This afternoon, the Rangers signed pitcher Pedro Astacio to a minor league contract, although the terms have not been released yet as I write this (I’ll update when I find them out). Astacio on a minor leauge contract is probably worth a look. His numbers don’t really excite me (he’s only had two full season era’s under 4, and several over 6). Don’t expect much here on this one, he’s probably here to be used as an insurance policy for later on in the season assuming we need reinforcements.
We also claimed pitcher Ryan Bukvich off of waivers from the San Diego Padres. I don’t know much about Bukvich other than what I read in the Rangers press release, so I don’t have anything to add about him.
Both pitchers were put on the 40 man roster, which now means our 40 man is full. More details on this are available here.
UPDATE: It turns out the contract was actually a MAJOR league contract – no invite or anything like that. The contract is for $800,000 with another $2.2 million in various incentives. So no minor league deal here. That makes me a bit more wary of the deal. Nothing like throwing money at guys who are coming off of being hurt. Gotta love that.
Roster Transaction
- P Pedro Astacio signed to a 1 year contract [
link ] - P Ryan Bukvich claimed off waivers from San
Diego Padres
Remaining Free Agents
Read the list of remaining free agents today. There’s quite a few former Rangers on this list. They are:
Al Levine, Mark McLemore, Andy Fox, Brad Fullmer, Rusty Greer, Herb Perry, Jeff Zimmerman, Tom Goodwin, Todd Van Poppel, Darren Oliver, Todd Zeile, Robb Nen, David Segui.
Now I know we’re supposedly going to resign Zim at the start of spring training – we had done so already, but the Commissioner voided the contract, some technicality about arbitration and minor leagues – I didn’t quite understand all that. I think the same goes for Greer, if we don’t sign anyone else to be DH.
Also, I recall early in the offseason there was talk that we might take a flyer on Mo Vaughn to be our DH. We then went to Delgado & Ordonez for that, not signing either. I wonder if the Mo Vaughn rumour will fly again? Personally I hope not, I’d rather us take a flyer on Rusty Greer than Mo Vaughn.
Here’s the complete list of free agents as of today:
My home office looks cool
This post doesn’t really have much to do with the Texas Rangers per se, but since this is my site, I thought I’d mention it here. :)
My wife and I just this week replaced all the blinds in our house, the old ones were pretty crappy. It looked like they were original equipment from when our house was built in 1986. Anyway, this week we have all brand new ones that look great. I took this opportunity to get a “mural blind” for my home office. It’s got a picture of the Texas Rangers logo on it.. Aw hell, just take a look. I think they look pretty cool (you can click on the pic for a larger version). :)
Rangers out of Ordonez pursuit
Both the Dallas Morning News and the Ft Worth Star Telegram are both reporting that the Rangers will not be pursuing Magglio Ordonez. I rather agree with that decision. I don’t think we should have gone after him – we have enough kids we can play where we don’t need another potential Brad Fullmer or Brian Jordan on our hands for 2005.
If healthy, he is great (I’ve had him on several fantasy teams in the past), but I don’t think the reward is worth the risk. Especially when Scott Boorass is involved. Bleargh!
This is one of the better non moves I’ve seen, and I read that if the Tigers sign Ordonez, they might be willing to move Rondell White. We could pick him up to DH, that I’d probably like.
Jeff Nelson returns to the Mariners
2004 Ranger reliever Jeff Nelson returned to the Seattle Mariners today on a minor league deal. This is Nelson’s third go around with Seattle, having previously pitched for them from 1992-1995 and again in 2001-2003.
I remember when we signed him, I thought it was going to be a good move. It didn’t turn out that way. For the Rangers in 2004, he only pitched 23.1 innings the entire season. He was 1-2 with an ERA of 5.32. Some of his other stats…
H – 17
R – 16
ER – 14
HR – 3
BB – 19
K – 22
WHIP – 1.52
Bottom line – not good. Won’t be missed from a baseball standpoint. Would be nice if he does make Seattle’s club and then we can bat against those stats. :)
Sammy Sosa Returns?
This could be interesting…
I realize it’s a stretch, but if the Cubs pick up some of the salary, and we don’t have to give up a boatload, it might be worth it to see him return to his original team.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-cub28.html
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3359986
UPDATE: Forget that. About an hour after I posted this, it was announced that Sosa is likely going to be traded to the Orioles. At least it’s the AL, and we’ll get to see him here.
Roster Transaction
- OF Jason Jones Retired [
link ]
The Ballpark in Arlington in videogames
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to play baseball videogames. I have for as long as I can remember. So every year about this time, I end up reading about the newest crop of baseball videogames. With that in mind, I bring you this link from ign.com. It shows a few screenshots from EA’s latest (and likely final) entry into the baseball game line, “MVP Baseball 2005”. The screenshots are of Ameriquest Field The Ballpark in Arlington, and how it looks in the game.
Looks pretty good – last year’s EA entry had some nice looking ballparks, and these shots make our ballpark look pretty nice. I wonder how they’ll deal with “Section 43” of the ballpark (that’s the little triangle down in the right field corner). Most baseball games either ignore it or get it all wrong – I’ve yet to see one get it right. What’s even better about this ganme is the stupid bell isn’t in the screenshot! If only Hicks would take after the videogame makers… ;)
This page is part of a larger article showing the rest of the AL West teams, and how they look – which itself is part of a larger series eventually showing all the parks.
Magglio Ordonez
I’ve decided to stay out of commenting on Magglio Ordonez. After being teased with Carlos Delgado, I don’t see much possibility of Ordonez becoming a Ranger. I thought Delgado might, but I see little to no chance of Ordonez.
So I decided not to keep up with all the minuatue of that. :)
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 326
- 327
- 328
- 329
- 330
- …
- 521
- Next Page »