Texas Rangers 40 man roster update

Texas Rangers 40 man roster update: The Texas Rangers announced several moves yesterday that impacted the 40 man roster, including declining to offer any qualifying offers, declining the options on Tony Barnette and Mike Napoli, and outrighting Austin Bibens-Dirkx and A.J. Jimenez.

With those moves made, and the offseason about to kick off, its a good time to take a look at the state of the Rangers’ 40 man roster...since, of course, the 40 man trumps all.

Texas currently has 30 players on the 40 man roster. They are:

Clayton Blackburn

Matt Bush

Alex Claudio

Jake Diekman

Nick Gardewine

Chi Chi Gonzalez

A.J. Griffin

Cole Hamels

Keone Kela

Jose Leclerc

Nick Martinez

Yohander Mendez

Martin Perez

Ricardo Rodriguez

Connor Sadzeck

Robinson Chirinos

Brett Nicholas

Hanser Alberto

Elvis Andrus

Adrian Beltre

Joey Gallo

Ronald Guzman

Rougned Odor

Jurickson Profar

Willie Calhoun

Shin-Soo Choo

Delino DeShields

Nomar Mazara

Drew Robinson

Ryan Rua

By November 20, any player that is to be protected from the Rule 5 draft has to added to the 40 man roster. Looking at Scott Lucas’s handy-dandy chart of Rule 5 eligibility, we can see that there are a number of players who the Rangers will likely want to add to the 40 man roster to avoid being exposed to the Rule 5 draft. The players I see as being most likely to get significant Rule 5 consideration are Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Brett Martin, Joe Palumbo, Jose Trevino, Sam Wolff, Jonathan Hernandez, and Ariel Jurado, although the Rangers could protect some other arms such as John Fasola, Reed Garrett, Adam Parks, and Joe Filomeno.

So...we could have 6-8 players in the system added to the 40 man roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. That would leave just 2-4 spots on the 40 man roster for trade acquisitions, free agent signings, etc. That’s not much room.

However, its fair to assume that not every player listed above will be on the Rangers’ 40 man roster come spring training. Jurickson Profar, for example, is almost certain to be moved in some sort of deal, which would open a spot.

As for players who could be waived or non-tendered, it seems unlikely the Rangers would keep both A.J. Griffin and Nick Martinez on the 40 man roster all offseason, particularly with each in line for raises through arbitration. Chi Chi Gonzalez will miss all of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in 2017, and is a potential roster casualty. Clayton Blackburn hung around all year, but still seems to be, at best, on the fringes of the team’s plans, and could end up getting waived. Hanser Alberto, having missed all 2017 with a shoulder injury, could be on the bubble. And Ryan Rua, arbitration-eligible and out of options, could find himself in a roster squeeze after a rough 2017, though it seems like he’s the type of player the Rangers would take to camp and try to run through waivers and outright.

I’m curious to see who ends up getting protected from the Rule 5, since that will significantly impact whose 40 man spots will be in jeopardy. Ultimately, though, the Rangers should have plenty of 40 man roster space available this winter to make whatever moves they want to make.