If you haven’t already, I highly suggest you check out Joey Matschulat’s write up of Omar Vizquel this morning. Link here. He also has a recording of Jon Daniels on “Ben and Skin” from yesterday, 15 minutes of pretty good Ranger talk that deserves a listen if you are interested on the GM’s take on a lot of pertinent issues.

If you have not seen this yet, the Rangers are kicking the tires on veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel. I like this move, a lot. Vizquel, now 41 years old, is far from his prime. His offensive numbers, which were one pretty salty, are not even decent any more. However, this is not where his value comes in. If you bring in a guy like Vizquel you are essentially bringing in a professor for Elvis Andrus. 

Vizquel has been a gold glove winner 11 times in his long career, you cannot put a price on that kind of experience. Andrus, who “idolized” Vizquel growing up in Venezuela, will have a legitimate mentor during his rookie season. If Andrus is the future shortstop of this organization, this move is an outstanding investment. Vizquel is still an outstanding fielder, and can play a wide range of postions, making him a great fit as a utility man on a team that doesn’t necessarily have one at this point (German Duran is probably the current utility guy). 

Another reason I like the deal is it will allow Michael Young to completely immerse himself in third base. Young, who will be debuting in April as the Rangers Opening Day third baseman, is going to have the daunting task of learning a new position in 2 months. He is not going to have time to mentor Andrus, and this is a team with no other shortstop experience. Bringing Andrus up without someone to work with on a professional level, would be a mistake for this ballclub. It would give them very little room for error if Andrus has trouble making the adjustment from AA to the Major Leagues (which he most certainly will). This would also put the Rangers in the awkward position of having Michael Young go back and forth between SS and 3B after the shakeup they had this off season. 

Another thing is the Rangers have no set utility man for this year. German Duran is the frontrunner right now, and while he is a nice player, is not someone you want to rely on to play every position on the field if push comes to shove. I believe Vizquel can play SS and 2B and possibly 3B, and play them very well. 

This also make sense on an economic standpoint. The Rangers are obviously trying to take on as little payroll as possible. He can be gotten at a big discount because of his age and it is estimated he can be had for 1-2 million dollars. This is a great investment if he is brought in as a mentor for Andrus.

A deal with Vizquel make sense on several different levels:

1) You get a great mentor for the future shortstop of the organization.

2) You get a good utility man for a cheap price

3) It allows Michael Young to completely focus on 3B

4) It is a very low risk deal, if he doesn’t pan out, who cares

I think this is something the Rangers needs to lock up as soon as possible. I would love to see Andrus and Vizquel working together this March, getting Andrus ready to be the Texas Rangers starting shortstop for a long, long time.

If you haven’t already, I highly suggest you check out Joey Matschulat’s write up of Omar Vizquel this morning. Link here. He also has a recording of Jon Daniels on “Ben and Skin” from yesterday, 15 minutes of pretty good Ranger talk that deserves a listen if you are interested on the GM’s take on a lot of pertinent issues.

If you have not seen this yet, the Rangers are kicking the tires on veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel. I like this move, a lot. Vizquel, now 41 years old, is far from his prime. His offensive numbers, which were one pretty salty, are not even decent any more. However, this is not where his value comes in. If you bring in a guy like Vizquel you are essentially bringing in a professor for Elvis Andrus. 

Vizquel has been a gold glove winner 11 times in his long career, you cannot put a price on that kind of experience. Andrus, who “idolized” Vizquel growing up in Venezuela, will have a legitimate mentor during his rookie season. If Andrus is the future shortstop of this organization, this move is an outstanding investment. Vizquel is still an outstanding fielder, and can play a wide range of postions, making him a great fit as a utility man on a team that doesn’t necessarily have one at this point (German Duran is probably the current utility guy). 

Another reason I like the deal is it will allow Michael Young to completely immerse himself in third base. Young, who will be debuting in April as the Rangers Opening Day third baseman, is going to have the daunting task of learning a new position in 2 months. He is not going to have time to mentor Andrus, and this is a team with no other shortstop experience. Bringing Andrus up without someone to work with on a professional level, would be a mistake for this ballclub. It would give them very little room for error if Andrus has trouble making the adjustment from AA to the Major Leagues (which he most certainly will). This would also put the Rangers in the awkward position of having Michael Young go back and forth between SS and 3B after the shakeup they had this off season. 

Another thing is the Rangers have no set utility man for this year. German Duran is the frontrunner right now, and while he is a nice player, is not someone you want to rely on to play every position on the field if push comes to shove. I believe Vizquel can play SS and 2B and possibly 3B, and play them very well. 

This also make sense on an economic standpoint. The Rangers are obviously trying to take on as little payroll as possible. He can be gotten at a big discount because of his age and it is estimated he can be had for 1-2 million dollars. This is a great investment if he is brought in as a mentor for Andrus.

A deal with Vizquel make sense on several different levels:

1) You get a great mentor for the future shortstop of the organization.

2) You get a good utility man for a cheap price

3) It allows Michael Young to completely focus on 3B

4) It is a very low risk deal, if he doesn’t pan out, who cares

I think this is something the Rangers needs to lock up as soon as possible. I would love to see Andrus and Vizquel working together this March, getting Andrus ready to be the Texas Rangers starting shortstop for a long, long time.