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ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) — Texas Rangers outfielder Ruben Mateo, one of the top young prospects in baseball, was placed on the 15-day disabled list tonight with a pulled left groin muscle.
Mateo left Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Oakland after eight innings with tightness in his groin. He was replaced on the roster by outfielder Scarborough Green, who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma.
Mateo, 21, homered in his major league debut on June 12 against Colorado. He is batting only .182 with one home run and three RBI in 10 games, striking out 10 times in 33 at-bats.
Mateo was summoned from Oklahoma after the Rangers placed outfielder Tom Goodwin on the 15-day DL for the first time in his career.
At the time of his recall, Mateo was one of the top players in the Pacific Coast League with a .340 batting average, 17 homers, 58 RBI, 81 hits and 50 runs scored. Used as a center fielder and designated hitter, he was batting .434 (23-for-53) during a current 13-game hitting streak for Oklahoma.
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 1994, Mateo was among the last players cut by Texas during spring training. The native of the Dominican Republic hit .283 with four homers and 11 RBI in 24 exhibition games.
Green, who turned 25 two weeks ago, was hitting .222 at Oklahoma with one homer, 12 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 60 games.

Twice, former teams have walked away from Rafael Palmeiro. Twice, he’s made them pay.
After the 1993 season, Palmeiro wanted to remain with the Texas Rangers, for whom he had been a productive player for five seasons. Instead, the Rangers opted to sign free agent Will Clark, like Palmeiro, a lefthanded-hitting first baseman from Mississippi State.
Palmeiro took his game to Baltimore instead, and for five seasons, was one of the most productive hitters in the game. While with the Orioles, Palmeiro was durable (he was never on the disabled list and missed a grand total of four games in his final three seasons), reliable (he never hit fewer than 38 homers in his last four years in Birdland) and consistent (his average dipped below .289 just once in his five seasons).
But when Palmeiro went looking for a five-year deal, the Orioles balked and signed — guess who? — Clark, as Palmeiro went back to Texas.
That was fine with Palmeiro, who maintains a home in the Arlington area, where his children attend school.
So far it’s fine with the Rangers, too. At the start of the week, Palmeiro, despite two surgical procedures on his knee in spring training, was hitting a robust .351 with 19 homers and 59 RBI.
Once again, it would seem, Palmeiro is showing that it can be costly to give up on him.
“I’ve always felt like I had to prove myself to someone,” said Palmeiro. “It always seems like there’s someone out there who doesn’t believe in me. But I thrive on things like that, to prove people wrong.”
Motivation has been a valuable tool for Palmeiro. He’s been limited to DH duty for most of the season (he did play first base when the Rangers crossed over to National League parks in interleague play) thanks to his bothersome knee. But he’s kept his bat in the lineup, and, with Juan Gonzalez, Rusty Greer, Pudge Rodriguez and Lee Stevens, helps make up one of the most fearsome batting orders in the game.
Texas, despite dropping three in a row to Boston over the weekend, maintains a hold on first place in the AL West. By contrast, Clark, who has been on the disabled list once already, hasn’t hit for much power and the Orioles remain lodged closer to the AL East basement than first place.
Baltimore wasn’t the only team balking at Palmeiro’s contractual demands. The Red Sox, who lost Mo Vaughn, didn’t get very deep into discussions with Palmeiro before backing out. Despite averaging a shade under 40 homers and 120 RBI for the last four years, Palmeiro wasn’t the subject of bidding wars like Albert Belle, nor the recipient of an eight-figure yearly salary like Vaughn.
Instead, Palmeiro cut a deal which pays him approximately $9 million per season, with some of the money reportedly deferred.
“I’m happy with it,” he shrugs. “I can’t say I would I could have gotten more. I’m making more money than I ever thought.”
Palmeiro was considered by some Orioles teammates as a stat-driven individualist, but the Rangers have been delighted by the leadership he’s provided in their clubhouse, particularly to the team’s many young Latin players.
“I’m a more mature player,” acknowledges Palmeiro. “I’ve been through a lot and I’ve got a lot of experience. After a while, your natural instincts take over. I’m not the vocal type, but I help the young guys and guide them in the right direction.”
Now 34, Palmeiro thinks the age issue which worried the Orioles and others last winter is moot. He’ll be 39 when the present contract expires, and he expects to remain productive throughout — and then some.
“The way I approach this game,” he said, “I don’t see a problem playing beyond 39.”
As Palmeiro looks ahead, he refuses to look back.
“I think the Orioles know what kind of player they let go,” he said. “And I think the Rangers know the kind of player they got.”

This is the routine. The Texas Rangers have finished atop the American League West three of the past five years, and appear poised to win the division again in 1999. If they hold true to form, they will face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs and then spend the winter trying to figure out what it’s going to take to reach the next level.
It happened that way in 1996. It happened that way in 1998. It could happen that way again if the Rangers don’t succeed in beefing up the starting rotation at midseason.
The Rangers are an exciting team. They swing for the fences and they score a lot of runs. They also win a lot of games, and have one of the best records in the American League to prove it.
They’ll certainly reach the postseason, barring a major second-half collapse, but their prospects for getting to the World Series are only as good as the nucleus of their starting rotation.
The pitching staff is built around 1998 standouts Rick Helling and Aaron Sele, who combined to win 39 games last year, but no one seriously expected that best-case scenario to play itself out again this season … and it hasn’t. The two have combined for 13 victories (which isn’t so bad) and gotten some help from veteran Mike Morgan (7-5), but the lack of a veteran pitching ace could again turn out to be a major weakness in the postseason.
General manager Doug Melvin is looking for help and he isn’t afraid to make a big deal. He pulled off the trade last year that sent lefthander Darren Oliver and third base prospect Fernando Tatis to the Cardinals for veteran pitcher Todd Stottlemyre and shortstop Royce Clayton. He also tried to engineer a deal over the winter to acquire five-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Who will it be in July?
Maybe no one. The Rangers would love to talk the Phillies into trading them Curt Schilling. They also could make a play for someone like Blue Jays ace David Wells. They could come up empty, since the teams with premier pitchers to deal are all going to ask for top outfield prospect Ruben Mateo. Then they will be right back where they were in October of last year — looking down the barrel at a superior pitching staff in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s already shaping up as another postseason rematch with the Yankees.
The Cleveland Indians have the best record in the league, so they’ll draw the wild card. That leaves the Yankees and Rangers. If the Yankees end up with the best record in the league, they can’t play the wild card team — since it always comes from the AL East. Yankees and Rangers either way.
So, last week’s four-game series between the Rangers and the Yankees was a likely preview of one of the Division Series. The Yankees won the first two. The Rangers won the last two. It was inconclusive, but it probably will be different when the stakes are higher in October.
Clemens vs. Helling. Cone vs. Sele. Several possible choices vs. Morgan. Clear advantage Yankees.
The Rangers have upgraded their offensive lineup with the acquisition of first baseman Rafael Palmeiro — who has been the club’s most productive hitter. They have caught lightning in a bottle with the outstanding performance of reliever Jeff Zimmerman (7-0). But they’ll need to do more to get past the first playoff tier.
Some high-level jobs may depend on it.
New owner Tom Hicks made it clear before the start of the season that he expects the defending division champions to take another step in the right direction this year. That has led to speculation that manager Johnny Oates could be in danger if he doesn’t lead the team at least as far as the American League Championship Series.
If that’s true, then Hicks hasn’t been paying attention the past few years. Oates has been one of the winningest managers in baseball since he made his major league debut with the Orioles in 1991. In his four seasons with the Rangers, he has presided over the franchise’s first two division titles and likely will make it three very soon.
Hicks is understandably impatient to reach the World Series. He has, after all, owned the team for months. But the Rangers have put together a very stable and successful organization, something he would be foolish to disrupt in the absence of a significant reversal of fortune.
The offensive lineup is among the best in baseball, with two-time MVP Juan Gonzalez anchoring a batting order that already includes five players who have reached double figures in home runs. The club can get through the division race on the strength of that explosive offensive attack, but will be hard-pressed to get through the Division Series without some outside pitching help.
Don’t be surprised if the Rangers are connected to virtually every available starting pitcher when midseason trade speculation gets hot and heavy. Wells, with his outstanding career record against the Yankees, would seem to be a perfect choice, but Royals ace Kevin Appier may be a more likely possibility.
One thing is certain, none of them will come cheap, if at all. For the Rangers to make a significant pitching acquisition, they will have to be willing to let go of some significant young talent. They did that last year — and have lived to regret letting go of Tatis — so they figure to be reluctant to do it two years in a row.
They may have to be content to try and pound their way through the playoffs again, but history — their history — says that it won’t be easy.