It’s been a pretty smooth return to the mound for Volquez, who has allowed two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in six innings of relief since returning from the injured list. He’s managed to average a hefty 95.6 mph on his heater in that short-relief role — an increase over the 93-94 mph he averaged while working as a starter with the Pirates, Royals and Marlins from 2014-17. Texas has been judicious in affording Volquez ample rest between relief outings; he’s yet to pitch on consecutive days and hasn’t tossed more than 27 pitches in a single appearance.

Whether the Rangers have interest in Volquez retaining Volquez remains to be seen, though the Texas organization certainly has prioritized instilling some veteran experience in its clubhouse in recent seasons. And the team thought highly enough of Volquez to not only sign him to a two-year minor league contract after his 2017 Tommy John surgery but also select his contract last November to prevent him from being eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. (Yes, even at 35, he’d have been eligible for a team to take and plug into its pitching staff.)

Any reunion with Volquez would surely be on an affordable deal. He’s pitched just 13 2/3 innings in the Majors since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2017 when he was a member of the Marlins’ rotation and turned 36 years old back in July. But there’s enough uncertainty on the Rangers’ pitching staff — both in the rotation and in the bullpen — that Volquez could be a sensible low-cost depth piece.

In the rotation, the Rangers are currently slated to be led by veterans Mike Minor and Lance Lynn. Young lefty Kolby Allard has likely done enough to cement himself as a favorite for one of the three remaining spots, and the Rangers seem likely to pursue some additional veteran upgrades this winter as they look to field an improved team in the first season of a new ballpark. It’s unlikely they’d simply commit a rotation spot to Volquez, but allowing him to battle for the fifth spot in camp with the fallback of a bullpen role could make sense.

Alternatively, the club could just look to try Volquez in a relief role for the whole season. As previously noted, his velocity has improved in that role. It’s also not as if the Rangers’ relief corps is largely solidified. Jose Leclerc and Jesse Chavez are under contract for next season, and the Rangers hold a reasonable $2.5MM option on another veteran righty who has voiced a “Rangers or retire” mentality: Shawn Kelley. Beyond that veteran trio, 24-year-old lefty Brett Martin has thrown rather well, while reclamation project Rafael Montero has posted exceptional K/BB numbers in a smaller sample of work. As with the rotation, the bullpen has a few veteran locks but some room for competition further down the ladder. Texas seems likely to pursue some established offseason upgrades but could at the very least have Volquez compete for a spot in 2020 — particularly with MLB rosters set to expand to 26 players next year.

More from the American League…

• Having signed Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop, Blake Parker and Martin Perez this offseason, the Twins may not make any more notable strikes in free agency. Regardless, the Twins are hopeful they’ll be able to lock up some of their in-house talent for the foreseeable future, GM Thad Levine revealed Sunday (via Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press). “Without getting into names, we’re actively having some of those conversations behind the scenes and we as a club would like nothing more than to be able to announce one, two, three of those types of extensions at some point here in spring training,” Levine said. Speculatively speaking, some of the Twins’ extension candidates may include Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi. Minnesota did try to lock up Buxton, Rosario, Kepler and Berrios a year ago, though the former went on to endure a nightmarish season that ended in contentious fashion.
• Arm injuries kept Drew Smyly and Edinson Volquez from pitching at all in 2018 and limited Shelby Miller to just 16 innings. That trio’s now primed to occupy 60 percent of the Rangers’ rotation in 2019, though, and GM Jon Daniels issued encouraging updates on all three Sunday, TR Sullivan of MLB.com reports. “All have clean bills of health individually,” said Daniels, who did admit there’s risk in each case and Texas will need depth behind them in the event things go haywire. Smyly, a 2017 Tommy John surgery recipient whom the Rangers acquired from the Cubs this past November, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016; Volquez’s most recent big league outing came July 5, 2017, owing to TJ surgery; and Miller, who also underwent the procedure in 2017, dealt with further elbow problems last season. Additionally, none of those three have been world-beaters when they have been healthy enough to take the mound in recent years.

• When asked if Paul Janish will be the Reds' starting shortstop in 2010, manager Dusty Baker said that he had yet to "come up with a definitive decision." GM Walt Jocketty indicated that surrounding Janish with more dangerous bats would help justify keeping his glove in the lineup. The 26-year-old shortstop has a +17.8 UZR/150 in 2009, but has hit just .215/.297/.308 in over 250 plate appearances.
• Edinson Volquez is pleased with his progress recovering from Tommy John surgery. Cincinnati expects him back around the All-Star break next season.
• Jay Bruce no longer plans to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic. He has been on a tear since coming off the disabled list on September 14, hitting .316/.422/.684, though he says the hot streak isn't a major factor in his decision. He should be healthy and ready to produce a stronger campaign in 2010.

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty told Sheldon that he has talked with their agent, Casey Close, during the weekend.

Jocketty said that he expects something to happen this week with regard to Hairston Jr.

The Reds have had no talks with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Andruw Jones and appear not to be interested, Sheldon notes.

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay also spoke with Jocketty. In addition to the Reds’ stance on Baldelli, Hairston Jr. and Jones, Fay notes that the Reds won’t be trading first baseman Joey Votto.

Jocketty also told Fay that Votto (Canada), Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto (Dominican Republic) might play in the World Baseball Classic.

• I’ll be on XM Radio today at about 5pm CST – channels 176-189 with Mike Ferrin.
• The Dodgers signed Jerome Williams – remember him?
• Viva El Birdos runs through starting pitchers who might be on the Cardinals’ radar.
• Sam Mellinger of the KC Star takes a look at Dayton Moore’s trade record.  Meanwhile, Joe Posnanski explains why the Royals should sign Barry Bonds.
• Ken Rosenthal doesn’t want to let Ed Wade off the hook in the Shawn Chacon dustup.
• Red Reporter thinks the Reds are winning the Edinson Volquez–Josh Hamilton swap.
• Rangers first base prospect Chris Davis is getting the call.
• Russell Branyan has been training his eyes.
• "Unsubstantiated report" – the Phillies might have interest in recently-designated reliever Vinnie Chulk.
• Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker expects the team to shop Ichiro.
• Buster Olney sees the Rays as a sleeper in the C.C. Sabathia derby.
• Omar Minaya defends the Luis Castillo signing.

Veterans Francisco Cordero, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, and Brandon Phillips apparently did not make the list.  Only Arroyo has been mentioned in trade rumors this year; the rest seem unlikely to go anywhere.  But it should be noted that Jocketty wasn’t with the organization when the Cordero, Harang, and Arroyo contracts were signed and might be more willing to move them.

Rarely does a deal work out so well for both teams, especially so soon. Volquez is one of the early candidates for the NL Cy Young and Hamilton is an early leader for the AL MVP. Both are expected to be All-Stars next month.

It is rare for two teams to swap young players of this caliber, although this was just one of two such deals this past winter. The Twins and Rays swapped Matt Garza and Delmon Young. Unlike the Volquez-Hamilton deal, the Garza-Young deal has been more beneficial for the Rays, at least early on.

This got me thinking…Has there ever been another deal in which two young major leaguers with this level of potential were swapped for each other and made such an immediate impact for their new clubs?

Let’s here your thoughts in the comments…

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex and can be reached here.

10:38am: Here’s today’s link collection.

• MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel hears the Royals are leaning toward an impact bat in the June draft.  Baseball America predicted catcher Buster Posey, while Jonathan Mayo went with first baseman Eric Hosmer.  First baseman Justin Smoak is another possibility.
• Paul DePodesta tells a story about the gamesmanship of the draft.
• Hank Steinbrenner says there’s a chance Brian Cashman will be the Yankees’ GM next year, if he wants to be.  He might be able to find a better situation.  If there’s a new GM, his first task might be negotiating with Scott Boras for Mark Teixeira.
• The Rockies still might have mild interest in Julian Tavarez, who will become a free agent today.
• The Marlins, Rockies, and Rangers were the three clubs interested in Edinson Volquez when he was a kid in the Dominican.

You all know the story with Hamilton.  Former first overall pick by the Rays in ’99, immensely talented.  Derailed by drug problems for many years, then posted an incredible half season in the Majors for the Reds despite little experience above A ball.  He put up a .922 OPS for the Reds, and seems like a great gamble by Jon Daniels despite health concerns.  He’ll turn 27 in May; hopefully the Rangers let him stay in center.  Hamilton leaves a park that inflates left-handed home runs by about 28% to a park that inflates them by 24%.  His departure clears a path for top prospect Jay Bruce.

Volquez, 24, is also immensely talented.  He kept stalling at the big league level but finally seemed to figure it out in September.  Baseball America calls his stuff "electric," describing a mid-90s heater paired with a mid-70s change-up.   One concern here is that Volquez is a flyball pitcher.  Wayne Krivsky took an interesting route to add an intriguing starter; I wonder if the move takes them out of the Erik Bedard sweepstakes.  It’s been speculated that the Reds could go after Mike Cameron to fill their new center field void.

Herrera, 23, is a southpaw relief prospect.  Check out this info from Baseball America.  He barely registers 5-foot-7, 145 pounds.  He tops out at 84mph but throws some kind of screwball to offset the weak heat.  This trick helped him post an 11.0 K/9 in Double A this year.

Baseball America rocks, check them out by the way.  They’ve already got analysis of this deal up here.

• The Rangers are nearing a deal with Eddie Guardado.  Everyday Eddie might be a dark horse to close, if he can flash his late season form again.  The Reds decided in October that he was not worth $3.5MM, and declined his option.  Guardado is 37.
• The Rangers hope to add some kind of veteran starter.  Bartolo Colon and Jason Jennings are still options, but Mark Prior and Freddy Garcia pretty much are not.  Sullivan names Mike Maroth, Mark Hendrickson, and Josh Towers as pitchers of interest.
• Mike Cameron could be an option for center field if he’ll take a one-year deal.  A multiyear demand would also take the Rangers out of the running for Corey Patterson.
• Sullivan notes that the Reds want Edinson Volzquez for Josh Hamilton, a possibility he first mentioned three weeks ago.  Jamey Newberg doesn’t think Volquez would cut it.  Other trade options could include Andre Ethier, Coco Crisp, and Juan Pierre.
• The Rangers will pass on a Kevin Mench reunion.