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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) — Infielders Jorge Diaz and Osmani Garcia, among five Cuban national team players who fled their homeland in August 1998, agreed Monday to minor league contracts with the Texas Rangers.
Diaz, Garcia and three others left Cuba by boat and went to Nicaragua, but weren’t granted residency. They then went to Costa Rica and received residency in February 1999.
Diaz and Garcia moved to the Dominican Republic in October and have been training there since. They will continue working out there with Rangers scouting director Chuck McMichael and Latin American coordinator Manny Batista.
Diaz, who agreed to a deal with Triple-A Oklahoma, was invited to major league spring training as a non-roster player. He’s expected to arrive in Florida in early March. He turns 25 on March 16.
Garcia, 25, agreed to terms with Double-A Tulsa. He’s likely to join the Rangers’ minor league camp in late March.
Diaz and Garcia were among a group of players who tried fleeing Cuba in March 1998, but were detained in the Bahamas. All but Jorge Toca, now of the New York Mets, were returned to Cuba in May 1988.
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Diaz — who is nicknamed “El Arana,” which means “The Spider” — was on Cuba’s national team from 1995-97.
He played for Villa Clara in the regular-season league from 1993-97, winning the championship the first three seasons as the team’s second baseman.
The 6-foot, 210-pound Garcia was Villa Clara’s starting third baseman from ’93-97 and was an all-star in 1996. He played all nine positions in 1995, but is likely to be used at first base, third base and the outfield.

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) — The Texas Rangers placed sidearming lefthander Mike Munoz on the 15-day disabled list today with elbow tendinitis and recalled southpaw Doug Davis from Triple-A.
Munoz will undergo an MRI on Thursday after experiencing soreness over the last several weeks. He left today’s 14-4 loss to Boston after pitching to only four batters.
An eight-year veteran in his second season with Texas, Munoz is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in seven games. He was 2-1 with a 3.93 ERA in 56 appearances last year.
Davis, the Rangers’ minor league player of the year in 1999, is 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts at Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League. He allowed 10 runs and 12 hits over 2 2/3 innings with Texas last year.

GABE KAPLER AGREES TO TERMS ON ONE-YEAR CONTRACT FOR 2000
FOR RELEASE: 4:30 p.m. (CST), Friday, February 25, 2000
The Texas Rangers announced today that outfielder Gabe Kapler has agreed to terms on a one-year contract for the 2000 season. No further terms were disclosed.
Kapler, 24, was acquired from the Detroit Tigers. In 1999, he batted .245 with 18 homers and 49 rbi in 130 games with Detroit in his first full big league season. Kapler ranked third among A.L. rookies in home runs. He is expected to be the Rangers’ starter in right field this season.
With the signing 29 of the 40 players on the major league roster are under contract for the 2000 season. (Later found out the contract was for $280,000)

Rangers closer John Wetteland, who amassed 295 of his 296 career saves during the 1990s, was named the Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Decade, edging out Dennis Eckersley, who retired after the 1998 season. Wetteland, who pitched for Los Angeles, Montreal, the New York Yankees and the Rangers during the decade, finished with 793 points, 20 ahead of Eckersley. Randy Myers, who has pitched for five different teams during the decade, finished third.