Texas Rangers reacquire catcher Bobby Wilson from Detroit Tigers

The Texas Rangers reacquired catcher Bobby Wilson from the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday in exchange for minor league left-hander Chad Bell.

The Rangers designated catcher Chris Gimenez for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. Gimenez had been on the 15-day disabled list. Wilson is supposed to join the Rangers on Wednesday in Toronto. The Rangers are open to the idea of keeping three catchers on the 25-man roster. They’ll have to decide Wednesday to make room for Wilson. If they keep three catchers (for a while, at least), they’d probably option a relief pitcher to the minors to make room. Left-handers Cesar Ramos and Alex Claudio, and right-hander Phil Klein are likely candidates.

General manager Jon Daniels said there has been trade interest in Gimenez and he’s unlikely to remain with the club. Daniels said the move was partly for depth and the familiarity Wilson has with the team. Opening Day catcher Robinson Chirinos, who is out with a broken right arm, can’t come off the 60-day disabled list until June 9.

“It’s a position we wanted to be protected at,” Daniels said. “We know Bobby and what he brings to the staff. We think he’s a really good complement to what we’ve got going on right now. It made some sense at the time to bring him back and get him in the mix.”

Wilson, 34, was with the Rangers the final two months last season and was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He was 2 for 13 with two RBIs in five games for the Tigers. Detroit activated catcher James McCann on Tuesday, which opened up the deal for Wilson to return to the Rangers. Wilson, along with right-hander Myles Jaye, was traded to Detroit on March 29 for catcher Bryan Holaday.

Manager Jeff Banister said the bullpen is in relatively fresh shape at the moment, which would allow for the move and give him more options to pinch hit his catcher if the right matchup presents itself. Brett Nicholas, who started his 10th career game Tuesday night, bats left; Holaday and Wilson bat right.

“We’d continue to look for the best match-ups that we could for those guys,” Banister said of how he would utilize three catchers. “It does allow us an opportunity, if we’ve got three, if we want to pinch hit for one of them, we can do that. We’re still in the process of working through all of that.”

The Rangers have 10 days to trade, release, or outright Gimenez to the minor leagues. Gimenez has been on the disabled list since the end of spring training with an infection in his lower left leg. He began a rehab assignment at Double A Frisco on April 25 and batted .240 with a homer and four RBIs.

Bell was 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in five games for Triple A Round Rock. He was drafted by Texas in 2009.

Mazara’s future

Daniels said Nomar Mazara is likely to remain in the lineup as long as he stays productive. Daniels added a caveat, understandably, that Mazara has only played in 20 games. It’s a small sample size.

“I don’t want to oversell it, and I don’t want to undersell it,” he said. “He’s done his job.”

Shin-Soo Choo, who has steadily ramped up his activity, including taking batting practice with the team the past two days and catching fly balls in the outfield, could begin a medical rehab assignment in the next week or two. His return in late May will require a roster move. So far, Mazara has done nothing to warrant a trip back to Triple A.

“There’s a very select few who don’t seem to be fazed,” by the pressure and environment of the major leagues, Daniels said. “It’s only one month in, but that’s what we’re seeing right now.”

Beltre’s legs

Adrian Beltre gave high marks to the Rogers Centre dirt infield. Instead of waking up with tightness in his hamstrings Tuesday morning, Beltre said his legs felt good. The Blue Jays went to the complete-dirt infield, which is a foot deep, for 2016 instead of dirt patches around each base surrounded by field turf.

“I like it better this way,” he said. “Normally, when I play here the first day, I get up [and] my hamstrings are tightened up. [Tuesday] was pretty different, there was nothing.”

Daily Darvish

Yu Darvish threw a 15-pitch bullpen session Tuesday at Globe Life Park as minor league pitching coordinator Danny Clark supervised. Darvish reported feeling good and will make his next scheduled rehab start with Triple A Round Rock at 7 p.m. Friday at Dell Diamond. Darvish is expected to throw three innings or 45 pitches.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Texas Rangers reacquire catcher Bobby Wilson from Detroit Tigers."