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First baseman Mike Carp enjoyed a breakout performance in a part-time role for the World Champion Red Sox last year.
Having already used Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland, Carlos Pena and J.P. Arencibia (among others) at first base this season, the Rangers look to continue the carousel with veteran Mike Carp, who was acquired Sunday on a waiver claim from the Boston Red Sox.
Citing a lack of playing time behind Mike Napoli, Carp had requested to be traded by Boston prior to the July 31 non-waiver deadline, and he was designated for assignment by the Red Sox just last Friday.
Originally drafted and signed by the New York Mets in 2004, Carp spent much of his career in the Seattle Mariners’ organization before going to Boston in 2013, where he flourished in a part-time capacity for the eventual World Series champions.
This season, however, Carp had batted a mere .198 with no homers and nine runs driven in across 42 games with the Red Sox, and he missed the entire month of June with a fractured right foot.
“Playing once a week, it’s hard to stay sharp,” he said. “The opportunities were few and far between, so it led to an unfortunate situation. It just came down to playing time. I just wanted to go out and compete.”
While Carp is expected to get most of his at-bats as the Rangers’ first baseman, he has also logged more than 100 games in left field in his career, a fact that could come into play with Shin-Soo Choo set to receive more playing time at designated hitter as the season winds down.
“I’m comfortable with whatever opportunity comes my way,” Carp said. “It will be better than what I had in Boston. I’ve got two months to figure it out and get back on track.”
Right-handed pitcher Alexi Ogando was transferred to the 60-day disabled list in order to make room for Carp on the 40-man roster, and an active roster spot was cleared Monday when Chris Gimenez was placed on paternity leave.
Rangers Get Swept in Cleveland
Texas gave its fans a brief respite from an otherwise lost season last week with a series win over the Yankees at Globe Life Park, but the club returned to form in a weekend sweep at the hands of Cleveland over the weekend.
Quality starts from Yu Darvish and Colby Lewis helped the Rangers beat New York in the series opener and finale, respectively, by scores of 4-2 and 3-2, but the Yankees prevailed in a 12-11 see-saw slugfest on Tuesday.
Longtime New York shortstop Derek Jeter, who announced in February that this would be his final season, was honored Wednesday in a pregame ceremony that included former Rangers Ivan Rodriguez and Michael Young.
Following an off day Thursday, Texas was routed by a final of 12-2 in Friday’s game at Progressive Field, as right-hander Jerome Williams could not build on his impressive first start with the Rangers.
Miles Mikolas saw his quality start wasted Saturday as the Texas lineup was shut down by T.J. House and the Indians’ bullpen in a 2-0 defeat, and Cleveland completed the sweep Sunday when David Murphy’s homer tied the game at 3-3 in the ninth and Michael Brantley hit a walk-off shot in the twelfth.
Klein called up, Feierabend DFA’d
The Rangers purchased the contract of right-hander Phil Klein from Triple-A Round Rock before Friday’s game in Cleveland, designating lefty Ryan Feierabend for assignment in a concurrent roster move.
The 25-year-old Klein had produced a sparkling earned run average of 0.52 across 33 relief outings between Round Rock and Double-A Frisco this season, but he was greeted rudely when the first batter he faced in the majors – Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall – took him deep Friday.
Feierabend, meanwhile, had made six appearances out of the Texas bullpen since he was called up from Triple-A last month, compiling a 6.14 ERA over seven and one-third innings while serving mostly in mop-up relief duty.
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