I miss you already, Nefty. (Photo via flickr.com/Mike LaChance)

Well, the Rangers had to have a player hit the DL eventually, right?  But did it have to be a starter?

In case you hadn’t heard, the Rangers placed starter/former closer Neftali Feliz on the DL on Monday with a strained elbow ligament.  I’m trying really hard to not have “TOMMY JOHN SURGERY!” scream in my head.  But I’m not freaking out.  Nope.  Not. At. All.

Since it’s looking like Feliz will be out until at least the All Star break *groan*, how should the Rangers prepare?  Their current band-aid is to have Scott Feldman start and called up Yoshi Tateyama to replace him in the ‘pen.  Could work, but it still leaves the bullpen a bit depleted as Feldman was pretty much the sole long relief guy.

A lot of people are throwing around the name Roy Oswalt.  You know, that guy who spent a significant amount of time on the DL last year, is 34 years old, and hasn’t played since last September.  I won’t lie that a healthy Roy Oswalt is great, but is this really the route the Rangers need to go?  Even if they were to sign him today, he’d probably need at least a month to get ready…so he really wouldn’t be an option until almost JULY.

Or they could start to move Ogando back into a starting role, move Feldman back to the pen for long relief.  They’d be losing their 7th inning guy, but could work.

Then, finally, they could trade for a starting pitcher.  Hard to say who is really available this early on, but one of the Feldman/Ogando band-aids may keep them afloat until closer to the trade deadline.

What do y’all think?

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