Texas Ranger 40-Man Roster Update

Written by: Clayton Shearman Twitter: CShearman23

The Texas Rangers 40-man roster has seen a handful of changes in the last week or so. Eric Hurley(RHP), Esteban German(Util.), Omar Beltre(RHP), Andres Blanco(Inf.) and Merkin Valdez(RHP) all elected to join this year’s free-agency. Hurley, 26, was a former first-round draft selection of the Rangers in 2004. Hurley had two disabled-list stints including being put on the 60-day DL during the season. German, 33, was a AAA standout for the Ranger’s farm-system and he made a couple of World Series appearances this year. Beltre, 30, spent the entire 2011 season on the DL after spine surgery. Blanco, 27, hit .224 for the Rangers in some spot starts this year but found himself on the DL twice and didn’t make a single postseason roster. Valdez, 29, was signed to a minor league contract from the Dodgers this July and only made five appearances for the Rangers this season.

Darren O’Day, a right-handed reliever for the Rangers the last two seasons was put on waivers. O’Day was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles earlier this week. Along with O’Day, Mason Tobin(RHP) was assigned to AAA Round Rock. Tobin, 24 was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Rangers in 2010. Tobin was offered back to the Los Angeles, who drafted him in the 2007 amateur draft, but they declined the offer. With all of these transactions the Texas Rangers 40-man roster now has 31 players. Candidates to fill the open spots will consist of minor leaguers from within and possibly off-season free agent acquisitions.