The Rangers have put Joe Saunders on release waivers with the intent of giving the left-hander his unconditional release, the team announced. Saunders was designated for assignment on Tuesday. In corresponding moves, righty Ben Rowen was optioned to Triple-A and Neftali Feliz was promoted from Triple-A as the former Rangers closer returns to the majors after missing much of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Saunders signed a Major League deal with Texas in March that ended up netting him a guaranteed $1.5MM since he made the Rangers’ 25-man roster. The veteran southpaw ended up making eight starts for the Rangers and struggled to the tune of a 6.13 ERA and nearly as many walks (20) as strikeouts (22) over 39 2/3 innings of work.