Rangers sign Plawecki, put Solak on i.l.

The Texas Rangers signed catcher Kevin Plawecki to a minor league deal, the team announced yesterday. To make room for Plawecki on the active and 40 man roster, the Rangers placed Nick Solak on the 60 day injured list with a right foot fracture.

I’m honestly baffled by this whole Plawecki thing. We first heard over the weekend that the Rangers were interested in Plawecki, who was designated for assignment on Friday of last week by the Boston Red Sox. This interest was apparently great enough that they just kept Nick Solak on the active roster, despite his being unavailable, rather that put Solak on the injured list and replace him with someone else while they waited for the Plawecki situation to resolve himself.

Plawecki is a free agent after the season, and the season ends in two weeks, so it wouldn’t seem like this is a move that would be necessary, or terribly productive. Apparently, the Rangers have interest in him as a potential backup catcher option in 2023, and want to see how he fits in. Hitting coach Tim Hyers was with Plawecki for a couple of seasons in Boston, and so that connection would seem likely to have something to do with the interest, particularly since those two years were Plawecki’s best offensive stretch of his career.

With Mitch Garver, Jonah Heim and Sam Huff under team control for 2023, the catching situation would appear to be fairly set, but Texas could look to move one of those players. Heim has had a breakout year, but if the team still believes in Huff as their catcher of the future, Heim might be someone they could look to move this offseason in a deal for pitching.

As for Solak, this could be the end of his Rangers tenure.