.

Stats are courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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The Oakland Athletics placed second baseman Jed Lowrie on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a bruised right shin, per MLB.com’s Jane Lee.

Continue for updates.  

Athletics Taking Cautious Approach with Lowrie

Wednesday, May 11

A’s manager Bob Melvin explained how Lowrie’s trip to the DL is more of a proactive move to ensure he comes back fully healthy, per Lee: “It’s a severe contusion, and we didn’t feel like he was even going to be able to do baseball activity for seven or eight days, so it made sense to put him on the DL and make sure that when we get him back this isn’t something he’s fighting through and trying to manage while he’s playing.”

The injury occurred during Oakland’s 14-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday when Lowrie fouled the ball off his right shin. He left after the top of the seventh inning, with Billy Butler taking his place in the lineup and Chris Coghlan moving from third base to second.

The 32-year-old is on pace for a relatively strong season compared to his output the last two years. He’s batting .302 with 17 RBI, though his .345 slugging percentage leaves a lot to be desired.

Injuries have been Lowrie’s biggest problem since hitting the big leagues. Only twice in nine years has he played in more than 100 games.

Coghlan will likely remain at second for the next couple of weeks. He’s only hitting .165 in 107 plate appearances, but the Athletics don’t have many other choices, especially after announcing they moved Eric Sogard to the 60-day DL on Wednesday.

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Needing to fill multiple holes in their injury-depleted starting rotation, the Los Angeles Angels acquired right-hander Jhoulys Chacin from the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com reported the trade, later adding the Braves will receive a minor league pitcher from the Angels in return for Chacin. 

Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reported the Braves are receiving left-hander Adam McCreery from the Angels. The Braves announced the trade on their official Twitter account. 

This season, while still early, has been a disaster so far for the Angels. They own the third-worst record in the American League at 13-19 entering play Wednesday. 

Pitching has been a big part of the problems in Los Angeles. The Angels rank 23rd in starters’ ERA (4.67), 25th in innings pitched (171.2) and 29th in opponents’ OPS (.828). 

Those issues have been compounded due to significant injuries in the starting rotation. Garrett Richards, who is the Angels’ No. 1 starter, will likely need Tommy John surgery that would keep him out until the middle of 2017, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. 

Left-hander Andrew Heaney opted to rehab his UCL instead of having Tommy John surgery, but he’s on the 60-day disabled list. C.J. Wilson has been on the disabled list since spring training with a shoulder problem. 

The Angels’ official depth chart only listed three starting pitchers—Jered Weaver, Hector Santiago and Nick Tropeano—before the acquisition of Chacin. The 28-year-old has struggled so far this season with a 5.40 ERA in five starts, but he does have 27 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. 

Right now, the Angels just need healthy bodies to try and make it to the summer months without completely wearing down their bullpen. Chacin isn’t a difference-maker, but he at least gives manager Mike Scioscia someone to work with every fifth day. 

Stats via ESPN.com. 

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The Los Angeles Angels‘ Albert Pujols has been many things in his brilliant MLB career: a three-time MVP, a 10-time All-Star and two-time world champion.

Now, he may be adding another, far less flattering label: albatross.

At age 36, Pujols is a shell of his former self. And—jamming salt deep into the wound for the Angels—he’s not quite halfway through the 10-year, $240 million deal he inked with Los Angeles prior to the 2012 season.

To put a finer point on it: In 2021, Pujols’ age-41 season, the Angels will pay him $30 million.

This is the part where phrases like “sunk cost” and “dead money” enter the conversation, and where Halos fans with sensitive stomachs might want to quit reading.

In February, ESPN.com’s Dan Szymborski put Pujols’ pact atop his leaderboard of worst contracts in baseball, calling it “a gigantic long-term drag.”

After a month-plus of action, Pujols is making that sound like an understatement.

The big man can still crack the ball out of the yard, as his six home runs attest. And he can still provide the occasional historic moment, like when he passed Reggie Jackson for 13th on the all-time home run list in April.

The rest of the numbers, however, are ugly bordering on atrocious.

After going 0-for-4 in an 8-1 loss Tuesday against his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols owns a .183 average and .611 OPS. His wins above replacement (WAR) is mired in negative territory.

He’s not the only reason the Angels sit at 13-19. The roster has been depleted by injuries to pitchers Garrett Richards, C.J. Wilson, Andrew Heaney and Huston Street, as well as shortstop Andrelton Simmons. And outside of franchise cornerstone Mike Trout, the lineup is mostly punchless.

But considering how much payroll Pujols is chewing up, the Angels need him to give them something.

“Sometimes when [the hits] come, they come in bunches,” Pujols said April 24 after breaking an 0-for-26 slump with a two-run homer, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. “When you struggle, you just struggle. The main thing is to stay positive all the time. I’ve been in this situation before. I know how to get out of it.”

Maybe. We are talking about a surefire Hall of Famer who was once the most feared hitter in the game—a baseball-punishing machine who left opposing pitchers trembling in their cleats.

On the other hand, even the great ones fade eventually. Yes, Pujols launched 40 home runs in 2015, but he also hit .244 with a career-low .307 on-base percentage. There were signs of his decline.

Now, he’s looking less like a one-dimensional masher and more like a fallen star. Home runs are nice, but they can only mask so many flaws.

Again, if this were the final year of Pujols’ deal—or if he had one or two years remaining—it wouldn’t be such a debilitating problem for Los Angeles.

But Pujols is going to sap the franchise’s resources for the next half-decade, plus a 10-year, $10 million “personal services” contract after that.

Add the fact the Angels have MLB’s worst farm system, and it’s easy to paint pessimism on the streets of Anaheim.

Granted, deals like this are supposed to look bad on the back end. The idea behind decade-spanning, nine-figure mega-contracts is to get premium value now and pay for dead weight later.

The only problem is, Pujols has never been great in an Angels uniform.

During his run of dominance between 2001 and 2011 with St. Louis, he averaged 7.9 WAR. His best mark with the Angels was 4.8 in 2012.

Now, he’s a downright liability. And his contract has gone from bad to embarrassing.

It’s gotten to the point where DiGiovanna suggested, with a seemingly straight face, the Halos should consider trading Trout in a year or two and attempting to tack on Pujols as a rider.

It sounds odd, but it’s also the only way the Angels could shed their Pujols liability.

Is a renaissance possible? Sure. No doubt Los Angeles will give Pujols every opportunity to rediscover his stroke and nudge his stats northward.

At some point, however, that albatross label will be unavoidable. And while it won’t erase the greatness of Pujols’ past, it will color the ugliness of his and the Angels’ future.

All statistics current as of May 10 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com.

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Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez earned the 146th win of his career on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays, passing Jamie Moyer to take sole possession of first place on the all-time franchise wins list, per Sportsnet Stats.

Now in his 12th MLB season, the 30-year-old righty had an ordinary game by his own lofty standards, limiting the struggling Tampa Bay lineup to two runs on four hits and two walks over seven innings but with only four strikeouts.

Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte provided most of his team’s offense, recording four hits—including two doubles and a homer—in five at-bats, accounting for three runs and three RBI in the process.

Marte also provided the game’s pivotal moment when he broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with his three-run homer off Rays reliever Steven Geltz, who had inherited both runners from fellow reliever Dana Eveland, the losing pitcher in the contest.

Hernandez now owns a 3-2 record, 2.27 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, but he surprisingly has just 33 strikeouts (and 20 walks) over 43.2 innings through seven starts.

Although the numbers alone wouldn’t normally be cause for concern this early in the season, Hernandez’s declining velocity (per FanGraphs) suggests age and accumulated innings may be taking a toll.

Granted, it’s still early, and he’s certainly earned the benefit of the doubt.

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Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez added another accolade to his illustrious career Monday by becoming the all-time winningest pitcher in franchise history.

Hernandez passed Jamie Moyer with his 146th win, according to MLB Stat of the Day. Moyer took the time congratulate Hernandez on his accomplishment, courtesy of the team’s Twitter account:

The 30-year-old allowed only two runs on four hits to lead the Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. He is now 3-2 on the season with a 2.27 ERA.

Sports Radio 950 KJR’s Dave Softy Mahler Show added context to Hernandez’s place in Seattle’s history:

Hernandez has been one of the game’s best pitchers for years, so it was only a matter of time before he became the most decorated hurler ever for the Mariners.

Seattle, sitting at 19-13, is atop the American League West and appears to have the lineup and pitching prowess to make a run at a playoff berth. If Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz continue to provide the offense, the 2010 AL Cy Young winner could find himself pitching in the postseason for the first time in his career.

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Taijuan Walker made his MLB debut in 2013. But as the Seattle Mariners entered the 2016 season, they were still waiting for him to arrive.

By that, we mean arrive in the big-picture sense—as in, deliver on his considerable promise and start making opposing hitters look foolish.

Six starts in…it’s happening. And it’s helping the Mariners emerge as a serious threat in the American League West.

Through 32 innings of work, the 23-year-old right-hander owns a 1.97 ERA with 29 strikeouts. Yes, he left Friday’s start against the Houston Astros after just two innings because of neck spasms.

But he said Saturday he’s feeling better and expects to take his turn Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.

That’s excellent news for the M’s, who sit atop the division at 19-13 entering play Tuesday, 1.5 games up on the Texas Rangers. 

Felix Hernandez remains the undisputed monarch of the Seattle rotation. But Walker is looking increasingly like a more-than-worthy No. 2 one season after posting a 4.56 ERA in 29 starts.

What’s the difference? For one, Walker is keeping the ball in the park.

In 2015, he surrendered 25 home runs in 162.9 frames. That works out to 1.33 home runs per nine innings, which was the eighth-highest total in baseball among qualified pitchers.

This season, Walker has allowed just three homers, lowering his HR/9 rate to a far less gaudy 0.84.

While the usual small-sample caveats apply, the key seems to be Walker relying less on his fastball and more on his offspeed pitches.

“Walker has been working to develop his curveball,” notes ESPN’s Mark Simon, “but while he’s doing so, his splitter (which some call a changeup) has been terrific.”

Indeed, Walker has upped the use of his changeup from 18.3 percent last year to 21.5 percent and has thrown his curveball 11.6 percent of the time compared to 7.2 percent in 2015. Use of his fastball, meanwhile, has dipped from 64.8 percent to 56.4 percent.

Concurrently, his groundball percentage has climbed from 38.6 percent to 50.5 percent.

That’s a lot of numbers, and they tell a story. But to get an idea of the leap forward Walker has taken, just watch him on the mound. There’s an unmistakable confidence—an air of control.

Skipper Scott Servais broke it down after Walker fanned 11 in a 3-2 victory over the Astros April 25, per Doug Miller and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com:

We’ve really seen that he has the ability to turn the dial up. Later in games there’s plenty in the tank. The adrenaline gets flowing, he gets a little emotional and he gets after it. He doesn’t back off. He keeps going after it and he’s got good stuff. He believes in himself and we certainly believe in him.

The Mariners should also believe in their chances to taste the postseason for the first time since 2001.

After winning 87 games and narrowly missing the playoffs in 2014, Seattle stumbled backward last season, finishing a disappointing 76-86.

Now, they’re squarely back in the mix, thanks in no small part to a starting staff that ranks second in the American League in ERA behind the Chicago White Sox.

The Rangers are a threat to repeat as division champs, particularly with Yu Darvish set to return from Tommy John surgery. And Houston—last year’s darling—is dangerous despite a disappointing start. The Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s are a notch below the Texas twosome, but neither is a complete pushover.

Like the rest of the Junior Circuit, the West is wide-open.

Right now, however, the Mariners might be the favorites with vintage Robinson Cano pacing the offense and Walker and Fernandez throwing like a pair of aces.

That’s exactly the role Walker could soon inhabit full time, as Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider outlined:

For years, many assumed Walker had ace upside because he threw hard and was athletic. I always contended he was likely a No. 2, and while I still see that for his ultimate long-term future, there’s a chance he’s not only a No. 1 in a year or less, but also an outside shot he’s among the 10-12 true aces in Major League Baseball by the time 2017 gets underway.

It’ll undoubtedly soothe some nerves in the Pacific Northwest to see Walker take his next turn and pitch well, putting the neck issue behind him.

Assuming he does, the Mariners—whom Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter slotted at No. 3 in his most recent MLB power rankings—will have a clear course to October.

And their arrival, not coincidentally, may well coincide with Walker’s.

All statistics current as of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb Sunday during his team’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. He will require surgery, and it’s uncertain when he will be able to return to action.

Continue for updates.

Simmons to Undergo Surgery

Monday, May 9

The Angels announced Simmons suffered “a full thickness tear of the ulnar collateral ligament” in his left thumb and will need to go under the knife.

The rehab for a surgery of this nature is “typically” six to eight weeks, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. 

Simmons’ Absence Will Impact Angels Defense

The Angels acquired Simmons in November as the Atlanta Braves entered rebuild mode, and the move was a major win for a club that needed an upgrade at shortstop.

One of the league’s premier defensive players, Simmons posted 5.4 defensive wins above replacement in 2013 before that number dipped slightly to 3.9 in 2014 and 3.5 last year.

And while he’s never been a power hitter, Simmons established himself as a solid contributor by batting .256 with a .304 on-base percentage, 31 home runs and 168 RBI over his first four seasons in the majors.

Thus far in his first season with the Angels, Simmons is batting .219 with one home run and eight RBI. He’s also tallied a dWAR rating of 1.0.

“You want to be productive, whatever it is,” Simmons said during spring training, according to the Los Angeles Times‘ Pedro Moura. “You want to move the guy over when you have to. You want to come up with a big hit.”

With Simmons on the shelf, utility man Cliff Pennington projects as his primary replacement at shortstop.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Don’t expect the Los Angeles Angels to trade Mike Trout anytime soon, if ever.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Friday that despite losing starting pitchers Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney possibly for the year, he will not trade the former American League Most Valuable Player for prospects.

“We have no intent or desire to consider moving Mike Trout—he’s not moving,” Eppler said, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. “He’s an impact player, a huge piece in a championship core.”

Trout signed a six-year extension worth $144.5 million in March 2014 prior to his fourth big league season. The four-time All-Star also has a no-trade clause in his contract, per Rosenthal, so he could decline any trade even if the Angels wanted to move him.

Los Angeles (13-15) entered Friday in third place in the American League West behind the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. Tommy John surgery may soon be on the horizon for Richards, per ESPN.com’s Michael Eaves, and Heaney has a torn ulnar collateral ligament, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.

The Angels are in need of pitching depth, but they also need help with their farm system. Baseball America ranked them dead last in terms of minor league talent—the third year in a row they’ve ranked 27th or below.

“This team was up against a lot of adversity last year and fought to the end,” Eppler said, per Rosenthal. “We’ve got a lot of character, a lot of the same guys on the club. They will not back down from a fight.”

Trout is on his way to his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance. He came into Friday batting .317 with seven home runs. His talent at the plate and in center field doesn’t come around often. While Trout would bring in a major haul in return, the situation would need to get much worse for the Angels to even entertain the thought of trading him.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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