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Rudy Jaramillo To Sign With Cubs

According to Bruce Levine, Rudy Jaramillo will do his coaching in Chicago for a while. After already being one of the highest-paid coaches in baseball last year, Jaramillo will make more than $800,000 a season to fix a Cubs offense that broke in a big way in 2009, ranking 22nd in the majors in runs scored and 26th in team batting average. Jaramillo will be reunited with former Ranger Milton Bradley, assuming the Cubs don’t cast him aside in the offseason, who enjoyed a career year under Jaramillo in 2008. Alfonso Soriano, another former pupil, is also on the team.

Jaramillo took a lot of heat last season after the Rangers failed to score 800 runs for the first time since 1995 and ranked 24th in MLB in on-base percentage while leading the American League in strikeouts. But David Brown at Baseball Time in Arlington broke down Rudy’s tenure in Texas last week, which yielded some interesting results.

The Rangers, meanwhile, don’t seem to be very far along in the process of finding a replacement for Jaramillo.

Report: Rudy Jaramillo Will Not Return To Rangers

After fielding one of the worst offenses in the history of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington era, Evan Grant is reporting that the Rangers will not retain the services of hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. According to the report, the club extended a one year offer to Jaramillo, but he declined it and will explore other options via free agency.

Jaramillo has been the Rangers hitting instructor since the 1995 season, and from 1996 through 2004, the Rangers ranked in the top five in batting average, runs scored, slugging percentage, home runs, and hits. Texas is also only a year removed from leading the majors with 901 runs scored.

But 2009 was a different story, as the Rangers failed to crack 800 runs for the first time since ’95, Jaramillo’s first year on the job. Texas also led the A.L. in strikeouts (1253) and ranked 12th out of 14 teams in walks (472), seeing a 20.6% drop in free passes from last year. The Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros have already been listed as potential suitors for Jaramillo.

Rangers Jarrod Saltalamacchia Still Feeling Numbness in Shoulder, Return Uncertain

Updated, 5:11 pm: Richardson to be added to roster Tuesday.

ARLINGTON - The possibility that C Jarrod Saltalamacchia has played his last game this season grows. Saltalamacchia  has cut short his rehab assignment after two days because of recurring symptoms  of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in his shoulder. He played two games for Double-A Frisco over the weekend, but exited both games early.

Saltalamacchia said he started feeling numbness in the shoulder in the fifth inning Sunday and, by the seventh, he had a hard time with feeling in his hands. He plans to speak with Rangers doctors this afternoon and will seek a second opinion to determine if there is any other treatment besides surgery. Surgery to remove a rib and improve blood flow to his arm would knock him out for the season.

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Jason Jennings Designated for Assignment

Just got off the phone with Evan who relays that RHP Jason Jennings was designated for assignment to make room for Pedro Strop on the Rangers’ roster. Evan will have more shortly.

Considering Pudge Rodriguez’s Return to Rangers

According to multiple reports on the web, the Rangers are about to reacquire C Ivan Rodriguez as a backup to C Taylor Teagarden. You can read the sourced reports here and here.

Rangers officials said the club had no comment on the report, but a club source has also confirmed to me that its all but a foregone conclusion the 14-time All-Star is on his way back to Arlington to serve as a backup and perhaps as an occasional right-handed DH in September. According to one report, the Rangers are sending Houston RHP Matt Nevarez and a player to be named later to complete the deal. The player to be named will be INF Jose Vallejo, according to a source.

Here are some thoughts:

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Club Officials Go Silent Over Chatter Major League Baseball Has Loaned Texas Rangers Money

UPDATED, 9:10 a.m. CDT to indicate it is Hicks Sports Group, not Tom Hicks personally, that is struggling with debt issues.

ARLINGTON – Amid increased internet chatter Wednesday that Tom Hicks’ sports group – Hicks Sports Group – financial woes are deepening and that the club has borrowed money from MLB’s rainy-day fund, team officials took a strange approach.

They went silent.

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Reports: Tom Hicks’ Liverpool Debt To Be Refinanced

UPDATED, 3:02 pm CDT with quotes from Tom Hicks, confirming Royal Bank of Scotland’s commitment.

The BBC is reporting that Royal Bank of Scotland will refinance a debt of £350 million that was due to be paid in July. There are, however, still negotiations ongoing with Wachovia, which also is due part of the loan.

What I found most interesting from the BBC story is this:

“The RBS revelation comes days after Liverpool co-owner George Gillett agreed to sell one of his major assets in a deal which would ease financial pressures at the Premier League club.

He is selling his 80% stake in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team, in a deal reported to be worth at least $550m (£332.9m).

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Game Has Resumed In Arlington

Read all about it at The Depot.

Bank Of Lights Fails At Rangers Ballpark; Game On Hold

In case, you are just joining us, a bank of lights on the first base side has failed. We have been in an electrical failure delay since 8:17 p.m. and are now approaching one hour without power to the lights.

We’ll have more on The Depot blog.

Padilla Waiver Watch

With the deadline for clubs to place a waiver claim on Vicente Padilla having passed just a few minutes ago, it appears that Padilla remains property of the Texas Rangers.

Rangers GM Jon Daniels said the club would make no comments about whether a player was placed on waivers or cleared.

Assuming he cleared, the Rangers now have the option of assigning Padilla to the minor leagues and should they do so, Padilla would have the option of refusing the assignment and taking free agency. More likely, however, Padilla will simply stay in the Rangers rotation.

UPDATE: More than an hour after the deadline has passed, I believe it is safe to assume Padilla has cleared waivers. The Rangers are listing him as their probable starter for Sunday’s game at Boston. Daniels declined to comment on whether this week’s move has prompted interest from other clubs. Atlanta, however, is reportedly looking to upgrade its starting pitching and has been researching Boston RHP Brad Penny. – Evan Grant

All Hail Breaking Loose At Ballpark In Arlington

I believe the hail covering the outfield is the size of canned hams.

I also believe the hard stuff won’t be coming down for quite some time.

Start Of Rangers Game To Be Delayed At Least One Hour

Severe weather approaching.

Word from the Rangers was: Run for your lives!!!!!

Actually, it was more like the delay could be more than an hour, but since tomorrow is New York’s last day in Texas, we are going to wait a while.

Ever Wonder What Happened to Jeff Zimmerman? He Signed With The Mariners

Yes, it's Jeff Zimmerman news.

I don’t even know where to begin, but comes news from Seattle today that the Mariners have signed former Rangers closer Jeff Zimmerman to a minor league deal. Wondering if Zimmerman was ever going to pitch again after his terrific 2001 season became quite the topic of conversation on my old newsletter at my former place of employ. Well, apparently I finally have an answer: He’s going to try and pitch again this season at age 36.

Here’s an interview he did with FOIC (Friend of InsideCorner) Grant Schiller, who will one day take every remaining sports writer’s job away.

The Finish-Out: Texas Rangers Likely To Add Jason Jennings To Roster Today; He Will Pitch As A Reliever

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Before the Rangers skip out of their 40-day sojourn in the Arizona desert, they are likely to add RHP Jason Jennings to the 40-man roster today and place him in the bullpen to start the season, general manager Jon Daniels said.

Jennings, who could take free agency if not added to the roster today, all but locked up the spot Tuesday with three solid innings of relief against San Francisco, allowing one hit and one run. His 64-pitch outing, which included a number of 89 mph fastballs (the upper side of his range), came on just two days rest after he went 3.2 innings of relief.

In other words, it was a dress rehearsal for the role in which the Rangers would use him to start the season. Not a bad two-day pitching line: 6.2 innings, four hits, one run (earned), one walk and eight strikeouts.

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Rangers Outright Kason Gabbard, Release K.C. Herren

So, let’s stop arguing.

Gabbard cleared waivers and is off the roster, putting the Rangers at 39 filled spots on the 40-man roster. To recap, the Rangers will drop to 37 players with the placement of RHPs Joaquin Benoit and Eric Hurley on the 60-day DL. They will apparently put six non-roster players on the 40-man roster, so they will need to clear three spots. One will be created by taking 1B Joe Koshansky off the roster. So, you’ve got to two to go. I don’t think the Rangers are contemplating putting RHP Tommy Hunter on the 60-day DL as Jamey Newberg/MJH proposed. He is scheduled to pitch against Los Angeles tomorrow; if he does, Thursday would be the earliest date he could be assigned to the DL.

Also, the club optioned Travis Metcalf (aka “My Boy”) to Triple-A Oklahoma. And they released OF K.C. Herren, their second round pick from the 2004 draft.  In five pro seasons, Herren never advanced above Class A. He got his first shot at advanced Class A Bakersfield last year and hit .188  with a .295 on-base percentage and a .257 slugging average.

UPDATE: Before I get flogged again by MJH, I should note that the Rangers took Herren, a high school outfielder from Washington with the 51st pick in the 2004 draft and paid him $675,000. Houston, picking 13 spots later, scooped up Hunter Pence from UT-Arlington for a $575,000 bonus. Ouch. Double Ouch.