Breaking Down the Non-Roster Invitees: Texas Rangers

Compared to the deluge of names in the Mariners camp, Texas brings a fairly light load of NRIs. Still, they aren’t to be dismissed as a group: there are some interesting names here, between prospect Tanner Scheppers, recently notable big leaguer Dave Bush, and a number of blasts from the past and interesting fringe players.

And seriously, remember Endy Chavez and Seth McClung? I sure do. Those were the days.

INF Brian Barden—While he’s usually hit well in Triple-A (including a .353/.407/.489 line last season), Barden has yet to figure out major league pitching, and since he turns 30 in May, he’s just about out of time. Granted, he’s only had 193 career plate apperarances, but a .211/.268/.303 line in that time isn’t going to convert any doubters, and Barden had twelve strikeouts and no extra-base hits in 32 plate appearances with Florida last year. Furthermore, his defense at short isn’t well-regarded, so he doesn’t have the defensive chops to carry such a weak bat. If there’s anywhere he can succeed, it’s probably Texas, but Barden has had enough chances that he doesn’t necessarily deserve another. Of course, his Triple-A lines do point to his true talent being better than what he’s shown, however.

RHP Dave Bush–Always a soft-tosser, Bush lost even more velocity in 2010, now throwing in the mid-80’s. His eephus-esque curveball isn’t fooling anyone, and Bush is utterly without plus stuff at this point. That alone doesn’t preclude him from success–see Moyer, Jamie–but Bush has posted FIPs north of 5.00 for two straight years, and moving from Milwaukee to Texas (and the NL to the AL) won’t help. He could be a passable fifth starter, but the 31-year-old is highly unlikely to be a major contributor, even though he’s been a rotation mainstay for Toronto and Milwaukee since 2004.

C Kevin Cash—One of the eternal mysteries of the game is what teams see in Kevin Cash. A career .183/.248/.278 hitter, he’s had 714 plate appearances to prove he has some degree of offensive skill and has utterly failed. He hit a truly abominable .167/.246/.237 last year and still got 129 PAs. It would almost make sense, given that he’s a catcher, if Cash were a plus defender, but he isn’t–he’s got a “meh” career caught-stealing percentage of 28%, and threw out just seven of 45 base thieves last year. The 33-year-old has gotten far more MLB time than he deserves, and the fact that Texas wanted a look at him after 2010’s terrible performance, let alone the rest of his career, is really quite shocking.

OF Endy Chavez—Yep, Endy Chavez is still kicking around. Just 33 (and he just turned 33 last week), Chavez didn’t play in the majors last year, playing sparsely in the Rangers’ minor league system. The career .270/.312/.367 hitter hit a typical .273/.328/.342 for Seattle in 2009, so when last seen, he was still the player we’d expect–a great defender with good speed, solid contact skills, and little else. A horrific outfield collision in 2009 has basically rendered him out of action since; we’ll see what he has left.

OF Doug Deeds—A nice Triple-A hitter who’s never gotten his big league chance, Deeds hit .302/.388/.491 for the Diamondbacks’ AAA affiliate last year, ripping 39 doubles. He’s 29, but Deeds does bring a useful glove that can play first base and all three outfield spots, as well as a nice line-drive bat that could play well in Texas’ friendly ballpark. He’s the sort of guy I wish would get a shot: sure he might not do much with it, but there’s a legitimate chance he could.

INF Esteban German—In the past five seasons, German has failed to post a .350 OBP exactly once, in 2008. That year, however, has doomed him to spend most of his 2009-10 time in Triple-A, but he’s hit well in brief MLB stints in both years. Never much of a middle infield defender, he’s nevertheless worth a roster spot due to his gap power and plate discipline–we’re talking about a career .278/.358/.381 hitter who’s played every position except pitcher, catcher, and right field.

LHP Zach Jackson—Like Cash, there’s absolutely no reason to like Zach Jackson enough to want him in camp as an NRI, which, again, makes it interesting that he keeps showing up on teams’ big league radar screens. Not only does he have a career 5.81 ERA in just over 100 innings, but his last two years in Triple-A have brought ERAs of 5.75 and 6.05. And it’s not like Jackson brings interesting pitches to the table–he throws in the 86-89 mph range and tosses a decent cutter and three poor offspeed pitches. Why Texas finds the 27-year-old interesting is anyone’s guess.

RHP Seth McClung—McClung has the unenviable distinction of having a negative career WAR (-0.8) in over 400 MLB innings. The only pitcher who threw 400+ innings from 2003-10 with a worse career WAR is Lance Cormier, at -0.9. Still, this invite makes more sense than you’d think–Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux coaxed good performances from McClung in 2007-08, and the righty has a fresh arm after not pitching in 2010. Still just 30, McClung still brings mid-90’s heat and a plus curveball–it’s command that’s always been the problem. If Maddux can get him back on track, he could be a nice pickup for a Texas team that seems to perpetually be in need of arms.

RHP Tanner Scheppers—Speaking of hard throwers, Scheppers certainly is one, bringing the ball into the high 90’s in relief. While he has just one year of pro experience, Scheppers is already 24, so the righty isn’t particularly young for a prospect. After striking out over a batter per inning in Triple-A last year, he’s more or less ready, although Scheppers is fairly rough around the edges. He spent some time starting last year, but mostly in relief, so it’ll be interesting to see what sort of role the Rangers look at him in.

RHP Ryan Tucker—Yet another power arm who hasn’t figured out how to pitch, Tucker bombed in 37 innings with the Marlins in 2008 and hasn’t seen the big leagues since. He touches 96 mph with his fastball, but he struggles with his command and doesn’t have a second pitch. Surprisingly, he’s only a month older than Scheppers, but Tucker’s fallen a long way–he spent part of last year as a High-A reliever, and walked more than he struck out even there. To be fair, he was largely rehabbing after missing most of 2009 with injuries, but there’s really no reason to look at Tucker as a starting pitcher again given his lack of secondary stuff. Perhaps he can become a solid reliever, although he’s going to have to show signs of life in 2011 to be taken seriously again.