Rapid-firing Rangers get Friday night deals with catcher, pair of relievers

Having done all their due diligence during the winter meetings, the Rangers returned home and started acting on their remaining to-do list: catching and relief help.

According to two people with direct knowledge of the Rangers’ talks, the club has agreed to a two-year deal with catcher Danny Jansen and one-year deals with relievers Alexis Díaz, brother of All-Star closer Edwin Díaz, and lefty Tyler Alexander of Southlake Carroll and TCU. All the deals are pending a physical.

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager picks up a bat in the dugout during the fourth inning...

According to Fansided’s Robert Murray, the deal for Jansen, who will split time with Kyle Higashioka behind the plate, is for two years and $14.5 million in guaranteed money with a chance to push to $15.5 million. The deals for the relievers are both one-year deals, expected to be in the same range of the deals the Rangers did with guys like Shawn Armstrong and Jacob Webb last year. Both were under $2 million in guaranteed money.

Rangers

Jansen, 30, would go a long way to solidifying the catching platoon with Higashioka. Over the last six 162-game seasons, he’s averaged 67 starts behind the plate per year and has caught as many as 89 games in a season. In 2025, with Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, he posted a slightly better than league average .721 OPS in 98 games. He hit only .215, but boosted the slash line thanks to a 12.5% walk rate that pushed his OBP up by more than 100 points to .321. He also slugged 14 homers.

It gives the Rangers a platoon of catchers who hit 25 homers in 640 at-bats in 2025. Only eight teams got more than that from the catching position in 2025.

Díaz, 29, had a dreadful season in 2025, compiling an 8.15 ERA in 17⅔ major league innings with three different teams. But, from 2022-24 with Cincinnati, he was effective and racked up 75 saves while compiling a 2.93 ERA. The velocity on his fastball had dropped over the last few seasons from 95.7 mph in 2022 to 93.5 mph in 2025. He throws the pitch about 60% of the time and supplements it with a slider. As they did successfully with Armstrong and Webb, the Rangers are betting on a bounce-back.

Alexander, 31, split 2025 with Milwaukee and the Chicago White Sox and logged 97 innings, primarily in relief, but he has made 57 starts in his career. He had even splits against right-handed and left-handed hitters in 2025.

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