Jerry Crasnick is reporting that the Rangers are in serious negotiations with free agent reliever Darren Oliver.
There's been talk for a while that the Rangers have interest in Oliver, but I figured it was a kicking the tires type thing. Actually signing him -- probably on a one year deal for about $2-3 million -- seems to be a weird allocation of resources. I talked before about how I wished the Rangers could have been in on Nick Johnson, and if the Rangers have money for both Oliver and a Jermaine Dye/Mike Lowell/Vlad Guerrero type bat, it seems like there was enough money there to just sign Johnson.
Also, adding Oliver, with Clay Rapada and Ben Snyder in the mix, seems to make it a lot more likely that C.J. Wilson will start the season in the rotation, which makes the rotation more crowded.
We'll have to see how this plays out, and how much Oliver signs for, but right now, I just don't get this.
UPDATE -- Evan Grant thinks it will be for more than $3 million. I'm flabbergasted.