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ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) — Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams informed the Texas Rangers today that he does not intend to play baseball in 1999.
After receiving a letter from Williams stating his intention to concentrate on a career as a running back in the NFL, the Rangers decided to place the outfielder on the restricted list. As a result, Williams will not count against the major league roster and will remain the property of the Rangers.
Williams, the all-time leading rusher in Division I-A history with 6,279 yards, figures to be one of the top players selected in the NFL draft in April.
The 21-year-old Williams has never played above Class A and has not had more than 266 at-bats in any minor-league season. He batted .204 and averaged a strikeout nearly every three at-bats through his first three seasons before batting .283 (15-for-53) last season at Batavia of the Class A New York-Penn League.
Williams originally was an eighth-round pick of the Phillies in 1995. He was not on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and the Expos paid $50,000 to pluck Williams in the Rule 5 draft on December 14. The next day he was sold to Texas.
As a senior, he ran 2,124 yards and 27 touchdowns and finished his career with 20 NCAA and 44 school records.

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA (TICKER) — The Texas Rangers today agreed to terms with Danny Patterson on a one-year deal and renewed the contract of fellow righthanded reliever Alan Levine. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Patterson was one of closer John Wetteland’s most reliable setup men last season, going 2-5 with two saves and a 4.45 ERA in 56 games. He allowed 64 hits in 60 2/3 innings with 19 walks and 33 strikeouts.
The 28-year-old Patterson, who was paid $208,000 last year, will be eligible for arbitration after the 1999 season. He is 12-11 with three saves in 117 major league appearances.
Levine was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 30 games with the Rangers last year, also appearing in 12 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was picked up by Texas after being designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox on January 15, 1998.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Texas Rangers closer John Wetteland strained his right ankle during a workout Monday and is expected to miss the next week or two.
Wetteland, who had 42 saves and was 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA, will be sidelined while the swelling goes down.
“It’s frustrating because I put in a lot of sweat and hard work to get back to where I was feeling pretty good,” Wetteland said. “It just shows that the ankle is an important part of the body, too.”
Wetteland had elbow surgery in the off-season and has been throwing without any problems.
Rangers pitchers and catchers reported to camp last week. The full squad is due in on Thursday.

In somewhat of a rarity, a Texas Ranger was covered nationally. Juan Gonzalez is on the cover of the March 1999 Baseball Digest. It’s an article entitled “The Majors’ Overlooked Run Producer”, and runs 4 pages. It speaks very highly of Juan. Unfortunately, BBD does not have full coverage of their magazines on the Internet, but they do have a web site for the magazine at http://www.centurysports.net. You can view information about the current issue of the magazine there (as of right now, they have the February 1999 issue online). Here is a picture of the March cover that I scanned myself. Click on it to see a larger version.

Well, today is the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers in Spring Training. I picked up these two pictures today off the AP News Wire of Ranger Spring Training. Click on either of them for a larger version. The one on the left is of Johnny Oates & Aaron Sele.

From Joe: Oh great. This is the same thing that’s been bothering McLemore for the last couple of years. Everyone’s saying that Raffy will be fine for opening day. It just strikes me as funny that someone has surgery right before the start of spring training, and they say he’ll be fine. Sounds fishy to me. :( Don’t get me wrong, I do hope he’s fine, but it worries me.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a slight cartilage tear in his right knee.
Palmeiro, who signed a $45 million, five-year contract to return to Texas after five years in Baltimore, is believed to have injured himself while running stairs as part of a workout last week.
Doctors said he might be limited a bit at the beginning of spring training, but he should be able to play in exhibition games. He’s expected to be ready for the start of the season.
Team orthopedist John Conway said the tear was in the area of the groove on which the kneecap slides.
As a left-handed hitter, Palmeiro gets his power by stepping into the ball and planting his right leg. He hit .296 with 43 homers and 121 RBI for the Orioles last year.
The Rangers also announced that they signed four rookies on the major league roster to contracts: pitchers Derrick Cook, Ryan Glynn and Jonathan Johnson and infielder Kelly Dransfeldt.
The team now has agreed to terms with 33 of its 40 roster players.