Rangers Acquire Carlos Corporan

Just one day after acquiring pitcher Gonzalez Germen, the Texas Rangers have designated him for assignment. In his place? Catcher Carlos Corporan.

Corporan, 31, was designated for assignment yesterday by Houston after they signed Colby Rasmus, and given the waiver priority order had Texas behind only Arizona, the Rangers were able to place the prevailing claim and work out a trade for the catcher. In exchange, Texas will send Akeem Bostick to Houston to complete the deal.

Corporan's main claim to fame among Rangers fans likely comes as playing the spoiler. In August of 2013, Corporan hit a solo home run to break up a Yu Darvish no-hitter in the 8th inning.

In coming to Texas, he'll provide a solid defensive backup for Robinson Chirinos. Corporan is a switch-hitter that swings better from the left side, but will provide Jeff Banister some added flexibility when deciding on rest days for Chirinos. While Corporan's offensive profile doesn't impress -- his career wRC+ stands at 75 -- he's generally regarded as a good pitch-framer. Beyond that, he's put up a much more respectable line for a catcher since the beginning of 2012, with an OPS of .679.

While the analysis of pitch-framing is still somewhat in its infancy, it has proven valuable in determining which players help their pitchers get the extra strike calls. For what it's worth, Robinson Chirinos struggled with that aspect of his game in 2014 despite throwing out a higher rate of would-be base stealers than everyone not named Yadier Molina.

Carlos Corporan will cost $975,000 in 2015, and should Texas so desire, be under club control for a total of three seasons. Once again, we've got an unspectacular move by the Texas front office, but one that fills a void on the roster. The Rangers are one step closer to being ready to report to Spring Training.