Texas Rangers acquire pitcher Ronald Herrera from Yankees

The Texas Rangers have acquired righthanded pitcher Ronald Herrera from the New York Yankees in exchange for pitcher Reiver Sanmartin, the Rangers announced.

Herrera, 22, appeared in 2 games for the Yankees in 2017, throwing 3 innings total. He spent most of the year splitting time between AA Trenton and AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre, though he threw just 75 innings total due to shoulder inflammation that landed him on the d.l. to start the season, and then cost him much of July and August.

Herrera was originally signed by the Oakland A’s out of Venezuela in 2011, was sent as the player to be named later to San Diego in the Kyle Blanks trade in 2014, and was acquired by New York from San Diego for Jose Pirela in November, 2015.

We had discussed that the Rangers and Yankees were talking about some of New York’s fringe 40 man roster pitchers, and Herrera was one of the guys on the bubble for the Yankees. Herrera has been a starter in the minors, and will presumably be minor league rotation depth for Texas in 2018.

Reiver Sanmartin is a 21 year old lefthander out of Colombia who split the 2017 season between Spokane and Hickory for the Rangers, putting up a 2.45 ERA in 66 IP with 56 Ks, 9 walks and 3 home runs. He’s a relatively fringey prospect who hasn’t shown up on the prospect lists, generally, and didn’t make Jamey Newberg’s top 72 prospect list at the start of 2017.

So a minor move, one where the Rangers get a guy to fill one of their spare 40 man roster spots, and who potentially provides them with some pitching depth going forward. Herrera appears to have two options remaining, so Texas can bounce him up and down between the majors and minors the next two years if they so desire.