Brad Wilkerson and Vicente Padilla were introduced to the press today. Here’s a picture from the press conference, which I did not hear, unfortunately. Didn’t even know there was going to be one. Oh well.
Anyway, on the subject of uniform numbers which I’m so keen on.. Padilla was wearing 44, which was his number in Philly. As I said before, that was worn at the end of the season here by Jason Botts, so that’s no surprise.
Brad Wilkerson was wearing 6, which was Gerald Laird’s number for the last two years. I don’t know if it will stay that way. Wilkerson wore 7 in Montreal/Washington, and that’s already taken by DeRosa, so it isn’t much of a surprise that he got bumped to 6. Don’t know what Laird will be wearing if indeed Wilkerson goes into sping training with 6. 5 was worn by Ian Kinsler in 2005’s spring trainign, so that could be open. We’ll see.
UPDATE: There’s now an article on the Rangers site with reactions from the press conference by Wilkerson & Padilla. Check it out.

[Read more…]

This evening it was announced that the Rangers have signed Mark DeRosa & Brian Shouse to one year contracts for the 2006 season. Both were eligible for arbitration, so this brings the number of players now eligible for arbitration for the 2006 season to seven. They are: Rod Barajas, Joaquin Benoit, Gary Matthews Jr., Kevin Mench, Vicente Padilla, Mark Teixeira and Brad Wilkerson.
The $ amounts are not out yet, but I’ll have that as soon as I find out. Here’s the story from the Rangers site about it.
Both are good signings. Yeah, they were arbitration eligible, and would have likely been here anyway. But I still like it from a baseball move. DeRosa ddn’t play much at all most of 2005 until the back end of the season,when he was pretty reliable in several different positions. He could be our regular 2B if Kinsler doesn’t work out, or management decides he’s truly not ready yet. And Shouse has been pretty good out of the pen, too. Plus he’s a left handed reliever, you want to keep them. :)
UPDATE @ 12:15AM Tue: I’ve since found out the value of the two contracts. DeRosa got $675,000 and Shouse got $725,000 plus $50k in incentives. Shouse will get $25,000 if he appears in 60 games, and another $25k if he appears in 70.
UPDATE 2 @ 2PM Tue: I also found out that DeRosa gets contract incentives, too. He gets $25,000 each if he makes 350, 400, & 450 plate appearances.

The Rangers have acquired Vicente Padilla from the Phillies for a player to be named later.
Padilla has one year left of arbitration eligibility (according to my brother who follows the Phils and lives in Philly). He made $3.2 Million in 2005. His 2005 stats:
9-12, 4.71 ERA, 27 G, 27 GS, 147 IP, 146 H, 79R, 77ER, 74 BB, 103 K, 22 HR
Not wonderful, but at this point, we need what we can get. He wore uniform #44 in Philly, which was last worn by Jason Botts, so Padilla will probably have that in 2006.
The more I think about this, the more it’s probably a good idea for us. I’m sure we won’t be giving up anything of value. PTBNL’s never are. Padilla isn’t the greatest – he had some promise a few years back, but doesn’t seem to follow through. However, when healthy, he’s at least an innings eater, and that alone should help. It’d be awesome if he could turn it around, and have a 3 era with a 1 whip. :) But that isn’t likely. The Ballpark in Arlington and Citizens Bank Park are both launching pads, so I don’t think his numbers will jump all that much, really.
The word in the news stories I’ve been reading is that the return for Padilla won’t be anyone on the 40 man roster, which is probably good. I’m also pretty sure it won’t be any of our non 40 man roster blue chip guys. Assuming the Phillies want pitching back, these are some names I see possibly going up there:
Oklahoma (AAA)
Ryan Bukvich
Matt Riley
Tulsa (AA)
Wil Rodriguez
Agustin Montero (was banned for steroids)
Ron Mahay (middle reliever)
We shall see. If they get Mahay, that would be three former Ranger pitchers the Phillies would have (the others being Julio Santana & Aaron Fultz).
News stories:
Texas Rangers site story
MLB.com news article
Padilla’s roster page on Phillies site
Dallas Morning News Story
Ft Worth Star Telegram Story
My roster page for Padilla
Phillies Fan Blog Perspective on Trade
Mlbtraderumors.com take on move