The Rangers introduced that they’ve signed right-hander Matt Festa to a minor league deal. The Beverly Hills Sports activities Council shopper will probably be in camp as a non-roster invitee. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning Information reported the deal previous to the official announcement.
Festa, 32 in March, spent the latter half of the 2024 season with the Rangers. He was chosen to the roster in August and tossed 22 2/3 innings for them in what remained of the schedule, permitting 4.37 earned runs per 9. His 25% strikeout charge and seven.6% stroll charge have been each a bit higher than common.
Regardless of that respectable displaying, he was got rid of the roster final month, getting designated for task when Texas signed Chris Martin. He was flipped to the Cubs for money however solely lasted just a few weeks with that crew. The Cubs gave him the DFA therapy to open a roster spot once they acquired Ryan Pressly.
Festa cleared waivers and was outrighted by the Cubs to Triple-A Iowa. Gamers with at the least one earlier profession outright, comparable to Festa, have the suitable to reject one other outright task in favor of free company. It seems that he did certainly elect free company and has circled again to the Rangers.
He now has 117 1/3 main league innings below his belt with a 4.60 ERA. His 10.3% profession stroll charge is a tad excessive however he has paired that with a robust 25% strikeout charge. The Rangers have been making an attempt to bolster their bullpen on a budget this winter. They misplaced Kirby Yates, David Robertson, José Leclerc and Andrew Chafin to free company at season’s finish. That gave them loads of work to do however they’ve had a transparent aim of avoiding the aggressive stability tax this winter.
They acquired Robert Garcia, who has not but certified for arbitration, within the Nathaniel Lowe deal. They’ve signed Martin, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong and Hoby Milner to one-year offers, every value lower than $6MM. They’ve given minor league offers to Jesse Chavez, Codi Heuer, Patrick Murphy and now Festa. If Festa will get added to the roster at any level, he’s out of choices however has simply over two years of service time, that means he hasn’t but certified for arbitration.
