Still various puffs of smoke, but no Rangers-related fires from Florida...
Kat O'Brien talks about the Rangers' various centerfield options, and still suggests that GMJ could end up coming back even if the Rangers trade for Brian Anderson or sign Dave Roberts, but I'm thinking the GMJ ship has sailed.
O'Brien also reports that with Mark DeRosa signing with the Cubs, the Rangers are considering Drew Meyer or Joaquin Arias as their 2007 utility man.
T.R. Sullivan has a troubling article, discussing how the Rangers are pursuing a veteran DH and CF because they plan on having Nelson Cruz in right field, and they don't want to have to break in multiple unproven positional players, thus forcing Jason Botts and Freddy Guzman out of the mix for the DH and CF jobs.
Botts, of course, after a strong 2005 season in AAA, lost out to Phil Nevin for the 2006 DH job because Ian Kinsler was going to be in the lineup, and the Rangers didn't want to break in two unproven players last season. We know how that DH situation worked out.
There's no point in sending Botts back to AAA for 2007, though, and at the very least, he should be in the majors splitting time with someone at DH and getting some corner outfield time. Signing David Dellucci or Luis Gonzalez so that Botts can go back to AAA for another season is foolish.
I mentioned the Jason Jennings situation last night, and both the Denver Post and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that the Rangers are among the teams that are talking to the Rockies about trading for Jennings.
The Orioles' reps met with Carlos Lee's reps for the third straight day yesterday, discussing Lee coming to Baltimore. That would be bad for Texas, since the Rangers would be stuck with a 2nd rounder that would likely be roughly the 80-90th overall pick, rather than the 17th overall pick, if Houston signed him. The Houston Chronicle says that the Astros talked to Lee's reps yesterday, as well.
The Toronto Sun is reporting that the Blue Jays are talking to Rod Barajas.