We talked this week about the catcher market dwindling in a hurry this winter, and on Friday, the Rangers got their man to be the second catcher behind veteran Geovany Soto. Well, if by "their man" you mean possibly a third or fourth choice, that is.
The Rangers reportedly agreed to a one-year deal for former Toronto catcher J.P. Arencibia worth $1.8 million that could push to $2.1 with incentives, according to Ken Rosenthal.
Arencibia is a guy that has been highly touted coming up through the ranks but never really panned out for the Blue Jays. He has some major flaws, as evidenced by his .194 batting average and .227 on-base percentage and some defensive deficiencies, but he also has some pretty serious pop in his bat as evidenced by his 21 home runs.
This is definitely not a big splash of a signing, but it does the job if the Rangers were truly planning all along to ride with Soto as their No. 1 catcher in 2014. The hope is that prospect Jorge Alfaro will be ready for the big leagues by 2015. Now, Soto and Arencibia are both signed to one-year deals for 2014.
