There's still some action going down during the final day of the MLB Winter Meetings. They're not the huge blockbuster moves that flooded the scene earlier, but crucial players are still being moved or signing with new teams.
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, the Washington Nationals have traded left-handed reliever Ross Detwiler to the Texas Rangers in exchange for two minor leaguers. Detwiler spent his first full season as a reliever in 2014 with the Nationals and went 2-3 with a 4.00 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 63 innings. He'll join the Rangers in 2015 while the Nats get an infielder and a reliever.
It looks like Detwiler, 28, will be used a bit differently in Texas, but not in a way he isn't used to. CBS Sports' Jon Heyman writes the Rangers view Detwiler as a starter, which is something he likely has no problem with. Out of the 132 games the left-hander has pitched in his career, 69 of them were starts in which he compiled a 17-29 record with a 4.02 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. As a reliever (63 games), he owns a 3-3 record with a 3.02 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. Texas is seemingly still trying to figure things out in their rotation, so it remains to be seen how Detwiler will fit in.
Earlier today the St. Louis Cardinals handed out a low-risk, high-reward contract to the power-hitting Mark Reynolds, according to Heyman. The 31-year-old Reynolds hasn't hit over .221 since 2009, which was a career year for the slugger. At the time he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks and slashed .260/.349/.543 with 44 home runs and 102 RBIs. He actually posed a career-low .196 batting average in 130 games with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014, but he managed to hit 22 home runs.
With Matt Adams at first base and Matt Carpenter at third, this move by the Cardinals was solely for depth and pinch-hitting/lefty vs. righty situations. St. Louis will be Reynolds' sixth team as he enters his ninth season in the MLB.
