The Rangers have agreed to terms with recently non-tendered Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia on a one-year deal in the neighborhood of $1 million, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Arencibia will likely back up Geovany Soto for Texas.
Rangers sign J.P. Arencibia
Do you like homers and hate pretty much everything else? So, does J.P.
Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE
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Arencibia was Toronto’s first-round pick in the 2007 amateur draft, and was able to reach the majors relatively quickly for a catcher, spending just three full seasons in the minors. Perhaps he should’ve stayed a little longer.
There’s no question about his power. Arencibia has hit 64 home runs in just under 1,400 plate appearances in his young career, and he has a very impressive ISO of .196 (isolated power, which is simply a player’s slugging percentage minus his batting average). Other than home runs, Arencibia’s offensive contributions are almost nonexistent. He hit 21 longballs last season and still managed to post an OPS+ of 59. That means he was 41 percent less valuable offensively than the average player.
If the Rangers deploy Arencibia sparingly, he could be occasionally useful since he’s a non-goadawful defensive catcher, but he isn’t likely to be an everyday fixture. His power could see a slight uptick in the Ballpark in Arlington, but even if he hit 30 homers a year, he’d still be a below average offensive contributor overall.
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