Catching up on Rangers news from the MLB winter meetings, starting with a new infielder
The acquisition of Carlos Asuaje didn’t stop any presses Monday at the MLB winter meetings, but the Texas Rangers might have found their utility infielder for 2019 on a waiver claim from the San Diego Padres.
The Rangers want to use Isiah Kiner-Falefa primarily at catcher this season to continue his development at a position that he has played for only a few seasons after being drafted as an infielder. Adding a utility man helps them pull that off.
General manager Jon Daniels said that Kiner-Falefa could still find himself at third base, shortstop or second base, but the extra energy he spent preparing for those positions last season took away from his development as a catcher.
Asuaje, 27, has played three big-league seasons, all with the Padres, and is a career .240 hitters with six home runs. He batted only .196 in 2018, but Daniels said that hitting coach Luis Ortiz got to know Asuaje while working in the Padres’ organization.
Asuaje played second base and third base for the Padres and barely played shortstop in the minors. Teams typically prefer that their primary utility man play shortstop, but with Kiner-Falefa and Jurickson Profar able to do so, the Rangers can carry an utility man like Asuaje.
“He’s a good player,” Daniels said.
Mendez’s extra option
This was reported elsewhere while the Star-Telegram’s Rangers beat writer was on vacation, and was pointed out by a Rangers official Sunday night:
Left-hander Yohander Mendez is not out of options after all.
That’s good news for the Rangers, who can send Mendez to the minors if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training. That seems to be likely after a tumultuous 2018 that saw him booted from the big-league roster to High A Down East after a June mishap at Kansas City, only to be recalled late in the season.
Mendez still needs works, despite a few quality outings in September.
The Rangers learned in October that Mendez qualifies for a fourth option because he had only four full seasons of active service (at least 90 days) before 2018. His time with the short-season A team does not count because those seasons they are shorter than 90 days.
Comings and goings
Daniels said last week that it was unlikely that 2013 first-round pick Chi Chi Gonzalez returns to the Rangers, a surprising development considering the Rangers’ need for starting pitchers and the investment they made in his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Gonzalez signed with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. Gonzalez, who turns 27 next month, pitched well over six starts in the Dominican Winter League, going 2-3 with a 1.91 ERA in 28 1/3 innings.
The Rangers have a minor-league deal in place for right-hander Rafael Montero, a former highly regarded New York Mets prospect who is recovering from Tommy John surgery and won’t be ready by Opening Day.
Robert Woodward, a well-respected pitching coach at North Carolina, is close to joining the Rangers to be a minor-league pitching coordinator along with Danny Clark. The Rangers are in the process of verifying a background check on Woodward.
Going to Nashville
The Rangers will play an exhibition game March 24 at the home of their new Triple A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, at First Tennessee Park.
The plan is for the Rangers to send most of their regulars on the trip while keeping mostly younger players to finish out the Cactus League schedule, also March 24.
The Rangers and Nashville came to a four-year player-development contract in September after Round Rock become the Houston Astros’ Triple A club. Nashville had been the Oakland A’s Triple A home.
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 8:45 PM.
