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The Texas Rangers have announced that catcher Bobby Wilson has cleared waivers and refused an outright assignment, making him a free agent.
Wilson was claimed on waivers by the Rangers in late July, with Wilson functioning as the backup catcher behind Chris Gimenez while Robinson Chirinos and Carlos Corporan were sidelined with injuries. Wilson was arbitration eligible this offseason, and being out of options and unlikely to be on the 25 man roster in 2016, his being dropped from e 40 man roster seemed to be an inevitability.
The Rangers currently have just two catchers on the 40 man roster -- Chirinos and Gimenez. It remains to be seen whether Texas will keep Gimenez on the 40 man roster -- he is, like Wilson, out of options and arbitration eligible, but Texas could opt to keep him with the intention of him being the primary backup to Chirinos. In the meantime, expect Texas to be active on the minor league free agent market for catchers, as they look for guys to put in AAA as catching depth.