Texas Rangers non-tender Gibaut, Huang

Texas Rangers transactions: Ian Gibaut and Wei-Chieh Huang were non-tendered by the Texas Rangers today, it was announced. All other Rangers players on the 40 man roster were tendered contracts.

Neither Gibaut nor Huang were arbitration eligible, though by non-tendering them, the Rangers have avoided putting them on waivers and risking another team claiming them and then potentially waiving them and outrighting them. Gibaut and Huang are now free agents, and presumably, the Rangers will explore bringing each back on a minor league contract.

We discussed non-tender candidates on Friday, and mentioned Huang and Luke Farrell as possible candidates to be non-tendered. Farrell survives for now, with Gibaut joining Huang on the free agent market.

Huang, a 26 year old righthanded reliever, came over to Texas from Arizona in the Jake Diekman trade last year. He had four appearances in the majors for Texas in 2019, but spent most of the year in Frisco and Nashville. He also spent a good portion of the year on the injured list, and hasn’t been that impressive since the Rangers acquired him. Righty relievers whose best pitch is a changeup can have a hard time making it in the majors, and Huang was on the bubble to even be added to the 40 man roster last November.

Gibaut, 26, was sent to the Rangers in July, 2019, from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash. The big, hard-throwing righthander put up a 5.65 ERA in 14.1 IP in the majors between Tampa and Texas in 2019. He has good stuff but has struggled with his command.

With these moves, the Rangers 40 man roster now stands at 38, though it will be 39 once Kyle Gibson is officially added.