LF-needy Rangers sign veteran switch-hitting OF Robbie Grossman

Veteran switch-hitting outfielder Robbie Grossman signed a one-year contract Friday with the Texas Rangers, who are unsettled in left field.

Grossman’s deal, which could be worth as much as $5 million, came three days before Monday’s full-squad reporting date. His base salary will be $2 million and he could earn as much as $3 million more in incentives.

The Rangers made room on their 40-man roster by placing left-handed reliever Brett Martin on the 60-day injured list. Martin had left shoulder surgery Jan. 18 and is expected to miss most of the 2023 season.

Ex-Mets ace Jacob deGrom already has health issues at Rangers spring training

Texas Rangers pitchers and catchers report to spring training Wednesday, but Jacob deGrom will be delayed a day.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports: Jacob deGrom won’t throw today due to some soreness in left side but more about cold weather, wet conditions. Chris Young said Rangers decided to push him back a day

DeGrom, 34, signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers this offseason. The two-time Cy Young Award winner had been with the New York Mets since his MLB debut in 2014.

Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers agree to deal

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has agreed to a two-year, $34 million contract with the Rangers, pending a physical, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the deal, which includes a third-year vesting player option along with performance bonuses.

Sources: Free agent Andrew Heaney reaches deal with Rangers

The Texas Rangers agreed to terms on a two-year deal with free agent starting pitcher Andrew Heaney on Tuesday, further bolstering a rotation that previously added Jacob deGrom, a source told ESPN.

Heaney’s two-year deal, which is pending a physical, is valued at $25 million but can increase to $37 million with incentives. It includes an opt-out after Year 1.

Heaney, 31, rebuilt his value on a star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers team last season, thanks in large part to the development of a slider. The left-hander accumulated only 72⅔ innings, but he posted a 3.10 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP while striking out a career-high 13.6 batters per nine innings.

Jacob deGrom signs with Rangers

What a HORRIFIC contract! It’s an expensive contract that bases value on hope. The Rangers HOPE he can be healthy enough to provide them value. It’s the kind of contract that gets a GM fired.

DeGrom turns 35 next June. He pitched 64.1 innings in 2022 and 92 innings in 2021.

I expect they went five years to lower the AAV. Of course, it’s a great contract for DeGrom, especially considering he’ll pay no state tax when he pitches in Texas.

It’s a shocker for sure.

Although it might not seem like it now, the Rangers did Mets fans a favor.

The Rangers pulled off a stunner ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, signing ace right-hander Jacob deGrom to a five-year free-agent contract on Friday night. The deal will pay deGrom $185 million, a source told MLB.com; the club has not confirmed the value of the contract.

Rangers hire Mike Maddux (pitching coach), Dayton Moore (adviser)

The Texas Rangers hired Mike Maddux as their new pitching coach Wednesday, and added former Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore as a senior adviser in their baseball operations department.

Maddux is returning to Texas to be on new manager Bruce Bochy’s staff. Maddux was first the pitching coach for the Rangers from 2009 to ‘15, a span in which they made their only two World Series appearances. He spent the past five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, and has been part of 11 playoffs teams over his past 15 seasons as a pitching coach.

Moore spent the past 16 years with the Royals, where he was named GM in May 2006 and also served as president of baseball operations before getting fired in September. The Royals had three consecutive 100-loss seasons before Moore’s arrival. They won back-to-back American League pennants in 2014 and 2015, beating the New York Mets for the World Series title after the second one.

Mike Maddux emerges as lead candidate for Rangers pitching coach

The Rangers may be about to land their first significant pitching free agent of the winter.

According to multiple voices around the organization, veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux has emerged as the leading candidate for a significant role with the organization. He likely would function as pitching coach, but GM Chris Young recently said he hoped to build out a more well-rounded pitching department in which roles could be defined more non-traditionally.

Texas Rangers to host 2024 All-Star Game at Globe Life Field

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced at the conclusion of Thursday’s ownership meetings in New York that the Rangers’ bid, co-sponsored by the cities of Arlington and Fort Worth, had been selected to host the 94th All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in 2024. The game is scheduled for July 16.

The Rangers have previously hosted one other All-Star Game, the 1995 Midsummer Classic, which was won by the National League on MVP Jeff Conine’s eighth-inning home run. It was played in the second season at what was then The Ballpark in Arlington.

Braves trade Jake Odorizzi to Rangers for Kolby Allard

The Atlanta Braves re-acquired left-hander Kolby Allard, their former first-round draft pick, from the Texas Rangers on Wednesday for right-hander Jake Odorizzi and cash.

Allard, 25, was Atlanta’s top choice, No. 14 overall, in the 2015 draft. He was 1-2 with a 7.29 ERA in 10 relief appearances last season while also spending time at Triple-A Round Rock.

Odorizzi, 32, was an All-Star with Minnesota in 2019, when he had a career-best 15 wins.

Bochy named Rangers manager, signs 3-year deal

Bochy, 67, is one of only 10 managers in Major League history to have guided teams to at least three World Series titles, and the other nine individuals on that list have all been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (see separate chart). Bochy’s Giants won the World Series in 2010 (vs. Texas), 2012 (vs. Detroit), and 2014 (vs. Kansas City). He is one of 5 managers in MLB history to lead a team to three titles in a five-year span, joining Connie Mack, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, and Joe Torre. He has 2003 career wins as a manager, 12th-most in Major League history, and he needs just 38 more wins to crack the top 10 in that category. Bochy’s 25 years as a manager are T10th-most all-time.

Research indicates that this is just the third time an individual has ever been hired to manage a team which he had previously beaten as a manager in the World Series. Bochy’s Giants beat the Rangers in the 2010 World Series. Joe Girardi managed the Phillies from 2020-22 after having previously beaten the team as Yankees manager in the 2009 Fall Classic. Johnny Keane managed the Yankees in 1965-66 after piloting the Cardinals’ 1964 World Series win over New York-AL.

Bochy has spent each of his 25 years as manager with National League West clubs San Diego (1995-2006) and San Francisco (2007-19), as Texas will be his first American League post and first managing job outside of California. The 1996 National League Manager of the Year, he has also posted a top three finish for the award in five other seasons. Bochy crossed paths with Rangers General Manager Chris Young in 2006, his final year as manager of the Padres and Young’s first season as a pitcher in San Diego.

Bruce Bochy meets with Texas Rangers amid search for new manager, per report

The Texas Rangers are one of several teams looking to hire a new manager this offseason, having fired Chris Woodward in August after close to three disappointing seasons. Consider it a notable development, then, that general manager Chris Young reportedly met on Thursday with former San Francisco Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

Bochy, 67, stepped away from the dugout in 2019, ending a 13-season run at the helm of the Giants that saw him win 50 percent of his regular-season games. Bochy became a legend in San Francisco, leading them to three World Series championships, every other year from 2010-14.

Prior to his time with the Giants, Bochy spent 12 years guiding the San Diego Padres, winning 49.4 percent of his regular-season games and the 1998 National League pennant.

Bochy’s rumored interest in a comeback has been a source of speculation within the league for some time. He recently added fuel to the fire by telling John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle of a potential return to managing: “I am working for the Giants now but don’t think you can rule anything out.”

Texas Rangers part ways with several pitching coaches in bid to spark rapid improvement

Once again, the Rangers are remaking the staff that handles their pitching. Eventually, they will still have to get around to the pitching staff.

On Thursday, less than 24 hours after the season was completed, the Rangers made changes to the major league staff. While neither of co-pitching coaches Doug Mathis nor Brendan Sagara will return to the major league staff for a third season, Sagara was offered another position inside the organization.

The Rangers ranked 23rd in the majors in ERA (4.51) over the last two years. Home runs doomed the pitchers last year; walks in 2022. The next pitching coach will be the fourth since Mike Maddux left after 2015. Oh, how long ago that was.

But the remake hardly stops there. The Rangers are also making changes at Triple-A where Bill Simas spent the last two years. Two weeks ago, the Rangers informed Double-A Frisco pitching coach Jeff Andrews he also would not return.

Josh Johnson, who joined the major league staff in a temporary role after manager Chris Woodward was fired, will return to player development.

The rest of the staff has been invited back to the major league staff in role to be determined after the club’s managerial search is completed. The Rangers are expected to officially interview Tony Beasley, who finished out the year as interim manager, for the full-time job on Friday.

Jim Kaat: Will we finally get The Real Deal?

Kaat Said: Orientalism.

A couple of short stories about Asian pitchers and Irabu: I was announcing Yankee games in the mid-90s when I said over the air, “I wonder if we’ll ever see an Oriental position player in the Major Leagues?” Dion James was playing for the Yankees at the time, and told me about an exciting 19-year old named Ichiro Suzuki who had a chance to be the first. We all know that story. Big fan of Bernie Williams from watching Yankee games in Japan. Wears number 51 because of that.

So, I get a letter about a week later from an Asian baseball fan. Not a malicious letter but scolding me gently for referring to Asian players as “Oriental.” He said, “Noodles and rugs are Oriental, not people. We are Asians.” Fortunately for me, he put his phone number in the letter, so I called him.

We had a pleasant conversation and I told him I certainly didn’t intentionally say “Oriental’ as a slur or condescending remark. It was said innocently out of ignorance. He understood. I asked him if he would be watching the next game we televised. He said he would. He was a huge baseball fan and was complimentary of our telecasts on the MSG Network. I asked if he would please watch and listen in the top of the 4th inning. He said he would.  I took the opportunity to clear up the Oriental/Asian situation.

...So, I’lll be keeping a close eye on Yu Darvish and see if he is finally the one to be able to challenge and dominate our bigger, more powerful big league hitters. For his and the Rangers’ sake, I hope he does. It will be good for the game and the Rangers profit and loss statement!

Fox: Morosi: Darvish, Texas agree to six-year deal

Apparently there’s an opt-out for Darvish after the fifth season.  All seems fair enough.

The Texas Rangers and Japanese pitching star Yu Darvish have agreed on a six-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.

The deal is worth close to $60 million, one major-league source confirmed to FOXSports.com. It does not include deferred money.

National writer: If Rangers sign Prince Fielder, he’d be best hitter in baseball ‘by a mile’

Bob Nightengale force wind warning!

USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale joined KESN-FM’s Galloway & Co. last week to discuss the Rangers’ meeting with Prince Fielder. Here are some highlights:

On who will sign Prince Fielder:

I think Texas. Texas has never gone away from this thing. I think they want to put a stranglehold on the division and what the Angels just did with C.J. Wilson and Pujols, they answer back with this and once again they’re the favorites and could be the favorites for a long time. And I think if you sign Prince Fielder, you’re guaranteed to get three million fans, as well.

On how good Fielder could be with the Rangers:

The sky’s the limit. I think a minimum of 50 or 60 home runs. Not just in that ballpark, but with the protection in that lineup, surrounded by everybody. And you’ve got money coming off the books too, so it’s really going to help the Rangers when you’ve got Young coming off the books and those types of guys. But I think by pure numbers, he’d be the number one hitter in all of baseball by a mile. I think he would be Juan Gonzalez all over again.

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

How The Greg Reynolds Trade Is More Interesting Than You Think

How could it possibly be more interesting?

We’ll begin with the biggie. Reynolds, of course, was selected second overall by the Rockies in 2006. He was selected right after Luke Hochevar, and right before Evan Longoria. The Rockies’ selection of Reynolds was thought to be a reach, and it took the Rays by surprise. The Rays had another plan, assuming the Rockies would take Longoria. That plan? Andrew Friedman:

We had Evan Longoria first on our board…We thought Longoria was going to go two to Colorado, and we had cut a deal with Tim Lincecum, to take three….

Reynolds’ failures were magnified because the Rockies nearly drafted Long Beach State third baseman Evan Longoria before turning to the Stanford pitcher. At the time, the Rockies felt starting pitching was more of a priority with Garrett Atkins and [Ian] Stewart both in the fold.

Jayson Stark (ESPN): Strange stuff … in the 2011 postseason

The postseason edition of trivia and oddbits that Jayson Stark excels at collecting and presenting…

Here’s one I didn’t know:

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

ESPN: Yorvit Torrealba suspended in Venezuela

Texas Rangers backup catcher Yorvit Torrealba has been suspended 66 games by the Venezuelan League for striking an umpire, league president Jose Grasso Vecchio announced Monday morning on Twitter.

The suspension covers the rest of this season and all of next season in the Venezuelan League. Penalties in winter ball do not carry over to Major League Baseball.

Have to think MLB or the Rangers will take some action, too.

Yahoo: Passan: Rangers win bidding for Yu Darvish

The Texas Rangers won the rights to negotiate with star Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish by placing a record $51.7 million bid in a posting auction, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Darvish’s team in Japan, the Nippon Ham Fighters, will accept the bid, which means the Rangers have 30 days to negotiate a contract with Darvish. If they cannot work out a deal, Darvish would return to Japan for the 2012 season and the Rangers would be refunded the posting fee.

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox have more competition than ever - The Boston Globe

This week’s Boston Globe Sunday baseball column.

Yahoo Sports: Passan: Darvish bidding process is a cloak and dagger affair

The deadline for bids on Darvish is today at 5 pm (eastern time).  Passan makes the whole process sound like executives have spent several years in Australia bulding up an immunity to iocane powder just for this moment.

The Texas Rangers, for example, have told rivals they’re cash-poor this offseason. A TV deal that will net them $80 million annually doesn’t kick in until 2015. The purchase price of the team for the ownership group – jacked up in an auction by Mark Cuban – wound up tens of millions of dollars higher than expected and sucked up the $90 million signing bonus Fox Sports delivered. And the TV contract itself wasn’t nearly as lucrative as Chuck Greenberg, the club’s deposed CEO, purported it to be.

To which one GM said: “Yeah, right.”

And another executive said: “They’re sandbagging.”

BBTIA: Matschulat: Ian Kinsler’s Next Big Deal

The liberation of Arlington begins now! (oh…wait)

Said Kinsler of his situation: “I want to stay here. I was drafted by the Rangers, and I want to be a Ranger. You never know how long it’s going to take. I think the sooner the better for them, and the sooner the better for me.”

For all of the misled—though slowly disappearing—carping about Kinsler popping up too often and being a terrible baserunner and exhibiting bad body language and (my personal favorite) “not being a team player,” he’s quietly developed into one of the better second basemen of our generation, and could very easily be argued to be one of the three best second basemen in the game at the moment. Only two other second basemen—Chase Utley (25.9 fWAR) and Dustin Pedroia (23.0 fWAR)—have produced more wins above replacement by FanGraphs’ calculations from 2008-present than Kinsler’s 20.8 fWAR ... and by Baseball Reference’s reckoning, Kinsler has produced one of the best age 26-29 windows of any second baseman in baseball history…

...If you pointed a gun to my head right now and demanded that I tell you what I thought a reasonable deal might look like, I’d probably suggest tacking three years onto Kinsler’s existing deal at an average annual value of $17 million, which would handsomely compensate Kinsler while concurrently giving Texas a solid chance of earning some surplus value and, in effect, coming out “ahead” on the deal. Over the last 72 hours, though, I’ve found that my own definition of “reasonable” has been very much at odds with the Rangers’ definition, so perhaps I’m just barking up the wrong tree.

LA Times: Angels, Fox to sign 20-year, $3 billion deal

The Angels have agreed to a new deal with Fox Sports worth at least $3 billion and expected to cover 20 years, two parties familiar with the deal said Thursday. The parties declined to be identified because the deal has yet to be officially announced.

Spokesmen for Fox and the Angels declined to comment.

Moreno last year opted out of a 10-year, $500-million contract with Fox, according to sports media consultant and former NBA TV President Ed Desser.

Desser, testifying Thursday in the Dodgers’ bankruptcy case, said the Angels and Fox agreed at the time to a one-year extension while the parties negotiated a new deal.
...

The Rangers agreed with Fox last year on a new contract worth an average of $80 million per year. The Angels’ deal is expected to top that in average annual rights fees — the rejected Dodgers’ deal had an average annual rights fee of about $85 million — and include an ownership stake in FSW.

The timing of this with the Pujols signing is curious.  I wonder if Arte prodded Fox into upping the rights fees once he had Pujols in the fold.  This would be much cooler if Fox was paying for an investment in the team, than Arte taking his windfall and turning around and spending it.

NMA : Pujols, Wilson sign with Angels

Clearly the angels just needed more dueling practice (Video in link)