Rangers Notes: Team Avoids Arbitration with Murphy

David Murphy batted .311 with nine home runs and 41 RBIs in the second half of the 2010 season.

The Rangers and outfielder David Murphy avoided salary arbitration Thursday by agreeing to a $2.4 million contract for the 2011 season. He becomes the team’s second arbitration-eligible player this offseason to have already signed a deal for this year, following right-hander Mark Lowe.

Murphy, 29, hit .291 with 12 home runs and 65 runs batted in for the Rangers in 2010, though a good bit of his production came in the second half of the season. After the All-Star break, Murphy batted .311 with nine home runs and 41 RBIs, and he was named the team’s Player of the Month for September.

Acquired from Boston in 2007 as part of the Eric Gagne trade, Murphy has a career batting average of .282 with 200 runs scored and 212 RBIs.

With Murphy’s signing, the Rangers have five arbitration-eligible players who have not yet come to terms on a salary figure for the upcoming season: outfielders Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton, right-handers Frank Francisco and Darren O’Day and left-hander C.J. Wilson.

Moscoso Designated for Assignment

On Friday, the Rangers announced that they had designated right-hander Guillermo Moscoso for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for third baseman Adrian Beltre, who was signed to a six-year deal earlier this week.

The 27-year-old Moscoso has posted an earned run average of 4.30 across 11 big-league relief appearances for Texas the past two years. He spent most of last season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he compiled a record of 7-7 with a 5.18 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 23 games (22 starts).

Moscoso was acquired by Texas in December 2008 as part of a trade with Detroit that sent catcher Gerald Laird to the Tigers. By designating him for assignment, the Rangers have 10 days to trade, release or outright Moscoso to the minor leagues.

(UPDATE: Moscoso was traded to the Athletics on Saturday in exchange for right-handed pitcher Ryan Kelly.)

Rangers Not Pursuing Guerrero

With Beltre penciled in as the team’s starting third baseman and Michael Young moving to designated hitter, the Rangers are no longer interested in bringing back free-agent slugger Vladimir Guerrero.

In 152 games for Texas last season, Guerrero hit .300 with 27 doubles, 29 home runs and 115 runs batted in, winning his eighth Silver Slugger award and being named an All-Star for the ninth time in his career.

Rangers Notes: Team Weighs Free-Agent Options

Third baseman Adrian Beltre (left) and catcher Victor Martinez could both be attractive free-agent options for the Rangers this offseason.

Baseball’s free-agent shopping season officially began on Sunday, and the Rangers may look to add upgrades at several positions, in addition to trying to re-sign ace left-hander Cliff Lee.

The area which is in need of the most improvement seems to be catcher, where youngsters Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden and Max Ramirez were either injured or failed to produce at the big-league level this year, giving way to veterans Matt Treanor and Bengie Molina before the season’s halfway point. The team would clearly like to have a consistent No. 1 catcher for an entire season, and the free-agent market provides options in the form of John Buck, Victor Martinez, A.J. Pierzynski and Yorvit Torrealba, to name a few.

General manager Jon Daniels tried to add a right-handed-hitting first baseman before this year’s trade deadline but could only muster Jorge Cantu, who batted .235 with just two runs batted in and 19 strikeouts in 30 regular-season games with Texas. While Mitch Moreland performed well after his mid-season call-up (nine home runs and 25 RBIs, including a team-high .462 batting average in the World Series), the Rangers are still seeking a right-handed bat to complement him at first. Choices among this year’s group of free agents include Paul Konerko, Troy Glaus, Derrek Lee and Ty Wigginton.

Across the infield, Michael Young is closer to a defensive liability than an asset at third base, and a move to designated hitter may not be too far off. Among free-agent third basemen this offseason, the bar is set high with Adrian Beltre – who hit .321 with 28 home runs and 102 RBIs for the Red Sox this year – but then falls off drastically with the likes of Pedro Feliz, Akinori Iwamura and Nick Punto.

Whether or not Cliff Lee decides to re-sign with Texas, the team will likely try to add depth to its starting pitching rotation, where the only guaranteed spots for next season appear to belong to left-hander C.J. Wilson and right-hander Colby Lewis. Topping this year’s list of free-agent starters are right-handers Jon Garland, Brandon Webb and Chris Young and left-handers Erik Bedard, Jorge De La Rosa and Jeff Francis.

In other news, the Rangers announced Friday that they had outrighted three players off of the 40-man roster – infielder Esteban German and right-handers Doug Mathis and Brandon McCarthy – making them all free agents. The moves brought the number of players currently on the team’s 40-man roster to 31, not including three right-handed pitchers still on the 60-day disabled list: Omar Beltre, Eric Hurley and Guillermo Moscoso.

Rangers Notes: Offense Comes Alive in Chicago

Michael Young had multiple hits in each game of the Rangers' series with the White Sox this week, raising his season batting average to .329.

After scoring just seven runs in a three-game weekend sweep to the Twins, the Rangers scored 18 runs in the first two games of their series in Chicago this week. Third baseman Michael Young had multiple hits in all three games of the series, and he leads the major leagues with 47 hits since the beginning of May.  

Catcher Matt Treanor has come on strong of late following an extended slump in early- and mid-May, going 6-for-20 with four runs batted in and a .600 slugging percentage on the team’s recent road trip. Treanor picked up all four RBIs Wednesday to help the Rangers win despite being without designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero, who popped up a ball during batting practice that bounced off a metal part of the cage and hit him in the left eye.   

Two weeks after coming off the disabled list following a strained right hamstring, right fielder Nelson Cruz is headed back to the 15-day DL, this time with a torn left hamstring. On Sunday, the Rangers recalled outfielder Craig Gentry from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take Cruz’s spot on the active roster.  

As expected, left-hander Matt Harrison returned from a biceps tendonitis injury Saturday and joined the team on its current road trip in Minnesota, and right-hander Guillermo Moscoso was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, Harrison was pressed into service in just the second inning Sunday when starter Derek Holland had to leave the game with soreness in his left shoulder. The team put Holland on the 15-day DL and called up right-hander Pedro Strop from Triple-A.

ESPNDallas.com reports that right-hander Tommy Hunter will replace Holland in the Texas rotation when he makes his first start of the season Saturday against Tampa Bay at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Hunter, who went 9-6 in 19 starts last year, pitched well in spring training but has missed more than two months due to a left oblique muscle injury.

And according to MLBTradeRumors.com, the Rangers are one of three teams to have contacted the Red Sox about trading for corner infielder Mike Lowell. After failing to complete a deal in the offseason that would have sent catcher Max Ramirez to Boston, Texas could use Lowell at designated hitter or first base, where rookie Justin Smoak has posted a .189 batting average with 26 strikeouts this season.

Rangers Notes: Team Wraps Up Arbitration Cases

Right-hander Scott Feldman became the Rangers’ last arbitration-eligible case to settle when he agreed to a one-year, $2.425 million contract.

With more than two weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Surprise, Ariz., Texas has settled all of its arbitration-eligible cases, the last of which was right-handed starter Scott Feldman, who agreed last Friday to a one-year, $2.425 million contract for 2010.

Earlier in the week, right-hander Frank Francisco came to terms on a one-year deal worth $3.265 million.

News also came last week that the Rangers have four of MLB.com’s Top 50 prospects – right-handed pitcher Neftali Feliz (No. 7), first baseman Justin Smoak (No. 9), left-handed pitcher Martin Perez (No. 18) and right-handed pitcher Tanner Scheppers (No. 39). With four players among the Top 40, Texas should be a lock as Baseball America‘s No. 1 minor league system for the second year in a row.

(UPDATE: Tim Cowlishaw of the DMN writes that the Texas farm system came in second to Tampa Bay’s in this year’s BA Prospect Handbook.)

On Monday, T.R. Sullivan reported that Dominican pitching prospects Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando have completed all steps necessary to obtain a visa, and that both could play a role in the Rangers’ Spring Training plans. The pair had been denied visas since 2004, when they played a part in a Dominican marriage fraud scandal.

Beltre was particularly impressive in his last minor league season before the ban, going 5-4 with a 1.62 ERA in 15 games and striking out 94 batters over 72.1 innings while issuing just 13 walks. That was nearly five years ago, but should he and/or Ogando make the 40-man roster, Joey Matschulat of “Baseball Time in Arlington” says infielder Joaquin Arias and any of a group of pitchers (Eric Hurley, Warner Madrigal, Doug Mathis, Luis Mendoza, Guillermo Moscoso and Ben Snyder) could be expendable in order to clear room.

Sullivan also reports that Texas will be one of the teams to watch a throwing session by former Giants left-hander Noah Lowry, though the audition (scheduled for today) has been pushed back so Lowry can throw a few more bullpen sessions. The 29-year-old is trying to bounce back from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which has limited his effectiveness in recent years. Lowry’s best season was 2005, when he went 13-13 with a 3.78 ERA in 204.2 innings, racking up 172 strikeouts against just 76 walks.

And among the free agents yet to sign on with a team are former Rangers infielder Hank Blalock and right-handed reliever Joaquin Benoit. Outfielder Ryan Freel and right-hander Jason Jennings were released by Texas, and right-handed starter Kris Benson remains unsigned after being declared a minor-league free agent at the end of last season. A handful of National League teams have shown interest in the oft-injured Benson, who pitched in just eight games for the Rangers in 2009, good for a 1-1 record and an ERA of 8.46.