Only player to hit better than .264 last year and one of only three players to hit above .258 last year. (Not counting Mike Minor.)

There's an increasingly obvious "need" this off-season...

nothing major, but a 40 man update:

Quote:

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Texas Rangers transactions: Eddie Butler and Ronald Herrera have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to AAA Round Rock, the team announced today. In addition, infielder Jack Reinheimer has been claimed on waivers from the Chicago Cubs.
Herrera, acquired from the New York Yankees one year ago today in exchange for Reiver Sanmartin, was supposed to be a AAA depth option for the Rangers rotation in 2018. Instead, the righthander missed the entire year with a shoulder injury. Butler, a 27 year old former first round pick who came over from the Cubs in the ill-fated Cole Hamels trade, had been discussed as a possible rotation option for 2019, but his 6.47 ERA in 32 relief innings (with a 7.41 FIP) post-trade apparently led the Rangers to believe he wasn't worth devoting a 40 man roster spot to. The rest of the league agreed with them.
Both pitchers will, I believe, remain in the Rangers organization and be in their minor league system this coming season.
Reinheimer, 26, was a 5th round pick of the Seattle Mariners in 2013 out of East Carolina. He was traded by the M's to the Diamondbacks in June, 2015, as part of the trade that sent Welington Castillo to Arizona and fetched the M's Vidal Nuno and Mark Trumbo. He was claimed on waivers from the D-Backs by the Mets at the end of July, 2018, and was claimed on waivers by the Cubs from the Mets on November 2, 2018. He will likely be waived again by the Rangers later this offseason as they try, as the Mets and Cubs did before them, to sneak him through waivers.
Reinheimer is a righthanded hitting utility guy who has mostly played shortstop as a professional. He has a career .278/.343/.371 slash line in AAA, and is presumably the new Hanser Alberto.
The 40 man roster is now at 32, though there will be at least one, and possibly a half-dozen, additional players added this evening, in advance of the deadline to add players to the 40 man roster to keep them from being eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.

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free_mhayden said:

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Lewin to San Diego

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Man, I really miss him. He was so enjoyable to listen to. It's been a mess since.

Loved Beltre

PacifistAg said:

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free_mhayden said:

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Lewin to San Diego

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Man, I really miss him. He was so enjoyable to listen to. It's been a mess since.

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He made bad baseball watchable. Too bad he's not around, because we have alot of it ahead.

YoMen has another option left. That's the TLDR version, here are the details if interested.

KT 90 said:

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YoMen has another option left. That's the TLDR version, here are the details if interested.

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Anyway, this is good news

KT 90 said:

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Championship!

The Rangers are bringing back Edison Volquez. Damn, that dude is 35 years old now.

For those interested, Beltre's farewell press conference is live on the Ticket right now

Edit to add a few of the highlights...

Lots of former teammates showed up at the presser today, including one sitting directly behind JD...

Beltre's presser was great. Just the right amount of joking and seriousness.

I wonder is they will add him to the front office at some point.

XFL ANNOUNCES EIGHT INAUGURAL HOME CITIES
NEW YORK, December 5, 2018 The XFL today announced the eight cities and venues its teams will call home when the league launches the weekend of February 8-9, 2020.

Dallas Globe Life Park
Houston TDECU Stadium
Los Angeles StubHub Center
New York MetLife Stadium
St. Louis The Dome at America's Center
Seattle CenturyLink Field
Tampa Bay Raymond James Stadium
Washington, DC Audi Field

The announcement was made today by XFL Commissioner & CEO Oliver Luck at a press conference held at MetLife Stadium, which included representatives from all eight markets.

"After months of research and consideration, we're thrilled to announce the cities and venues of the XFL's eight inaugural teams," said Luck. "We are committed to being ingrained in the local community and extremely fortunate that our teams will have world-class facilities to call home."

Beginning today, fans can go to XFL.com to reserve their season tickets, which will provide them with early access to select their seats and purchase season tickets before the general public.

The new XFL will deliver a fan-centric, innovative experience, including fast-paced games and a family-friendly environment, complemented by cross-platform viewing options and real-time fan engagement.

About The XFL

The new XFL will reimagine football for the 21st century when the league kicks off the weekend of February 8-9, 2020.

Football is America's favorite sport boasting over 85 million fans but the traditional season is just too short. Seeing a tremendous opportunity to fill the void, Vince McMahon, XFL Founder and Chairman announced on January 25, 2018, the launch of a new league, which he is personally funding. McMahon is building the XFL with the same commitment and resolve that he has demonstrated building WWE into a global media and sports entertainment powerhouse.

Delivering authentic, high energy football for the whole family at an affordable price, the XFL will offer fast-paced games with fewer play stoppages and simpler rules. The league will launch with eight teams, 45-man active rosters, and a 10-week regular season schedule, with a postseason consisting of two semifinal playoff games and a championship game. The XFL will also establish a health, wellness and safety program that meets the needs of today's athletes.

The XFL will embrace the latest on and off-field technology, providing live game coverage, content and real-time engagement across multiple platforms, giving fans greater access than ever before. We will build strong grassroots relationships with local organizations in our Host Cities through social responsibility partnerships, and the XFL will enjoy the support of WWE's many extraordinary resources and promotional capabilities.

AccidentProne said:

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XFL ANNOUNCES EIGHT INAUGURAL HOME CITIES
NEW YORK, December 5, 2018 The XFL today announced the eight cities and venues its teams will call home when the league launches the weekend of February 8-9, 2020.

Dallas Globe Life Park
Houston TDECU Stadium
Los Angeles StubHub Center
New York MetLife Stadium
St. Louis The Dome at America's Center
Seattle CenturyLink Field
Tampa Bay Raymond James Stadium
Washington, DC Audi Field

The announcement was made today by XFL Commissioner & CEO Oliver Luck at a press conference held at MetLife Stadium, which included representatives from all eight markets.

"After months of research and consideration, we're thrilled to announce the cities and venues of the XFL's eight inaugural teams," said Luck. "We are committed to being ingrained in the local community and extremely fortunate that our teams will have world-class facilities to call home."

Beginning today, fans can go to XFL.com to reserve their season tickets, which will provide them with early access to select their seats and purchase season tickets before the general public.

The new XFL will deliver a fan-centric, innovative experience, including fast-paced games and a family-friendly environment, complemented by cross-platform viewing options and real-time fan engagement.

About The XFL

The new XFL will reimagine football for the 21st century when the league kicks off the weekend of February 8-9, 2020.

Football is America's favorite sport boasting over 85 million fans but the traditional season is just too short. Seeing a tremendous opportunity to fill the void, Vince McMahon, XFL Founder and Chairman announced on January 25, 2018, the launch of a new league, which he is personally funding. McMahon is building the XFL with the same commitment and resolve that he has demonstrated building WWE into a global media and sports entertainment powerhouse.

Delivering authentic, high energy football for the whole family at an affordable price, the XFL will offer fast-paced games with fewer play stoppages and simpler rules. The league will launch with eight teams, 45-man active rosters, and a 10-week regular season schedule, with a postseason consisting of two semifinal playoff games and a championship game. The XFL will also establish a health, wellness and safety program that meets the needs of today's athletes.

The XFL will embrace the latest on and off-field technology, providing live game coverage, content and real-time engagement across multiple platforms, giving fans greater access than ever before. We will build strong grassroots relationships with local organizations in our Host Cities through social responsibility partnerships, and the XFL will enjoy the support of WWE's many extraordinary resources and promotional capabilities.

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Have seen in several writeups that Mazara and Profar are potentially available this off-season for the right deal. Looks like Atlanta might be a possible match for Mazara.

I would think Profar is your new everyday 3B.

They better break the bank on Mazara. He has incredible upside.

You might get one Top 100 arm from a Mazara trade.

Minus defensive range and has yet to put up a 1WAR season. After 2016 he as pretty valuable, but with only 3 years of club control left there's not going to be many teams willing to trade for what he might become.

Yeah, I'm not wild about trading Mazara unless you are getting a lock, high quality starter, which I do not see happening. Also, of the quality bats they have in this lineup, he tends to be at the lower end on strikeouts (not that he's a low K guy, but at #6 on the team this year and tied for #5 in 2017, he is a lower K guy on this team). I know metrics have driven teams in the direction that the K's are more acceptable, but somebody has to put balls in play. I don't think it was any coincidence that teams that put the ball in play were the ones competing for a title last year.

Yeah, it's hard to put a value on Mazara. On the one hand he's young and a talented hitter, but don't offer much on defense and is slow on the basepath. May end up being a DH/1B at some point.

But Rangers do need to do something about the glut of left-handed corner bats. He has the most value at the moment. We sure aren't getting rid of Choo unless we eat most of his contract. Speaking of which.... the various news reports indicate that the Rangers payroll will be declining again this season, seems like we should be able to use some of those cost savings to help buy down some of Choo's contract to make him more trade-able. Even doing that, he is a 10-5 guy now, so he can decline a trade if he wants to.

KT 90 said:

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Yeah, it's hard to put a value on Mazara. On the one hand he's young and a talented hitter, but don't offer much on defense and is slow on the basepath. May end up being a DH/1B at some point.

But Rangers do need to do something about the glut of left-handed corner bats. He has the most value at the moment. We sure aren't getting rid of Choo unless we eat most of his contract. Speaking of which.... the various news reports indicate that the Rangers payroll will be declining again this season, seems like we should be able to use some of those cost savings to help buy down some of Choo's contract to make him more trade-able. Even doing that, he is a 10-5 guy now, so he can decline a trade if he wants to.

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Just looked it up, Mazara is actually two years younger than Gallo. Would not have guessed that. If we want to get a decent return, you pretty much have to move one of Mazara/Gallo. Gallo is obviously much more versatile defensively and has better speed on the basepaths. Gallo has the crazy power, but also the crazy number of k's.

This is a problem with the complete rebuild we are in.

JD has indicated our payroll will be in the $120M ranger, which, I believe... provides for $16-18M to fill out the roster.

Signing FAs are going to be tough. With a new ballpark, nobody knows if it will be a hitters/pitchers park, so a long-term contract will be iffy.

Blow off 2019. We might compete in 2020, but we're really talking about the beginning, so 2021 would appear to be the target.

For 2021: Choo and Minor will be off the books. As will be Smyly, Chavez, Mathis, and Profar.
Mazara and Claudio will be A3s. Gallo and Leclerc will be A2.

If you are not competing until 2021, dumping Mazara is the right answer. Dumping Gallo and Leclerc is the right thing to do, unless you can get them to sign FA years now.

You are not building the future with anyone on this roster, if you are looking at 2021 as your compete year.

If they field a team of minor league players for 2020, to open the new stadium... it will be very disappointing.

I have this bad feeling we are about to slip into another long dark period for the Rangers. Really hope I am wrong but nothing about the situation right now leads me to believe any progress will be made any time soon.

. . . said:

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Smart move.

Sounds like Profar is moving.

I'm 100% on board with dealing Mazara to the Braves for some young arms. There are several guys that were in the minors last year in their system that could've been in major league rotations in a more shallow system.

.

This is thing I hate most about the new ballpark, it removes the financial incentive to build a winning team. The place will be full for the first year or two regardless of the product on the field just cause people want to go to the new ballpark. It's actually a smarter business decision to NOT spend money to field a good team. It's straight out of the Tom Hicks playbook.

More on Wisdom:
https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/12/11/18136861/texas-rangers-trade-drew-robinson-for-patrick-wisdom

Quote:

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Wisdom, 27, is a former first round draft pick (selected 52nd overall by St. Louis in 2012) out of St. Mary's, one pick before the Rangers selected Collin Wiles. Wisdom had seemed to have stalled out with difficult seasons in AA in 2014-15 and AAA in 2016, but he had a solid year in 2017 for AAA Memphis, then built on it in 2018 with a .288/.363/.480 slash line in the minors that earned him a major league callup, where he hit .260/.362/.520 for the Cards. Wisdom has all three options remaining, and gives Texas depth at third base, should they make a move with Jurickson Profar or one of their other infielders. A righthanded hitter, he also gives them some depth from that side as a corner bat. He has power but also a lot of strikeouts.

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Apparently you can never have too many of those on the roster.