10:40am: Forsythe would earn a $2MM base salary upon making the big league roster, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
10:08am: The Rangers announced that they’ve signed veteran infielder Logan Forsythe to a minor league contract. The PSI Sports client will be in Major League camp and compete for a roster spot moving forward.
Forsythe, 32, split a disappointing 2018 season between the Dodgers and Twins, hitting a combined .232/.313/.291 with just two home runs through 416 plate appearances. That marked a second straight season of declining offensive output following a terrific two-year stretch in which he hit .273/.347/.444 in nearly 1200 plate appearances with the Rays from 2015-16. Forsythe did show better on-base skills with the Twins following a trade from Los Angeles, but his power outage only worsened in his brief stint with Minnesota.
One would imagine that a move to the hitter-friendly Globe Life Park in Arlington could help to restore some of Forsythe’s missing pop, but he’ll first have to earn his way onto the club in what would presumably be a bench role. The Rangers traded Jurickson Profar to the division-rival Athletics this winter but still project to have a full infield with Rougned Odor at second base (Forsythe’s most frequent position), Elvis Andrus at shortstop and offseason pickup Asdrubal Cabrera at third base. Outside of Patrick Wisdom and backup catcher/infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, however, Texas doesn’t have much in the way infield alternatives on the 40-man roster at present, giving Forsythe a decent chance at making the roster.
At his best, Forsythe and his right-handed bat are a menace to left-handed pitching. The switch-hitting Cabrera struggled against lefties last season, and Odor has also typically been much stronger against right-handed pitching, which could help Forsythe carve out a role on the Rangers’ bench.
Wow, he couldn’t even get a major league contract.
It seems like nobody outside the top 50 free agents can.
Even top 50 free agents are settling for minor league contracts…
Because listing 50 is too many…
It doesn’t help that there was like 50 2B’s on the market this year.
and many farm hands that can put up the same MLB numbers
There’s the big thing. Why throw guaranteed money when you might get as much or more production taking a chance on a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for a guy in AAA…
There are a lot of second basemen out there.
Keystone glut.
I mean, have you seen his slash line? look at his .OPS+. Not pretty.
Solid player… can play all across the diamond and even the outfield, not a power guy but he’d be a solid bench player if he gets on the 25 man roster
His OPS+ was 67 last year and 83 in 2017. A minor league tryout seems about right. I hope it works out for him.
Seems like there is an awful lot of minor league deals going to guys this offseason…
It happens every offseason…
Just seems like more than usual to me. I’m not saying Forsythe is great, but some of these minor league deals are surprising to me.
The only surprising one to me was Ervin Santana given how much value is usually placed on SP. Outside of that, seems like relatively similar to last years offseason.
The iglesies is another one that stands out to me too.
What about Derek Dietrich?
Yeah the iglesias one is a bit surprising. I would argue that his WAR is inflated by his defense, and there is always a glut of slick fielders who cant hit. Though, on a bad team, he could definitely belong on their 25-man roster.
I think this offseason is a significant shift. Sure, we’ve always seen your over the hill veteran who still wants to play get a minor league deal and your Danny valencia types but this offseason is different. We’re seeing guys who always get major league deals settling for minors pacts. Santana, Dietrich, Iglesias etc. I mean none of these guys are studs by any means but they were guys who would’ve had no problems securing ML deals. I’d say the same for the backup C market guys like Wieters and Hundley I would’ve bet were safe bets for small but still ML deals.
Yep! Looking at those numbers the last 2 years, it is no surprise he only got a minor league deal
Remember when he was the last piece of the puzzle for the Dodgers to win it all…
Said four people, probably.
“cant believe he didn’t get a Major League deal”
For a team like the Rangers who are suppose fo be flush with prospects in their system they sure have been signing a lot of old and/or injury history players this off season. Where are all those “prospects” now?
The Rangers haven’t been flush with prospects for a while now.
But to answer your question, most of them are either on the major league roster or were used in trades for Cole Hamels, Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran.
And lower in the minors still a year or two away hence the veterans. They are just a bridge to the next wave of young talent. And if they take off then they become easily tradable assets.
I just read below. Sorry for repeating.
The Rangers minor league talent is pitching and outfield and almost zero are ready for AA or above. This offseason has been about cobbling a serviceable product onto the field while the main energy is put into a rebuild for 2020 and beyond ( for the new stadium)
Yep, and I really like what they’ve done this offseason. It would take a lot of things to go right to compete for a wild card spot, but the low-cost risks they’ve taken this winter all have legitimate upside.
In the best-case scenario, you’re playing meaningful games in the late summer and into the fall. And all likely scenarios leave you with some solid trade chips if things go south before then.
I much prefer this approach to tanking. They’re not going all in (and they shouldn’t), but at least they’re trying to compete.
This is just a smart strategy at this point. There’s so many teams tanking right now why not. FA’s are cheaper than ever and the team who are racing towards the bottom don’t even have many appetizing trade chips left. Look at the Marlins or Orioles. There’s only a handful of guys off the two teams combined that would help a playoff contender at this point. Texas could have multiple guys to package together by the deadline and get some legitimate prospects back. If not at least you get to watch ML pitchers like Smyly, Lynn etc. instead of Jurado and Gallardo or whatever other crap you threw out there last season.
He really fell off in 2017. Dude was a LHP killer with the Rays.
Players signing close to, or after spring training starts often take MiL deals because most teams have full rosters and dont wish to waive minor league talent before seing them in the spring. Its easier to get talent thru waivers at the end of spring when everyone is cutting back rosters.
The reds and rangers are trying to compete through a rebuild. Its good to see
We just locked up this years WS* team now.
*worst season