Friday, February 22, 2013
Latest on Profar, Rangers infield
By Jason A. Churchill
The Texas Rangers have yet to decide on the immediate future of Jurickson Profar with president Nolan Ryan suggesting the team will not keep the game's top prospect in the big leagues if they can't find 350 at-bats or more for him. This comes a day after Profar decided not to play in the World Baseball Classic so he can focus on the Rangers.
The club does have a need for a utility infielder as we discussed earlier this offseason, and Friday Ken Rosenthal reports that the Indians and Rangers have been talking with free agent Ryan Theriot.
Theriot, a natural middle infielder, is mentioned by Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Info as among the players with negative defensive results according to each of the two most widely-used metrics, DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) and UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating). Whether or not Theriot can handle shortstop at this stage of his career may be in question, and could deter the Rangers or Indians.
Texas also has Leury Garcia in camp and could decide between he, Theriot and Profar.
