Should Jose Trevino be on Rangers’ Opening Day roster? Debatable. Will he? Tough call
No one can fault general manager Jon Daniels for bringing Robinson Chirinos back to the Texas Rangers.
Blame him for letting Chirinos go in November 2018? Well, yeah. Even Daniels has admitted it was a mistake.
Chirinos returns with a season of catching two of the best pitchers in the world, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. Chirinos also caught Zack Greinke for the final two months of 2019 and throughout the Houston Astros’ playoff run.
Chirinos is better defensively because of it. Throw in his bat, which pumps out double-digit home run totals, and the Rangers are far better at catcher than they were only a season ago.
Adding Chirinos, though, moved Jose Trevino a notch down the depth chart, possibly all the way down to Triple A Nashville. Chirinos and Jeff Mathis are the favorites to be the catchers on the Opening Day roster.
Spring training opens Wednesday for pitchers and catchers, who were to report Tuesday. Trevino knows the road ahead of him might lead to another season in the minor leagues, even though a case can be made that it shouldn’t.
“I’ve got no control over that,” Trevino said. “I don’t make those decisions. I’m just ready to go to spring training to compete.”
If Trevino wins a spot on the Opening Day roster, he will have either beaten out Mathis or the Rangers decided to give him the new 26th roster spot.
Mathis’ offense is historically poor, and last season he batted only .158 with a meager .433 OPS. He has two things going for him: He is owed $3 million and starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Mike Minor love pitching to him.
They aren’t Greg Maddux, Mathis isn’t Charlie O’Brien, and manager Chris Woodward has said he doesn’t like the idea of pitchers having personal catchers.
Lynn and Minor, though, are key rotation pieces, and the rotation is expected to carry the Rangers to their goals barring a late acquisition of an impact hitter.
Trevino is a highly-regarded defensive catcher who also showcased his bat to finish 2019. He batted .214 in the minors, but hit .258 in the majors as a late-season call-up. He said that made some significant changes to his swing during the off-season and is eager to see the results.
He will out-hit Mathis. Trevino needs to build better relationships with Lynn and Minor, and will get that opportunity this spring. There will also be some competition from non-roster invite Blake Swihart.
As for carrying three catchers, the Rangers are open-minded to it, Daniels said.
“We’ve got some time to figure that out,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve committed to that yet. It could be two, could be three depending on how it plays out.”
