Guzman added, Wagner claimed, Sampson outrighted

The Texas Rangers have announced a series of 40 man roster transactions today.

First, in advance of tonight’s deadline for adding players to the 40 man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, the Rangers have purchased the contract of first baseman Ronald Guzman. Guzman was the only player who appeared to be a lock to be added, although I thought the team might also protect righthanded pitcher Pedro Payano.

The Rangers have also claimed righthanded pitcher Tyler Wagner on waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Wagner, who turns 26 in January, was a 4th round pick of the Brewers in the 2012 draft. He was traded to the D-Backs in January, and has three starts and three relief appearances in the major leagues. Wagner put up a 2.25 ERA in AA in 2015, but threw just 36.2 IP between the majors and minors in 2016, for reasons I’m not immediately clear on. Wagner has pitched mostly in the rotation in the minors, and is someone who would potentially be some AAA rotation depth, though he appears to be a likely candidate to get waived again this offseason, in the hopes of outrighting him.

Speaking of being outrighted, pitcher Adrian Sampson, who the Rangers claimed a few weeks back, has cleared waivers and been outrighted, which means he is no longer on the 40 man roster.

Per John Blake, the 40 man roster now stands at 38. Assuming Andrew Cashner signs in the next few days, that will move up to 39.