To no one's surprise, the Texas Rangers decided to extend tender offers to their five players who are arbitration eligible prior to Monday night's deadline, meaning all five are currently considered to be under contract and will work out their salaries with the club in the coming weeks with the hopes of avoiding an arbitration hearing.
Arbitration hearings aren't fun — for players or clubs — and the Rangers haven't gone to arbitration with a player since 2000, when they went with Lee Stevens, of all people.
The Rangers tendered Mitch Moreland, Neal Cotts, Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando and Craig Gentry, all of which are expected to play key roles with the Rangers in 2014 with the possible exception of Moreland, whose tendering could be considered a small surprise since the Rangers traded for first baseman Prince Fielder, but Moreland should still have a role with the team.
According to MLBTradeRumors.com, a site we often reference here on Red Fever that normally does a great job of projecting these things, the players are expected to get in the neighborhood of the following salaries for the 2014 season: Cotts ($1.5 million), Feliz ($3 million), Gentry ($1.1 million), Moreland ($2.7 million) and Ogando ($2 million).
All five of those are very reasonable figures, and the one that stands out most is the $2 million for Ogando, who will most likely be the team's fifth starter unless a move is made this winter.
