Rangers Rumors

Marlins, Rangers Reportedly Finalists To Sign Pedro Strop

By Jeff Todd | January 23, 2020 at 6:07am CDT

The chase for Pedro Strop may not rate as national news, but it’s an important situation in the context of the remaining relief market. Perusing the slate of still-available pen pieces should convince you of that.

The group of pursuers was defined recently and seems now to have been culled again. The Marlins and Rangers are the two final clubs in the bidding, according to Hector Gomez of Deportivo Z 101 (Twitter link), with the Brewers and Cubs evidently exiting the picture.

For the Fish, Strop would represent something of a finishing flourish to an offseason full of bullpen movement. The Miami organization has dumped a whole lot of talented but unreliable younger hurlers and obviously has interest in plugging in a late-inning veteran.

Should he land instead in Texas, Strop would help buttress a unit that still has some uncertainty. Jose Leclerc and a resurgent Rafael Montero provide some potential fire at the back of the unit, but it’d be nice to pair Strop with Jesse Chavez to lock in some sturdy frames.

Strop has been a steady performer for years now, though he’s coming off of a down 2019. With injuries limiting his availability and effectiveness, the 34-year-old managed only a 4.97 ERA. More than anything, he (like many of his peers) was suddenly prone to the long ball, allowing about twice as many per nine innings as he had over the preceding five years. And a fairly significant velocity decline gave some cause for concern. But it’s not hard to envision a quick bounce back if Strop is at full health, as he still proved capable of inducing an enticing mix of swings and misses and groundballs.

Rangers Outright Kyle Bird To Triple-A

By Steve Adams | January 22, 2020 at 4:38pm CDT

The Rangers announced Wednesday that left-hander Kyle Bird has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. He was designated for assignment last week when Texas finalized its one-year deals with Todd Frazier and Robinson Chirinos. Bird will be in Major League camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training this year. Texas also confirmed its previously reported minor league agreement with veteran righty Juan Nicasio.

Bird, 27 in April, came to the Rangers by way of the Rays in the three-team trade that sent Jurickson Profar to Oakland a year ago. That he went unclaimed on waivers is of mild surprise, given that he’s a lefty with minor league options remaining, a strong upper-minors track record and plenty of spin on his heater and slider.

Bird did struggle this year in his big league debut, allowing 11 runs and a staggering five homers in 12 2/3 innings of relief work. However, he also pitched to a 2.86 ERA with a 39-to-15 K/BB ratio and just four homers allowed in 34 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Overall, he has a 3.09 ERA in 140 Double-A frames and a 2.17 mark in 95 2/3 innings in Triple-A. He’s no longer on Texas’ 40-man roster, but he’ll have a chance to work his way back into the big league picture in 2020.

Pedro Strop Weighing Multiple Offers

By Steve Adams | January 20, 2020 at 12:50pm CDT

Free-agent righty Pedro Strop is mulling offers from multiple clubs, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter links). The longtime Cubs setup man has three offers in hand at the moment, Nicholson-Smith adds, citing the Marlins, Brewers, Cubs and Rangers as teams who’ve been showing interest of late.

While it’s not clear which combination of that group has offers on the table, it’d be a surprise to see the Cubs make a competitive offer following ownership’s recent spending limitations and the team’s general lack of offseason activity to date. Nicholson-Smith does indicate that two NL clubs and an AL team have put an offer out to Strop, which at least speculatively speaking, would make the Marlins, Brewers and Rangers a trio that fits the description. Miami was already tied to Strop two weeks ago when FNTSY Sports Radio’s Craig Mish reported their interest.

Hamstring and neck injuries limited Strop to just 41 2/3 innings in 2019 and quite possibly hindered his on-field production; the typically hard-throwing righty logged a 4.97 ERA and saw his heater dip from an average of 95.1 mph in 2018 to 93.6 mph in 2019. That said, Strop still racked up strikeouts at an impressive clip (10.6 K/9) and notched a quality 13.5 percent swinging-strike rate.

And, of course, prior to his down year in 2019, Strop was a consistent force in the Chicago ’pen. The right-hander posted five consecutive sub-3.00 ERA seasons from 2014-18, pitching to a combined 2.61 mark (3.10 FIP) with averages of 10.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 with a ground-ball rate well north of 50 percent. The Marlins have seen considerable turnover in their bullpen already this winter and are said to be eyeing a veteran addition along the lines of last year’s Sergio Romo pickup. The Brewers, meanwhile, already have a deep collection of arms but never shy away from a late-offseason value play. And the Rangers, of course, have been aggressive in reshaping their club in preparation for the opening of their new stadium in 2020.

Rangers Sign Juan Nicasio To Minor League Contract

By TC Zencka | January 18, 2020 at 8:25pm CDT

The Rangers have signed Juan Nicasio to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter).

Nicasio has enjoyed impressive longevity as a right-handed reliever, hanging in the majors for most of the last nine seasons. The righty’s longest tenure came with the Rockies, with whom he made his debut and pitched from 2011 through 2014. He was mostly a starter in Colorado, though he lasted a full year of turns only in 2013, going 9-9 over 31 starts (157 2/3 innings) putting up a 5.14 ERA/4.25 FIP.

In all, Nicasio’s career has largely been defined by ERAs lagging behind his Fielding Independent Pitching. Nicasio finished with a higher ERA than FIP in seven of his nine professional seasons. 2017 was the rare year for Nicasio when his FIP caught up to his ERA (2.61 ERA/2.98 FIP) while he led the league with 76 appearances pitching for the Phillies, Cardinals, and Pirates.

The last two seasons have been particularly gruesome. In 2018, he appeared in 46 games for the Mariners with a 6.00 ERA/2.99 FIP across 42 innings. This season the splits were less drastic, though with a 4.75 ERA/3.87 FIP across 47 relief appearances for the Phillies, he again suffered from underperformance.

Given the degree to which Nicasio has been victimized by poor BABIPs these last two seasons (.402 BABIP in 2018, .366 BABIP in 2019), the Rangers grab a nice flyer here with no risk. The Rangers didn’t boast a great defensive unit in 2019, and replacing Delino DeShields with Danny Santana in center won’t help, but there’s still lots of time for the top of that depth chart to shift.

AL Notes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rangers, Mathis

By Connor Byrne | January 16, 2020 at 1:20am CDT

Thanks to scandal-besieged Alex Cora’s firing on Tuesday, the Red Sox are in the unfortunate position of having to find a new manager as spring training nears. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke about the situation Wednesday, telling Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and other reporters that the Red Sox don’t yet have an idea where they’ll turn for Cora’s replacement. Unsurprisingly, the Red Sox seem prepared to consider in-house and external candidates for the position. Bloom praised Boston’s current assistant coaches, calling them “an impressive group” and adding, “No reason to think that a number of them wouldn’t deserve consideration for this.” Meanwhile, the Red Sox haven’t yet asked other teams for permission to speak with their assistants. Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro – whom Bloom knows from Tampa Bay – has come up in speculation since Cora’s ouster. However, it’s “unlikely” he’ll be a candidate because the division-rival Rays may not permit Bloom to pilfer other members of their staff, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.

Rangers Rumors: Castellanos, Ozuna, Arenado

By Connor Byrne | January 15, 2020 at 6:28pm CDT

After posting their third straight losing season in 2019, the Rangers have been active in upgrading their roster this winter. They don’t appear to be done, as they continue to be connected to free-agent outfielders Marcell Ozuna and Nicholas Castellanos in the rumor mill. Now that third baseman Josh Donaldson has joined the rest of this offseason’s class of elite free agents in coming off the market, Ozuna and Castellanos stand as the top two players on the board.

In Texas’ case, it seems the 27-year-old Castellanos is preferable to Ozuna, 29. At this point, Castellanos is “a strong option” for the Rangers, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. TR Sullivan of MLB.com corroborates that, reporting that Castellanos is seemingly the Rangers’ No. 1 target, and he adds that it doesn’t look as if Ozuna is near the top of the club’s list. That could be disappointing news to Ozuna, who indicated last week he was deciding between the Rangers and Cardinals for his next team.

If Castellanos dons a Rangers uniform in 2020, it’s unclear where he’d line up. The former third baseman has been an outfielder for the Tigers and Cubs over the past few seasons, but the Rangers would reportedly want to use him at first base – a position he hasn’t played. Nevertheless, at least offensively, Castellanos would give the Rangers a significant upgrade over Ronald Guzman, who played the majority of games at first for the team from 2018-19 and provided little offense along the way.

Across the diamond, the Rangers have been part of trade rumors centering on superstar Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado. However, Sullivan notes that a deal for Arenado “seems unlikely.” The Rangers did just land a viable veteran third baseman in Todd Frazier, though he’s no substitute for Arenado and could end up at first in the improbable event Texas lands the latter in a trade.

Red Sox, Rangers Swap Sam Travis For Jeffrey Springs

By Steve Adams | January 15, 2020 at 4:06pm CDT

The Rangers have acquired first baseman Sam Travis from the Red Sox in exchange for left-hander Jeffrey Springs, the teams announced. Boston has designated left-hander Bobby Poyner to make room on the 40-man roster.

Both Travis and Springs were recently designated for assignment, though Travis had already cleared waivers and been outrighted off Boston’s 40-man roster. Springs, meanwhile, was only designated earlier this afternoon. The Rangers will now pick up Travis’ rights without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to the former prospect. The Red Sox, meanwhile, clearly feel they’re upgrading their left-handed bullpen depth in going with Springs over Poyner.

Travis, 26, was a second-round pick back in 2014 and frequented Red Sox prospect rankings as he rapidly ascended through the lower minors. However, while he hit well up through the Double-A level, Travis saw his bat stall in Triple-A and, despite a series of looks in the Majors, never made good at the game’s top level, either. In all, he’s a .267/.339/.392 hitter in nearly 1200 Triple-A plate appearances and just a .230/.288/.371 hitter in 278 MLB trips to the plate.

That said, the Rangers aren’t exactly teeming with quality first base options. Former top prospect Ronald Guzman hasn’t distinguished himself in his own MLB tryouts to date, and the club is intent on playing Joey Gallo in the outfield. Newly signed Todd Frazier could certainly handle first base if the Texas organization adds a more prominent option at third base, but there’s little harm in stashing Travis as a depth piece in hopes that a change of scenery brings out some of his yet-untapped potential.

The 27-year-old Springs, meanwhile, struggled to a 6.40 ERA with 32 strikeouts against 23 walks in 32 1/3 innings with Texas in 2019. He’s posted huge strikeout numbers in the upper minors and enjoyed better success with the Rangers in 2018 than in 2019, but he’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher with below-average velocity who saw his opponents’ hard-hit rate soar in 2019. Springs does have three minor league option years remaining, so he’ll be an optionable piece of depth for the Sox for the foreseeable future — assuming he sticks on the roster.

Poyner, meanwhile, has a minor league option of his own remaining. Like Springs, he’s a 27-year-old who posted solid numbers in 2018 but struggled in 2019. The similarities don’t stop there, as Poyner saw his hard-hit rate and opponents’ exit velocity both jump in 2019. However, he doesn’t have Springs’ gaudy strikeout totals and averages just 89.8 mph on his heater to Springs’ 91.7 mph. Boston will have a week to trade, outright or release Poyner.

Rangers Designate Kyle Bird, Jeffrey Springs

By Jeff Todd | January 15, 2020 at 12:32pm CDT

The Rangers have designated lefties Kyle Bird and Jeffrey Springs for assignment. Their roster spots were needed to make way for the now-official signings of catcher Robinson Chirinos and infielder Todd Frazier.

Bird, 26, was hit hard in his MLB debut last year, surrendering five home runs and 15 walks in a dozen outings as he struggled with fastball command. But he has posted strong results in the upper minors, including a run of 2.86 ERA ball (with 10.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9) in his 34 2/3 innings last year at Triple-A. And he has shown a high-level spin rate that could hold appeal to other organizations.

As for the 27-year-old Springs, he turned in solid results in 2018 but took a bit step back in his sophomore campaign. Over 32 1/3 frames, he surrendered 6.40 earned runs per nine with 8.9 K/9 and 6.4 BB/9. While he hasn’t really shown it at the MLB level, Springs has at times carried eye-popping strikeout numbers in the minors. And he did record a 12.5% swinging-strike rate in 2019.

Latest On Rangers’ Position Player Pursuits

By Jeff Todd | January 14, 2020 at 9:33am CDT

We’ve seen quite a lot of chatter surrounding the Rangers’ efforts to add another big bat, some of it contradictory. The team just added Todd Frazier, which plugs in one part of the corner infield picture. That likely reduces the urgency of adding righty pop, though it still seems the Texas org is at least dabbling in that market.

The top two names available are Nicholas Castellanos and Marcell Ozuna. Both are rather youthful, well-established hitters but come with some demerits. It seems there are multiple organizations circling in hopes of securing a high-value contract. Whether there’s any significant appetite for a longer, larger deal isn’t entirely evident.

So, where do the Rangers stand with regard to these players? Depends who you ask. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that the Rangers are “active” and “among the favorites” to secure the services of Castellanos. But Morosi said much the same last week, citing a recent in-person meeting, only for a team source to claim the sides hadn’t even yet had a sit-down.

In the interim, the Rangers were again cited as a finalist on a righty bat … this time, Ozuna. It has now been five days since the 28-year-old was said to be deciding between the Rangers and Cardinals, with no resolution. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that he has “been given no indication of significant meaningful dialogue on Ozuna.”

In the course of throwing some cold water on the Ozuna concept, Grant notes that Castellanos is a “better fit” in Texas. That’s presumably because the latter slugger has experience in the corner infield and could step in at first base, which is reportedly where the team has been considering him all along.

As Grant notes, it’s theoretically possible that the Rangers could add one of these players, clear the resulting logjam by dealing Willie Calhoun, and still pick up Rockies star Nolan Arenado in a trade (perhaps involving Calhoun). Like the Cardinals, who also remain tied to Ozuna, the Rangers presumably still have at least one eye trained on Arenado. But that complicated scenario would leave Ozuna/Castellanos in the corner outfield mix, which is supposedly not the Rangers’ desired outcome in the case that they acquire the latter.

If it all feels a bit like running in circles … well, the Rangers and their rivals may be doing just that. Taken as a whole, it seems there’s a rousing game of musical chairs involving a variety of right-handed-hitting corner pieces. Josh Donaldson is among the other players involved; the Braves, Nationals, Reds, and perhaps other teams are also somewhere in the picture.

Rangers To Sign Todd Frazier

By George Miller | January 12, 2020 at 1:40pm CDT

The Rangers have reached an agreement with free-agent third baseman Todd Frazier, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that it’s a one-year, $5MM guarantee that includes a club option for a second year. Frazier will collect a $3.5MM salary in 2020 with a $5.75MM option for 2021 that comes with a $1.5MM buyout, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The deal is pending a physical.

Frazier, who will turn 34 in February, just wrapped up his second season with the Mets, authoring a nice bounce-back after a rough 2018. He posted a .251/.329/.443 slash line with 21 homers in 499 plate appearances. He’s been sapped of some of the power that made him a fan favorite in Cincinnati, but he has remained a roughly league-average hitter that also provides passable defense at third base. That’s enough to make him attractive to a Texas team that didn’t get great production from the position last year.

The numbers Frazier posted last year were in line with his career marks, making his dismal 2018 season look more like an outlier. If that’s true, and the Rangers get a version of Frazier that performs closer to his 2019 levels, it will be hard for Texas to be upset with such a low-cost signing that fills a clear need. Nick Solak looked to be the best in-house candidate to claim the position, though the Rangers may prefer to deploy him in a utility infield role.

Texas has been variously connected to all of the offseason’s big names at third base, including top free agents Anthony Rendon, now with the division rival Angels, and Josh Donaldson. The latter has yet to sign, but the Rangers are said to have backed off in their pursuit as he eyes a four-year deal. Most recently, they’ve been connected to Rockies star Nolan Arenado, though there’s skepticism that a deal will get completed. To be sure, Frazier doesn’t offer the same star power as the aforementioned trio, but he represents an adequate stopgap and insurance should they go 0-for-3 in their pursuit of the big fish.

Moreover, the addition of Frazier, who can also play first base, presumably doesn’t necessarily preclude the Rangers from continuing their pursuit of a top-flight option at the hot corner. Indeed, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that Texas will not cease in attempting to acquire Arenado even after signing Frazier. Should their play for Arenado come to fruition, Frazier would likely slide into a timeshare with Ronald Guzman at first base. And should the Rangers miss out on Arenado and Donaldson, then Frazier is penciled in as a short-term solution, with top prospect Josh Jung waiting on the horizon.

To this point, the Rangers have allocated most of their offseason resources to upgrades on the pitching side, adding Corey Kluber, Kyle Gibson, and Jordan Lyles to the projected starting rotation. That has left some work to be done on the position player side of things, with third base getting the most buzz. But the Rangers have some interest in free-agent slugger Nicholas Castellanos, though interestingly they like Castellanos only as a potential first base upgrade—not as an outfielder. On the other hand, Marcell Ozuna might still be in play for the outfield, which currently features Joey Gallo, Danny Santana, and Willie Calhoun.

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