{"id":325870,"date":"2026-06-06T20:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T20:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/325870\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T20:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T20:07:14","slug":"how-signing-elias-diaz-can-give-rangers-more-roster-flexibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/325870\/","title":{"rendered":"How Signing Elias Diaz Can Give Rangers More Roster Flexibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/why-rangers-optioned-alejandro-osuna-back-to-minors-in-latest-transactions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers<\/a> are expected to make a move to bolster their depth behind the plate with El\u00edas D\u00edaz.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The Rangers have not formally announced the deal. It was initlaly reported late Friday night by Daniel \u00c1lvarez-Montes of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DanielAlvarezEE\/status\/2063115001766768849\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">El Extrabase on X<\/a> (formerly Twitter).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/why-rangers-optioned-alejandro-osuna-back-to-minors-in-latest-transactions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rangers<\/a> will not have to make a corresponding move. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/rangers-corey-seager-wyatt-langford-return-with-immediate-impact\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas<\/a> had 39 players on the 40-man roster after designating outfield Sam Haggerty for assignment on Friday. Signing D\u00edaz will give the Rangers a third catcher on the MLB level. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/rangers-activate-corey-seager-wyatt-langford-from-injured-list\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas<\/a> has had two catchers since it designated Willie MacIver for assignment on April 23. The Rangers traded him to Toronto for cash. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">D\u00edaz played in 10 games for Kansas City this season, backing up Salvador Perez. He was designated for assignment on May 22, cleared waivers, accepted an assignment to Triple-A and then opted for free agency on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p>The El\u00edas D\u00edaz Fit in Texas<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01ktej2hwc1n3jmk0dte.jpg\" alt=\"Kansas City Royals catcher Elias Diaz (rounds the bases after hitting a home run.\" title=\"Kansas City Royals catcher Elias Diaz (rounds the bases after hitting a home run.\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7i\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kansas City Royals catcher Elias Diaz. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">The Rangers don&#8217;t have to place D\u00edaz on their 26-man roster by signing him to an MLB deal. They&#8217;re only required to put them on the 40-man roster. The catching tandem of Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka has caught every game for Texas this season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">So why sign D\u00edaz when the Rangers have a tandem in place? Aside from having a third catcher at the ready in case of injury, he could give the Rangers&#8217; lineup additional flexibility. During Friday\u2019s media availability, manager Skip Schumaker talked about the potential for using the two catchers as designated hitters or even pinch-hitters in certain situations, meaning he might need to make two moves in the field including a new catcher. If D\u00edaz is on the roster, it gives him another tool to use.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">The Rangers were using Andrew McCutchen as their right-handed designated hitter before he was DFA\u2019ed last week. Justin Foscue was the DH on Friday against the left-hander Parker Messick of Cleveland. Joc Pederson normally takes the DH at-bats against right-handers. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">The 35-year-old D\u00edaz was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela and made his Major League debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015. He\u2019s also played for the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres. He\u2019s played in 100 or more games in a season five times, including 106 games in 2025 with the Padres. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">He carries a lifetime slash of .246\/.300\/.385 with 73 home runs and 331 RBI. He was named a National League All-Star in 2023 with the Rockies, where he slashed .267\/.316\/.409 with 14 home runs and 72 RBI. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">Catcher is a spot where the Rangers have a lack of organizational depth in the minor leagues. Former first-round pick Malcolm Moore is having his best season offensively but has yet to play at Double-A Frisco.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 The Texas Rangers are expected to make a move to bolster their depth behind the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-325870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}