Rangers Friday night party

Harden: Back in the saddle

As would we thought would happen (although I thought we were a week away), Rich Harden has been placed back into the starting rotation and will pitch Saturday.

Scott Feldman will go to the bullpen.

This will be a two or three start audition for Harden, of sorts. Succeeds and he stays as the most hyped fifth starter in Rangers history.

Fails, and he's jettisoned. Probably to the bullpen and Derek Holland will get a look. It's reasonable to assume that the Rangers No. 1 and 2 starters in April (and their two highest paid starters) could work out of the bullpen.

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As was noted here and everywhere, the Rangers acquired infielder Cristian Guzman from the Washington Nationals.

The two prospects sent to Washington were Ryan Tatusko and Tanner Roark.

Given the brief eyeball test, I kinda feel the Rangers overpaid a bit. For one, Guzman is a stopgap until, we assume, Ian Kinsler returns.

Also, we were getting a second baseman in his 30s, who has zero power or zero ability to get on base.

Ryan Tatusko
Tatusko is a 25-year-old 6-5, 200-pound right hander. He was a bit of a fan and pundit favorite because he was drafted so low -- 18th round, 2007 -- and has always been a sort of an underdog. To date, he had the fifth lowest ERA in the Rangers minor leagues at 2.97 and was 9-2 on the year. By far, 2010 was proving to be his finest season as a professional. Typically, his ERA stood stead in the fours, allowed a hit per inning and never struck out more than 100 betters in a season.

Despite the 2010 numbers, I've never been high on Tatusko. This season he'd struck out 58 and walked 40. Opponents are hitting .254 off of him. Not exactly sharp, and the K/BB ratio, to me, speaks volumes about his future.

Tanner Roark
Despite my relative disinterest in Tatusko, Roark has always been a favorite of mine. He's a 23-year-old 6-2 righty, who has flown through the minors. His best season (of the three) came in Bakersfield last season when he went 10-0 with a 2.70 ERA. This season in Frisco, he's 10-5 with a 4.20 ERA. Unlike Tatusko, Roark typically allows far less hits than innings and his K/BB ratio is quite a bit better. Plus, he's younger.

The Frisco RoughRiders, in the past two weeks, have lost five pitchers to trade: Roark, Tatusko, Blake Beavan, Evan Reed and Josh Lueke.

These guys are expendable for one reason only: There's a ton of nice pitching prospects bubbling just underneath Double-A and there's potentially more below that group. Possible promotions:

Robbie Ross
2.70 ERA - 1.16 WHIP - 21 Ks - 8 BBs

Joe Wieland
7.91 ERA - 1.55 WHIP - 34 Ks - 6 BBs

Wilmer Font
3.86 ERA - 1.43 WHIP - 52 Ks - 32 BBs

Mark Hamburger
1.77 ERA - 1.23 WHIP - 49 Ks - 18 BBs

Wilfredo Boscan
3.98 ERA - 87 Ks - 26 BBs - 1.37 WHIP