MVN - Most Valuable Network

NEWSFLASH: Feldman Recalled; Gabbard To 15-Day DL

So much for Kason Gabbard’s premature exit from Monday’s start against the Boston Red Sox being merely a “precautionary” measure.

Multiple local media sources, including Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, are reporting that the Texas Rangers will place the 26-year-old southpaw on the 15-day disabled list tomorrow with what is being termed simply as a “sore lower back.”

Sinkerballer Jason Jennings, who had previously been scheduled to make the start in Thursday evening’s series finale against the Detroit Tigers, has instead been pushed back to Saturday to accommodate the retrieval of right-hander Scott Feldman from Double-A Frisco.

Feldman, 25, surrendered three earned runs on eight hits and a pair of walks in six innings (91 pitches) of work against Toronto on April 13th, his lone big league start of the young season to date.

The Rangers made a valiant effort to knot that game at five runs apiece in the bottom of the 10th inning when Marlon Byrd socked a lead-off triple into the left-center field alley, but they inexplicably failed to plate the tying run, and fell in heartbreaking fashion to complete a three-game home sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays.

Gabbard was removed after just two innings on Monday when, as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan described, he “caught a cleat on a mound while trying to throw a pitch to [lead-off hitter] Kevin Youkilis,” twisting his lower back in the process.

He survived that inning unscathed (despite permitting three walks), but was ultimately pulled from the mound after tossing eight warm-up pitches before the onset of the bottom of the third inning.

Texas had hoped that Gabbard would be ready to make his next scheduled start, which would have been on Saturday evening against the Minnesota Twins in Arlington, but Kason’s balky back still exhibited signs of “discomfort and stiffness” during a Tuesday throwing session at Comerica Park in Detroit, and the Rangers were forced to make alternate arrangements.

Gabbard’s assignment to the disabled list will be retroactive to Tuesday; barring no further setbacks, the club expects Kason to be activated on May 7th in Seattle. The soft-tossing lefty had compiled a 2.18 ERA and 1.45 WHIP through his first four starts (spanning 20.2 innings) of the 2008 season.

[5:30 PM Update: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes that veteran reliever Eddie Guardado (sore left arm) will not be activated from the 15-day disabled list until Friday.]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm and is filed under NEWSFLASH, The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.