The Texas Rangers made their first signing at the Winter Meetings. The club signed veteran infielder Tyler Wade to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training on Monday afternoon.
Obviously, this isn’t a splashy move. Wade is purely a depth piece, but every team needs reliable, versatile insurance, and he brings nine years of MLB experience to the table.
Wade spent the previous two seasons with the San Diego Padres in a utility role. While his ability to play second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions is valuable, his bat has struggled to produce consistently at the major league level.
Last season, he posted a .561 OPS over 59 games with the Padres. He was designated for assignment after the July 31 trade deadline and finished the year at Triple-A El Paso.
The veteran infielder owns a career slash line of .216/.294/.284 across 506 big-league games with 7 home runs and 60 RBIs.
Wade provides the Rangers organizational depth in manager Skip Schumaker’s first season. The Rangers are making an effort to replace second baseman Marcus Semien, which defensively — won’t be easy to do.
It is likely that the Rangers fill the need at second internally with Josh Smith, Ezequiel Durán, Cody Freeman or Michael Helman. It is also possible that they platoon Josh Smith and Cody Freeman.
The case for Cody Freeman at second base
Freeman already has more big league starts at 2B than Josh Smith or Ezequiel Duran