Friday newsletter time: Rangers have wiggle room to make another addition to 40-man roster

(AP photo/David Zalubowski)

Left-hander Matt Moore is no longer a free agent, and he will be pitching against the Rangers this season instead of for them.

He signed a one-year, $7.55 million contract with the Angels, settling for a well-paying one-year pact after not receiving the multiyear deal other lefty relievers bagged early in the offseason.

Moore didn’t make the Rangers’ Opening Day roster last season but was their first call-up from the minors and never went back. He posted a 1.95 ERA and even record the first save of his career.

The Rangers are going with what they have in the bullpen, and the competition for the Opening Day roster will go down to the final few days of spring training.

That said, the Rangers do have some roster flexibility to add a player on a major-league deal. They just have to put lefty Brett Martin on the 60-day injured list.

Martin underwent shoulder surgery last month and is not doing any baseball activities. He’s not even in Arizona, as he is rehabbing in Arlington.

That would free up one roster spot for a reliever or, say, a left fielder.

The Rangers tried unsuccessfully to fill that position in the offseason, and when last anyone was asked, the Rangers were planning on a platoon to fill the position.

Jurickson Profar remains the best available free agent, which doesn’t sound the same alarms that it would have 10 years ago. Bryan Reynolds is in Pirates camp after no team met their high ransom for the former All-Star.

Then again, the Rangers are probably going to need multiple roster spots to squeeze non-roster players onto the March 30 roster.

Just some food for thought.

Smaller crowd

When the media met Thursday morning with Jacob deGrom, there were four reporters and one camera. In other words, it was nothing like he experienced with the Mets.

The New York media doesn’t cover its sports teams like it did in the past, but the reporters still outnumber any other market. The group would have been two or three deep were he still with New York.

When asked how he thought Mets media would have handled the mild tightness in his left side, he smiled and kindly deflected the question.

He knows he’s still Jacob deGrom, even if he’s with a new team. Word travels fast, and he seems very guarded against saying remotely controversial that might blow up on him on the East Coast.

De Grom seems to be fairly relaxed around the Rangers beat writers. He joked about one of my questions, which admittedly wasn’t very good but was asked just to keep the conversation going. He also pointed out that he and I share 48, his jersey number and my age.

Thanks a lot.

He’ll get along just fine here.

Card of the Week

John Moore thought it would be a good idea Wednesday night if Rangers Today did a Twitter Live, and, by golly, he was right.

He and I chatted with more than 50 Rangers fans for about an hour, and one of the players in camp who was asked about multiple times was right-hander Chase Lee.

He’s in big-league camp after being selected as the Rangers Minor-League Reliever of the Year for 2022. He’s a change-of-pace pitcher who offers a different look throwing from the side. He’s not scraping his knuckles on the mound, but he’s well below the three-quarters arm slot.

And, with my son (hopefully) headed to spring training soon, I have been snatching up baseball cards for him to get autographed.

Among them was the Card of the Week, Lee’s 2021 Panini Prizm Draft Picks silver prizm.

One of the questions about Lee was if he is a legitimate candidate for the Opening Day roster. I said no, but I think he makes his MLB debut this season. Lee finished 2022 at Triple A Round Rock.

He is the only player who has come to the studio to film the Rangers Today Baseball Podcast, doing so early last season. He has a great story, and the episode is worth watching here.

Doggy video!

That’s one way to complete a catch. Enjoy.

Finally got you, you, you tail you! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/mOcb0Uw8b7

— Madeyousmile (@Thund3rB0lt) February 14, 2023

Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com