Heaney signing official, Alexy DFA’d

The Texas Rangers have signed pitcher Andrew Heaney, the team announced today. To make room for Heaney on the active roster, the Rangers have designated pitcher A.J. Alexy for assignment.

We talked about Heaney earlier this week when news broke that the Rangers and Heaney had agreed on a deal. Heaney has a two year deal with an opt out after 2023, and appears slated to be the Rangers’ fourth starter this year, assuming he can stay healthy, something that has been an issue throughout his career.

To make room for Heaney, the Rangers designated pitcher A.J. Alexy for assignment. Alexy’s star appeared to be on the rise coming into 2022, but he had a bad season in Round Rock, and in his brief appearances in Texas he was also bad. The Rangers have seven days to waive, trade or release Alexy.

The Rangers also announced the re-signing of three players to minor league deals — pitchers Nick Snyder and Lucas Jacobsen, and catcher David Garcia. We had mentioned Jacobsen coming back earlier — he’s someone who I think was a priority, a guy with impressive stuff who hasn’t been healthy, but who could be a major league reliever if he can stay on the mound.

Snyder is a righthanded reliever who was added to the 40 man roster late in 2021. Snyder had a rough 2022 season at Round Rock, and ended up being non-tendered despite not being arbitration eligible. Pretty much every player in a similar situation who the Rangers have ever non-tendered end up re-signing — I imagine the Rangers don’t non-tender a player in that situation unless there’s an understanding in place that he will re-sign on a minor league deal — so this isn’t unexpected. If Snyder can stay healthy and improve his command, he could be in Arlington in 2023.

Finally, the Rangers, for the second year in a row, have re-signed catcher David Garcia to a minor league deal. Garcia was non-tendered after the 2021 season and then re-signed. He’s considered a very good defensive catcher whose bat is still a work in progress. He spent 2022 in Frisco, and could return there in 2023, or could move up to Round Rock.