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The Texas Rangers have claimed 30 year old righthanded pitcher Alfredo Figaro off of waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers, according to the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Rangers' 40 man roster had been full, but there are various procedural moves the Rangers could make to clear a spot on the 40 man roster to make room for Figaro.
The fact that the Rangers claimed Figaro is surprising...he had a 4.14 ERA with a 4.87 FIP in 74 innings in 2013 with the Brewers, and a 7.27 ERA in 8.2 major league innings in 2014. He spent most of the year in AAA, where he put up a 3.71 ERA in 70.1 IP for Nashville.
I wouldn't think that he has options left, and given the number of players that the Rangers are going to have to dump to clear out their 40 man roster, I wouldn't think that Figaro is someone who would be likely to still be on the 40 man roster come Opening Day.
But I guess someone in the organization likes him, and wants to take a look at him. We'll see if he's still on the team in a month, when the 40 man bloodletting begins.
UPDATE -- The Rangers have announced that righthanded pitcher Wilmer Font has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Figaro.
Font, 24, was a heralded young pitching prospect in the late 2000-aughts, but never seemed to really recover from 2011 Tommy John surgery. This season, his upper-90s velocity was missing, and he had an elbow injury that sidelined him for the last couple of months of the year. In addition, Font was out of options after this season, so he was going to have to stick on the Rangers' 25 man roster at the start of 2015 (which was unlikely), or be exposed to waivers.
The Rangers now have 10 days to waive, trade or outright Font.
