Kenny Rogers will have surgery next week and be out for the season. This will be the first time that Kenny has been on the DL. Details here.
The Baltimore series ended up being a mess due to that train derailment in Baltimore. We were supposed to play three games there, we only played one. No clue when the remainder will be made up – although it would be nice for them to be made up the day after the season so Cal can end his career in Baltimore.

Randy Velarde is activated off the DL, Bo Porter sent down. Details & discussion here:
https://www.rangerfans.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000025

Tim Crabtree to have season ending surgery on Friday Details and discussion here:
https://www.rangerfans.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000024

ARLINGTON, Texas — On Sunday, Ken Caminiti expressed doubts about his future with the Texas Rangers.
One day later, they were confirmed.
The third baseman was placed on irrevocable waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release from the Rangers at his request on Monday afternoon.
“After I discussed the situation with Ken, he has decided that it is in his best interest to take his release,” Rangers General Manager Doug Melvin said. “With our decision to go with younger players, he did not fit in with the future plans of the ballclub. This will also give him an opportunity to join another ballclub where he can contribute.”
Caminiti, 38, had been on the disabled list since June 17 with a pulled left hamstring but became eligible for activation on Monday.
“Ken has been a true professional throughout this season, and I wish him the best for the remainder of his career,” Melvin said.
Caminiti earned $2 million in salary and $750,000 in incentives this season with the Rangers. With Caminiti’s release, the Rangers will not have to pay his contract next season and will save $3 million of his 2001 salary. He signed a one-year contract with options for two more seasons on December 10.
Caminiti’s agent Rick Licht said several teams, including Atlanta, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco, and St. Louis has expressed interest in the infielder. Caminiti’s new team would only be responsible for $200,000 of the contract, about the equivalent to the Major League minimum salary.
The Rangers called up Mike Lamb on June 17 from Triple-A Oklahoma City to play third base in Caminiti’s absence. Scott Sheldon has also played third base this season and Randy Velarde, a veteran utility infielder, is scheduled to begin rehab assignment for a pulled hamstring this week. Velarde took groundballs at third base during the Rangers’ last homestand — June 19 to 21.
Caminiti, the 1996 National League Most Valuable player, has said his hamstring is not 100 percent healthy but he is strong enough to play. He has been taking batting practice and running in the outfield at The Ballpark in Arlington since Friday.
In 13 seasons with Houston, San Diego and Texas, Caminiti has a career .273 batting average with 233 home runs, 967 RBIs in 1696 games. This season, he has hit .232 with nine home runs, 25 RBIs in 54 games.
Last season, the three-time All-Star played in 59 games, his fewest of his career, before being sidelined on June 15 with a right wrist injury. In 1999 his missed 79 games with a strained right calf muscle.
“Something’s going down tomorrow,” Caminiti told TexasRangers.com before the Rangers’ game with Oakland on Sunday. “I think I’m going to come off (the disabled list) and they’re going to release me.”
He was right.

Some more roster moves since my last update – Cordero back on the DL, out for the season – Tim Crabtree placed back on the DL – Ryan Glynn activated. J.D Smart brought up from AAA, then placed on DL – Aaron Myette also recalled.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Rob Bell, one of the Cincinnati Reds’ promising young starters, was traded to the pitching-poor Texas Rangers on Friday for outfielder Ruben Mateo and another prospect.
Bell will go into the Rangers’ starting rotation, which ranks last in the American League with a 6.60 earned run average. The Rangers plan to start him next Tuesday against Anaheim.
The Rangers have scored 355 runs, third-most in the AL, with a lineup featuring Alex Rodriguez, but their pitching staff has given up 377 earned runs, most in the majors.
They’re getting a 24-year-old pitcher who jumped from Double-A to the majors last season and went 7-8 with a 5.00 ERA in 26 starts. He also gave up a team-high 32 homers in 140 1-3 innings.
Bell was 0-5 with a 5.48 ERA in nine starts around a stint in Triple-A this season. He has been hurt by homers again this year, giving up nine in 44 1-3 innings.
Bell was stunned when general manager Jim Bowden called him Friday to tell him he’d been traded.
“It was beyond anything I expected,” Bell said. “At the same time, I’m pretty happy about it. It’s an opportunity to right my ship a little bit somewhere else. Maybe a change of scenery will help. Maybe there will be a little bit more stability there.”
It was a surprise that the Reds would trade away one of the things they need most — a young starting pitcher.
“Jim had just been saying to me a week ago how Chris Reitsma and myself were the future of this team, and we’d be the No. 1’s and 2’s (in the rotation) for a long time,” Bell said. “That’s just the way the game is.”
Besides Mateo, the Reds got infielder Edwin Encarnacion, 18, projected to play second base or third. He was assigned to Class A Dayton.
Bowden has tried for years to get Mateo, 23, who will play for Triple-A Louisville. He hit .248 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 40 games for Texas this season.
“He has a tremendous amount of talent,” Bowden said. “It’s very hard to get guys like that. I’ve tried to get Mateo for a long time, ever since Doug Melvin took over as general manager there. I’ve made a lot of offers, and a lot of key players have been turned down year after year.”
Mateo broke a bone in his upper leg on June 2 last year while lunging to try to beat out a ground ball. He had a rod inserted to help the bone heal and missed the rest of the season.
Bowden said Mateo hasn’t completely recovered from the injury.
“In another year, we think he’ll be 100 percent,” Bowden said.
Bowden also likes Encarnacion, who hit .306 in 45 games for Class A Savannah this season after batting .311 in the Gulf Coast League last year.
“It’s hard to get everyday position players,” Bowden said. “You hate to trade pitching when that’s your biggest need, but we had the opportunity to get two players that we think can be everyday players. That’s tough to do today.
“If at some point you’re stuck with too many at one position, maybe you trade for pitching — maybe better pitching than what you just traded to get him.”
Story #2:
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds on Friday traded right-handed starter Rob Bell to the Texas Rangers for two prospects, outfielder Ruben Mateo and infielder Edwin Encarnacion.
Bell was 0-5 with a 5.48 ERA in nine starts. The 24-year-old pitcher was 2-2 with a 3.33 ERA in four starts and one relief appearance for the Reds’ Triple-A Louisville affiliate.
The Reds plan to assign Mateo, 23, to Louisville. With Texas this season, Mateo hit .248 with one home run and 13 runs batted in during 40 games. He also batted .216 with a homer and eight RBI for Triple-A Oklahoma.
Last season with Texas, Mateo batted .291 with seven homers and 19 RBI in 52 games.
Encarnacion, 18, was chosen by Texas in the ninth round of the June 2000 first-year player draft. He batted .311 with 36 RBI last season in 51 games in the Gulf Coast League. With Single-A Savannah this year, Encarnacion hit .306 with four homers and 25 RBI in 45 games. The Reds plan to assign him to Single-A Dayton.
Story #3:
CINCINNATI (TICKER) — After making a flurry of moves, the Cincinnati Reds on Friday acquired Ruben Mateo, who is considered one of baseball’s top outfield prospects although he had been a bust with the Texas Rangers.
The Reds sent righthander Rob Bell to the pitching-starved Rangers for Mateo and minor league infielder Edwin Encarnacion.
Rated as one of baseball’s top young outfielders by Baseball America, the 23-year-old Mateo has struggled this year, batting just .248 with one homer and 13 RBI in 40 games for the Rangers.
After being optioned to Class AAA Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League, Mateo hit just .216 with one homer and eight RBI in the minors and will be assigned to Class AAA Louisville by the Reds. Last season, he hit .291 with seven homers and 19 RBI in 52 games for Texas.
Originally signed by the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic in 1994, Mateo hit .296 with 61 homers and 313 RBI in 466 minor league games.
Encarnacion, 18, was a ninth-round pick of the Rangers in 2000. He is batting .306 with four homers and 25 RBI in 45 games for Class A Savannah and will be assigned to Class A Dayton by the Reds.
The Rangers have the worst ERA in the majors with all of their starters giving up more than five runs a game. The 24-year-old Bell will likely move into the rotation, although he fared poorly with the Reds, compiling an 0-5 record and 5.48 ERA in nine starts.
The Reds purchased the contract of lefthander Lance Davis from Louisville to replace Bell on the roster.
Earlier in the day, the Reds activated shortstop Barry Larkin and third baseman Aaron Boone, recalled righthander Brian Reith and purchased the contract of lefthander Justin Atchley and designated outfielder Deion Sanders and infielder Donnie Sadler for assignment and demoted pitchers Osvaldo Fernandez and infielder D.T. Cromer to Louisville.
The Reds have made 56 roster moves this season, including 11 on Friday.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers announced this evening that the club has traded catcher Doug Mirabelli to the Boston Red Sox for righthanded pitcher Justin Duchscherer.
Mirabelli will go on Boston’s major league roster. Duchscherer, who is on the Pawtucket roster of the International League, will be assigned to either Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League or Tulsa of the Texas League.
The Rangers are expected to replace Mirabelli on the active roster following tonight’s game in Los Angeles.
Duchscherer, 23, had spent the entire season at class AA Trenton in the Eastern League before being promoted to Pawtucket over the weekend. He was 6-3 with a 2.44 era in 12 starts at Trenton. The 6-foot-3 righthander has the fifth lowest earned run average in the Eastern League and has held opposing batters to a .179 (49-274) batting average.
In his last 5 starts with Trenton, Duchscherer was 4-1 with a 0.59 era (2 er/30.1 ip). He defeated Erie in his final outing on June 7, allowing three hits in seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts.
A graduate of Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, Duchscherer was selected by Boston in the eighth round of the June, 1996 draft. He was 7-9 with a 3.39 era in 24 starts at Trenton in 2000, tying for third in the Eastern League in shutouts and posting the league’s ninth lowest earned run average.
Mirabelli was batting .102 (5-49) with 2 homers and 3 rbi in 23 games with the Rangers this season. He started 16 games as Texas’ backup catcher and has thrown out 11 of 19 runners attempting to steal. Mirabelli was acquired from San Francisco on March 27, 2001 and has a career major league average of .218 (89-308) in 163 games with the Giants (1996-2000) and Rangers.
Justin Duchscherer – 2001 stats at Trenton:
6-3 Record, 2.44 ERA, 12 Games (12 starts), 1 CG, 73.2 innings, 14 walks, 69 strikeouts. .

Lots of moves yesterday. We traded Doug Mirabelli to the Red Sox for a pretty good pitching prospect. Then, of course, Pudge gets hurt, and Scott Sheldon was our only catcher. In addition, Rusty Greer was put on the DL, Ricky Ledee was activated, and we called up Mike Hubbard to take Mirabelli’s place till Bill Haselman comes back. Yeesh!

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas manager Jerry Narron, who took over last month after Johnny Oates’ resignation, will be given a two-year contract extension.
Owner Tom Hicks confirmed Saturday night that Narron will get an extension through the 2003 season. The deal had not yet been signed, and general manager Doug Melvin will be working out details of the contract over the next several days.
“Doug and I have had extensive conversations over the last few days, and we both agree that Jerry Narron is the right person to lead the Texas Rangers,” Hicks said in a statement.
“We have been very impressed with the way in which Jerry has handled the ballclub over the last four weeks under some very difficult circumstances.”
Narron, who first joined Texas as Oates’ third base coach in 1995, became the team’s 15th fulltime manager on May 4 after Oates resigned. At the time, Hicks and Melvin said Narron’s appointment was for the rest of this season.
Even though the Rangers had lost three straight games and were 8-17 under Narron going into Saturday night’s game against Minnesota, Melvin expressed confidence in Narron, who had no previous managerial experience.
“He’s still learning on the job, but he feels good and has a lot of energy,” Melvin said.
Texas was 11-17 and 11 games behind Seattle in the AL West when Narron took over. The Rangers went into Saturday night’s game 19-34 and 22 games back.

• Also, in a bit of a surprise to me, Ruben
  Mateo was sent to AAA Oklahoma on Monday to work on his bat.
• In further roster moves, Jeff Brantley was
  released, and we picked up a pretty decent pitcher (if not awesome) off
  waivers from Tampa Bay, Mike Judd.