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Texas Rangers rumors: Carlos Pena has replaced Brad Snyder on the Texas Rangers' 25 and 40 man rosters, per the usual suspects on Twitter.
The Rangers have purchased Pena's contract, and have designated Snyder for assignment. Pena is playing first base and hitting 6th today.
This is a move we speculated over the weekend might be coming. Pena, 36, was a first round pick of the Rangers in 1998, before being traded to the Oakland A's prior to the 2002 season. He has a career .233/.348/.465 line in 5830 career plate appearances, and has a reputation for being a solid defensive first baseman. Pena has struggled the past two seasons in the majors, putting up a .201/.327/.351 line (90 OPS+) in 928 plate appearances for Tampa, Houston and Kansas City.
However, Pena can play first base competently, and put up a .333/.429/.500 line in 28 plate appearances for Round Rock since the Rangers signed him to a minor league deal, and thus it appears Texas views him as a better short-term option at first base than Snyder.
Snyder had never played first base professionally before this month, and although he gave it a good effort, he clearly wasn't well-suited for first base. Snyder had a .167/.265/.400 line for the Rangers in 34 plate appearances.
