Harden yanked from Rangers rotation

Rich Harden used to be a pretty nice pitcher, but these days he’s just inconsistent. He threw 6 2/3 of no-hit ball last week, and recently went just 4 1/3 innings, giving up four runs in a loss to the Oakland Athletics.

And, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Rangers have had enough.

“Rich Harden officially out of #Rangers rotation. Derek Holland to start Friday,” Grant tweets.

As you may have guessed from Grant’s tweet, Derek Holland will replace Harden in the rotation and start Friday.

Harden will be moved to the bullpen, and assistant GM Thad Levine says he will “embrace the opportunity.” Possible translation? You’re going to the pen and you’ll like it!

“We’ve had some inconsistencies in our fifth spot and we wanted to give Derek an opportunity,” said Levine. “We feel this balances our bullpen and gives us another right-handed pitcher that can get tough hitters out with Frankie still out.”

What he could have said was, “Who really cares? We have Cliff Lee.”