Robinson Chirinos Has a Broken Forearm

In tonight's game, Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos took a pitch off of his right forearm mid-swing. Although he finished the at-bat -- very nearly launching an opposite field home run -- he was pulled from the game between innings.

After X-rays, it has been revealed that Chirinos has a broken right forearm. There is no announced timetable for his return  just yet.

This throws the depth of the Rangers into disarray, as Chris Gimenez is already out with a foot injury, so the next man up would appear to be Brett Nicholas, giving the starting job to Bryan Holaday for the time being.

While offensively, catcher isn't a position that's going to hurt you a ton by losing a guy, Chirinos is someone that has shown he can provide some excess value when healthy. Of course, the problem has been that he hasn't yet been able to stay healthy. Just unfortunate.

There will be many that will want to shout that it's time to go out and make a trade for Jonathan Lucroy from Milwaukee. From my perspective, I still don't see that as a viable fit, at least not at the price Milwaukee will likely want -- one or more of Gallo/Mazara/Brinson/Profar -- in exchange.

Beyond the mere price of a potential Lucroy trade, I'm just not sure that, based on one season with more than 3.5 fWAR -- he posted a 6.1 fWAR in 2014 -- and at age 29 (approaching 30), he would be worth any significant price at this point. Other than pure positional need, I just don't see it as a fit for either side.

For now, the hope would have to be that Robinson Chirinos can heal quickly, return, and resume his role as this team's starting catcher. If not, then we could see something of a revolving door at the position throughout the majority of the 2016 season.