• P Yu Darvish activated from 15 day DL
• P Nick Martinez optioned to AA Frisco [ Link ]

NOTES: Well, you knew Yu Darvish was coming back for this date, as he was only going to miss one start.  You felt bad for Martinez, going back down after doing pretty well in his major league debut last night.  He surprised me.  Not that I expected him to do bad as such, but guys making their major league debuts as pitchers with us have a habit of deserving the send down the next day.  Not Martinez.  I suspect he’ll be back, that was a good performance by him.

• P Nick Martinez purchased from AA Frisco
• P Daniel McCutchen optioned to AA Frisco [ Link ]
• C Chris Gimenez cleared waivers, but refused assignment to minors, now a FA

NOTES: The roster move to get our announced fifth starter on the roster was made here.  I think most Ranger fans had a collective scratching of the head when they said that Martinez was to make the club as the fifth starter.  I know I certainly didn’t know much about him.  Jamey Newberg probably did, but I didn’t.

I was wrong about Chris Gimenez.  He’s gone. He refused his assignment to the minors and is a free agent.   He never technically played for the Rangers in 2014, but he WAS on the opening day roster.

• C Chris Gimenez designated for assignment
• P Daniel McCutchen purchased from AAA
• P Michael Kirkman clears waivers, outrighted to AAA [ Link ]

NOTES: That didn’t take long.  The third catcher (Chris Gimenez) has been DFA’ed to bring up some bullpen help in the form of Daniel McCutchen.  McCutchen played with Pittsburgh the last few years, and had decent numbers there, so hopefully he can do well here.  Kirkman, who seems to have run out of steam with Texas cleared waivers and went to AAA.   Gimenez probably will end up at AAA, I’d wager.

Well, here it is.  The big bomb of moves made to bring the roster to 25 for opening day.

• IF Josh Wilson purchased from AAA
• IF Adam Rosales designated for assignment
• P Yu Darvish placed on 15 day DL, retro to Mar 21
• IF Jurickson Profar placed on 15 day DL, retro to Mar 23
• P Matt Harrison placed on 15 day DL, retro to Mar 29
• C Geovany Soto placed on 60 day DL [ Link ]

This makes the opening day 25:

• PITCHERS (11): Neal Cotts, Pedro Figueroa, Jason Frasor, Alexi Ogando, Martin Perez, Seth Rosin, Robbie Ross, Jr., Joe Saunders, Tanner Scheppers, Joakim Soria, Shawn Tolleson.
• CATCHERS (3): J.P. Arencibia, Robinson Chirinos, Chris Gimenez.
• INFIELDERS (5): Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder, Donnie Murphy, Josh Wilson.
• OUTFIELDERS (6): Jim Adduci, Michael Choice, Shin-Soo Choo, Leonys Martin, Mitch Moreland, Alex Rios.

Some of these guys won’t be here long, as Darvish will likely miss just one start.   Donnie Murphy & Josh Wilson were both pickups the last week of spring, so it’s not a huge surprise they’re here, although I wonder how much of an impact they’ll make long term.   Chris Gimenez is a bit of a surprise, and I figure might be the first on the chopping block when it’s time to make a roster move.

Pitchers:  Joe Saunders..  I hear Darth Vader screaming “Nooooooooooooooooo” somewhere.  Shawn Tolleson & Seth Rosin, as well as Pedro Figueroa are unknowns to me – especially at this level.   The rest of the guys we know about, although I wonder how Scheppers will handle opening day.

Feels like a wobbly roster given how hurt we’ve been, but I’ve rooted for worse teams than this in the past.  I’ll give it a shot to see how it goes.

• C J.P. Arencebia signed to 1 year contract

NOTES: Well, I would have rather kept AJ Pierzynski, but JP can catch.  He’s another one of those guys much like Soto.  Great catcher.  Not a great hitter.  JP has some pop – can hit a few home runs, but not terribly much else.  Strikes out a lot.  Had 148 of them in 2013.

So basically, we’ll have Soto & Arencebia splitting the catching duties in 2014.   They say Soto will be the #1 guy with JP backing up, but my gut says it will be a lot closer to 50/50 than that statement.

• P Jose Contreras (yes, that one) signed to minor league contract w/ invite to spring training.
• LF Bryan Petersen signed to minor league contract w/ invite to spring training.
• P Nate Adcock signed to minor league contract w/ invite to spring training.

NOTES: Jose Contreras?  Seriously?!?  Why don’t we just bring back Mark Clark while you’re at it?