The Rangers signed a right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton (via X). The contract includes an invitation to the Rangers’ major league offseason camp.
It was less than a year ago that the Mets acquired Houser again Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers, as New York president of baseball operations David Stearns looks to bolster the Mets’ roster with two familiar faces from his former position in Milwaukee. Taylor has delivered decent production as part of New York’s outfield mix, but Houser has had a tough time in the Big Apple, posting a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings.
Injuries to other pitchers opened the door for Houser to start the season in the Mets’ rotation, and he temporarily returned to starting pitching when the Mets briefly adopted a six-man rotation. The split was pretty good — Houser had an 8.55 ERA in 33 2/3 innings as a starter and a 3.28 ERA in 35 2/3 innings as a reliever, those bullpen assignments often coming in the form of multiple innings. .
Although it appeared that Houser had found his groove as a long reliever, the Mets elected to designate him for assignment and release him in late July. The Cubs and Orioles signed Houser to minor league contracts during the offseason but those deals failed to translate into any major league playing time for the righty.
Houser has started 104 of 152 Major League games, putting up a solid streak as the Brewers’ shortstop for most of his career. A low-level specialist whose strikeout rate is only 18.5%, Houser’s results in 2024 could somewhat offset his utility as a starter, even if the Rangers could see the importance of having a swingman as rotation depth. Just beyond last year’s split, Houser has a 2.32 ERA in 97 innings as a reliever, compared to a less than impressive 4.57 ERA in 511 2/3 frames as a starter.
Relief is the most important requirement for the Rangers to not lose most of their bullpen in 2024 (Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc, Jose Urenaagain Andrew Chaffin) in free agency, and Josh Sborz will be out until at least early June due to offseason shoulder surgery. A multi-inning reliever like Houser can eat up valuable innings out of the bullpen, while also providing a rotational safety net. The current Texas pitching staff of Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, Kumar Rockeragain Jack Leiter full of health question marks or inexperienced arms, so in addition to a depth signing like Houser, the Rangers hope to re-sign at least one Nathan Eovaldi or Andrew Heaney.
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