The Rangers have signed Bruce Chen to a minor-league deal.
Maybe it's churlish to nitpick about a move I basically agreed with, but I'd almost prefer Chen on a minor-league deal to Tony Armas on a major-league deal. With Chen there's almost no risk, and unlike Armas, he had a really good year relatively recently -he put up a 108 ERA+ in 2005 in the tough A.L. East. Armas hasn't put up an ERA+ that high since 2001. Chen was absolutely horrible in 2006, though, and he's left-handed, so he probably wasn't on the Pirates' radar. That's too bad, because one would think he'd jump at the chance to pitch in PNC, which is ideally suited to his profile (he's a lefty flyball pitcher). Oh well. This is a nice gamble by the Rangers, even though Chen's homeriffic tendencies may get even worse in Arlington.