Derek Holland recalled, Rupe DFA'd

Holland has been recalled to replace Josh Rupe in the bullpen. While this move seems surprising, it is in keeping with what appears to be the offseason master plan. Teh Rangers elected not to sign any pitchers for a lot of years or a lot of dollars and even seemed especially reluctant to sign any number of good bargain-priced vets still hanging around towards the start of spring training. Apparently, they planned to use the talent that they already had in their system when they were ready and not be too worried about filling it with relievers from the 30 set.

Do I agree with their plan to refuse to sign anyone to guaranteed money to improve a weakness on the team? absolutely not. However, I like the fact that they are sticking to their guns, and not calling up someone like Vaughan or Gordon, or bringing back someone like Donnelly, when they have near-ready talented arms in the system. It just required a little thinking out of the box. It may also require patience, patience to put up with Rupe-ugly #s at some points during their rookie debuts.

For Holland, this could be a nice move for counterintuitive reasons. His changeup is already his best off-speed pitch, but he may be forced to use his underdeveloped slider more in this role than as a starter. We'll see.

Finally, I think this move by the Rangers shows just how much progress they think he made during the off-season and in ST. He started off shaky and finished pretty strong, both he and Feliz staying in big league camp for the entire spring. So I think the Rangers feel pretty confident about this move, and may well have been eyeing it as a future option since camp opened.

Who will take his spot in the AAA rotation? I would say Gordon slides over to start, or a AA guy is promoted, and some relievers are moved around, maybe someone being activated from extended.