November 21, 2008
NEWSFLASH: Rangers Roster Moves Galore
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According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Texas Rangers have purchased the contracts of right-handers John Bannister, Willie Eyre and Omar Poveda, as well as that of infielder Jose Vallejo, and have added all four players to their now-full 40-man roster.
Right-handers Wes Littleton and Kameron Loe have been designated for assignment, though the latter transaction was little more than a formality given that Loe is ostensibly Japan-bound.
The addition of Bannister is a bit surprising, but defensible (his control and velocity both measurably improved as the 2008 season dragged on), and we already talked about the Latin American duo of Poveda and Vallejo at length this morning. I'm not quite sure what the organization sees (or thinks it sees) in Eyre, who doesn't really amount to much more than a guy you can stash at the back of your bullpen and allow to soak up innings in blowout losses, who wasn't a very good pitcher for Texas in 2007 even before he succumbed to Tommy John surgery in August, and who is on the wrong side of 30; in any event, I'll be moderately shocked if he's on the 25-man roster come Opening Day 2009.
Exposing Strop to the Rule 5 Draft is a calculated risk on the part of the Rangers (though, once again, they're exposing him for the sake of Willie Eyre), and the line of thought must be that his injury will ward off any legitimate interest. Hopefully that assessment of the market is correct, because general manager Jon Daniels and company stand to take a lot of likely deserved criticism if Strop is drafted because the club decided it just had to protect Willie Eyre.
There's a reasonable chance that Texas will manage to slide Littleton through league-wide waivers and outright the optionless sidewinder to Triple-A Oklahoma City, who cannot decline such an assignment by virtue of not having previously been outrighted in his career. Still, a convincing argument can be made that retaining Willie Eyre over Littleton is misguided in and of itself.
Willie Eyre?
According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Texas Rangers have purchased the contracts of right-handers John Bannister, Willie Eyre and Omar Poveda, as well as that of infielder Jose Vallejo, and have added all four players to their now-full 40-man roster.
Right-handers Wes Littleton and Kameron Loe have been designated for assignment, though the latter transaction was little more than a formality given that Loe is ostensibly Japan-bound.
The addition of Bannister is a bit surprising, but defensible (his control and velocity both measurably improved as the 2008 season dragged on), and we already talked about the Latin American duo of Poveda and Vallejo at length this morning. I'm not quite sure what the organization sees (or thinks it sees) in Eyre, who doesn't really amount to much more than a guy you can stash at the back of your bullpen and allow to soak up innings in blowout losses, who wasn't a very good pitcher for Texas in 2007 even before he succumbed to Tommy John surgery in August, and who is on the wrong side of 30; in any event, I'll be moderately shocked if he's on the 25-man roster come Opening Day 2009.
Exposing Strop to the Rule 5 Draft is a calculated risk on the part of the Rangers (though, once again, they're exposing him for the sake of Willie Eyre), and the line of thought must be that his injury will ward off any legitimate interest. Hopefully that assessment of the market is correct, because general manager Jon Daniels and company stand to take a lot of likely deserved criticism if Strop is drafted because the club decided it just had to protect Willie Eyre.
There's a reasonable chance that Texas will manage to slide Littleton through league-wide waivers and outright the optionless sidewinder to Triple-A Oklahoma City, who cannot decline such an assignment by virtue of not having previously been outrighted in his career. Still, a convincing argument can be made that retaining Willie Eyre over Littleton is misguided in and of itself.
Willie Eyre?
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