Texas Rangers bid for Hyeon-jong Yang reportedly rejected

The Texas Rangers were reportedly the highest bidder for Korean LHP Hyeon-jong Yang.  The $1.5 million bid that the Rangers put in was reportedly higher than the Minnesota Twins, who we said to have earlier won the bid.

Now it appears no one will be bringing the talents of Yang to the United States.  It was expected that the Kia Tigers were going to reject the offer, but it was also reported that Hyeon-jong Yang was pushing hard for the Tigers to accept the deal.  He’s stated that it has been a dream of his to play on a MLB team in the United States.

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Overall this is disappointing news for the Texas Rangers, mainly because they desperately another starting pitcher.  Right now if the season started the only starters they would have in the rotation is Yu Darvish and Derek Holland.  They’ll likely re-sign Colby Lewis sometime soon and will use either Nick Tepesch or Nick Martinez in the rotation again.  Also, the do still have Matt Harrison and Martin Perez.   But, it’s doubtful Harrison will be able to return after having another back surgery.  Perez has been cleared to begin pitching again, but he won’t likely be ready until after the All-star break.

The Rangers could re-sign Scott Baker, who did a decent job this season in his relief role and his occasional starts.  There are several other free-agent starting pitchers such as Ryan Vogelsong, Ervin Santana, Jason Hammel, Brandon McCarthy, Jake Peavy and Hiroki Kuroda.

Who ever the Texas Rangers ended up signing it will likely be someone that comes at a pretty good price.  The Rangers said the 2015 budget won’t increase much and the expect to only have about $15 million in money available.    That means they’ll need to spread that around pretty thinly over finding a solid left-fielder, power-hitter and starting pitcher.