Rangers lose insurance arm as veteran pitcher nears deal with White Sox

When the Texas Rangers signed Adrian Houser this offseason and watched him pitch quite well in spring training, POBO Christ Young almost certainly looked as adding the veteran pitcher as insurance in case the rotation didn’t do it’s job. The good news is that the rotation has done its job (and then some) and the bad news is that it looks like the club won’t have its insurance option stashed down in Triple-A.

Earlier this week, the Rangers gave Houser his release after an up and down run with Round Rock but most of the talk was that they wanted to bring him back on a new deal. In other words, despite an overachieving rotation, Young believed it would be worth having a veteran pitcher as “next man up.” It doesn’t appear it’s going to work that way though as Houser is on the verge of getting a better offer.

Texas Rangers lose Adrian Houser as veteran pitcher nears deal with White Sox

At the very least, the White Sox are offering Adrian Houser a better option than the Texas Rangers are as far as his immediate options. According to White Sox insider James Fox, the South Siders are about to sign the starting pitcher and give him a chance to immediately join the big league rotation.

Such is the things work out when you’re dealing with a Chicago team that is already considering 2025 a lost cause. It’s all about finding guys who can just not go out and embarrass the club at this point. 

It’s not a huge loss for Texas. Houser was only going to be pitching in Globe Life park if there were several injuries (he was probably in line after Kumar Rocker) but it’s still one of those moments that makes fans say “aw shucks,” if for no other reason than you never like to see cheap veterans get away. Especially when they came very close to throwing a complete game shutout in their last outing.