The rotation, the bullpen and the outfield have all looked great during spring training.  The only need for the Rangers is infield help.  The catcher position is included in this need for infield help, in which the Rangers in order to plug a  hole traded for Matt Treanor.  The need for infield help was understood even more when Greene did not report to spring training due to a relapse of his social anxiety disorder. 

 Then Ian Kinsler sprained his right ankle and has not appeared in games in over ten days.  Kinsler should be in the starting line-up on April 5th against the Blue Jays, although nobody knows how far he can go into a game and how he should do once he does get back into game action.  So the Rangers needed some sort of back up for the infield. 

Today the Rangers traded Edwar Ramirez whom they acquired from Yankees two weeks ago, to the Oakland Athletics’s for Gregorio Petit.  Gregorio Petit  has limited time in the majors, although he does have experience at second base and short stop.  Manager Ron Washington has always stated that whoever assumes the backup infielder position should and will be able to play shortstop.  The Rangers have given in house candidates Joaquin Arias and Esteban German the opportunity to step up and take the back up infield spot, although if they were to falter, Petit could step up and take the position. 

Trading Ramirez must have tough for the Rangers to stomach considering his high upside, although that was made easier considering the bullpen and rotation strength.  The Rangers have a great farm system and this shows in the pitching strength.  So the Rangers had to trade something they did not need for something they did need, the Athletics’s also gained some insurance for their bullpen in Ramirez. 

In baseball news the postseason schedule has been shortened to have less off days.  There were complaints that there were too many off days during the postseason.  In the span of a 183 days teams play 162 games during the regular season.  Then the postseason comes around and you play only 8 games in 20 days.  The rhythm of the season is thrown off with the excess off days.  The Yankees benefited from the excessive off days by only have a 3 man rotation throughout the entire postseason last year to eventually win the world series.

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The Rangers front office today went out and obtained Edwar Ramirez for cash considerations. Ramirez could possibly make the big league roster out of spring training to help solidify the bullpen. He is the type of player who fits into the 2010 roster quite well.  He struggled in 2009 with the Yankees, even finishing the year at Triple A, although in 2008 he posted a 5-1 record with a .355 era with 63 strikeouts. So he has quite the upside for an affordable price.

In Joe Girardi’s first year as the Yankees manager, Ramirez was his go to, middle innings guy who could get strikeouts in tough situations. Even with Ramirez’s success the Yankees faltered and so the next year they made their bullpen stronger. So when they broke camp and Ramirez started to struggle he was shipped to Triple A for someone else to step up and take his place. When the Yankees signed Chan Ho Park early in spring training, they had to make room for him, so they designated Ramirez for assignment so that Park could take his spot on the forty man roster.

The Rangers may be a good option for him because they are not going to expect him to be perfect for an entire season. If he were to struggle though, the Rangers could always option him to Triple A Oklahoma City Red Hawks since he has one minor league option year left. So he could be sent down to the minors without the risk of him being claimed off of waivers. They only way that Ramirez could be subject to waivers if the Rangers tried to remove him from the 40 man roster at anytime during the season.

Jarrod Saltlamacchia may have had somewhat of setback today, he is experiencing pain around the incision from his off season surgery. It could just be somewhat sore as he gets his arm back into shape. The hope is that it is nothing more than lingering effects from the surgery and not something more serious such as a muscle strain around the incision.  As it gets closer to opening day his status should become clearer, although this might give Taylor Teagarden an advantage to get the starting catcher position.