Lefthanded pitcher Walter Pennington, who had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the Texas Rangers purchased the contract of infielder Nick Ahmed, has cleared waivers and been released, according to the MLB.com transaction page.
The fact that Pennington cleared waivers isn’t all that surprising, but the fact that he was flat out released, rather than kept in the organization, is. Pennington was acquired by the Rangers from the Kansas City Royals last summer at the trade deadline in exchange for Michael Lorenzen, and put up a 3.12 ERA in 17 innings in the majors for the Rangers post-trade.