The Rangers Report – Offseason Edition

My Take On The Potential Jennings Deal

According to Evan Grant, Jason Jennings may be a Ranger in the relatively near future.

My take on that?

I figured that the Rangers would be signing a pitcher soon, as Texas has never been one to rely on a lot of youth in the rotation as far as unproven pitchers are concerned (and, despite their service time, McCarthy and Gabbard are still relatively unproven).  With Edinson Volquez now a Red, Texas was almost certain to look for a high upside vet to take over the three or four spot, depending on who it was. 

The question is, is Jennings that?

Jennings was the youngest of the broken pitchers category, having undergone surgery to fix a torn flexor tendon and was said to be ready for Spring Training.  However, Jennings doesn’t have the greatest control, seeing his K to Walk Ratio over the past few years and he doesn’t have a legitimate out pitch.  He was remarkably durable, however, and does do a good job of inducing groundballs.  Provided that Young and Kinsler are on their toes when he pitches, he could be effective.  He also has experience pitching in a worse pitcher’s park than Texas in Colorado.

And, if the Rangers are out of it and Jennings is effective, he could be flipped for a young player ready to help the Rangers, perhaps an outfielder or a third baseman (as Chris Davis is inevitably going to move to first, in spite of the Rangers possibly looking to move him to right field.) 

The only real question is whether or not Jennings can make it in the AL.  The lineups are deeper and he doesn’t have the benefit of cruising through the lower third of the lineup, which is always a problem for NL Pitchers.  Nonetheless, it’s a low risk move that could pay dividends.

Catching Situation Sorting Itself Out...In A Way

It looks like the Rangers are planning on keeping Gerald Laird, at least until midseason or until the end Spring Training should someone need a starter for the simple reason that they feel his value is at a low.  It also looks like, with the recent signing of Adam Melhuse to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, that the Rangers are planning on sending Jarrod Saltalamacchia down to Oklahoma to start the season, with the intent of flipping Laird at the deadline and calling Salty back then.

In a way, it might be for the best, considering that Atlanta may have rushed Salty up to the minors and Texas kept him up here to fill in the hole left at first by Teixiera leaving town.  However, I thought that Laird would have had a lot more value around the league.  The two spots I thought might have worked out were:

Boston – Laird could have backed up Jason Varitek before being asked to take on starting catching duties.  And Texas could have netted Coco Crisp.  That was the idea that was going on until Boston reversed course and demanded Eric Hurley, Luis Mendoza and C.J. Wilson back in return.

Mets – Here was another spot that I felt would work, as Laird would have been a cheap option for Minaya, and return could have netted Texas Lastings Milledge.  Instead, Milledge was sent to Washington for Brian Schneider.  Weirdness.

Other Transactions

Jamey Wright is close to signing a Minor League deal with a spring training invite with Texas, bringing him back to the team.  Wright was mediocre as a starter, but was solid as a reliever, though his amount of walks worries me.  Still, Wright is a good guy to have in the swingman role, though a cheaper option would be to use Kameron Loe in that role, which would be a cheaper decision to use.

Another thing, the signing of Eddie Guardado (and have been for the last month, apparently), but here’s the problem.  Guardado is likely going to sign a major league deal, meaning another move must be made on the 40 Man roster, which recently saw the departure of Bill White to make room for Kazuo Fukumori.  My guess is that the next to go is Nelson Cruz, followed then by either Jason Botts or Travis Metcalf.