Sunday Notes: Rangers Unlikely to Toy With Elvis Andrus

The Rangers publicly committed to Elvis Andrus as their shortstop in January when general manager Jon Daniels asked reigning Gold Glove shortstop Michael Young to move to third base.

Then, two days after that drama died down, the Rangers signed 11-time Gold Glove-winning shortstop Omar Vizquel as a potential backup for Andrus.

That leads to this question: In the interest of cost control, might the club send Andrus to the minors to start the season, use Vizquel as the starting shortstop for a month or so and call up Andrus after he’s lost enough major league service time to not qualify for a full year of service? That could delay his eventual eligibility for salary arbitration and essentially push back his free agency by a year.

Tampa Bay made a similar move with eventual Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria last year. So there’s seemingly a model for such manipulation of the roster.

The similarities between the two situations end there. Don’t expect the Rangers to get too cute with handling of Andrus. While it’s still possible they could send him to the minors to start the season, here’s why his situation shouldn’t be equated with Longoria’s from a year ago.

• Contract status: Within a week of calling Longoria up, the Rays signed him to a six-year contract with options that could make it a nine-year deal. The contract essentially bought him out of salary arbitration all together, so those first two weeks that he missed didn’t end up mattering one bit. The Rangers aren’t likely to call Andrus, who is only 20, to the majors and bestow such a long-term deal on him immediately.

• Bad feelings: If they don’t do a deal like Longoria’s, it becomes plainly evident that the Rangers are trying to exploit the system at a cost to the player. This is not a good way to begin your relationship with such a highly-regarded player. In addition, the Rangers risk damaging the confidence of a 20-year-old who may not be well-versed enough in the language of baseball business to understand the club’s motive is business-based, not performance-based.

• Learning curves: In contrast to recent years, the first two weeks of the Rangers’ schedule are fairly favorable. They play nine of their first 12 games at home and all of the games are against teams that finished below .500. No matter how well he performs this spring, Andrus is going to have to adjust to life in the majors. Better to have him get used to it against the Clevelands, Detroits and Baltimores of the world than against more highly-regarded teams.

MORE NOTES

• RHP Vicente Padilla worked at an exceptionally brisk pace on Saturday, which was a stark contrast to his first outing of the spring. Padilla needed just 38 pitches to work through four innings of a 2-1 win over Chicago that took just 2:03 to play. In his first outing, Padilla meandered through two innings while allowing four hits and four runs. The Rangers spoke with Padilla about picking up the pace after that outing.

Mike Maddux will become the third different Rangers pitching coach to coax Padilla into maintaining the quick tempo all season. If Maddux needed any fodder for convincing Padilla, he got it in the form of three sharp defensive plays by 3B Michael Young, SS Omar Vizquel and 1B Hank Blalock.

“His tempo was high and he was able to do more with less because of it,” manager Ron Washington said. “Maybe he was feeling his way around a little bit the first time. But when you have that kind of tempo, you keep the defense involved and that helps.”

• On one hand DH-OF-1B Frank Catalanotto doesn’t seem to really have a place on this roster. He’s the fifth outfielder, the third first baseman and the second left-handed DH. But don’t expect the Rangers to eat the $6 million left on his contract unless Andruw Jones absolutely forces his way onto the roster. There is only one player in the regular lineup who would be a candidate to be pinch hit for with any regularity: SS Elvis Andrus.

If the Rangers hit for him, they’d likely be replacing him with a left-handed bat. Who better for that role than Catalanotto? Among the 22 active players with at least 150 pinch hit at-bats, Catalanotto (.375) ranks second only to Matt Stairs (.377) in on-base percentage as a pinch-hitter. Catalanotto (.289) ranks second to Gregg Dobbs (.314 in 46 fewer at-bats than Catalanotto) in pinch-hitting batting average.

• Kevin Sherrington’s Sunday Brunch is always a well-crafted reason to sit down with the newspaper, but his column this morning on Michael Young’s relationship with cancer patient Carson Leslie is especially worth some extra time.

• The New York Yankees have not yet inquired about displaced Rangers 3B Travis Metcalf, who has no role on the club with Michael Young moving to third. The Yankees could use a replacement for Alex Rodriguez at third since he’s going to be out at least 10 weeks. Conventional wisdom: If the Yankees can’t go out and get an established player (maybe Seattle’s Adrian Beltre or unhappy Oakland SS Bobby Crosby), they will stick with journeyman Cody Ransom for the first two months of the season.

• Really hasn’t been much progress on a long-term deal for OF Josh Hamilton. I believe doing this deal is more complicated than the previous long-term deals the Rangers have done for pre-arbitration players. The reason: Hamilton turns 28 in May and may have only one opportunity to land a big contract. The substance abuse issue of the past can’t be overlooked in this regard: Who knows what kind of long-term effect the years of doing drugs will have on his body? If the average pro athlete starts breaking down at age 32 or so; will Hamilton have a shorter window?

All that said, doing a long-term contract with a player really comes down to how much the player wants to do a deal. If Hamilton wants one, the Rangers and Mike Moye will be able to find common ground.

A STAT TO THINK ABOUT

In handicapping RHP Josh Rupe’s chances of making the club, manager Ron Washington discussed the need for Rupe to cut down on walks to the first batter. Got me thinking about the whole staff. A little research indicates Rangers’ relievers issued 49 walks to the first batter they faced last year, sixth highest in the majors. The relievers allowed first batters a .339 on-base percentage, eighth highest in baseball.

PROJECTING THE ROSTER

Mock roster #1

Catchers (2): Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden

Infielders (6): 1B Chris Davis, 1B/3B-DH Hank Blalock, 2B Ian Kinsler, SS Elvis Andrus, 3B Michael Young, INF Omar Vizquel.

Outfielders (5): LF David Murphy, CF Josh Hamilton, RF Nelson Cruz, OF Marlon Byrd, OF-DH Frank Catalanotto.

Starting pitchers (5): RHP Kevin Millwood, RHP Vicente Padilla, LHP Matt Harrison, RHP Scott Feldman, RHP Brandon McCarthy

Relief pitchers (7): RHP Frank Francisco (closer); LHP C.J. Wilson; LHP Eddie Guardado; RHP Brendan Donnelly, RHP Josh Rupe, RHP Dustin Nippert, RHP Warner Madrigal.