Almost immediately after I posted that long story below about recent happenings, I saw the news story that we signed Brad Wilkerson, Akinori Otsuka, & Rick Bauer to one year contracts for 2007. That avoids arbitration for all three. Right now the only numbers I saw were were for Otsuka, whose contract is for 3 Million. The others aren’t announced. What I always find amusing is the teams never announce these things, but they end up coming out as news within 24 hours anyway, so why don’t the teams just announce it from the start?
That takes care of all of our arbitration eligibles. I’m sure we’ll hear Lee Stevens’ name again shortly in this news story. :)
UPDATE: Wilkerson will get $4.35 Mil in 2007 (plus incentives). Not a bad raise from the $3.9 he made in 2006 for a guy who was ineffective and hurt for most of 2006. Bauer’s deal is for $730,000 plus incentives.

1) Rangers sign Joaquin Benoit: The deal is a one year deal worth $1.05 Million. It’s quite interesting to see how he’s worked himself into a good bullpen job. It wasn’t long ago that quite a lot of Ranger fans (myself included) just wanted to run him out of town, but he’s managed to stick around, and if I’m not mistaken, he holds the current active record for continuous service as a Ranger. As long as the Rangers don’t do something stupid like try and put him back in the rotation this is probably a good move. This technically avoids arbitration with Jack, although we still have three candidates for that (Otsuka, Wilkerson, & Bauer).
2) Minor League Invites: Thomas Diamond was invited back to 2007 major league camp, along with Eric Hurley, Kevin Richardson (C), & Nate Gold (1B). Diamond has been here before, the others haven’t. I don’t think any of these guys will actually break camp with the Rangers unless they have an incredibly good spring. The other NRI’s are: RHPs Willie Eyre, Franklyn German and Mike Wood; LHP Scott Rice; C Salomon Manriquez; INF Ramon Vazquez; and INF/OFs Jerry Hairston Jr. and Matt Kata. Of that group, I’d say Hairston probably has the best shot to make the club.
3) Drew Meyer DFA’ed: Drew Meyer was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for catching prospect Chris Stewart who we got from the White Sox for Johnny Lujan. I admit to not knowing much about either, although I saw a few decent summaries of them at other Ranger sites (like this one). Meyer though was the guy that raised a lot of eyebrows when he was drafted #1 by Grady Fuson a few years back. I always hoped he’d make the majors for a completely selfish reason – I won an autographed ball of his as a door prize at a Newberg Report event I think two years ago. :)
4) Samuel Peralta Sosa: The Rangers had Sammy Sosa in for a “kick the tires” session. You know, work out in the indoor cages, talk with Ron Washington & Rudy Jaramillo. Dinner with the owner, that kind of stuff. There’s always been the talk that we need a righthand hitter (Jason Botts) who could also play some DH (Jason Botts), so we’re bringing in Sammy for a look. We all know he started his career with us. Never quite thought he’d end it here. Now I don’t think he’s signed or anything like that, but the articles I read today about it seem to imply we’re seriously thinking about it. So long as we sign him to a minor league incentive deal, I’m OK with taking a look in spring – no way does he deserve guaranteed money.
5) Speaking of old school Rangers, it appears that the Mets are trying to have a Julio Franco & Ruben Sierra reunion – they’re talking about signing Sierra to a minor league deal. Franco will be going into the second year of a two year deal he got in Dec 2005.

It’s the signing of the off-season! Screw that Zito deal in SF – this is the biggest one yet! The Rangers re-signed Jerry Hairston Jr to a 1 year minor league contract with an invite to spring training. (Link)
I hope they’re starting to print the World Series Tickets already.

The Giants just trumped everyone, pulling a Hicks/Arod move and outbidding everyone by a wide margin apparently. Zito has agreed to a deal with the Giants for seven years on Wednesday evening. It’s a 7 year deal for $126 million with an option eighth. Largest contract ever for a pitcher, that’s for sure. According to the story:

Zito’s agreement, reached late Wednesday night, includes an $18 million option for 2014 with a $7 million buyout that could increase the value to $137 million. The option would become guaranteed if Zito pitches 200 innings in 2013, 400 combined over 2012 and 2013 or 600 combined from 2011-13.

Well, at least he won’t be pitching in Arlington anymore with that 11-1 record, unless it’s in the playoffs or interleague anymore. That part is good.
It’s also good that this money is not spent, so it could be used for Mike Young and Mark Teixeira. I expect it will take those kinds of numbers to resign Teixeira, especially with Boor-Ass as his agent. I know the Rangers have said that signing Zito wouldn’t have stopped them, but you have to think re-signing them has been made easier with that money not being paid to Zito on payroll day.
This all makes the deals signed by Padilla & Millwood look like a bargain, eh? :)

Sat down after putting my daughter down for a nap, and got a flash from the Dallas Morning news saying this..

According to two Rangers sources, the club has agreed to send top pitching prospect John Danks, the team’s No. 1 pick in 2003, and reliever Nick Masset to the Chicago White Sox for 23-year-old hard-throwing right-hander Brandon McCarthy. Both teams will also exchange low-level minor leaguers.

There is an article online at the DMN; as these things break, online DMN articles tend to be updated, so you may want to check back again there in a little.
Danks AND Masset, eh? That’s a high price for McCarthy. Yikes. I know McCarthy is good, but he’ll now be known as the guy who cost us Danks, so he had better deliver.
UPDATE: TR Sullivan’s blog now has a story on this trade. TR says the full trade list is: John Danks, Nick Masset, & P Jacob Rasner to White Sox for Brandon McCarthy & OF David Paisano. Don’t know Rasner & Paisano myself, I know the other guys. This will be big, and a lot of discussion will follow shortly, I’m sure.
UPDATE 2: The Rangers site has a story up now, but it’s mostly the same thing that’s on TR’s blog (as he writes the Rangers site too).
UPDATE 3: I went to the White Sox site to see if their reporter had anything yet. They had not as of 1:50PM Saturday. However, they had posted an article earlier this morning on McCarthy getting his Christmas wish about being put into the rotation. I bet you he thought it was going to be in Chicago, not Arlington. Go check out the article, it has a lengthy interview with McCarthy about a wide range of topics.
UPDATE 4: An article is up on chicagosports.com about the trade. Check it out.
UPDATE 5: The White Sox fan site Sox Machine has an update on the trade. They seem as stunned as Ranger fans are about losing Danks.
If you have something to say, please feel free to add a comment here.

Here’s some proof that the world of baseball blogging tends to fold in on itself. I was reading Athletics Nation today, and they have a piece up talking about whether they want Barry Zito to end up in the NL, or with the Rangers so they could see him all the time. They reference back Adam Morris’ article over at lonestarball from this past Sunday where he references Zito as “a younger Kenny Rogers”; the perfect pitcher for TBIA.
My personal thoughts is that the Rangers won’t get outbid on dollars per year, but it could come down to years. All things being equal, my gut says New York. I’ve seen several biographies on Zito over the years, and I always got the impression he wasn’t the kind of personality that would stand up well in New York. I don’t think it would be as disastrous as Rogers was up there, but my gut feeling is that Zito is more suited to a market that wouldn’t do news stories on every single fart he has, claiming it’s some sort of sign. Heck, I saw a TWIB story on him saying he travels on the road with a Teddy Bear. Is that the kind of guy who seems well fit to deal with a media market like New York? For the record I love teddy bears. :)
As a Rangers fan, sure I want to see him here. But I think the only way he comes here is if he gets the most $ from Hicks. Yeah, there’s those stories about him being 11-1 here in his career. If he had Arlington as his home park, I’m sure those numbers wouldn’t be as gaudy.

Well, there’s been a lot of movement lately, so I figured I’d catch up with some the various events, and throw in my two cents on what’s happened. Some of this I’ve touched on before, so I might be repeating myself on a few points.
1) We have a new manager: Now this one I know I’ve talked about before, but the more I think about Ron Washington, the more I think that we’ve made the right move. He’s got that infectious feel about him. Not the kind of ultra serious feel you got with Buck Showalter. My guess is he gets a huge ovation when his name is announced on April 6th.
2) Buck Showalter & the Indians: Buck Showalter was hired by the Cleveland Indians as one of those “special advisers”. The non title job. I don’t doubt he’ll help Cleveland, but I’ve always wondered exactly what guys like this really do. Does anyone think John Hart is active with the Rangers? I mean we’re still paying him for one of those undefined jobs.
3) Barry Zito seems like a real possibility: As I’m sure a lot of Ranger fans have said, when Zito came out and said that he’d consider coming to Texas they (as I) viewed it as what’s happened before. “Use Texas”. That wasn’t helped by the fact that Zito’s agent is Scott Boras. So it’s with some rolling of the eyes I’m sure that most of us thought “Yeah, yeah, Zito REALLY wants to come HERE.” Well, Zito is still out there, and while a bunch of names have been assocated with Zito, the two strongest appear to be the Mets & the Rangers. I’m still surprirsed we haven’t heard much from the Yankees on Zito, but if they’re not interested, that can only help us. Now that it appears that Matsusaka is going to sign with the Red Sox, Boras will probably get some movement on Zito. It would be nice to bring him here – he’s 11-1 I believe in our park, and while I think his overall ERA would take a hit here, he can pitch. If he does sign here (or even moreso if he does not), except to hear the $50,000 story about his original drafting by the Rangers again a few times. :)
4) Padilla resigns for 3 years: One of the things that the Rangers have always lacked is solid starting pitching. We have Kevin Millwood for another several years, and the resigning of Padilla is a good solid signing. Given the insanity that some of the contracts have been like this off season, Padilla’s 3/33.7 seems rather frugal (snicker). Provided he doesn’t relax too much under the wieght of guaranteed money, he’ll probably do fine. As a Phillies fan, it’s kind of amusing to me that we have so much of our future based on 2/5 of the former Phillies rotation that didn’t get it done there. :)
5) Rangers sign Marlon Byrd: The Rangers have signed former Phillies centerfield phenom Marlon Byrd (link). I recall hearing a lot about him when he first came up, and there was a lot of positive on Byrd. He actually reminds me a bit of Ruben Mateo. When he first showed up, he was going to be the next uber stud outfielder, and didn’t deliver, and started bouncing around. Byrd went to Wasington, and now to Texas. We’ll see how much he’s able to contribute, as I don’t believe he’ll be our #1 choice out there in the outfield. If he is, something bad has likely happened.
6) Mark Mulder visits Rangers: There’s also this possibility that two thirds of the A’s 90’s trio of pitchers could also be a Ranger. Mark Mulder has been in talks to sign with the Rangers. Everyone says that if he does sign, he wouldn’t be one of those guys who would be able to contribute until around the All Star break or something along those lines. It feels like the same thing we went through with Adam Eaton, only this time we woudln’t have to trade anyone away to get Mulder. I’m sure it would be a good thing to sign him. The key would be for how long. I’m not sure I’d like a 1 year deal there, in case he does come through, and then have him walk after 07.
7) Rangers sign Kenny Lofton: In a move that I don’t think surprised anyone, we signed Kenny Lofton to a one year deal. After the Angels severely overpayed for Gary Matthews Jr, we needed someone to play CF, as we don’t have any top line player ready to go in CF. Oh sure, we have kids as options, but my gut feeling is that we needed some sort of vet out there. I think everyone is expecting the Rangers to make a run at Torii Hunter or Vernon Wells for 2008, so we needed someone to play CF for a year. There were talks about trading for Aaron Rowand from the Phillies, but Kenny Lofton was brought in. He’s probably the oldest available option, but he still has some wheels on him. He’s probably not the strongest throw, or the fastest guy, but he’s been around for awhile, so he’ll be a good solid player. Given the remarks made about the other guys in 08, I think everyone’s looking forward to Kenny Lofton for a year. Kenny will most likely be our leadoff hitter, as he’s got a good OBP, something you need in the #1 slot (at least the Sabrematic people think so ).
8) Rangers sign Eric Gagne: This one was a bit of a surprise for me. Ignoring his recent injury situation, we don’t appear to have a “need” for him. We have a decent pen, and we already have our established closer. I was’t expecting us to sign an extablished closer. That is unless they plan on moving Aki back to the 8th inning setup guy he was when we first brought him here. Or we flip Aki to another team for a more established starter, which could be a backup plan if we don’t land Zito. There’s the issue of his health – he’s thrown something like 25 innings total over the last two years. If he’s healthy, I have zero doubt he can help us, but signing a guy who that low of an IP stat, and that much cash – there’s talk it’s $6 million, which is a lot for a non closer. There’s also talk there’s an additional $5 million in incentives. If he reaches all of that, it means he’s the closer, and yikes – $11 million for a closer. That’s a lot of dough for a gamble on a reliever. Again, if healthy, I’m sure he can help us, but wow is it a gamble.
9) Non Tendered contacts: Of all of our eligible guys, we only non tenedered one guy a contract, that was righthander Mike Wood. I didn’t even know he was up for that, so that’s not one I’ll probably miss much. The other guys were all tendered, so we’ll be retaining them (or at least their rights as a tradeable commodity for the 2007 season). They are: Brad Wilkerson, Akinori Otsuka, Rick Bauer, & Jack Benoit. Benoit is an interesting case actually. There’s been several springs where we’ve been so frustrated, we’ve wanted to get rid of him, but he’s still here. He’s developed into a good reliever, I think it’s when we try to think of him as a starter, the troubles arise. If Jack remains a reliever, I think he can stick for awhile longer.

Here’s the two second version. I swear I’ll write more at length shortly. :)
We signed Marlon Byrd to a contract, probably will be a backup outfielder. We signed Kenny Lofton to play CF for 2007, and we signed (apparently) Eric Gagne today for the pen.
Finally, some movement on the transactions chart.
I also saw today that our old friend Gabe Kapler has retired. He had that horrific injury a year ago or so, and I thought he was done, but he came back in 06 with the Red Sox. He’s apparently going to stay in the Sox organization in an undetermined capacity. Liked him when he was here, shame he never rose to his potential. The Sox have given him a job as the manager of one of their A level teams (link).

The Vicente Padilla signing was made official today.
I know I’m behind the times with the latest developments, had a lot going on the last few days. Will catch up with my thoughts shortly.

I was at the Stars / Sharks game tonight at the AAC. I return to find out we’ve apparently resigned Vicente Pidente to a 3 year $33 million deal, with a team option fourth at $12 mil (or $15 depending on whose story you’re reading).
It’s probably a signing we needed to make, and given the overall market, it’s what he’ll get – probably more than he deserves, but if he can hold up 2006’s performance I’ll take the pitching, even if the paycheck is bloated.
I’m tired, I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.