- P Joe Saunders placed on 15 day DL, retro to Apr 5
- P Daniel McCutchen recalled from AA Frisco [ Link ]
NOTES: Can Saunders stay there? My opinion of Joe Saunders:

Posted by Joe Siegler on at
NOTES: Can Saunders stay there? My opinion of Joe Saunders:

Posted by Joe Siegler on at
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.
Posted by Joe Siegler on at
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.
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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.
Posted by Joe Siegler on at
Well, here it is. The big bomb of moves made to bring the roster to 25 for opening day.
This makes the opening day 25:
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.
Posted by Joe Siegler on at

Posted by Joe Siegler on at
Posted by Joe Siegler on at
Posted by Joe Siegler on at
Hopefully this South Korean signing goes better than the last one we had. That guy wore #61, though.
We officially announced Choo yesterday, and I’ve always liked him. Was one of those guys I always said “I’d love to that THAT guy”, but never figured we would. Much in the same way I always wanted Vlad Guerrero. Player I enjoyed watching playing for others.
We are paying for him, of that there’s no doubt. But the new TV contract money kicks in after the 2014 season. You always figured we’d do stuff like this what that extra TV contract money. This, and Prince Fielder are players that I think we have due to the influx of new cash from the TV contract.
Choo’s salary:
2014: $14M
2015: $14M
2016: $20M
2017: $20M
2018: $20M
2019: $21M
2020: $21M
Apparently the first couple of years have some dollars moved off until later. I’ve read where it was to create “team flexibility” early on. I think it’s to offload it for the new TV money. He does get a partial no trade clause, although in what capacity, I’m not sure.
One thing I’ll say I’m hopeful for. When Chan Ho Park first came to Texas, the first couple of months before he started stinking up the joint, he’d come out, and the Koreans would be all over his games. When Park would get a strikeout, they’d all start dancing and hootin’ and hollerin, blowing their horns and all that. Was a very fun atmosphere. I hope Choo brings that back, as I really missed that once Park started being bad.
I’ve been getting an itch to write again, so I probably will have more to say soon. Don’t think I’ll return to daily updates again, but I have wanted to say more.
Posted by Joe Siegler on at
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.