With their postseason hopes dwindling, the Texas Rangers will place star shortstop Corey Seager on the injured list Wednesday, and his season may be over, GM Chris Young told reporters (via the Dallas Morning News). Seager has been nursing a hip issue and has started only three of the team’s last seven games in the field.
“I can’t really predict as to when he will be back,” Young said (via the Dallas Morning News).
The Rangers have 23 games remaining and they enter play Wednesday with a 66-73 record. They are 9 1/2 games back in the AL West and 8 1/2 games back of the third wild-card spot with six teams ahead of them. Texas is in danger of becoming the first defending World Series champion to finish with a losing record since the Boston Red Sox went 71-91 in 2014.
Seager, 30, had sports hernia surgery in January and missed just about all of spring training, though he was on the Opening Day roster. He started the season slowly before getting hot in May. If his season is indeed over, Seager finishes with a .278/.353/.512 batting line and 30 home runs in only 123 games.
A year ago, Seager had the best season of his career, slashing .327/.390/.623 with 42 doubles and 33 home runs. He was runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the AL MVP voting. Seager then authored a .318/.451/.682 line with six home runs in 17 postseason games. He was named World Series MVP en route to the first championship in Rangers history.
The Rangers are likely to play super utility man Josh Smith at shortstop while Seager is sidelined, though Jonathan Ornelas and Ezequiel Duran can handle the position as well, if necessary.
This is Year 3 of Seager’s 10-year, $325 million contract. The 2023 World Series win alone makes it money well spent for Texas.
