Arencibia was a first round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2007 draft. He has had contact issues throughout his major league career, and cratered in 2013 with a .194/.227/.365 slash line that featured 148 Ks and just 18 walks in 497 plate appearances.
The Rangers have been seeking a backup to starter Geovany Soto, and Arencibia is a cheap option who, if he can bounce back to his 2011-12 levels of performance, would be one of the better backups around.
Toronto non-tendered Arencibia, rather than risk him getting a contract in arbitration that would be worth close to $3 million.
This is a reasonable enough deal for a backup catcher, and Arencibia is a reasonable enough option for a backup catcher. While there will no doubt be fans railing about how he's terrible and all that, I think this is a worthwhile pickup.
UPDATE -- Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Arencibia deal is 1 year, $1.8 million, with a potential $300,000 in incentives.