Rangers Top D'Backs, Settle With Arbitration Players

While the Texas Rangers won their second straight Cactus League game, the club continued its streak of settling contracts with their arbitration-eligible players.

The Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1, at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, Texas improves to 2-1-1 in Cactus League action.

Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Nick Solak lined a solo home run to center field and Eli White added to the lead with a two-run shot after a Jonah Heim single. Both homers were the first of the spring for both Solak and White.

Rangers pitching dominated throughout the day. Starter Kolby Allard led the way with two perfect innings in his first Cactus League appearance of the spring. A.J. Alexy and Brock Burke followed with two scoreless innings of their own, with Burke recording a game-high three strikeouts. Ricky Vanasco set down three straight in the ninth inning to earn the save.

Davis Wendzel, who has appeared in all four of the Rangers' Cactus League games thus far, doubled to left field in his lone plate appearance after entering as a defensive replacement at third base. Matt Carpenter went 0-for-2 with a ground out and fly out as a defensive replacement at first base in his first official game action of the spring.

After playing two straight on the road, the Rangers will return to Surprise on Wednesday for a matchup with the Chicago White Sox at 3:05 p.m. CT. RHP Glenn Otto (0-0, -.--) takes the ball for Texas while former Ranger Lance Lynn (0-0, -.--) gets the start for Chicago.

Mitch Garver

Willie Calhoun

Taylor Hearn

Brett Martin

Rangers Settle With Arbitration Players 

The Rangers had four players enter the offseason eligible for arbitration: Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Willie Calhoun, Brett Martin and Taylor Hearn. While Kiner-Falefa and Calhoun had eclipsed the traditional three years of service time to be eligible, both Martin and Hearn qualified as Super Two players, finishing in the top 22 percent of players with more than two years of service but less than three.

When Kiner-Falefa was traded to the Minnesota Twins, the Rangers acquired catcher Mitch Garver. Like Kiner-Falefa, Garver was entering his second round of arbitration eligibility.

The deadline for clubs and arbitration-eligible players is usually in early January, but it was pushed back to Tuesday due to the 99-day lockout. The Rangers typically settle contracts with these players by the deadline, and this year was no different.

According to multiple reports, here are the figures the Rangers settled with their arbitration-eligible players: 

• Mitch Garver: $3.335 million 
• Willie Calhoun: $1.3 million
• Taylor Hearn: $1.05 million
• Brett Martin: $1.025 million

The Rangers now continue their streak in excess of two decades of settling contracts with arbitration-eligible players. The last player who needed to have his salary decided by a panel of arbitrators was Lee Stevens in 2000. Interestingly enough, Stevens was traded to the Montreal Expos before the season started.