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Per Jeff Passan on Twitter, the Rangers have signed lefthanded pitcher Aaron Poreda to a minor league contract.
Poreda, 27, was a first round pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 2007 draft (he went one slot after the Rangers grabbed Michael Main). Poreda was one of the key pieces going to San Diego in the Jake Peavy trade, and was ranked #63 on Baseball America's top 100 prospect list before the 2009 season, but has struggled over the past few seasons and missed all of 2013 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Pre-surgery, Poreda threw hard and walked a lot of batters, and it sounds like the Rangers are planning on looking at him as a potential bullpen arm. Passan invoked Neal Cotts as a lefty NRI reclamation project who panned out for the Rangers last year, and obviously, if Poreda could contribute anything close to what Cotts did last year, the Rangers would be thrilled.