Texas Rangers: Clearing room on the 40-man roster

The Texas Rangers are starting to clear the way for the offseason.  Today they made several moves to clear room on the 40-man roster.   The Rangers were able to outright assign Guilder Rodriguez, Pedro Figueroa, Wilmer Font and Engel Beltre to AAA Round Rock since they cleared waivers.

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Beltre, Font and Figueroa could opt for free agency instead of their AAA assignment, but it is likely that the Texas Rangers will work out a deal between them and allow them to arrive at the big league camp this spring to compete for a roster spot.

Also, infielder Kevin Kouzmanoff and catcher/first baseman J.P. Arencibia clear waivers also and were both outrighted to triple-A Round Rock also, but each opted for free agency.  Not many will miss Arencibia, but Kouzmanoff was quickly becoming a fan favorite.

The Chicago Cubs picked up Joe Ortiz through waivers.  Ortiz missed all of the season due to an accident involving a motorcycling hitting his foot before the 2014 season.  He did finally manage to appear in some double-A games with the Frisco Rough Riders, but never made it to the majors.

After the dust finally settled today the Texas Rangers 40-man roster is now at 37.