Ian

Kinsler

Kinsler will serve as a special assistant to general manager Chris Young. He retired at the conclusion of the 2019 season after a 14-year career in the majors. He spent nearly a decade with the Rangers at the outset of his career and wound up making three All-Star Game appearances during that span.

Kinsler, 39, is currently an advisor to the Padres and hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2019. Valencia, 36, also made his last big-league appearance back in 2019. They will get a few games to tune-up with Long Island before joining Team Israel as they play a series of exhibition contests in mid-July. The Olympic baseball tournament, which is being held in Japan, is set to begin on July 28.

The plan appears to be for him to form a double-play combination with Manny Alexander at Triple-A Oklahoma. If the adjustment goes well, he could take over as the Rangers’ second baseman in 2006.

Kinsler confirmed the report in a video announcement from Team Israel. This is all assuming the Olympics take place as scheduled this summer. There’s already plenty of conversation about a postponement due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Israel is slated to be one of six teams in the Olympic tournament, whenever it does take place. Kinsler turns 38 in June and announced his retirement from MLB this past December after spending the 2019 season with the Padres.

Kinsler is still owed $4.25 million by the Padres but will work out a financial settlement with the club and remain in the organization in a front office role. The 37-year-old admitted that the herniated cervical disk injury that ended his 2019 season “was a factor in my decision.” Kinsler will retire just one hit shy of 2,000 for his career. He batted .269/.337/.440 with 257 home runs and 243 stolen bases over 14 seasons, making four All-Star teams along the way.

It’s not clear at this point how long Kinsler might be sidelined. He’s made just one start so far in the second half as the Padres roll with Luis Urias at second base.

You read that correctly. Kinsler was summoned to pitch the top of the ninth inning with the Padres trailing by eight runs. He managed to turn in a scoreless frame, despite giving up a single, a pair of walks and also hitting one batter. The 37-year-old veteran then proceeded to launch a two-run dinger to left field off Rays righty Andrew Kittredge in the bottom of the frame. Simply put, it was an extremely weird evening in San Diego.

Kinsler was solid in May and June, but he’s just 3-for-26 with no extra-base hits in July. Perhaps it’s time to give Luis Urias a real chance.

Kinsler is still hitting just .188 for the season, but that’s because he was performing as badly as anyone in the league during April. He was much, much improved in May, coming in at .254/.303/.521 with five homers in 71 a-bats. We suspect that he won’t keep it up all year, but he has justified playing over Luis Urias lately.

The Bucs held a thin 2-1 lead in the sixth inning before Kinsler stepped to the plate with two runners on and two outs. That lead evaporated on one swing as Kinsler walloped a Richard Rodriguez delivery to left, giving the Padres a margin they wouldn’t yield. It was a nice moment and could possibly be a catalyst for better days ahead for the 36-year-old, but he hasn’t had many nice moments to this point -- through Thursday, Kinsler is hitting just .175/.233/.342 and has been relegated to a backup job for the youthful Padres.