Elvis has left the building...

[revo]

Elvis Andrus broken right elbow

[Roy Hobbs]

"Assuming he misses extended time, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jurickson Profar would likely hold down the middle of the Rangers' infield."

Calhoun? You would think he could play some 2B. I know he is a liability defensively but his bat could really help Texas.

[TranaGreg]

some background ... there were two out in the 9th inning, score was 7-2 ... every Angels-Rangers game this year is gonna have some drama to it ...

edit: damn embedding ...

Here are key moments from Rangers-Angels leading to Andrus HBP:

--Chirinos HBP in 4th
--Rivera HBP by Bush in 6th
--Simmons slide into Profar 7th
--Trout hit to start 9th
--Andrus hit with 2 outs in bottom of 9th.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here are key moments from Rangers-Angels leading to Andrus HBP:<br><br>--Chirinos HBP in 4th<br>--Rivera HBP by Bush in 6th<br>--Simmons slide into Profar 7th<br>--Trout hit to start 9th<br>--Andrus hit with 2 outs in bottom of 9th.</p>&mdash; Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) <a href="https://twitter.com/Evan_P_Grant/status/984291948621156352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Ken]

some background ... there were two out in the 9th inning, score was 7-2 ... every Angels-Rangers game this year is gonna have some drama to it ...

Seems a bit silly, there were already 2 men on, no way they intentionally load the bases.

[TranaGreg]

Seems a bit silly, there were already 2 men on, no way they intentionally load the bases.

maybe, maybe not, but tensions were running high - I could see the young gun wanting to send a msg (to his own team as much as the Rangers)

[onejayhawk]

"Assuming he misses extended time, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jurickson Profar would likely hold down the middle of the Rangers' infield."

Calhoun? You would think he could play some 2B. I know he is a liability defensively but his bat could really help Texas.

Calhoun is a liability in LF, but that is where I expect him to play, possibly platooning with Rua. That's an ugly defensive OF.

Does Profar finally gets some real PT? He used to be a quality glove at SS, but that was 2013. Last year his numbers were decent in a small sample. Three weeks covering for Odor was nice, but their only other option at SS is Hanser Alberto. Profar is the logical sub until Elvis returns.

J

[Hornsby]

Seems a bit silly, there were already 2 men on, no way they intentionally load the bases.

Agreed, Middleton was already pretty gassed from throwing over 30 pitches, so it was more than likely a total accident. Jeff Erickson from rotowire tweeted that he thought it was completely innocent. Evan Grant from one of the Dallas newspapers thought there was a more sinister intent. I'd lean toward an errant pitch by a young guy who was tired. Plenty of season and a lot of games left between the two to settle grudges...as Ken pointed out, 2 men already on base, so not a situation to do so.

[Ken]

Agreed, Middleton was already pretty gassed from throwing over 30 pitches, so it was more than likely a total accident. Jeff Erickson from rotowire tweeted that he thought it was completely innocent. Evan Grant from one of the Dallas newspapers thought there was a more sinister intent. I'd lean toward an errant pitch by a young guy who was tired. Plenty of season and a lot of games left between the two to settle grudges...as Ken pointed out, 2 men already on base, so not a situation to do so.

I live in the Dallas area - Evan is a really nice guy, interacts with the fans on the Rangers SBNation site at times, etc. However, his takes are often a little ... strange. So it's not surprising that he's the one pushing this.

[TranaGreg]

I see that Grant just put out an update ...

So, I asked Jeff Banister if there was retaliation. He declined to comment.

In the time since, I've spoken to four people whose opinions and instincts I trust. The verdict: Three to one the Angels were NOT throwing at Andrus. They all made convincing points. I think it was more coincidence than intent.

[SlideRule]

Calhoun is a liability in LF, but that is where I expect him to play, possibly platooning with Rua. That's an ugly defensive OF.
J

Sounds like DeShields is going to return sooner than expected, maybe around April 20. So that will help things.