T.R.’s Memoirs: A Rangers all-time free-agency review, with offseason floodgates about to open (Part I)

(AP photo/Linda Kaye)

Editor’s note: T.R. Sullivan covered the Texas Rangers over 32 years for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and MLB.com, and is sharing his “memoirs” with this newsletter. In the latest two-part installment, Sullivan looks back at the Rangers pursuit of various free agents through the years.

Rance Mulliniks is the most significant free-agent target in Rangers history.

At least in my view.

Don’t remember ol’ Rance? Not many do. Probably not even former general manager Tom Grieve.

Mulliniks was an average left-handed hitting third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays who was a free agent after the 1990 season. He was 37 at the time and close to the end of his career. The Rangers pursued him, but Mulliniks ended up re-signing with the Blue Jays.

So what makes him so special?