The Rangers announced the signing of three players to minor league contracts. Left-handers Chasen Shreve and Danny Duffy and catcher José Godoy will be in MLB camp as non-roster invitees. Texas also confirmed their previously reported agreement with DJ Peters, although the outfielder-turned-pitcher did not get an invite to big league Spring Training.
All three of Texas new additions have MLB experience. Of the trio, only Shreve appeared at the big league level a year ago. The 33-year-old split his season between the Tigers and Reds. Initially inked to an offseason minor league pact by Detroit, he made the team out of camp and logged 47 appearances. While his 4.79 ERA over 41 1/3 innings is unspectacular, Shreve struck out a decent 23.3% of opponents against a lower than average 6.7% walk percentage.
Detroit had hoped to drum up trade interest in the veteran reliever. Once the deadline passed without a taker, they released him to give a few more innings to controllable bullpen arms. Shreve latched on with the Reds for three more outings but didn’t carve out a lasting spot in the Cincinnati relief corps. They released him in September.
Shreve has appeared in parts of 10 big league campaigns, suiting up with seven different teams along the way. He’ll go for an eighth in Arlington as he aims for a spot in a bullpen that skews to the right side. Brock Burke is the only southpaw locked into a relief corps that could also include swingman Cody Bradford or rookies Antoine Kelly and Jake Latz. Shreve has held left-handed batters to a fairly modest .222/.295/.403 batting line over the past four seasons. Former Astro Blake Taylor is also in camp as a minor league pickup.
Duffy rejoins the group, marking his second straight season with the Rangers. The longtime Royals starter inked a minor league pact with Texas a year ago. That came on the heels of 18 months wrecked by arm injuries. Duffy suffered a flexor strain midway through the 2021 season. Repeated setbacks necessitated postseason surgery and ultimately cost him all of ’22 as well.
The 35-year-old managed to get back on a mound last June. Assigned to Double-A Frisco, he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen. Duffy turned in a 2.30 ERA over 31 1/3 innings, striking out 28.3% of batters faced. His control was clearly adversely affected by the long layoff, as he walked an untenable 15.2% of hitters at the Double-A level. He issued another eight free passes in 4 1/3 frames of Triple-A work. The Rangers were sufficiently impressed with his form to give him another Spring Training look in hopes that he can dial in the command as he gets further removed from injury. Duffy hasn’t made an MLB appearance since his final start as a Royal on July 16, 2021.
Godoy, 29, is a depth catcher who has 26 games of big league experience. He split that time between the Mariners, Twins and Pirates. The left-handed hitter has a .271/.329/.404 line in parts of four Triple-A campaigns. Godoy spent the ’23 season in the Yankees and Orioles organizations but only made 36 appearances at the top minor league level.
