The Angels have signed outfielder Ryan Langerhans, right-hander Eric Hurley, and catcher Robinzon Diaz according to Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times (on Twitter). All three players received minor league contracts.
Langerhans, 32 in February, hit just .173/.317/.346 in 64 plate appearances for Seattle in 2011. He did post a monstrous .311/.437/.573 batting line in 426 plate appearances split between the Mariners' and Diamondbacks' Triple-A affiliates, however. The left-handed hitter has always been adept at drawing walks (13.0% of his career plate appearances), and the advanced metrics generally like his glovework.
Hurley, 26, returned to the mound in 2011 after missing all of 2009 and 2010 due to major shoulder surgery. The former Rangers' top prospect pitched to a 5.55 ERA with 4.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 84 1/3 innings across 16 starts for Texas' Triple-A affiliate this past season. Hurley made five starts for the Rangers in 2008, allowing 15 runs in 24 2/3 innings.
Diaz, 28, also spent last season in Texas' minor league system. The backstop hit .318/.352/.444 in 211 plate appearances while throwing out just ten of 51 attempted basestealers (19.6%). Diaz hasn't appeared in the majors since 2009, and he's perhaps most famous for being the guy the Blue Jays traded to the Pirates for Jose Bautista back in 2008.
In before “That seals it, 2012 Champions” etc comments.
Rangers own
The Mariners traded Mike Morse to the Nationals for Ryan Langerhans 🙁
One of these lucky winners gets to carry Albert Pujols’ luggage.
you are absolutly correct the runner up will carry C.J. Wilson’s maybe 3rd place will carry Tori’s bags lmao
Was that the Angels I saw going through the Rangers’ scrap heap again?
Is someone bitter they took the rangers best pitcher?
Hmm Vlad Guerrero, Bengie Molina, Darren Oliver, Mike Napoli, and who else Darren O’Day just to name a few… Talk about scrap heap pickers
You forgot Jim Leyritz. lol
Yeah, because the Rangers have never signed ex-Angels before…
I hope the deal they signed with Hurley comes with a bionic arm. One of the sadder stories, have to wish the best for him, even if he’s going to the Angels.
Also, can someone please DiPoto out of the Rangers garbage bin? Raccoons are less persistent.
So the Angels get rid of a solid player in Napoli and the Rangers pick him up. Now the Rangers drop some trash and the Angels pick them up. That sounds about right.
Napoli was Solid with the Angels
But compared to CJ when he was with the Rangers… Napoli is a minor leaguer
Napoli was not solid with the Angels.
But I agree on CJ.
Come on – give the guy his due. 4 out of his 5 seasons he posted 2.5 WAR or better. That’s an amazing number considering that he averaged about 350 PA’s a season and was playing catcher for a lot of that.
Napoli had his faults. I sure wish that he would have hit better in 2010. Unfortunately, when the Angels needed him to produce every day he turned in his worst season. It was his poor performance in 2010 that directly led to his trade.
There is no way to spin the Napoli deal as an Angels fan – it was a total disaster. Even if Napoli would have had a typical Napoli season it still would have been a disaster. This is a guy who brings about $15m worth of value while earning just $5-7m. He had SURPLUS and Reagins treated him like he was a liability. It was a huge mistake … that was simply compounded by then absorbing Wells … that was made worse by Napoli going bonkers in Arlington.
Napoli is a very good hitter. He’s not 2011 good but if you give the guy 500 AB’s he’ll reward you with 30 HR’s and a ton of walks. Hard to complain about that.
Yessir, I will never understand people who undermine Naps’ Angel career. 2011 is proof enough that dude was good, Angel catchers were awful, he was great (albeit in a toy stadium).
I thought the angels outfield was already crowded
Hence the MINOR league deal.
Also known as stacked
It is crowded. If you didn’t read the second sentence of the article, then let me spell it out for you. Minor. League. Contract. The Angel’s spent probably less that $1 million for all three players, they are simply replenishing the bottom tiers. If one happens to succeed, then its worth the extra money spent. The outfielder will be groomed for back up in 2013, pitcher will probably go into relief, and catcher will be back up because Wilson is out of options. This was another thought out, low-profile , smart money move by the Angels.
Another low profile, smart money move? Kinda like signing a 31 yr old to a ten year contract? That’s a bit of a reach friend.
Well…we could have spent 100+ million on someone who’s never thrown a pitch in the major leagues. But hey…that’s not a reach…nope…no way!
It’s called scouting. Jon Daniels has taken a team in bankruptcy to the World Series and then took them back the next year based largely on how great his scouting department is. The Rangers have the best scouting in baseball and if they say that Darvish is worth it then no, it isn’t a stretch.
Remember, the Rangers paid a fat contract to a great player once as well and A-Rod performed better as a Ranger than Pujols will as an Angel. Rangers can laugh at that contract cause we’ve been there and done that.
As it stands now, the Angels have the best rotation in the AL but the Rangers have a better bullpen, better lineup and better defense. The road to the World Series still goes through Texas.
The Halos will be sure to wave when they travel that road in 2012.
Your reply sounds like more of a reach.
does it really matter about the amount of years on Pujols contract, we just got a 2.5 Billion TV deal… they are providing entertainment. We wont even notice the 10/250m contract for the best player in baseball over the past 11 years, the stadium will be full for at least the next 5 years, and we will have more talent that WANTS to come play becoz we are putting a competitive team on the field!!! all i can say is good investment!!! lot better than the Vernon Wells trade, that happend to cost Tony Reagans his job…
And aside from all that, it’s Southern California. All SoCal pro sports franchises must have a star at the center of their team. The Lakers have always had one; the Dodgers usually have one; even the Clippers have one. It’s also about the marketing aspect. The Angels were at their best when they had Reggie Jackson and Vladimir Guerrero at the center; Mo Vaughn was a bit of a misfire. Now with Pujols at the helm, the Angels will probably do even better than they did from 2002 through 2009.
I wish that I could share in your optimism. I still have nightmares about our last really big signing. Mo freaking Vaughn killed the Angels for years. He had averaged close to 6 WAR a season for the 3 preceding years. Comes to the Angels and ends up giving us a total of 4 WAR over 3 years (and that was with steroids).
The TV deal is great but Pujols is one broken leg away from being a $250m paperweight. I hope he plays well. I hope he stays healthy but this deal gives me massive heartburn. I wouldn’t have had the stones to pull off this signing. Way too much risk for me.
And this is coming from a guy who seriously loves Pujols.
I love how Albert Pujols is “a 31 yr old” to those who want the contract to fail i.e. scared Rangers fans, bitter St. Louis fans, etc.
To everyone else, he’s one of the greatest players to ever set foot on a baseball diamond.
It seems like the Rangers fans are paranoid of everything DiPoto does.
They should be. Texas may have gotten that TV deal, but that market will never compete with Southern California, especially when there’s now a new TV deal in place. This is reminding me of the 80’s.
Its a shame about Eric Hurley. He was a big time prospect for a few years until he hurt his shoulder. I hope he can make it back.
In a rumor from Dec 4, 2007″The Rangers inquired about Carlos Gonzalez but wouldn’t consider parting with Eric Hurley for him.”
i like how everyone says they are picking up the rangers “trash”… if you didnt notice these are minor league contracts… so a) they dont cost much b) its always good to have more players in minors for those extraneous circumstances that happen throughout year and for player trades
Having watched Langerhans through parts of two seasons in Washington, I am baffled by the fact that he’s still in baseball at all, much less bouncing around between the majors and AAA. That said, he did make one major contribution to the Nationals: Michael Morse.
The reason he’s bouncing around the majors and AAA is because he played for the Mariners.
Robinzon Diaz…. Oh how I dread that name
Great job, i wish we picked up more of these low risk long shots. We could use the organizational depth at AAA and one might actually come back to be worthwhile. Also consider that a year from both Hunter and Abreu will be gone and we’ll be needing a 4th and 5th outfielder with Bourjos, Trout, and Wells as starters.
good ol’ ryan langerhans, have fun with that angels. he was terrible with the nats and is obviously a quadruple a player
I like these signings..Got into Texas trash and hopefully one of em is “Gold”. Kinda hoping it’s the catcher and the pitcher can provide himself as a really solid reliever…For less than 1M though it’s worth it..Very happy with what Jerry has done so far..Nothing he has then at this point looks bad..THANK YOU ARTE! THANK YOU JERRY!…Now if only Salmon could be part of Mikes staff..