The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has acquired outfielder Dave Martinez from the Chicago Cubs as part of a three-team trade. As part of the deal, Texas sent righthanded pitcher Chuck Smith to the Florida Marlins, and the Marlins traded outfielder Brant Brown to the Chicago Cubs.
Martinez, 35, has combined for a .234 (37-158) batting average with one homer and 13 rbi in 47 games with Tampa Bay and the Cubs this season. The lefthanded batter started the season with the Devil Rays, hitting .260 with one homer and 12 rbi in 29 games before his trade to Chicago for lefthander Mark Guthrie on May 12. With the Cubs, he batted .185 with one rbi in 18 games.
Martinez started 24 games in the outfield for Tampa Bay. With the Cubs, he was in the starting lineup for 8 games at 1st base, 3 games in left, and one in right. Martinez led the American League with five outfield assists at the time of his trade to the Cubs.
Originally selected by the Cubs in the January, 1983 free agent draft, Martinez has a career major league average of .274 (1443-5259) with 85 homers and 526 rbi in 1714 games with the Cubs (1986-88; 2000), Montreal (1988-91), Cincinnati (1992), San Francisco (1993-94), the White Sox (1995-97), and Tampa Bay (1998-2000). He set career highs for at bats (514), hits (146), doubles (25), and rbi (66) in 1999, when he led the Devil Rays in runs scored (79).
Smith, 30, has spent the entire season with Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League, going 5-3 with a 3.78 era in 11 starts. He will be added to the Marlins’ major league roster and will be making his major league debut. The righthander was in his second year in the Rangers organization and is tied for third in the Pacific Coast League with 73 strikeouts.
Brown, 28 is batting .192 with two homers and six rbi in 41 games with the Marlins this season. The lefthanded batter has a career .255 batting average in 370 games with the Cubs (1996-98), Pittsburgh (1999), and Florida (2000).
Martinez is expected to join the Rangers this weekend in Colorado. The Rangers will make a roster move to accommodate Martinez when he reports.
GABE KAPLER ACTIVATED FROM DISABLED LIST
The Rangers also announced today that outfielder Gabe Kapler has been activated from the 15-day disabled list and will be in uniform for tonight’s game in Colorado.
Righthanded pitcher Jonathan Johnson was optioned to Oklahoma to make room for Kapler. Johnson had been recalled from Oklahoma on June 6 and allowed 2 unearned runs in 3 innings in his only appearance on Wednesday versus Los Angeles.
Kapler has been on the disabled list since sustaining a partial tear of his right quadriceps muscle will running the bases on May 2 at Tampa Bay. He was 3-9 in a three-game stint on rehab at Oklahoma, May 20-22, but aggravated the injury and was not activated at that time. Kapler just completed a second rehab assignment with Tulsa of the Texas League, going 7-12 with a homer and 4 rbi in 3 games.
For the season, Kapler is batting .200 with 3 homers and 12 rbi in 24 games.