Rangers Official Non-Tender List

T.R. Sullivan just released the Rangers non-tender list and it reads as follows:

C Geovany Soto, 1B/3B Brandon Snyder & P Jacob Brigham. 

If you are unfamiliar with what non-tendering a player means, it basically means that if a club has no interest in keeping a particular player, the club may choose to not offer him a contract. A player generally becomes a candidate to be non-tendered when he is arbitration-eligible and his club determines he is not worth the salary he might command in arbitration. A player who is non-tendered becomes a free agent and may sign with any of the 30 MLB clubs, including his former team, at any price.

Now, let’s evaluate the list.

Soto’s non-tendering is a bit of a mix between good and maybe not so good. Yes, his batting average was less than desirable, but he was a big part of helping Yu Darvish steady his course in the last half of the season. His defense will be missed, but there are probably better options to be had in order to fill the hole at the catcher position. Speaking of which, my wish list is for Mike Napoli & Kelly Shoppach to be behind the dish in 2013. The Winter Meetings are coming up and we shall see what happens, if anything.

Synder being non-tendered raises a few questions for me. Will he be resigned under more agreeable terms? Is this a sign that Michael Young will not see the diminished role many are predicting? Is this also a sign that Mike Olt will most likely be protected unless a sure fire, can’t miss deal comes into play? Snyder showed a lot of promise and would be a serviceable option to back up Moreland and Beltre if he could get some consistency under his belt during the regular season. It will be very intriguing to track what ends up happening to Snyder and if the Rangers make a move to re-sign or not.

The Rangers had just gotten Brigham back before deciding to non-tender him today. He’s also a likely candidate for a re-sign under agreeable terms, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they let him go into free agency either. The doubt of re-signing Brigham is due mostly to his extended return to form after Tommy John surgery. His future with the Rangers will mostly be determined by their comfort with still sticking with Brigham or not.