The Rangers announced the signing of lefty reliever Jalen Beeks to a one-year contract. The Frontline client is reportedly guaranteed $1.6MM and can earn an additional $1MM in incentives. He’d receive $75K bonuses at 10 and 15 appearances, $100K for his 20th outing, and $125K each at 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 65 games. Texas designated Alexis Díaz for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
Beeks finds a guaranteed contract just two weeks from the beginning of the regular season. The southpaw spent the 2025 campaign with the Diamondbacks on a $1.25MM contract. He made 61 appearances, working to a 3.77 earned run average across 57 1/3 innings. There’s a decent chance he would have been traded at the deadline if not for a three-week injured list stint in July due to lower back inflammation.
The 32-year-old wound up finishing the season as one of the rare veteran pieces in Arizona’s bullpen. He allowed only four runs across his final 16 1/3 innings. Beeks’ underlying marks were middle of the road. He had a slightly below-average 20.3% strikeout rate with decent but unexceptional walk and ground-ball marks.
Unlike a lot of lefty relievers, Beeks doesn’t have a great breaking ball. He only used his cutter around 10% of the time last year. Beeks works mostly with a 94-95 mph fastball and an upper 80s changeup that serves as his best swing-and-miss pitch. He doesn’t have extreme platoon splits as a result. Beeks allowed similar slash lines to left-handed (.218/.266/.345) and righty (.190/.285/.339) bats alike last year, though his strikeout rate was quite a bit higher when he had the platoon advantage.
Beeks will have a couple weeks to get ready for the start of the regular season. It’ll be a patched together Texas bullpen for a second straight year. Robert Garcia is their one high-leverage lefty. There’s a decent chance he gets some save opportunities. Tyler Alexander will pitch in a long relief role. Beeks isn’t a pure specialist but can take some left on left matchups in the middle innings.
Garcia, Chris Martin, Cole Winn, Jakob Junis, Beeks and Alexander all seem assured of Opening Day bullpen spots. Diaz signed a one-year deal, but he’s been bombed for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings this spring and was pushed off the roster.
Rule 5 draftee Carter Baumler needs to stick on the MLB team or be waived and offered back to the Orioles. He has only surrendered one unearned run with a 4-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 5 2/3 frames. Minor league signees Ryan Brasier and Josh Sborz are also in camp. Sborz has had the much more impressive spring.
As Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports observes, this may also tip the team’s hand on their rotation plans. Left-hander Jacob Latz will be on the big league roster in some capacity. Latz pitched mostly in relief last year but is competing with Kumar Rocker for the fifth starter job. Rocker has the higher pedigree, but Latz was the better pitcher in 2025. There hasn’t been a huge divide between the two this spring.
If the Rangers keep Rocker as the fifth starter, they’d have four left-handers in their projected Opening Day bullpen. Most teams prefer to carry two or three lefty relievers. That could point to Latz having the upper hand in the rotation competition and Rocker beginning the season in Triple-A.
Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News first reported the Rangers and Beeks had agreed to a big league deal. The Associated Press reported the salary and bonuses.
Image courtesy of Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images.
Framed Louis. As Billy Ray sayeth: “It was the Dukes It was the Dukes”
Funny, every time I hear his name I think about orange juice crop reports.
I was wondering whatever happened to Beeks.
Enjoying life with his sole mate still in Africa. Having a mate extends one’s life…
Meanwhile the Dukes got bailed out by Akeem…
They really needed to have two gorillas somewhere in the background in Zamunda to really close the circle
Is he bringing the orange grove report with him?
Beeks had a solid 2025 season. Surprised he sat unsigned for so long.
Having watched Beeks last year, I would have welcomed him back on the Dbacks this season.
What’s not said when looking at a reliever’s stats is the number of inherited runners that scored. Another is percentage of the number of times a reliever ended an inning (meaning another did not need to enter the same inning). Finally, I’d like to know about the number of times the reliever got through the inning without another reliever warming up. A bullpen should work together.
Only a minor-league deal? That’s quite the bargain.
Looks like it’s a major-league deal after the update. Makes sense.
What exactly is the dback’s plan with their bullpen when they let reliable dudes go like beeks
Dbacks don’t need a bullpen this season, I’ve decided. Not only will they miss the lefty Beeks, who was a trooper last season, but they really don’t have any decent righties either. Gambling on closers coming back around midseason from elbow surgeries isn’t exactly a surefire strategy.
Nice pickup for the Rangers
His brother Jar Jar is still available.