Texas Rangers Announce Contract Agreements With Four Players

The Texas Rangers have announced they agreed to contracts with four players.

Jul 9, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Jesse Chavez against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

With Spring Training right around the corner, the Texas Rangers seem to be done making substantial moves at this point of the offseason.

They addressed their weak bullpen by bringing in five new players, re-signed Nathan Eovaldi, and added Joc Pederson, Jake Burger and Kyle Higashioka in free agency to bolster their lineup.

It was a good winter for the Rangers as they look to regain their contender status after missing the playoffs coming off their first-ever World Series title in 2023.

But, despite adding multiple relievers, Texas still is trying to figure out who their closer is going to be.

With them aiming to reduce payroll this offseason to get under a significant marker of the Competitive Balance Tax, their options to bring in a top-end shutdown guy are limited. And seemingly, their approach is going to be having as many arms as possible in the mix to see who can fill that role during the spring.

That's because the Rangers announced they agreed to minor league contracts with four players, including two pitchers.

The Texas Rangers today formally announced agreements with RHPs David Buchanan and Jesse Chavez, OF Cody Thomas, and C Chad Wallach on minor league contracts with invitations to 2025 Major League Spring Training camp.

— Texas Rangers PR (@TXRangersPR) January 27, 2025

Jesse Chavez is a longtime Major League pitcher who was originally drafted by Texas back in 2002 before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates prior to making his MLB debut. But, after stints with seven other teams, he eventually returned to the Rangers in 2018 on a one-year deal

He's spent the last two-plus seasons with the Atlanta Braves, posting a 2.62 ERA across his 128 outings, striking out 155 batters in 151 innings pitched.

At 41 years old, it's hard to envision what role he could play for Texas, but he's still been a top reliever even during the latter stages of his career like he showed during his time with the Braves.

As for Buchanan, he's looking to stick on a big league roster after appearing in one game for the Cincinnati Reds last season after spending 2016-2023 overseas with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball and the Samsung Lions of KBO.

Outfielder Cody Thomas has appeared in just 29 MLB games, all coming with the Athletics during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, after being selected in the 13th round of the draft in 2016.

Chad Wallach is more seasoned.

The veteran catcher was in The Show from 2017-2023 with the Reds, Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels. He didn't appear in a Major League game this past season.