Texas Rangers sign Tommy Hanson

Jul 28, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tommy Hanson (48) prepares to deliver a pitch against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with pitcher Tommy Hanson. Hanson will come into spring training as a candidate for the stating rotation, which just adds another pitcher to the mix with Colby Lewis, Nick Tepesch, Robbie Ross and Tanner Scheppers. Hanson was 4-3 with a 5.42 ERA in 13 starts (15 games total) with the Angels last season. He also spent some time with their minor league club where Hanson went 0-2 with a 5.49 ERA is four starts (four games total).

He is not a guy that I see being a serious long-term fix for the Texas Rangers to replace the injured Derek Holland, and I personally would rather see one of the guys already in the organization take the fifth starting spot. The best case scenario would be that Colby Lewis is healthy enough to go and pitches good enough to win the spot. Of course we still don’t know exactly how Matt Harrison is going to look after missing most of last season with two different back surgeries and Alexi has yet to make it through a whole season as a starter, so having some depth is never a bad thing. But if everyone is healthy, I don’t see Hanson being an impact player for the Texas Rangers. Of course, it is almost never the best case scenario, is it?