The Rangers are still looking for bullpen help, specifically left-handed, and the club remains interested in Mike Gonzalez according to Rich Durrett of ESPN Dallas. Texas met with the lefty's agent, Scott Boras, at the winter meetings.
Gonzalez, 33, appeared in seven games with the Rangers last year after being acquired from the Orioles at the end of August. He's pitched to a 4.27 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 78 innings over the last two seasons, his only two in the American League. Gonzalez has held left-handed batters to a .213/.281/.335 batting line during his nine-year career. Texas lost Darren Oliver to the Blue Jays, but a full season of Gonzalez will help mitigate the loss.
C’mon Kenny…Matt Thorton plus paying a large chunk of his salary for whatever that can get us lol
Im ok with the Rangers signing him. Hes not bad and they need a lefty.
Sign him. He was very solid for us. I’d like to see him for a full season in Arlington.
Very surprised there hasn’t been more interest in Gonzalez to this point
Agree. Shaky had some troubles coming back from the injury last year, but still was a decent setup guy previously.
Some (a lot) is probably boras thinking a bigger market is out there than there really is for him.
1-1.5m on a 1 year deal is about all anyone is going to shell out after he was so mediocre coming back last year.
after getting 2 yr / 12 million, he’s going to come down to 1.5 million, LOL. Especially, with Boras as his agent? Probable not, but when he was healthy finally, he did do better. Mike Maddux is an excellent pitching coach and will get continued progress out of Gonzo. I am thinking he will get at least 2 million per. Even Will Ohman got a decent deal from White Sox (last year) and he was even worse than Gonzalez.
Wasn’t he signed as a closer last time though? Now he’s just a lefty specialist.
Yes, MacPhail thought he could close he was wrong. He was hurt at the beginning in 2010 and was awful. Anyway, I still think he will get more than 1.5. Like I said Ohman, even did better than that with the Sox
What? Maybe a 1 year contract worth 1-1.5 if there’s about 2-3 million worth of incentives. I could see a 2 year deal worth 5-8 million, with some incentive bonuses added on to sweeten the deal for Gonzo, that would still be reasonable for Texas.
Gonzalez was mostly abysmal for the Orioles for two years….worst late inning guy I have seen in quite a while.
No he wasn’t, see above comment.
They really need MORE bullpen help? That pen is loaded. I’d assume he would be the 4th or 5th option at best out there. That is a pretty good spotl for him. He could easily return to his solid old self, and if he doesn’t it isn’t a big deal.
They need a lefty out of the pen still.
They still need a lot of arms in the bullpen. Tateyama and Uehara shouldn’t be depended on. Uehara is homesick for Baltimore and I believe they are trying to work out a trade that would send him back. Lowe is very iffy. The only ones that can be depended on now in the bullpen are Nathan, Adams and Feldman. I would still like to see them go get Madson and sign Gonzalez. Then if they are able to trade Harrison I would like a good bullpen piece back for him as well as a couple of prospects. Otherwise they should try Harrison in the bullpen.
Nathan, Ogando, Adams, Feldman are the most reliable
Tell Boras we’ll sign Gonzalez if he throws Fielder in for free.
As An Orioles fan, let me say that I hate no player more the last 5 seasons that Mike Gonzalez. I hate him more than Garrett Atkins and Daniel Cabrera combined. Horrible pitcher.
You must not be familiar with Kevin Gregg
Eh, maybe no lefty for the Rangers. Love Ron, but the less decisions he feel inclined to make with the pen, the better off we probably are…
You got that right.
*would* help mitigate the loss
I assume Gonzalez would be a lot cheaper than if the White Sox handed Texas Thornton?
Let Oliver go and sign Gonzalez? Ok then.