The Rangers announced that they have acquired catcher Bryan Holaday from the Tigers in exchange for right-hander Myles Jaye and catcher Bobby Wilson. In a related move, the Rangers have designated left-handed pitcher Sam Freeman for assignment.
The Rangers have been on the lookout for a catcher this offseason and it appears that the asking prices for their more ambitious targets were too high. Texas was connected to Brewers backstop Jonathan Lucroy as well as Padres catcher Derek Norris. A little over a week ago, however, Rangers GM Jon Daniels said that he was prepared to go into the season with the catchers he already had in camp.
“At this point I anticipate both our catchers are in camp,” Daniels said. “We are open if there is a true improvement to the team, but we’re not going to change for change’s sake.”
Now, Daniels has found what he perceives to be a better understudy for Robinson Chirinos. The Rangers will presumably use Holaday as their No. 2 catcher instead of Chris Gimenez, Michael McKenry, or 2010 sixth-round pick Brett Nicholas, who was said to be having a strong spring. Holaday is not as big of a name as Lucroy, but he came at a much lower cost than the Brewers catcher would have and is also more affordable (Lucroy will earn $4MM in 2016).
Holaday was out-of-options and didn’t have a spot in Detroit with James McCann and Jarrod Saltalamacchia ahead of him. The 28-year-old TCU product has appeared in the majors in each of the last four seasons for the Tigers. Over a combined 282 plate appearances, he owns a .251/.283/.340 slash line. In parts of three Triple-A seasons, he has slashed .245/.305/.339.
Wilson, 32, spent time with the Rays and Rangers in 2015 and didn’t do much with his bat in 147 plate appearances (.189 /.255/.250). Of course, Wilson isn’t known much for his offense and instead has built his reputation as an excellent defensive catcher.
Jaye is a 24-year-old right-handed starter. A former 17th round pick of the Blue Jays in 2010, Jaye pitched to a 3.29 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 26 Double-A outings last year.
Freeman is out-of-options and the Rangers did not have a spot for him on their 40-man roster. The 28-year-old seems likely to get picked up by a team in need of relief help. For his career, Freeman owns a 3.23 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 across four big league seasons.
Just about the return I expected from a Holaday trade. Minor league filler type material.
As a Ranger fan this trade makes a lot of sense and is a lot less risky than the other rumors
As a friend of Bryan’s who watched him play high school, college and pro ball I am beyond pumped!! I can’t wait to see him in the same Rangers uniform that his heroes as a kid wore.
Norris would’ve been better
Of course, but he would’ve cost more than a non-prospect and Bobby Wilson
Holiday was productive in limited ab’s last year (about the only bench player for the Tigers that was). He changed his swing this winter and showed improved power this spring. He’s solid defensively. I would have prefered him over Salty, who has an inconsistent track record. I think Texas did very well.
It won’t be appreciated yet, but Texas made a very good move.
Agreed. I preferred Holaday to Saltalamacchia. Solid deal for the Rangers.
I see this as a generally good move for the Rangers but two things I find odd about it are 1) a Chirinos/Holaday combo still sounds like a top 5 worst backstop combos in the league for THIS season and the Rangers are a very veteran laden team without a huge pipeline of prospects ready to make major significant contributions and
2) catcher is the absolute last position any team wants to make a change to a week before opening day with no time to assimilate to a whole staff of new pitchers
I disagree. I think Chirinos is right there with the rest of the division’s catchers, except for Vogt. He’s nothing special, but he’s not any worse really than Jason Castro, Chris Ianetta, or Geovany Soto
Good retort. I will add that there aren’t really many great, certainly not many consistently great catchers in baseball. Yes, Chirinos/Holaday could end up the season botton 5. But they could just as easily end up top 10.
I was a bit strong with my pessimism and again, I see this as a good move for the Rangers, but in the Rangers’ position where their division is up for grabs and their current big league team relies heavily on veteran production combined with the fact that though they do have a very good farm system, take Gallo and profar out of the equation and their top prospects such as Mazara, Dillon Tate, and Matuella are at least a year and a half away from more than a cup of coffee in the bigs which coincides with Beltre, Hamels and Darvish’s contracts expiring while Prince Fielder is still 24 mil a year for three more seasons and I’m mildly surprised they didn’t pull the trigger on a more “win now”, proven commodity player like Lucroy or Norris.
I think you are forgetting Brinson (the most MLB ready of the new guys). While I agree with part of your statement about our farm system; it is young. I think we are much closer at the higher levels than it would seem. Take two years ago, when Profar originally got hurt, we basically pulled Odor out of AA. It illustrates that Texas has more in the system than meets the eye. We just haven’t had any reason to use them because our core is still very effective. Pitching is a bit cloudy, because we traded some MLB ready guys for Hamels, but I think that was the right move. We need to win while Beltre is still around. Man I love baseball.
P.S. I could totally be a Bucs fan. Checking off Pittsburgh from my ballparks list in August!
Chirinos is very solid defensively which is theain priority. Holaday has shown promise so far this spring offensively. As far as their prospects go, I hope your just referring to the catcher position, because overall, Texas has arguably a top 3 farm system in the league. Definitely top 5. With position players that will be taking over full time within the next 2-3 years.
Chirinos is not Pudge…..but the fact is, there are only two catchers in the game today who might be in Cooperstown one day. So the object is to get a solid defensive backstop who won’t hurt you with the stick—-and Robinson has been that guy for Texas the last couple years. I have no idea whether Holaday is worth it but I trust JD’s judgement on trade.
Trust JD’s judgement? It’s not like you really gave anyone up in the trade. You gave up a career minor league catcher and a pitcher that likely tops out as an organizational body.
It’s no-risk, all reward move.
I’ll agree with that. I can’t see any risk here. Man the Padres must be asking a lot for Norris right?
Let’s not blow this out of proportion. He’s 28 and been a third string catch for awhile. He’s good enough to be an average backup, but if you’re looking for him to play more than 50-60 games, then you’re in trouble.
Every spring there is one guy that is the flavor of the month because he highly over=exceeds his expectations. Holaday is that guy this year. I always fall in love with that story, every year. I am happy that Holaday got the roster spot he was going to have to get anyway as a guy out of options. No way Detroit becomes the scrooge in this spring romance and DFA’s him after all the hype. Great pick up either way for the rangers because any other available C would have costed considerable more and been a lot older and much less of an upside. Hopefully Holaday rides this wave of excitement he has drawn and places himself firmly in the show and even reaches his ceiling of being David Ross.
Sam Freeman and the Atlanta Braves…a good match.
Let me check. Pitcher? Check. Has had TJ surgery? Check. Bad control? Check. Mediocre? Check.
Nice! He is a good match for the Braves
Too bad he didn’t bat lefthanded……………….the only reason Salts is on the team.
I met Bryan Holaday at a restaurant in Chicago when they were playing the White Sox’s. I was at my table when I saw him. Everyone pulled out their phone and looked him up to make sure it was him. When it was, I went over and got a picture with him. It was one of the best birthday presents ever! I hope he has a great career in Texas. Now he made the Rangers my second favorite team!