Rangers sign 2 players to minor-league contracts including former division rival

After the wild and transaction-filled offseason they've put together (so far), the Texas Rangers are onto filling out their organization with some less flashy, minor league contracts. After all, they've already added two power hitters, a reliable backup catcher and five relief pitchers, in addition to re-signing Nathan Eovaldi.

With most of their other division rivals sitting in neutral, the Rangers have done an excellent job at rounding out their roster and putting themselves in position to succeed for 2025. Some of their latest moves may not appear to be needle-movers on the surface, but they're going to be helpful down the line as the Rangers round out their organizational depth.

Rangers sign two infielders to minor league deals, including old rival

Over the past few days, the Rangers have signed a pair of infielders to minor league contracts. One of them, Sam Haggerty, is a familiar face for the club, as he just wrapped up a five-year stint on the division rival Seattle Mariners.

Haggerty, 30, signed with the Rangers on Monday and will be in big league spring training as a non-roster invitee. While functioning mostly as an oft-used utility option in Seattle, Haggerty quietly flashed a long list of tools that could be of use in Texas. He's switch-hitter who steals a ton of bases, has a contact-oriented bat, and offers defensive versatility that could be helpful off the Rangers' bench.

While the 2024 season was a lost one for the six-year vet, he posted an OPS+ north of 100 in both 2022 and 2023 while going a combined 23-for-25 in stolen base attempts and posting a decent-but-not-great .727 OPS. On defense, he's logged time at first, second, and third base, as well as all three spots in the outfield.

Long regarded as one of the best defensive shortstops in all of baseball, Nick Ahmed also joined the Rangers, signing a non-rostered minor-league deal on Tuesday.

Now 34 years of age, Ahmed, a two-time Gold Glover at shortstop, has never once put up an above-average offensive season in his 11-year career. However, he's regularly been an outstanding defensive contributor and there's no doubt that's why the Rangers brought him aboard.

Here's where Ahmed ranked in Outs Above Average in every year he's qualified since 2016:

• 2016: 99th percentile
• 2017: 94th percentile
• 2018: 100th percentile (Gold Glove)
• 2019: 99th percentile (Gold Glove)
• 2020: 99th percentile
• 2021: 100th percentile
• 2022: Did Not Qualify
• 2023: 90th percentile
• 2024: 94th percentile

That should play. This past year, Ahmed appeared in a total of 71 games split between three different NL West teams: the Giants, Dodgers and Padres. He hit .229 with a .562 OPS and 62 OPS+, recording a total of nine extra-base hits with 17 runs driven in and 20 runs scored.

As their roster is currently assembled, the Rangers don't have much room for either Haggerty or Ahmed at the big league level. Marcus Semien, Josh Jung, Jake Burger, and Corey Seager have the infield locked down, and both Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran have utility bench spots secured. It seems that both veterans will be simply high-minors depth, but they'll be the first to be called when an injury arises in The Show.