Rangers Finalize Deals with Webb and Rhodes

The Rangers have officially signed pitchers Brandon Webb and Arthur Rhodes, and to make room on the 40-man roster they designated pitcher Clay Rapada and catcher Max Ramirez for assignment.  That means the team has ten days to send them through waivers and assign them to the minors (assuming they aren't claimed by another team), trade them, or release them. Rapada has been outrighted to the minors before with another team, so if the Rangers go that route with him, he has the right to decline and become a free agent.

Webb's deal is for one year and $3 million, but he could push it to $8 million with performance incentives in the contract.  As I said when the Webb agreement was first announced after Christmas, the Rangers have a potential ace if he can come back healthy.  If not, a $3 million gamble on a guy that won the Cy Young Award five years ago isn't a horrible move.  Rich Harden got more to pitch here last year, had an injury history, and is more of a head-case than Webb.  Webb should be somewhere between Harden and Colby Lewis in terms of expectations, granted that's a pretty big spectrum.  Do not expect him to come in and be Cliff Lee.  That's not fair to him, and you'll be disappointed, even if Webb has an All-Star year.  I'm excited to see what Webb can do and how he fits on this club.

Rhodes' contract is for one year and $3.9 million, with a vesting option for $4 million in 2012.  Rhodes will team up with Darren Oliver from the left side of the bullpen and should be a strong addition to this team.  Rhodes, like Oliver, is not just a lefty specialist, but he can get right handers out, too.  The Rangers also have Matt Harrison, Michael Kirkman, and maybe even Derek Holland (if he doesn't win a rotation spot), who could all factor in as left handed relievers at some point in 2011, which made choosing to bump Clay Rapada off the 40-man roster easier to swallow.  Rapada is strictly a lefty specialist, and Ron Washington and Mike Maddux prefer to have more versatility from their relief pitchers.

Max Ramirez has fallen to fourth on the organization's catching depth chart, and has always been looked upon as a offense first, defense second kind of backstop.  With Yorvit Torrealba and Matt Treanor expected to get a vast majority of the starts behind the plate, and Taylor Teagarden next in line if one of those guys gets injured, Ramirez just does not have a clear path to the Bigs at the moment, at least not with Texas.  He's only 26, and he was traded to Boston for Mike Lowell last Winter before Lowell's injury nixed the deal, so I won't be shocked if another team claims Ramirez, or if the Rangers find a trading partner and try to get a player in return who does not have to be protected on the 40-man roster.

Finally, I'm not going to comment on the Adrian Beltre rumors right now.  If something more concrete comes of the talk, then I might get into it a bit, but I haven't seen anything of the sort from the writers I usually trust in these matters.