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Texas Rangers rumors: Catcher Geovany Soto will be activated Friday from the disabled list, per the beat writers on Twitter. Jon Daniels apparently said that Soto will split time behind the plate with Robinson Chirinos, and Chris Gimenez will stick with the team as a bench bat, third catcher and part-time first baseman
The Rangers will have to make a 40 man roster move for Soto, who is on the 60 day disabled list, but that shouldn't be a problem since Tanner Scheppers, Kevin Kouzmanoff, or Mitch Moreland could be moved from the 15 day disabled list to the 60 day disabled list to open up a spot for Soto.
The Rangers already have an opening on the 25 man roster, with the trade of Jason Frasor to Kansas City. The Rangers were carrying an extra catcher pitcher and was using a three man bench, so a pitcher was likely going to be displaced for a position player when the second half started anyway.
Gimenez is out of options, so the Rangers would risk losing him if they tried to drop him from the 25 man roster. And Soto could well be shipped out in a trade before the end of the season, which means that Gimenez could end up back in the catching rotation. I think the Rangers might look at a Chirinos/Gimenez arrangement as a possibly viable solution for the 2015 catching situation, if they can't keep Soto and nothing better pans out.
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