Jarred Kelenic, Joe Ross and Chris Paddack are all back on the open market after clearing waivers and turning down outright assignments to Triple-A Round Rock, according to a Rangers announcement.
For Kelenic, the move adds another stop to a career that once carried huge expectations. The outfielder was the sixth overall pick by the Mets in 2018 and, after debuting in the minors and being traded to the Mariners in the Edwin Díaz deal, was viewed as one of the 10 best prospects in baseball. Seattle even talked him and Julio Rodríguez up as a possible long-term outfield tandem.
Rodríguez has become a star. Kelenic hasn’t found that same lane.
Outside of a solid 2023 in Seattle, he has struggled to generate much offense in the majors, and the Mariners eventually moved him to the Braves in the 2023-24 offseason while using his prospect value to clear salary tied to Marco Gonzales and Evan White. That didn’t change his trajectory.
Atlanta never got much out of him either.
Kelenic, who turns 27 later this month, spent time this season with both the White Sox and Rangers and didn’t do much with either club. He had just 10 plate appearances with Texas and picked up only one hit in eight official at-bats. On the year, he’s hitting .213/.304/.295, and across six major league seasons he owns a .211/.283/.372 line in 1,557 plate appearances.
Ross, 33, also heads back into free agency after a brief Rangers stint. He worked eight innings over five relief appearances, giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out five. It’s another chapter in a career that has been repeatedly interrupted by injuries.
Early on, Ross looked like a promising starter with the Nationals. Through his first 35 big league appearances - 32 of them starts - he posted a 3.52 ERA in 2015-16 and logged 181 2/3 innings while showing solid strikeout, walk and ground-ball numbers. Since then, though, the injuries have piled up: two Tommy John surgeries and a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow.
He did rebound for a useful season with the ’24 Brewers, throwing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA, but the results slipped again after that. In a partial season with the ’25 Phillies, he had a 5.12 ERA and a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. This year, he’s been tagged for 12 runs in 11 2/3 innings between the D-backs and Rangers.
Over nine major league seasons, the 6-foot-4 right-hander has totaled 580 innings and a 4.38 ERA. The overall number still looks respectable, but it’s padded by those early years before the injuries took their toll.
Since that promising 2015-16 stretch, Ross has thrown 398 1/3 MLB innings with a 4.77 ERA. A team looking for veteran rotation depth or a possible bullpen swingman could take a look, though he and Kelenic both appear headed for minor league deals.
Paddack’s stay in Texas was even shorter. He was really only on the roster for a spot start, with Tyler Alexander technically opening the game but working just one inning. Paddack followed and covered four frames, allowing two earned runs before the Rangers designated him for assignment after only one day.
Now free again, Paddack could still draw interest because he’s experienced and inexpensive. He signed a $4 million deal with the Marlins before the season, and Miami is still responsible for the rest of that salary. Any club that signs him now would only owe the prorated league minimum, with that amount deducted from what the Marlins are paying.
The Reds tried that setup for a while, then moved on from him after a few weeks. That opened the door for Texas to add him and give its rotation a breather after Jack Leiter landed on the injured list.
Paddack’s résumé still includes that excellent rookie year in 2019, when he put up a 3.33 ERA in 140 2/3 innings. Since then, though, the production has not matched the promise.
Since the start of 2020, he has thrown 498 innings with a 5.26 ERA. His 5.3% walk rate is strong, but his 19.3% strikeout rate has been modest, and it’s dipped even further lately - 16.7% last year and 15% so far in 2026.
Even with those numbers, teams dealing with injuries may still see him as a live arm worth a look.
In Other News...
Rangers Face An Awkward Deadline Problem In First Place
A strange little wrinkle has emerged for a Rangers club sitting tied for first in the AL West: ESPNs latest ranking of top 2026 trade deadline candidates included 100 names, and none of them were current Texas players. It is an odd place to land for a team that still looks very much in the race, especially with Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager both back on the injured list and the lineup already dealing with the kind of absence that can change how a front office thinks about July.
The bigger issue for Texas is that the roster does not lend itself to a clean deadline selloff. Some players do have trade value, but many are tied to long-term, expensive contracts, which makes them tougher to move as straightforward deadline chips. That leaves Chris Young in a familiar kind of spot: if the Rangers stay in the hunt, the more likely path may be to chase help rather than strip the roster down, even if the market list suggests Texas itself is not producing obvious trade bait. [Read more 🡒]
Luis Arraez Is Already Being Tied To One Trade Landing Spot
With the Giants looking increasingly like deadline sellers, Luis Arraez has started to pop up in early trade speculation, and the fit is obvious enough to make the rounds quickly. The veteran second baseman is on an expiring contract, hes been productive again at the plate, and his improved work in the field only adds to the appeal for teams trying to stabilize the middle infield without giving up too much offense.
For Texas, the timing makes the rumor feel more practical than speculative. The Rangers have shuffled through six different players at second base, with Nicky Lopez getting the recent starts there, so the position has remained unsettled while the lineup searches for consistency. Arraez would give them a very different look if they decided to chase him, but for now it remains the kind of deadline fit that sounds clean on paper and could become much more real depending on what San Francisco decides to do next. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Catcher Crunch Is About To Test Performance Vs Payroll
The Rangers catcher picture has become one of the more complicated roster calls on the board as they sort through Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Elias Diaz, with the expectation that only two can stay in the mix. Jansens track record and contract situation give the club reason to keep him in the conversation, while Higashioka has carved out real value through the way he works with the pitching staff, even if the glove has not always been spotless.
Elias Diaz has made the decision harder by doing the most with his chances, bringing the kind of offensive and defensive efficiency that stands out in limited playing time. So the Rangers are left balancing recent performance against payroll realities and past commitments, with Jansens recovery adding another layer to a call that could shape how they handle the position going forward. [Read more 🡒]