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Amid all of the positives that surrounded the Texas Rangers' surprise 2009 season, Jarrod Saltalamacchia's season was a huge disappointment. He hit poorly (his final line was .233/.290/.371, a far cry from his career minor league line of .275/.373/.459), and ended up sharing time with Taylor Teagarden, before eventually having surgery to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a condition that was affecting the nerves in his throwing shoulder. Now, Salty's having shoulder trouble in the Dominican Winter League. Their fallback plan was to offer a fading Ivan Rodriguez arbitration. They did that, but unbelievably Pudge (who had an awful year at the plate last year after not signing with any team until after the World Baseball Classic) appears poised to reject that offer.
Besides the fact that it seems pretty insane for a soon-to-be 38-year old catcher that had a .280 OBP last year to reject ANY kind of contract offer, the Rangers are suddenly finding themselves with a potential problem at catcher. Just a year ago, they had the highly regarded Saltalamacchia, Teagarden, with Max Ramirez tearing up Double-A and seemingly ready to push both of the other two.
Along with Saltalamacchia's struggles, Teagarden only hit .237/.295/.374 in Arlington and Ramirez struggled mightily in Triple-A, putting up .659 OPS and striking out in a quarter of his plate appearances, though he did battle wrist injuries all season. The same can probably be said for Saltalamacchia's shoulder problems prior to his surgery, but with the recurrence there's no certainty that he'll be able to bounce back in 2010.
Even though it sounds like the Rangers are being cautious here, there's no indication of how serious this injury is. A position that once seemed to be a huge strength could be one Texas is forced to upgrade, or at least add depth at, this winter.
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