Once again, things fairly quiet on the Rangers front today...
Rod Barajas is supposedly on the verge of signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. Barajas is supposedly going to get a two year deal worth $5.5-6 million. If true, that means the Rangers don't have to worry about offering Barajas arbitration, and will land another sandwich pick.
That would leave Vicente Padilla as the only Ranger free agent whose departure would result in draft pick compensation left. And, of course, I think we'd much rather see Padilla stick around than end up with the draft choice.
Jan Hubbard has a piece in the S-T about Carlos Lee's departure, that includes a quote from Jon Daniels about the Lee trade:
"Anytime you're in a pennant race and have an opportunity to improve the club without mortgaging the future, we owe it to our fans and the organization to do just that," Daniels said. "The deal improved the '06 club and still works for the future -- with Nelson Cruz and two top picks in the draft. We dealt from a strength -- the bullpen -- and didn't miss a beat there."
The Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles' hunt for a corner outfield or first base bat will not include Mark Teixeira, saying that the Rangers made it clear at the g.m. meetings that Teixeira was not available.
In the same article, we see how far Kevin Mench's star has fallen, as the Brewers are supposedly offering him straight up for Rodrigo Lopez. Rodrigo Lopez is quite not good.