The Rangers keep adding depth to their already deep bullpen and on Thursday they concluded the MLB winter meetings by signing Tony Barnette to a two-year deal after he'd pitched in Japan the past six seasons, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Barnette was a draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006 and made it up to Triple-A Reno before moving on to Japan, where he's pitched since 2010 for Yakult. Barnette is a hard thrower, but doesn't seem to be a huge strikeout guy, at least not by relief standards.
In 2015, Barnette worked 62 2/3 innings in 59 games for his Japanese club and he posted a 1.29 ERA with 56 strikeouts and 19 walks.
The Rangers have already traded for Tom Wilhelmsen from Seattle in the Leonys Martin deal and have a really solid core of relievers coming back from last year's squad, which saw it's bullpen retooled completely at the trade deadline with the acquisitions of Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson.
