Rangers Release Tommy Hanson
The Rangers have released pitcher Tommy Hanson, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. The news comes as no surprise, with the Rangers recently setting their rotation with Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross, Joe Saunders and Nick Martinez. Hanson's contract called for him to receive $2MM guaranteed in the big leagues.
Hanson struggled last season with the Angels (posting a 5.42 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 73 innings) and followed that up with an uninspiring performance in Rangers camp. With the Angels, his average fastball velocity was 89.9 MPH, several miles per hour less than it was when during his successful early career with the Braves.
Rangers Claim Seth Rosin; White Sox Claim Javy Guerra
Two Dodgers players have been claimed off of waivers, the club announced. The Rangers have claimed Rule 5 righty Seth Rosin, while the White Sox claimed reliever Javy Guerra.
Rosin was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Mets from the Phillies, and then had his right shipped to Los Angeles. Now, the Rangers will become the third team to give him a look. The 25-year-old put up a 4.33 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 126 2/3 innings for the Phillies' Double-A affiliate in 2013.
Guerra, 28, spent time as the Dodgers closer in 2011, and has a lifetime 2.90 ERA in 102 1/3 MLB innings. But he fell out of favor in Los Angeles last year after posting a rough 6.75 ERA in 10 2/3 frames, and saw his chances at a pen slot evaporate as the team made several additions over the offseason.
Rangers To Sign Scott Baker
The Rangers have reached agreement with pitcher Scott Baker, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). It is a minor-league deal, Heyman tweets. Baker's new deal will be worth up to $1MM at the big-league level and contains a May 1 opt-out date, MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo tweets. if A deal was rumored to be close yesterday evening. Baker is represented by Octagon.
The Rangers recently set their rotation (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram on Twitter) with Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross, Joe Saunders and Nick Martinez), but Baker should add depth to a rotation that has struggled with injuries. Derek Holland will miss at least a chunk of the season, Yu Darvish is unable to make his Opening Day start, and Matt Harrison is out as well. Baker made three starts with the Cubs last season after missing the entire 2012 season after having Tommy John surgery. He was previously a longtime member of the Twins rotation.
Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.
Rangers Acquire Donnie Murphy From Cubs
12:24pm: The transaction was actually a waiver claim by Texas, reports MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). The Rangers will take on Murphy's $825K salary. Meanwhile, for the Cubs, prospect Mike Olt, who was acquired from Texas last year, could be headed for an Opening Day gig.
12:16pm: The Rangers have acquired infielder Donnie Murphy from the Cubs, reports ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Presumably, Murphy will serve as the fill-in for Jurickson Profar while he rehabs.
Murphy, 31, saw the most extensive action of his career last season, posting a surprising .255/.319/.530 line in 163 plate appearances. Over parts of eight years in the bigs, Murphy has accumulated a .215/.280/.405 line in 803 trips to the plate.
Rangers Near Deal With Scott Baker
The Rangers are close to a deal with starting pitcher Scott Baker, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish initially reported (via Twitter) that the two sides were "making progress" on a deal. Baker is represented by Octagon.
Baker requested, and received, his release from the Mariners Monday. He made three starts with the Cubs in 2013 as he recovered from elbow issues that had kept him out of the Majors since 2011. The Rangers are trying to fill an increasingly injury-plagued rotation that currently includes Martin Perez, Tanner Scheppers, Robbie Ross and Joe Saunders. Yu Darvish, who's dealing with a neck injury, will not start Opening Day, and the team has recently ruled out Colby Lewis as a rotation candidate.
Rangers Seek Depth At Second And Catcher
11:43pm: The Rangers are scouting the Cubs, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reports, and perhaps not just because of Kottaras. The Cubs also have infielders Darwin Barney and Donnie Murphy. The Rangers like Barney better, Sullivan writes.
4:50pm: In the wake of Soto's injury, the Rangers are considering acquiring George Kottaras of the Cubs, Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com tweets. Kottaras currently projects to back up Welington Castillo in Chicago, but the Cubs are reportedly considering rostering John Baker instead. Kottaras, 30, hit .180/.349/.370 in 126 plate appearances for the Royals last year. In response to Soto's injury, the Rangers have already signed Chris Snyder to a minor-league deal.
The Rangers also looked at Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks today, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel tweets. As Haudricourt notes, Weeks' $11MM salary could be an impediment to a trade. Weeks hit .209/.306/.357 in 399 plate appearances with the Brewers last year.
12:08pm: Texas has checked in with several clubs with catching depth, including the Yankees, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Though Francisco Cervelli may be available, Olney says that there does not appear to be a fit between those two clubs.
10:50am: The Rangers have had trade talks in a bid to add depth at catcher and/or second base, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. The expected starters at those two spots — catcher Geovany Soto and second baseman Jurickson Profar — are each expected to miss ten to twelve weeks to open the year.
While it would be pure speculation to guess at possible trade partners in this kind of scenario, we can look at the available free agent pool for other alternatives. With the list growing as final roster decisions are made, Texas could look to players like Tony Abreu, Ronny Cedeno, or Cesar Izturis for the middle infield. Meanwhile, available catching options include recently-released players like Ramon Hernandez, Chris Snyder, and Yorvit Torrealba.
Of course, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote yesterday, it could be that the greater concern is with the state of the rotation. That is all the more true now, with this morning's report (via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that ace Yu Darvish will miss his Opening Day start and undergo an MRI to determine the cause of his stiff neck.
Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.
West Notes: Dodgers, Baker, Rangers, Mariners
The Dodgers have the highest projected payroll in baseball at $235MM, which means that, for the first time in 15 years, the Yankees do not have baseball's highest payroll, the Associated Press reports. Also, the Dodgers' Zack Greinke will top the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez for baseball's highest-paid player. Greinke will make $24MM in the second year of his contract, and MLB's accounting also includes a prorated portion of his signing bonus. Greinke would have counted as the highest-paid player in the game even if Rodriguez hadn't been suspended for the season. Here are more notes from the West divisions.
- Pitcher Scott Baker is "making progress" on a deal with the injury-ravaged Rangers, Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com tweets. The Mariners released Baker yesterday. Baker, 32, has played sparingly in the Majors since 2011, due to elbow troubles.
- The Mariners want to find a right-handed hitter, and they might not trade Nick Franklin unless they find one, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal tweets. A righty would help the Mariners balance a lefty-heavy lineup that includes Robinson Cano, Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, Kyle Seager, Dustin Ackley and Michael Saunders.
- Veteran infielder John McDonald has made the Angels roster, and he's thinking about what could be his last season in the big leagues, writes MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. "This could be my last year," McDonald says. "I'm not going to have a press conference to announce it. … You never know what can happen. I don't like putting a timetable on anything. I'm 39. I'm not foolish. There is only so long you can play." McDonald has never played more than 123 games in a season but, mostly thanks to his defense, he's managed to eke out a 15-year career with the Indians, Tigers, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Indians, Phillies, Red Sox and now the Angels.
Rangers To Sign Chris Snyder
The Rangers have agreed to a minor league deal with catcher Chris Snyder, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). Snyder was released just yesterday by the Nationals.
The 33-year-old will provide depth to the team while starter Geovany Soto works to return from knee surgery. Snyder's last substantial MLB action came in 2012 with the Astros, when he put up a .176/.295/.308 line in 258 plate appearances. He had a strong spring line in limited action, putting up a .294/.381/.529 triple-slash with one long ball in 21 plate appearances. The Rangers apparently preferred him to other available options, such as Ramon Hernandez and Yorvit Torrealba.
AL Notes: Almanzar, Athletics, Blue Jays
After a busy transactional day yesterday, here are some American League notes that we did not quite get to:
- The Orioles are trying to decide what to do with Rule 5 pick Michael Almanzar, who looks to be unlikely to make the club's Opening Day roster. One possibility is a trade of the rights to the former Red Sox third base prospect, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. But that scenario could be complicated by the fact that Almanzar is dealing with a knee problem that will require an MRI, as MLB.com's Adam Berry reports. Of course, if Almanzar were to require a DL trip to start the year, it would offer Baltimore some added time to sort things out. Manager Buck Showalter said the team would not use the injury as pretext, however, emphasizing that Almanzar would only go to the DL if the injury required it.
- The Athletics raised some eyebrows by spending significant cash on relievers this offseason, taking on the salaries of Jim Johnson ($10MM) and Luke Gregerson ($5.065MM) while committing $7MM to Eric O'Flaherty over two years. For the notoriously tight-fisted, analytical ballclub, this spending pattern led to an obvious question: what edge had GM Billy Beane found this time? As Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports, the explanation may be fairly simple. With limited payroll to add to a ready-to-win roster, the club simply got the best "bang for its buck (Beane's words) while avoiding long-term commitments. Of course, as Passan notes, the team also knows that allowing Johnson to rack up the saves will result in arbitration savings on in-house relievers like Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle.
- With just days remaining until the deadline to settle on an Opening Day roster, the Blue Jays still have several roster battles taking place. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes, there still seems to be plenty of wiggle room in the final composition of the Toronto club. The rotation has two spots in play given J.A. Happ's struggles, the middle infield mix could be impacted by the recent injury to Jose Reyes, the backup catching situation is still not finalized, and the fourth outfielding spot is suddenly open to a last-minute competition between Moises Sierra and the newly-added Matt Tuiasosopo. Of course, as Nicholson-Smith notes, options will play a big role in the final determinations and no MLB roster is static throughout the season.
Minor Moves: Galarraga, Wada, Lim
Here are today's minor moves:
- The Rangers have released righty Armando Galarraga, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News reports (via Twitter). The 32-year-old of near-perfect-game fame had a 3.64 ERA in 121 Triple-A innings last year. In spite of the rash of starting pitching injuries in Texas, Galarraga never got a chance to throw in an MLB Spring Training game.
- Just one day after releasing him, the Cubs have re-signed lefty Tsuyoshi Wada, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Wada was originally signed as an Article XX(B) free agent, and it appears that club and player merely used the release and re-sign as a procedural mechanism to reach different terms.
- The Cubs have also released another reliever in Chang-Yong Lim, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Lim, 37, had already been re-assigned to Triple-A. Lim's contract was sold to the Samsung Lions of South Korea's KBO, tweets Gonzales. In six MLB games last year, he threw 5 innings and allowed three earned runs, walking seven and striking out five. He was solid in his first run at the Triple-A level after coming over from Japan, throwing 22 1/3 innings of 1.61 ERA ball with 9.7 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9.