ARLINGTON, Texas _ Texas Rangers reliever Jeremy Jeffress was embarrassed and apologetic when he spoke by phone with general manager Jon Daniels and teammate Jonathan Lucroy after his early morning arrest Friday in Dallas on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Jeffress was placed on the restricted list by the Rangers and was unavailable for Friday's game. Left-hander Dario Alvarez was recalled from Triple A Round Rock. Jeffress could return Saturday, Daniels said.
Lucroy, a catcher who has played with Jeffress since both were Class A teammates in the Milwaukee organization, said his first response upon hearing the news was concern.
"I have a personal connection to him. I've known him for 10 years now. There's nothing going through my mind other than the fact that I'm thankful that he wasn't hurt and didn't hurt anybody," said Lucroy, who came to Texas from Milwaukee in a deadline trade along with Jeffress. "I'm thankful for the fact that he expressed regret to me and apologized to me personally on the phone."
Lucroy said he called Jeffress to check on his welfare after learning the news Friday morning.
"I just reached out to him to let him know that I'm supportive of him," Lucroy said. "He's a great guy. He cares a lot. A good teammate. He's just fighting some demons and we have to help him get through those demons.
"We have to help him fight them. We all have problems. We've all messed up. Everyone in here. You guys included. Everyone in here has made a mistake. We have to help him get through it and overcome it, just like we were helped ourselves."
Daniels said the club will let the legal proceedings play out.
"I'm glad no one was hurt from it," he said. "I don't want to minimize the severity of what could've happened. I don't want to put words in his mouth, and obviously he'll address the media, address the fans and address his teammates, but I think it's very safe to say he was embarrassed and apologetic for what happened."
Jeffress tested positive three times for marijuana in the minors, the last time coming in 2009, which got him suspended 100 games. Another drug infraction could mean a lifetime ban. Jeffress said he used marijuana to self-medicate seizures he started having in 2008. He wasn't properly diagnosed with juvenile epilepsy until 2013. Lucroy said he feels obligated to help Jeffress.
"I know he fights some stuff on a personal level," he said. "This game is a game. It's our lifestyle, but it's a game. Whenever you're dealing with stuff in your personal life like that, that becomes way more important than the game."
