Rangers place Volquez on IL; he'll retire if 3rd Tommy John needed

The Texas Rangers placed starting pitcher Edinson Volquez on the 10-day injured list with a right elbow strain, the team announced Friday.

The veteran right-hander said he will retire if he's sustained another torn UCL and needs a third Tommy John surgery, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Volquez will consult with team doctor Keith Meister after the Rangers' current road trip.

"If it is (torn), I will go home and watch my daughter grow up," Volquez told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. "No complaints about what I've done in baseball."

Volquez, 35, missed all of 2018 recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. He first went under the knife in 2009 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.

He signed a two-year, minor-league contract with the Rangers last February with an eye on joining the rotation this season, but his return to the mound has not gone especially smoothly.

Volquez posted a 7.04 ERA over 7 2/3 innings across two starts without registering a decision. He has six strikeouts and eight walks.

If this is the end of the line for Volquez, he will finish his career with a 93-87 record, 4.43 ERA, and 1.45 WHIP. He made one All-Star team back in 2008 - the season before his first Tommy John - and finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

The Rangers recalled left-hander Kyle Bird from Triple-A Nashville to take Volquez's spot on the major-league roster.

Bird has primarily been used as a relief pitcher, so this could open the door for Adrian Sampson to get rotation reps, though the Rangers haven't made anything official, according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com.