Rangers Trade Frankie Frank for Mike Napoli

The Rangers have found their right-handed bat off the bench, and a player that can back up first base and at catcher.  Texas has traded former closer Frankie Francisco (and cash) to the Toronto Blue Jays for Mike Napoli.  Both players are eligible for salary arbitration and have not agreed to new contracts for 2011 yet.

So, once again, you can cross Vladimir Guerrero off the list of possibilities for a spot on the Rangers' roster.

Napoli, who sports one of the weakest beards in the game, has spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  He was their primary catcher until last season, when an injury to first baseman Kendry Morales forced the team to move Napoli to first.  He was traded with outfielder Juan Rivera from the Angels to the Blue Jays for outfielder Vernon Wells on Friday afternoon.

Napoli hits his fair share of homeruns, but doesn't do much else with the bat.  The five year veteran is a career .251 hitter with 92 homers and 249 RBIs.  Last year he hit .238 with 26 homers and 68 RBIs, a low HR/RBI ratio.  That tells me he's driving in runs mainly when he hits it out of the yard, and not much in times besides that.  One good stat from 2010 was that he hit .305 against left-handed pitchers, something the Rangers struggled to do.

He will get his at-bats at catcher, when Vorvit Torrealba and Matt Treanor are on the bench, at first base, when Mitch Moreland (or Chris Davis) need a rest or to sit against a tough lefty pitcher, or at designated hitter, perhaps when Michael Young is relieving someone else on the field.  If I was Treanor or Taylor Teagarden, this trade would make me feel uneasy about the security of my roster spot.

Frankie Frank lost his job as the team's closer early last year, ironically blowing leads against the Blue Jays in the first series of the season.  The Rangers now have Neftali Feliz as their closer, and with this trade it looks more improbable that the team will start 2011 with Feliz (or Alexi Ogando) in the starting rotation.  The bullpen has depth on the right and left side, which helps ease the blow of losing Frankie, but I'm not thrilled about the move.

First, I'm not a big fan of trading a key bullpen arm, even one that's had ups and downs and injuries, for a guy that is essentially a role player on this team.  I'd rather take a chance on one of the free agents left in the January scrap heap than trade a pitcher for that spot.

Second, like I said, I think this limits the Rangers options in tinkering with Feliz and Ogando as possible starters.  To take one of them out of the pen, in addition to giving up Frankie, removes trusted players in key situations when it comes time to nailing down a win.

Young pitchers on this roster, like Omar Beltre, Tanner Scheppers, and Mason Tobin, must see this as an opportunity to snag a spot in the bullpen out of Spring Training.  Feliz, Ogando, Darren O'Day, and Mark Lowe are the incumbents, but there's room for another righthander out there.  I'm rooting for Scheppers to lock down that spot.

So, first impression for me is that this deal has more potential for regret than excitement.  I see the need and applaud the front office for filling it with a player that can fit just about every aspect of what they wanted the last man on the roster to do, but I have a hard time letting go of Frankie.  I was also rooting for the team to get Vladdy back, so it disappoints me that won't be the case.