Rangers Out on Garza, Tanaka

Sep 26, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher

(22) throws during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Daniels said yesterday at the GM meetings that the Rangers are not looking to give a multi-year deal to a starter right now, but that the club is going to be more focused on the position-player side of the ball. The Rangers seem to feel confident that Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando will be ready to go for the 2014 season, or that someone like a Robbie Ross will be able to step in and take the place of one of those guys if they aren’t.

After the performance that Garza gave the Rangers in 2013, I am not surprised that they wouldn’t be jumping at the chance to give the guy a multi-year contract, and Tanaka, while a really good pitcher, is expected to be a number three starter, maybe a number two starter, but not considered to be as good as Yu Darvish. Plus, the bidding price could be double what the Rangers paid for Darvish.

Now this doesn’t mean that the Rangers won’t trade for Price, I still think there is a good chance that they will do that, cause we all know that Jon Daniels likes to play deception when talking to the media like he did with Garza during the last season. It just means their main focus is going to be on the offense, which I think it should be. They still have a pretty good chance, in my opinion, of re-signing Nelly Cruz, and they are still in the running for guys like Mccann, Ellsbury, Choo and others. I would like to see them get Nelly and maybe a power hitting first baseman or another outfielder so Nelly could be the DH.

Tanaka will probably end up in the AL East, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Garza wound up back in the NL, seeing that he had a lot more success there over the past few seasons. And the Rangers, well they probably have a few tricks up their sleeves between now and the start of spring training. We will just have to wait and see what happens.