Rangers Notes: Cruz Still Looking for Right Landing Spot

Free-agent outfielder Nelson Cruz (left) has not yet found a team willing to meet his original contract target of $75 million over four years.

Along with Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury, Nelson Cruz was thought to be one of the top outfielders available on this winter’s free-agent market.

While the first three have all found homes with new clubs, however, Cruz remains unsigned as the new calendar year begins.

A number of factors are at play for Cruz, beginning with his relatively steep asking price of around $75 million. Some teams are also wary of a production drop-off following last season’s suspension for his ties to Biogenesis, and the fact that Texas made him a qualifying offer means that whatever club signs Cruz will be forced to give up draft pick compensation.

At the time of his 50-game suspension last year, Cruz was the Rangers’ leading power producer with 27 home runs and 76 runs batted in, and he finished second behind Adrian Beltre with a .506 slugging percentage.

His abbreviated 2013 season came at the end of a very productive five-year span in which Cruz established himself as one of the top sluggers in the game, having racked up 135 homers, 143 doubles and 407 RBIs since 2009.

Tracy Ringolsby of MLB.com notes that while Cruz was linked to a number of teams earlier this offseason (including Colorado, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Seattle), those organizations have already filled their power-hitting needs with other players.

“There’s no single issue that would scare a team away from Cruz, given the person he is,” Ringolsby writes. “The chain of events, however, has left Cruz – as respected as he is within the game – still waiting to find a team to play for in 2014.”

One recent example that could make ballclubs leery about signing Cruz is that of Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera, who saw a significant drop in production last year after receiving a 50-game suspension in 2012 for testosterone use.

The Rangers have indicated that their offseason shopping is largely complete, but as Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe notes, “It seems Cruz needs to reestablish his value” and therefore may be willing to accept a one-year “pillow” contract.

Bringing Cruz back to Texas is a nice thought, but it would require some reshuffling of a lineup that already has three everyday outfielders (Choo, Leonys Martin and Alex Rios) and a designated hitter (Mitch Moreland).

St. Louis Claims Ortega from Texas

Minor-league outfielder Rafael Ortega continued a busy offseason this week when he was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals on a waiver claim from the Rangers.

Ortega, 22, had spent his entire six-year career within the Rockies organization before getting picked up by Texas in late November.

The Rangers added Ortega to their 40-man roster, but he was ultimately designated for assignment as part of the domino effect from the Shin-Soo Choo signing, allowing St. Louis to grab him on Monday.

Special Assistant Maddux Elected to Hall

It was announced Wednesday that three new players will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, including former Braves hurler Greg Maddux, who is starting his third season with Texas as special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels.

Maddux, the younger brother of pitching coach Mike Maddux, won 355 games and four National League Cy Young awards over his 23-season career, and he will be enshrined in Cooperstown next to longtime teammate Tom Glavine and former MVP Frank Thomas.

“His accomplishments are well-documented, and it’s an honor for us to work with one of the true greats,” Daniels said of Maddux. “He has made an impression on all of us with his passion for and knowledge of the game, his willingness to share it with all, and his ability to keep things loose and have fun.”

Among the many players who fell short of the requisite 75 percent of the vote total needed for election were former Rangers Sammy Sosa (7.2 percent), Rafael Palmeiro (4.4), Eric Gagne (0.4) and Kenny Rogers (0.2).

Rangers Notes: Feliz an Early Favorite to Fill Closer’s Role

Neftali Feliz collected 72 saves across his two seasons as the Texas closer and was named American League Rookie of the Year in 2010.

While the Rangers have revamped the top of their lineup with the additions of Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder this offseason, they’ve also been forced to part ways with one of the game’s most reliable closers in the form of veteran right-hander Joe Nathan.

The 39-year-old Nathan agreed to a $20 million deal with the Detroit Tigers in early December, leaving Texas without a clear-cut option for ninth-inning save situations heading into spring training.

The good news is that the Rangers’ bullpen is already stacked with potential candidates to replace Nathan as closer, including former All-Stars Neftali Feliz and Joakim Soria as well as hard-throwing righty Tanner Scheppers, who led the club with 76 appearances last season.

Scheppers has indicated a desire to shift out of the setup role in which he thrived last year, stating that a promotion to closer “would be a dream come true,” but T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reported last week that Feliz seems to be the current front-runner for the vacancy.

“Feliz appears to be healthy again, which puts him in position to be the Rangers’ closer coming out of spring training,” Sullivan writes. “Right now the job is Feliz’s to lose.”

Recent history is on his side as well, as Texas made its only two World Series appearances in Feliz’s two years at closer (2010 and 2011). Over that span, the 25-year-old furnished a 2.73 earned run average while ranking third in the A.L. in saves (72) behind Jose Valverde and Mariano Rivera.

Feliz tried to make the conversion to starter in 2012 and won his first bit-league start, but his effectiveness seemed to desert him after throwing a career-high eight innings in an April doubleheader versus Detroit.

Issuing a total of 15 walks over his next four starts, Feliz was placed on the disabled list with a sprained throwing elbow following a mid-May loss at Houston, and by August he was forced to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

With his days as a starter behind him for the moment, Feliz is still considered a valuable asset out of the bullpen and may be the best bet to fill the void left by Nathan’s departure.

“It is very important to me,” Feliz said of the ninth-inning role. “I have been a closer already. Nobody will take it away from me … because I want to go back to a World Series and win it. I think this is our year to do it.”

Japanese Star Tanaka Posted by Club

Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka became the top pitcher on the market when he was posted last Wednesday by his current team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League.

Tanaka, 25, put up staggering numbers last season as a member of the Golden Eagles, going a perfect 24-0 with an ERA of 1.27 and 183 strikeouts while completing all but one of his 28 starts.

Rakuten had originally said it would not post Tanaka following a change in the bidding process (in which the fee paid by Major League Baseball clubs for the right to sign a player is now capped at $20 million), but reversed its decision in an announcement last week.

The new posting rules means that more MLB teams are likely to make a run a Tanaka, with the Rangers expected to be active suitors despite sizeable 2014 financial commitments to Choo, Fielder and Adrian Beltre.

McGuiness DFA’d, then Sent to Pirates

First baseman Chris McGuiness was designated for assignment by Texas last Friday in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Shin-Soo Choo, and he was subsequently traded to Pittsburgh on Monday for right-hander Miles Mikolas.

The 25-year-old McGuiness had been one of the players the Rangers acquired from Boston at the 2010 trade deadline in exchange for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

After being taken by Cleveland in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft, McGuiness was returned to Texas less than four months later, and he made his big-league debut in a Rangers uniform last June.

The Rangers were forced to clear another 40-man roster spot for Mikolas, so outfielder Rafael Ortega (who had just been picked up from Colorado in November) was designated for assignment.

Rangers Notes: Gentry, Lindblom Traded to Athletics

Craig Gentry was considered a superior defender and base runner with limited offensive tools.

Outfielder Craig Gentry and right-handed pitcher Josh Lindblom were dealt to Oakland on Tuesday in exchange for minor-league second baseman Chris Bostick and outfielder Michael Choice.

Gentry, who turned 30 last week, had been expected to compete for the Rangers’ vacancy in left field next spring, with Leonys Martin in center and Alex Rios in right.

It appears that opportunity will now go to the 24-year-old Choice, a North Texas native who holds the career home run record at the University of Texas-Arlington.

“Growing up here, I’ve been to a ton of Rangers games,” he said Tuesday. “Me and my dad would go to the Ballpark all the time. To be able to say that I’m going to play in front of this home crowd is an awesome feeling.”

Choice, who made his big-league debut and collected his first hit in September against Texas, had spent much of the season at Triple-A Sacramento in the Athletics’ organization, where set personal highs with a .302 batting average, 29 doubles and 90 runs scored.

Though the Rangers could still make a run at free agents like Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo or Kendrys Morales, their left-field candidates currently include Choice, Jim Adduci, Engel Beltre and even Mitch Moreland, displaced from his usual spot at first base by the addition of Prince Fielder.

“If today was Mar. 31, we’re comfortable we can put together a quality outfield,” Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. “But it is Dec. 3. We still have time to see what’s out there. We could add somebody else to the mix, or we may go with what we’ve got.”

The Rangers are also seeking a veteran presence to complement Geovany Soto behind the plate, although an already thin free-agent market for catchers got even thinner this week when Dioner Navarro, Wil Nieves and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all signed with new clubs.

Some have mentioned former Oakland and Washington catcher Kurt Suzuki as a possible fit for Texas, and with the recent flurry of backstop signings, some kind of move could be made at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings next week in Orlando, Florida.

“We’re looking for the best all-around fit,” Daniels said. “We place a high value on durability. If [Soto] went down, we would want somebody who could step in and be an everyday guy.”

Nathan, Pierzynski Shift to A.L. Central

In addition to the Gentry trade, Texas saw a bit more roster fluctuation Tuesday when closer Joe Nathan and catcher A.J. Pierzynski were signed by the Tigers and Red Sox, respectively.

An American League All-Star in each of his two years with the Rangers, Nathan compiled 80 saves and posted an earned run average of 2.09 across 129 innings of work.

Pierzynski, meanwhile, hit about 10 points below his career batting average during his lone season in Texas, but he still delivered 17 home runs and provided the Rangers with 15 years’ worth of big-league experience at backstop.

Texas will most likely look to fill Nathan’s role internally, with late-inning relievers Joakim Soria, Tanner Scheppers and Neftali Feliz appearing to be the leading candidates at this point.

Outfielder Ortega Claimed from Rockies

The Rangers acquired outfielder Rafael Ortega on a waiver claim from the Colorado Rockies last Wednesday and added him to their 40-man roster.

The 22-year-old Ortega spent last season at Double-A Tulsa in the Colorado farm system, hitting .228 with nine stolen bases. The extent of his big-league service time consists of two games with the Rockies in 2012.

Across parts of six seasons in the minors, Ortega has already racked up 156 stolen bases while compiling a .298 lifetime batting average.