--RHPs Derrick Turnbow, Casey Daigle and Elizardo Ramirez were signed to minor league deals with invitations to major league spring training. Turnbow, 30, is recovering from shoulder problems that limited him to eight games last season. Daigle, 27, was 1-5 with a 3.78 ERA in 69 innings as a reliever for Minnesota's Class AAA team and made 20 appearances (10 starts) in the majors for Arizona in 2004 and 2006. Ramirez, who turns 26 in January, spent most of last season with Class AAA Oklahoma. He was 10-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 160 innings in 27 games (23 starts).
--The Rangers have hired former major leaguer Spike Owen as minor league infield coordinator. Owen replaces Dave Anderson, who is the major league club's new third base coach. --OF Nelson Cruz once again has pummeled pitching in the Dominican Republic. Cruz hit .362 with 1.045 OPS during the regular season in the Dominican Winter League. He hit two home runs in the first four games of the playoffs.
--With LHP Randy Johnson signing with San Francisco, it appears the Rangers will not sign any major league free agent starting pitchers this winter. There is still a chance they could become more seriously involved with RHP Ben Sheets, but they would likely have to shed either the contract of RHPs Kevin Millwood ($12 million) or Vicente Padilla ($11 million).
BY THE NUMBERS: 9.14 -- The Rangers' ERA in Boston since July 2, 2007. They have lost eight consecutive games to the Red Sox. The good news for the Rangers is they make only one trip to Fenway Park in 2009 and play only three games there.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Without Mike's endorsement, I don't know if he would have been the fit that he ultimately was, but he's not far removed from being a very productive back-of-the-bullpen reliever. We're going to give him the opportunity, but he'll still have to earn it by proving he's healthy and can throw strikes and regain the form he had a few years ago." -- Assistant GM Thad Levine on the role new pitching coach Mike Maddux played in the signing of RHP Derrick Turnbow. Maddux was Turnbow's pitching coach in Milwaukee.
