Eric Hurley moves to free agency, Rangers to watch Jamie Moyer throw
The Texas Rangers did not only lose their Farm Director, Scott Servais on Friday, November 4, but five of their players moved to the free agency. The club lost one of their biggest pitching stars in the minor league, Eric Hurley. On the other hand, the club
has sent one off their top level scouts to watch the soon to be 49-year-old Jamie Moyer, throw. Assistant to the General Manager, Thad Levine, talked to the press about the recent development.
Hurley, Omar Beltre and Merkin Valdez are the three pitchers to move out of the club. Andres Blanco and Esteban German are however the two infielders to make their way to the free agency. The team had to move some players out of the 40-man Minor League roster.
The move was made to protect the team from a potential Rule 5 Draft.
Hurley has been having a tough time for the Rangers in the last few years. Picked up in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, Hurley went on to become the Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Things however never developed from there as he went 1 – 2 with a 5.47
ERA in 2008. Then in the following two years, he was injured with a rotator cuff injury and a broken wrist.
In 2011, Hurley started off with head injury. He came back to play well in the Triple – A league but he failed on the Major League level again. Levine hopes to sign him back soon.
"We're hopeful we can entice him to re-sign with us," assistant general manager Thad Levine said. "We understand he wants to evaluate his options, including what he deems is a faster track to the big leagues. We understand he feels he is on the rebound from
the a few injuries and his singular goal is to get to the big leagues. We hope he gets that opportunity."
The Rangers are not currently serious about Moyer but they may have the option to turn to him if they need him. Currently, there is no harm in sending in scouts to report on his pitching. Levine calls it a routine call for scouts.
"We almost always send somebody to that pitcher," Levine said. "We never assume it's not worth it. We want to explore every option to improve our ballclub."
With Hurley moving out and Moyer catching an eye, the Rangers are hard at work to fix the pitching problems.
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