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November 26, 2003
Transaction
Signed outfielders CHAD ALLEN and JASON CONTI to minor-league contracts.
Allen and Conti will play the role of Ryan Christenson in 2004, AAA outfielders hoping that someone higher up gets hurt. Allen is a marginally better hitter but doesn't play center. He was once a solid prospect and batted .277/.330/.395 as a 24-year-old rookie in 1999. Alas, it remains the only year in which he qualified for the batting title. Allen has drifted among the Cleveland, Baltimore and Florida organizations the last two years. Conti didn't even hit AAA-pitching well in 2003, batting .248/.295/.364 for Indianapolis. Even with the outfield-depleted Rangers, neither is more than a fifth outfielder.
Posted by Lucas at 08:49 PM
November 20, 2003
Transaction
Added pitchers EDWIN MORENO and NICK REGILIO, 1B ADRIAN GONZALEZ, and 2B JASON BOURGEOIS to the 40-man roster.
Regilio was the Rangers' 2nd-round pick in 1999. All but Moreno played in the just-completed Arizona Fall League. Moreno is (I believe) an undrafted free-agent signing from the 1997-1998 period. He split between starting and relieving for AA Frisco in 2003 and went 6-5 with a 3.29 ERA. Regilio was the Rangers' 2nd-round pick in 1999. Regilio lost most of his 2003 to arm problems but sufficiently impressed Ranger management to warrant a roster spot. Adrian Gonzalez was Florida's #1 (and the #1 overall) pick in the 2000 draft. Florida soured on him when he rebounded slowly from a wrist injury and traded him with two others to Texas for Ugueth Urbina. Bourgeois was the Rangers' 2nd-round pick in 2000. Bourgeois ripped high-A pitching, then struggled in AA. A solid AFL season cemented a roster spot for the 21-year-old. Only Gonzalez has a chance to play Major League baseball in 2004.
Posted by Lucas at 08:49 PM
November 19, 2003
Transaction
Outrighted pitcher MARIO RAMOS and 1B/OF JASON HART, removing them from the 40-man roster. Ramos was claimed on waivers by Oakland.
In January 2002, the Rangers sent uber-prospect Carlos Pena and reliever Mike Venafro to Oakland for Ramos, Hart, outfielder Ryan Ludwick and catcher Gerald Laird. Ramos was the centerpiece of the deal, a lefty who excelled in AAA in 2001 and looked almost ready for the bigs. Instead, his 2002 campaign (3-8, 7.40 ERA) was so disastrous he found himself back in AA as a 26-year-old in 2003. Ramos did pitch well enough this season to earn a return to AAA and even three big-league starts, but he faltered again against stiffer competition. Hart has spent the last three seasons in AAA and got a cup of coffee with Texas late in the 2002 season. He's not much of an outfielder and couldn't squeeze his way onto a squad full of 1B/DH-types, and as a 26-year-old who batted a tepid .252/.325/.418 in AAA, his prospects are fading fast. Hart was out of options, meaning Texas would have had to keep him on the 25-man roster next season or run him through waivers.
Posted by Lucas at 08:48 PM
November 17, 2003
Transaction
Signed infielder ANDY FOX to a minor-league contract.
Fox actually has a good shot at making the team as its last man off the bench. Fox would fill the not-so-large shoes of Donnie Sadler as someone who can fill any position but catcher. Fox hits better than Sadler, though that's the ultimate damnation with faint praise (.677 career OPS for Fox compared to .551 for Sadler). And unlike the righty-hitting Sadler, the lefty Fox can't platoon for Blalock at third against tough lefties like Barry Zito. Overall, an acceptable signing assuming Fox doesn't surpass 100 at-bats or so.
Posted by Lucas at 08:47 PM
November 14, 2003
Transaction
Activated the following six players from the 60-day DL, reinstating them on the 40-man roster: pitchers CHAN HO PARK, JEFF ZIMMERMAN and RICARDO RODRIGUEZ, infielder HERBERT PERRY, and outfielders KEVIN MENCH and RUSTY GREER.
All procedural moves. Teams can't artificially expand their 40-man rosters by hiding players on the 60-day DL through the offseason. Greer won't play in 2004 but is under contract; Texas will stash him back onto the 60-day DL when the season starts
Posted by Lucas at 08:47 PM
November 13, 2003
Transaction
Signed catcher KEN HUCKABY to a minor-league contract.
Huckaby's claim to fame came in the first game of the 2003 season, when his knee collided with and dislocated Derek Jeter's shoulder on a play at third base. The former Toronto Blue Jay is known as a contact hitter and defensive catcher, polite ways of saying that's he's terrible at the plate. Huckaby has over 3,500 plate appearances in the minors, about 300 in the Majors. Presumably, the 32-year-old will catch in Oklahoma with a chance to play in Texas if someone gets hurt or if Laird falters.
Posted by Lucas at 08:46 PM
November 04, 2003
Transaction
Signed 2B/1B/OF DAVID NEWHAN to a minor-league contract.
In 2003, Newhan batted .348/.392/.471 for AAA Colorado Springs, which has roughly the same atmospheric pressure and humidity as the moon. Newhan is nominally a second baseman but played a fair amount of first and outfield. Newhan has an MLB line of .163/.247/.302 in 97 plate appearances from 1999-2001. He seems highly unlikely to make the big-league club. He might play second in Oklahoma if Texas decides to keep Jason Bourgeois in AA, or he could back up at several positions. Either way, Newhan is organizational filler, nothing more.
Posted by Lucas at 08:45 PM