After Chi Chi Gonzalez had upped the ante in the race to be the Rangers' fifth starter by throwing five shutout innings in a split-squad win over the Reds on Thursday afternoon, A.J. Griffin played his cards in a night affair against his former team that released him this winter.
Griffin worked five innings, allowing just one run on four hits, in a blowout win over the AL West foe Oakland A's.
Griffin has basically missed the past two seasons after undergoing a major elbow surgery, but his low price, his relative youth and his skins on the wall in the big leagues make him an attractive candidate to open the year as the Rangers' fifth starter.
At this point, it seems most likely Griffin would open the season in the rotation so Gonzalez can continue to fine-tune his game in the minors, and at this point it seems Griffin has lapped veteran Jeremy Guthrie and even the younger Nick Martinez.
