Texas Rangers rumors: Josh Harrison of interest, per report

Texas Rangers rumors: Josh Harrison, a free agent infielder who has spent his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has attracted interest from the Rangers, as well as a number of other teams, per Jon Heyman on Twitter.

Harrison predominantly played second base for the Pirates in 2018, but over the course of his career has also played a fair amount of third base, with occasional appearances in the outfield and at shortstop. A righthanded hitter, Harrison had a down year in 2018, slashing .250/.293/.363 in 374 plate appearances, but he had a .272/.339/.432 slash line in 2017, and was an All Star that year.

I suspect the Rangers’ interest in Harrison would be as a third baseman, since right now the Rangers have Patrick Wisdom as their primary option, and no other real viable options. Harrison is a good defender who averaged around 2 wins per year from 2015-17 (he had an outlier 5 win season in 2014), and at 31, is young enough that he could bounce back some from his dismal 2018 season.

With Jurickson Profar now an Oakland A, the Rangers have been rumored to be looking at veteran stopgap options at third base, and Harrison would seem to fit that bill. Jon Heyman and his expert had Harrison at 2 years at $5-6 million per year, which is more than what I think Texas would go for, but he’s a potential fit on a one year deal.