Twelve players have been recruited already and McInnes hopes to sign “a couple more” and expects “one or two” to leave before the closure of the transfer window next week.

“We’re not quite there,” McInnes said.

“We’ve obviously missed big Youssef [Chermiti, who is injured], the type of striker to go and stretch teams.

“I don’t expect us to be perfect at this stage. It’s not been the start we wanted, I’m not the first Rangers manager to get off to a tough start but we are determined to follow this job through and it’s the end that counts and I still believe we’re going to be a success here.”

After Thursday’s match, McInnes lamented his side’s struggle to be either possession-based, counter attacking or direct.

“My teams have always had some sort of identity,” explained the former Aberdeen, Hearts, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone manager.

“I want us to try and be a team that puts more stress on teams defensively and I don’t think that we are at the minute.

“We’ve got good ball players and I think we just need to relax a wee bit more in possession and be comfortable with what we’re try to do. It’s not as if we’re not capable of being that but I do think with an extra one or two additions, it will help us become something.

“I want us to be able to be a team that goes full press but when you go full press and you’re aggressive, you’ve got to be really aggressive with that and you’ve got to pick up second balls and win duels and turn the ball over and really impose yourself on the game.

“There’s talented players here. You don’t get in the door at Rangers unless you’re a talented player.”

ATLANTA — Friday evening before the series opener against the Colorado Rockies, it was announced that two Atlanta Braves pitchers who could’ve been assets for the club this season will undergo season-ending surgery.

Right-hander Hurston Waldrep will have Tommy John surgery, and right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach will have surgery to repair his right elbow, which was fractured in 2025. The dates for both procedures have not been announced.

“(They were) following the protocol that was laid out by the doctors that they’ve been seeing,” manager Walt Weiss said. “We’ve gotten multiple opinions from the best doctors in the country, and we’re following their advice. It just gets to a point where they probably hit their threshold for their injuries, and that’s when things flare up.”

Waldrep, who missed the beginning of the season with elbow surgery in February to remove loose bodies and didn’t make his season debut with the Braves until June 26, went on the 7-day Triple-A injured list on July 21 after being pulled from his start. He had been consulting with multiple experts about the next steps, but on Aug. 10 it was announced that he would be heading to the team’s North Port, Fla. complex to begin their throwing program.

According to a Braves spokesperson, Waldrep felt discomfort and after getting an MRI, surgery was highly recommended. The Braves’ first-round pick in the 2023 draft likely won’t be seen until 2028.

Schwellenbach had been rehabbing mostly in North Port most of the season after missing the majority of 2025 with a fractured right elbow. He pitched four bullpen sessions and eventually returned to Truist Park to throw in front of the coaching staff. He went back to Florida during this past month, feeling a flare-up of the same elbow during his rehab process.

The Braves have dealt with injuries to their starters all season, and there was hope, especially before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, that Waldrep and Schwellenbach could contribute.

Despite that, the Braves’ rotation has the fourth-lowest starter ERA (3.58) heading into Friday after Chris Sale’s shutout. They are operating with a six-man rotation that includes Sale, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder, Martin Perez, AJ Smith-Shawver and Tyler Mahle, their lone starter added at the trade deadline. In addition, Reynaldo López, who was in the starting rotation before going on the injured list with left knee inflammation, will throw his second rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett in Louisville.

So as tough as it is to lose both pitchers, the Braves are theoretically covered for the rest of this season.

Right-hander Spencer Strider also went down to Florida when Waldrep began his throwing progression, but no update was provided on him. The 2023 All-Star has been sidelined since June 13 with right shoulder inflammation after leaving a start against the Mets when his velocity noticeably dropped.

“That window is getting smaller,” Weiss said of Strider’s timeline. “You just start to run out of time, (but) wouldn’t rule it out, but I’d say long shot.”

A Dominican prospect, who was expected to sign with the Cleveland Guardians in 2029, has been suspended by Major League Baseball for falsifying his age, said a person briefed on the matter who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely about a topic they are not authorized to comment on.

An MLB investigation, first reported by ESPN on Friday, revealed an infielder going by the name David Severino had falsified birth, medical and school records to show he was 13 or 14 years old, instead of his actual age of 17.

According to ESPN’s report, Severino’s real name is Daury Severino Damaso. In 2023, the infielder’s trainer at the time, Francisco Nieves, helped the young prospect create a new identity. A fraudulent death certificate was filed for Daury, indicating he died of a respiratory illness in 2012, and a fake tombstone was created in La Romana, Dominican Republic.

The fraudulent death of Daury opened the path for Severino, under a new name, to impress MLB scouts who believed he was years younger than he actually was. This is not the first time a young international prospect has been suspended for falsifying his age. In January 2024, The Athletic reported on age fraud being on the rise in the international free-agent market.

Severino, ESPN reported, agreed to a pre-deal with the Guardians for $2.8 million in December 2025. There’s little chance he earns a significant signing bonus after his true age has been revealed. MLB’s suspension forces him to wait an extra year before entering the international amateur market to sign with teams.

The international amateur market has drawn significant scrutiny in recent years. The opportunity of financial gain for both players and trainers hoping to get players signed with big league organizations can lead to corruption and fraud. While prospects are not permitted to sign with organizations until they are 16, teams allegedly reach verbal agreements with players as young as 12. The source said that while deceit is not uncommon on the international market, this example, especially the creation of a fake tombstone, is “pretty extreme.”

In 2012, the Cleveland pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona was arrested while trying to renew his visa in the Dominican Republic. It was revealed that he was three years older than previously thought and that his real name was Roberto Hernández Heredia and he had been living under a false identity since signing with the Indians in 2000.