The Rangers announced that they have signed right-hander Jharel Cotton, outfielder Jason Martin and righty Edubray Ramos (previously reported) to minor league contracts. All three deals come with invitations to spring training.
The 28-year-old Cotton was a top 100 prospect during his younger days, and he posted encouraging numbers (2.15 ERA/3.76 FIP) during his 29 1/3-major league debut with the Athletics in 2016. Cotton was then a regular in the A’s rotation the next season, in which he totaled 129 1/3 frames on 24 starts, but he could only muster a 5.58 ERA with a similar 5.68 FIP that year. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since then, owing largely to the Tommy John surgery he underwent in March 2018. Cotton tried to work his way back in 2019, but hamstring injuries helped prevent that from happening. Oakland then sent Cotton to the Cubs in a minor trade, though Chicago released him in September.
Martin entered the pros as a 2013 eighth-round pick of the Astros, who traded him to the Pirates five years later as part of the teams’ Gerrit Cole swap. But Martin didn’t produce much in two Triple-A seasons as a Pirate, and he slumped to a .200/.294/.244 line in the majors over a small sample of plate appearances (51) from 2019-20. The Pirates outrighted the 25-year-old after the season.
Keep the pitcher stashing coming! I’m loving it!
Big Sexy line one!
Rangers having a good offseason! Hope they can keep making good solid moves
Cotton could be a nice signing. Martin is just a guy.
This just in rangers still suck! They will continue to be trash until Daniels is fired.
I’d lighten up some with the JD hate, I’d like to see where the partnership between JD and CY takes this team first…
Letting go of Jason Martin is why Pittsburgh is a trash organization
Why do you say that? Martin doesn’t have the arm for center and doesn’t have the power for a corner, pulls the ball too much, and doesn’t hit lefties well. He’s a 4th outfielder/platoon partner at best.
You don’t waste a roster spot just because he was involved in a terrible trade and you want to cling to some hope.
because he’s young and Pittsburgh is rebuilding. he’s shown ability in the Minors and its not like they don’t have other back-end guys they could have gotten rid of before him.
He’s hit .242/.297/.383 at Triple-A through 640 plate appearances. He put up a 59 wRC+ at Indy in 2018 and 83 wRC+ at Indy in 2019.
His best tool is his speed and it’s not like he’s Billy Hamilton fast. It’s kind of harsh to call them a trash organization over releasing Jason Martin. I’d much rather them go with Jared Oliva or Anthony Alford over Martin.
He’s shown some ability but the underlying issues are there. They probably do have other guys they could have gotten rid of before him, but he’s not a loss that is significant enough to put in the “pirates are a trash org” evidence. Him being on the roster or not is meaningless because he hasn’t shown much progress. And again, bad arm means he’s relegated to a corner and I’m sure at 25 with that lack of positional flexibility coupled with his bat that doesn’t play, Pittsburgh probably knew what they were doing.
My mistake, he put up a 65 wRC+ at Triple-A in 2018. Overall, he had a .258 wOBA at Triple-A. Just to show how bad that is, there have been only 7 players (8 total, Adeiny Hechivaria has done it twice) to have at least 500 plate appearances in a single season since 2010 and a wOBA lower at the major league level. Imagine how that will translate to the big leagues?
He was definitely the lotto ticket in the trade. He just had so many things to correct. I read he improved vs lefties but it wasn’t an improvement to passable. The guy was also super inefficient on the base paths so his sub par OBP is even worse because he’s giving away outs. Not a Pirates fan but I had some hope he’d be a sneaky pick up. This is just a team cutting bait when ready. Texas signing him is the last shot to see what he can do before it’s probably done.
He actually didn’t do too bad throughout the lower minors and even in Double-A. But when they moved him to Triple-A, those weaknesess were really exposed. It wasn’t just a small drop off either, it was a complete fall off of a cliff too. He wasn’t much of a fielder with a weak arm and had decent speed. Once his bat disipated, his value went with it.
Hey mlb1225 I’ve been saying this for a while, but I think y’all have something special in Alford. He’s gonna pop off for y’all.
Alford has speed but that is about it. I am a Orioles fan and seen him play.
I’m hoping so and I hope they give him the starting job in CF. Martin never ranked as a top 100 prospect consistently for 3 or 4 years and I want to at least see what he can do given regular playing time.
Dark side-That was without a doubt a “trash” comment as you obviously have not done in the least any homework.
Perhaps you were trying to get the “goat” on Pirate fans but it did not work.
i mean, he’s no superstar, but that they wolnt even dedicate a 40 man spot to him during a rebuild doesnt make sense. this team is known for giving away talent and has been in limbo for a bit now.
No one thought you were calling him a superstar. The phrase should read “he’s no mlb caliber ball player”. Teams can’t wait on guys forever and he’s not worth a spot. He’s been available for the a rule 5 before and he was skipped before. He hasn’t improved at all. Maybe if he showed some progress they would have kept him. The pirates letting him go is more telling of him than the organization in my opinion.
He’s as light of a hitter as Billy Hamilton minus the speed, base running defense. What team is going to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to that?
Dark side-Actually you were right in saying that the Pirates were in limbo for the last two or three years under Hurdle and NH,but they were not giving away players with the exception of course in hindsight regarding the Archer trade.
They are way below the limbo bar at this point.Losing the equivalent of 111 games in a regular season will cause you to be stuck there.
With Cherington it seems that there is a plan and they need of course to develop a fine farm system to feed the parent team.It seems that many regard him as being able to do that.Time will tell.
Regarding Martin,I thought that he had some promise too when he was acquired,but he is very small compared to the behemoths in the ML’s now,and clearly has not really done anything nearly exceptional in the minor leagues anywhere he has played.
Pirate fans realize that we are behind the eight ball being a small market team with a tight fisted owner,but we do take exception when someone “trashes” our team.That is the same that you would do for yours.
This is the part where you say you were making a joke. Because your comment was extremely funny. Doubt the Jason Martin sweepstakes will heat up anytime soon.
Who they acquired by trading Gerrit Cole for trash
Crabs-That is the best that they could get for Cole.He was not real great his last two years in Pittsburgh,and sometimes hurt.They knew that they could not sign him,so they parted ways in the best manner that they could at the time.
Hindsight is always 20-20 for crabs also.
Moran and Musgrove have been decent players for Pittsburgh,and Feliz is being given one last chance to produce.
No, it was a terrible haul for a pitcher we all knew had more in the tank. When 3/4 teams that just played in the LCS are trying to trade for him, you know he isn’t as bad as the Pirates thought. That haul was weak at the time and a lame deal for a terrible GM.
What were the options they turned down?
Yeah it seemed light at the time, but what were the alternatives? Cole was a power pitcher miscast within a ‘pitch low in the zone to weak contact’ team wide philosophy. The stupidity was in the approach to the pitcher not the approach to the deal. While it had successes, you can’t force players into a mold they can fit in. So the deal isn’t that bad, if you want to deduct GM points it should be for putting a premier talent in a position that made them a pitcher worthy of such a return.
Wark-Crabs may very well be a troll .
He is not able to answer your question because he does not really know the answer.
These guys who have 20 20 hindsight are all geniuses.
Some of us knew that Cole had the potential to be a very fine pitcher,but he was coming off two off years in a row.Other GM’s knew that the Pirates could not afford him no matter how well he pitched and that he would leave anyway.An injury would have destroyed much of his value,so he had to be traded then or at the very latest at the next trade deadline.
Some of these posters are just clueless.
Played against Cotton in HS. Love to see that he’s still getting a shot. Pedro once said he reminded him of himself. Hope he has success in Texas!
I think Cotton will be a shrewd signing for TEX.
Agreed. Cotton is definitely the way to go in the Texas heat.
its a bold move
Watch Cotton become a lights out closer! His change up is the best in the league.
Devon Williams would like a word with you.
I had hopes for cotton but so homer prone but never got that chance from A’s are coming back from injury and surgery. Maybe he turns into a reliever I could see him doing well with a 2 pitch mix
solid signings.
Cotton was a guy that I thought might come to KC to hone his skills in the bullpen. Rangers did some homework, I think it is going to pay off.
As for Jason Martin, there is at least 100 guys in the minors just like him. Nothing special and the Pirates do not need him taking up space.
Cotton seems like a guy who could really turn into a legitimate ML pitcher. He was a top prospect before injuries really derailed his career… and his first 5 games in the majors were VERY impressive. Granted the following season was a total dud but if he’s healthy he’s definitely a guy that has the potential to get back on track and has a high ceiling for very little risk. Ramos too is a really high ceiling signing… I mean prior to his last season in the majors he had been an incredibly effective reliever both in the majors and minors. I believe he’s had some diminished velocity of late — but if he can rediscover his fastball he too could be a really strong pickup for the Rangers. Cotton though… I think could be a potential long term asset IF he can get back on track to where he was prior to injuries setting him back.
Nice little pickup by the ole rangers