Opening day is almost upon us and the Rangers are down to their last few roster decisions before the end of camp.
Our Rangers insider Evan Grant hosted a live Q&A on the DMN Rangers YouTube page on Tuesday and he discussed Texas’ depth at catcher, first base and who might be on the chopping block if Andrew McCutchen makes the team.
See some of the highlights from the Q&A below, with answers edited lightly for clarity.
You can watch the full Q&A here.
Rangers
Are the Rangers still looking for a third catcher? Are they okay with Willie MacIver? Kyle Higashioka’s back is concerning.
Evan Grant: I’m concerned about [Higashioka’s] back, too, to be honest with you. I have posited that the Rangers should be in the market for another non-roster catcher. I kind of did that before spring training, but they’ve got Jose Herrera in camp, or he was in major league camp. I think he’s been reassigned to the minor league camp. He’s got some major league experience, and I would assume that he and MacIver will be the Triple-A catchers. So if you need somebody in a pinch, you’ve got Jose Herrera. Now this is the final week of camp. There are veterans who have outs in their clauses, and if they see that there may be a better road back to the big leagues with the Rangers, they may reach out once they opt out of their their minor league deals with the team that they’re signed with, or get released from those deals, they could reach out to the Rangers, and the Rangers could certainly pick up another guy on a minor league contract to give them more depth. But I do think MacIver is going to be the starter at Triple-A and I think it gets a little bit difficult to go sign a veteran big leaguer to go to Triple-A and act as the backup there, behind a guy that is still kind of in development but has a little bit of big league experience. It’s just not enough at-bats for a guy to stay fresh and ready for a potential big league call up. But given the fact that Kyle Higashioka has had issues last year with his back and his hamstrings, and that he’s had issues this spring with his back, I certainly think the Rangers are paying attention to whatever the waiver wire may potentially offer.
If Andrew McCutchen and/or Josh Sborz are going to be put on the 40-man roster, who do you think could be on the DFA chopping block?
Grant: I wouldn’t be surprised if given how much time Emiliano Teodo has missed this spring, if the Rangers tried to put somebody like him on the 60-day IL, just to continue to hold as many pieces as possible. I don’t see another option that really pops out at me, except for potentially Michel Otañez, who did not perform well during spring training, but on the 40-man roster, I think that’s it. I had gone to camp, kind of thinking that that Justin Foscue was the last guy on the 40-man. I don’t think that’s the case. I think the Rangers still want to give him another year in the minor leagues, so I don’t see them DFA’ing him. And listen, I think it’s entirely possible that Cody Freeman ends up on the 60-day IL to start the season. He really won’t start baseball activities until the Rangers leave camp next week. And so he could go on the 60-day because I think he’d need to basically have what amounts to a whole spring training. And only then would he be ready to start playing in games. I don’t know if it will take 60 full days in a regular season, and certainly the Rangers would like to have Cody Freeman available as an option to them. But if the idea is to hold on to as many people as possible, I could see them potentially examining that.
FanGraphs projects the minor league first base depth to be very thin. Is there any reason they shouldn’t pick up someone like Rowdy Tellez on a minor league deal?
Grant: I’m with you 100%. I think that they are thin, especially since they traded Abimelec Ortiz in that deal to Washington in the MacKenzie Gore trade, they are thin at first base in the minor leagues. I do think Justin Foscue will get some time at first base at Triple-A, but I sure would like to have Rowdy Tellez in the minor league system. I think he’s good with young players. He’s been around, he lives in Texas. I think he’d be a good add. Rowdy spent the first part of spring training with Team Mexico in the WBC, hasn’t signed as of yet. I don’t know why the Rangers wouldn’t go out and sign him. And I’ve asked this question, I just haven’t gotten much of an answer. I do think there is this one element there that Rowdy is a big guy. He doesn’t have a perfect build by any stretch of the imagination. And I think that there is some thought internally that the Rangers simply played unathletically last year, and so maybe the Rangers don’t want to have a guy who’s not the typical athlete. I don’t know, to me, that’s a bunch of eyewash. I think that there should be a role for Rowdy Tellez in the minor league system here, unless he’s got a job in the major leagues somewhere.
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