The Rangers announced that they've signed Kevin Kouzmanoff, Brent Lillibridge, Armando Rodriguez and Josh Wilson to minor league deals with invites to Spring Training.
Lillibridge, 30, batted .119/.133/.136 in 61 plate appearances between the Cubs and Yankees last season. The utility man showed promise with the White Sox in his age-27 season back in 2011, batting .258/.340/.505 with 13 homers in 216 plate appearances. Over the course of his career, however, he's a .205/.267/.332 hitter.
Wilson, 32, batted .200/.262/.300 in 65 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2013. He's a career .225/.278/.317 hitter in 1077 plate appearances between the D-Backs, Mariners, Rays, Padres, Nationals, Marlins and Brewers.
Kouzmanoff, 32, spent four seasons as the everyday third baseman for the Padres and A's, slashing .259/.303/.426 with 75 homers. He spent 2013 in the Marlins organization, batting .294/.344/.440 at Triple-A.
Rodriguez, 25, split the 2013 season between Double-A and Triple-A with the Mets, posting a combined 4.81 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 63 2/3 innings.
The Rangers also announced that they inked righty Doug Mathis to a minor league pact, though Mathis' deal doesn't contain an invite to Spring Training. Mathis posted a 4.84 ERA in 87 1/3 innings for the Rangers from 2008-10 and split last season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Marlins and Pirates.
Kouzmanoff might be a really good grab, especially if Beltre pulls another hammie or two again next season.
Koooooouuuuuuzzzzzzz
The koozie
I guess the Rangers felt they needed some IF depth with Kinsler gone. Kouzmanoff is my bet for making the roster.
How is Brent Lillibridge even worth a minor league contract at this point?
Definitely feels like throw-back-thursday hearing Kevin Kouzmanoff’s name again.
I like the Kouzmanoff signing the most. He probably has to be the favorite for corner infield depth.
Ditto on all the good things that are said about Kouz in this thread. The Marlins screwed up when they didn’t bring him up to man 3B when it was a disaster all of last season.
Looks like Jon Daniels wants competition.