ESPN

We blogged earlier about four Rangers players being in ESPN.com's Keith Law's top-100 prospect list. But he also put together the top-10 list for all of the MLB clubs. Here is his top-10 for the Rangers:

1. Jurickson Profar, SS (7)
2. Martin Perez, LHP (20)
3. Mike Olt, 3B (75)
4. Neil Ramirez, RHP (99)
5. Robbie Ross, LHP
6. Rougned Odor, 2B
7. Leonys Martin, CF
8. Cody Buckel, RHP
9. Leury Garcia, SS
10. Jorge Alfaro, C

BTW, the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's had the most prospects in the top-100 list among AL West teams with five, as the Rangers and Angels both had four.

As we noted yesterday, the Rangers still had the top overall minor league system in the AL West, according to Law.

ESPN.com's Keith Law has revealed his top-100 prospect list and it includes four Rangers:

No. 7: SS Jurickson Profar

The Sally League's youngest regular was one of its most impressive prospects of any age; Profar showed the selectivity of a player six or seven years his senior, outstanding instincts in the field and more power than anticipated in his full-season debut.

Profar is a plus-makeup, plus-feel, plus-instincts guy who breaks the mold of that type of player by also having tremendous tools. Born in Curacao, he was scouted more as a pitcher that a position player before he signed. His defense projects as plus, if it isn't there already, with good hands, great reactions off the bat and of course a plus arm. At the plate, his approach is very advanced, and he's stronger than I realized, showing the ability to drive the ball the other way. He needs to keep his stride shorter -- I've seen him overstride to the point where his back side collapses -- and might have more pull power if he does so. He is only an average runner down the line but gets more out of his speed through his feel for baserunning.

Profar is also a player to root for, because of the energy he brings to the game and what a potential superstar like him could do for the sport on the global stage.

No. 20: Martin Perez

Perez has been on the prospect radar so long that it's easy to forget he has yet to turn 21. His performances haven't matched his stuff -- or the hype -- just yet, but he reached Triple-A at an unusually young age and performed well given that added variable.

He will sit 92-95 mph on good days, working effectively to both sides of the plate, with a plus changeup at 83-85 that has both good arm speed and hard fading action. His curveball is more solid-average, mid-70s with inconsistent shape. Perez's command and control are still works in progress. He can take an inning or more to find his rhythm, and he has a tendency to overthrow when in trouble. He's improved his conditioning over the past two years, losing baby fat and building up muscle for durability. He could still end up at the top of a rotation but is more likely a solid No. 2 behind, say, someone such as Yu Darvish.

No. 75: Mike Olt

A potentially plus defender at third with plus raw power, Olt has seen the ball much better as a pro than he did as an amateur, resulting in better-than-expected plate discipline that gives him a chance to be at least an average regular at third. Olt can launch balls in BP, but his approach is now less pull-happy than it was in college, with very good bat speed and great extension on his follow-through for power to left and the ability to use the middle of the field.

He missed two months this summer with a broken collarbone, but was 100 percent again for fall league and led the AFL in home runs (helped by a very homer-friendly ballpark). His contact rates probably won't ever be great, but even an average hit tool with plus power and defense at third makes for a fringe star.

No. 99: Neil Ramirez

Ramirez took a huge step forward in 2011 that was short-circuited temporarily by some shoulder trouble that cropped up in mid-summer. He'll sit 93-94 mph when fully healthy and reached 97 in big league camp last spring with a plus curveball and solid-average changeup. When he had the chance to jump up to Triple-A for a spot start midyear, he threw well enough that Texas decided to leave him there the rest of the year.

He has cleaned up his delivery substantially since high school, with a slightly long but smoother arm swing that puts less stress on his shoulder and none of the former cross-body action that plagued him before he signed. He seemed fully recovered in the Arizona Fall League, and with a full, healthy season he would be a top 50-60 prospect if he's not already in the majors by then.

The top-6 ahead of Profar:

1. CF Mike Trout, LAA
2. RF Bryce Harper, Washington
3. LHP Matt Moore, Tampa Bay
4. SS Manny Machado, Baltimore
5. RHP Shelby Miller, St. Louis
6. C Travis d'Arnaud, Toronto

Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz and the club are working on the details of a two-year agreement that would prevent the need for an arbitration hearing next week, a source confirmed.

Cruz, 31, hit .263 with 29 homers and 87 RBIs for the Rangers in 2011 and was the ALCS MVP after knocking six homers and driving in 13 runs -- both postseason series records -- in the Rangers' six-game victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Cruz and the club exchanged arbitration figures and were $2 million apart with Cruz wanting $7.5 million and the club countering with $5.5 million.

Cruz was acquired at the trade deadline in 2006 when the Rangers sent a package that included reliever Francisco Cordero to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Lee and Cruz. At the time, Cruz had shown an ability to crush minor-league pitching, but wasn't able to consistently hit in the majors. He didn't hit right away in Texas, either, and revamped his swing in a couple of minor-league stints, eventually returning for a solid end to the 2008 season and became the starting right fielder the next year. Cruz has 106 home runs in 1,893 regular-season at-bats and has driven in 323 runs.

Cruz has dealt with injuries throughout his major-league career. He has been on the disabled list five times the past two seasons, mainly because of hamstring strains. The most games he's played on one season was 128 in 2009.

If Cruz gets a deal done, the club would have one remaining arbitration player in catcher Mike Napoli. When figures were exchanged, the club was offering $8.3 million and Napoli was asking for $11.5 million. Napoli hit a career-best .320 with 30 homers and 75 RBIs in 113 games for the Rangers after he was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for Frank Francisco a month before spring training in 2011.

The Dallas Morning News first reported Cruz and the club were in talks on a two-year deal, while ESPNDeportes.com ran a story last week saying Cruz was interested in staying a Ranger for life and getting a longer-term deal done.

We're still looking at the Rangers' starting rotation with our quick-hit outlooks heading into spring training later this month.

Today's position: No. 4 starter

Let's talk about Matt Harrison, who could fall into the No. 4 spot, just behind Yu Darvish and breaking up the lefties with Derek Holland in the No. 2 slot. Again, the Rangers haven't set the rotation, so this is mere speculation.

Harrison was another young starter who took an important step in 2011. After starting the 2009 and 2010 seasons in the rotation, Harrison wasn't able to finish either season there. Left shoulder inflammation that was later diagnosed as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome cut short his 2009 season. He was the club's fifth starter in 2010 and made six starts before landing on the DL with biceps tendinitis. He returned as a member of the bullpen.

A good spring in 2011 helped him break for the third consecutive spring in the rotation, but this time he held his spot. Harrison pitched a career-high 185 2/3 innings and was 14-9 with 126 strikeouts and 57 walks. The Rangers won 13 of his final 16 starts and were 20-10 in his 30 starts overall. He stayed healthy for the most part, too. He missed a start because of a blister on his left index finger, but he played through a kidney stone and didn't let a line drive off his left triceps force him to miss time.

He did all of it despite having the lowest run support average among Texas starters per nine innings (4.99). He received three runs or fewer in 18 of his 30 starts. Harrison pitched at least six innings in 23 starts, yet was the only member of the season-opening rotation without a complete game.

RANGERS POSITION OUTLOOK

Jan. 23: Catcher Jan. 24: First base Jan. 25: Second base Jan. 26: Third base Jan. 27: Shortstop Jan. 30: Left field Jan. 31: Center field Feb. 1: Right field Feb. 2: DH/Utility Feb. 3: Bench Feb. 6: No. 1 starter Feb. 7: No. 2 starter Feb. 8: No. 3 starter Feb. 9: No. 4 starter Feb. 10: No. 5 starter Feb. 13: Middle/long relief Feb. 14: Late-inning relief Feb. 15: Coaches Feb. 16: Manager Feb. 17: Front office

In the postseason, Harrison was up and down. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the ALDS, which sent the Rangers to the ALCS. But Harrison also started Game 7 of the World Series and allowed three runs on five hits in four innings (two of those runs were in the bottom of the first after the Rangers had taken a 2-0 lead). He had a 7.04 ERA in the World Series in two starts. Still, it was valuable experience and Harrison has vowed to learn from it.

"Being able to make pretty much all my starts last year was big for me and get that full season starting under my belt, which I wasn’t able to do the two previous seasons breaking camp," said Harrison, before signing autographs at the Rangers Caravan stop in Frisco late last month. "Hopefully, this year I can do the same thing and go out there and give them a chance to win every time out.

"I really feel like I’m prepared to go physically too and am looking forward to learning from last year and improving on the mistakes I made."

Harrison feels good about his conditioning and wants to continue to build strength and stamina. He certainly comes into spring training in a different frame of mind thanks to his staying power in 2011.

Tickets for the Rangers-Cubs series in Las Vegas on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18, go on sale Monday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. central time. You can purchase tickets at the Cashman Field box office or through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000.

The cost is $35 for reserved seats, berm and grandstand, $45 for plaza and $50 for field seats. The spring training games will feature split squads.

The Texas Rangers and Elvis Andrus made the three-year, $14.4 million deal with the shortstop official Wednesday. But that doesn't mean the club will stop talking with Scott Boras, Andrus' agent.

Assistant general manager Thad Levine stressed Wednesday that the organization sees Andrus as a member of its core and wants to keep him for longer than simply his arbitration years.

The deal signed Wednesday includes a $750,000 signing bonus and breaks down like this:

2012: $2.375 million
2013: $4.8 million
2014: $6.475 million

It means the Rangers and Andrus avoid any arbitration hearings for the next few years, but the deal does not include any of Andrus' free agent years. The deal does give the club some cost control for three years, but still gives Andrus the chance at a major payday after 2014 (don't get me wrong: $6.475 million in 2014 is certainly a major payday, but he could be set to get a lot more).

The Rangers still don't have any members of the "core" group signed past their current contracts. They do have a club option on Ian Kinsler for 2013, but Mike Napoli and Josh Hamilton are up after this season. Andrus and Nelson Cruz are up after the 2014 season and there are other players the club would like to sign up long-term that still aren't signed (like Derek Holland, for instance).

"We would like to extend some of our core players into free agency," Levine said. "We’ve always felt that in spring training it’s sometimes easier to have those conversations. The player is around the team and we’re around the player more. We’ll continue to have those conversations and continue having them with Elvis and his representatives."

Armed with a new three-year deal worth approximately $14.5 million -- a deal that was made official Wednesday afternoon -- Elvis Andrus vowed to continue to improve.

Andrus spoke to reporters in a conference call announcing the deal and said he feels like he's improved in his three years in the league and can get even better in the next three years. It was a sentiment shared by assistant general manager Thad Levine, who was the club's representative in negotiations with Andrus' agent, Scott Boras.

“I’m still learning every day,” Andrus said. “I think my best years are coming. I’m getting stronger. I get to know more about myself and improve my offense and defense. I’m trying to get better every year.”

Andrus, 23, had 25 errors in 2011, his highest total as a professional. He talked this past season about focusing better on the routine plays and getting that total down (as many of those errors were on bad throws). The error total can be misleading, of course. Andrus had 245 putouts and 407 assists (tied for his career high) and helped turn 102 double plays. He gets to many balls that other shortstops can't, giving him a greater chance at making an error.

At the plate, Andrus hit .279, a career-best. He had 37 stolen bases, also his highest mark in three seasons and drove in 60 RBIs, 20 more than his previous highest season (2009).

Andrus plans to report to Surprise, Ariz., on Feb. 17, well early of the Feb. 22 reporting date.

"That’s something I’ve been doing the last two years," Andrus said. "I like to get there early, cool down myself and take it easy. I've talked to a few of the other guys and we like to go early and do some workouts before practice starts."

Andrus spent the offseason trying to get stronger.

"I'm trying to get stronger in every part of my body and at the same time keep my legs and all the muscles ready to go and ready to do what I like to do," Andrus said. "I’m continuing to work out and grow as a player and get in better shape every year."

FORT WORTH -- Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland said Tuesday that he's ready for spring training and that his surgically-repaired right wrist feels good.

Moreland said he's been participating in full workouts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington with some of his teammates and has been hitting four times a week with hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh.

"I feel really good right now," Moreland said. "Nobody will know until we get there but me. I have to go out there and see how I feel, but as of now everything is going great."

Moreland said the wrist bothered him a lot down the stretch in 2011, even preventing him from taking any swings in the batting cages and limiting his swings in batting practice before games. He said he had an "impact fracture" that caused a bone to get out of place, which was grinding against cartilage in his wrist. But he doesn't feel any pain in that wrist now.

"I'll be on some kind of hitting routine [as spring training starts], but there won't be many limitations to it," Moreland said. "They said we were going to go on how I feel. If I feel good, we'll keep going through it."

Moreland is focused on getting completely healthy and proving that the hitter that fared so well in the second half of 2010 can reappear in 2012.

Derek Holland and Ron Washington join Ben and Skin in studio for a good hour to discuss anything and everything Rangers, including Josh Hamilton's recent relapse, expectations for 2012 and much.

 

ESPN.com's Keith Law ranks the minor league organizations and has the Texas Rangers coming in seventh overall. A look at what he says about Texas:

The Rangers have ranked highly the past few years -- including No. 1 once -- because of depth and ceiling, but they're now more about the latter than the former. (Note that I don't consider Yu Darvish or any player with Nippon Professional Baseball experience a "prospect" for the purpose of this ranking or the top 100.)

The teams Law ranks ahead of Texas:

1. San Diego Padres
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Kansas City Royals
6. Arizona Diamondbacks

How the other AL West teams fared:

9. Oakland A's
11. Seattle Mariners
15. Los Angeles Angels

I thought it was interesting that the Angels came in last among AL West teams despite having Mike Trout. But Law's write-up says Trout is the "only one real sure thing" in their system, but says other guys are one major adjustment away from becoming better prospects.

Law's top-100 prospects come out this week as well and it will be interesting to see how many Rangers make that list.

Now that the Rangers have agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth around $14.5 million with shortstop Elvis Andrus (that takes him through his arbitration years and makes him a free agent after the 2014 season unless a new deal is negotiated before then), they have two more arbitration cases to handle.

Outfielder Nelson Cruz and catcher Mike Napoli are still pending as both of their hearing dates get closer. Napoli's hearing in Tampa, Fla., is set for Feb. 15 and Cruz has one scheduled two days later.

It's worth nothing that the Rangers reached agreement with Andrus less than two days before his hearing, so these things can get done at the last minute (and tend to do so).

Napoli's gap is the largest of any of the arbitration cases as he wants $11.5 million and the club has countered with $8.3 million. Napoli's coming off a career-best season, hitting .320 with 30 homers and 75 RBIs. Napoli was magnificent in the World Series, collecting big hits and throwing runners out in key situations. He likely would have been the World Series MVP had the Rangers won.

Cruz is asking for $7.5 million in 2012 and the club's figure is $5.5 million. The Rangers have not had an actual arbitration hearing with a player since Lee Stevens in 2000.

The guy we've slotted as the No. 3 starter will be drawing plenty of interest in spring training.

Today's position: No. 3 starter

We've given that designation to Yu Darvish, the 25-year-old Japanese star pitcher who signed for approximately $60 million over six years in January after the Rangers won the right to negotiate with Darvish thanks to a $51.7 million posting bid.

Darvish comes into camp amid high expectations. The Rangers have made a major investment in him and believe he has the potential to be the club's ace. But no one is throwing that label on Darvish yet. They want him to get settled in and start making all the necessary adjustments. And there are a bunch. He'll be throwing a different baseball, learning major league hitters, figuring out the language barrier, meeting new teammates and living away from home in a different country.

So spring training is important for him. He'll be working with pitching coach Mike Maddux and bullpen coach Andy Hawkins nearly every day and will have Joe Furukawa, one of the club's chief Japanese scouts, helping him as a translator when needed. Darvish will also be bringing over someone he knows to help him out. But he won't have a large entourage.

RANGERS POSITION OUTLOOK

Jan. 23: Catcher Jan. 24: First base Jan. 25: Second base Jan. 26: Third base Jan. 27: Shortstop Jan. 30: Left field Jan. 31: Center field Feb. 1: Right field Feb. 2: DH/Utility Feb. 3: Bench Feb. 6: No. 1 starter Feb. 7: No. 2 starter Feb. 8: No. 3 starter Feb. 9: No. 4 starter Feb. 10: No. 5 starter Feb. 13: Middle/long relief Feb. 14: Late-inning relief Feb. 15: Coaches Feb. 16: Manager Feb. 17: Front office

"We're not going to spring training with these great expectations that he's going to shine over everybody else," Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan said the day Darvish signed. "We want him to come in and fit in and make the adjustment of being over here, being in major league baseball for the first time. As we go through spring training and the early part of the season, he'll start showing what he's capable of doing."

The question will be how well Darvish's numbers from Japan will translate in the big leagues. We've talked about this a lot on the blog, but the Rangers' scouts are confident, after having seen him at length for the last few seasons, that his stuff is good enough to get major league hitters out. He has seven pitches and Maddux has indicated that Darvish will likely decrease that to four or five and work hard at refining them and making them as good as they can possibly be. Here's a scouting report on Darvish, BTW.

He was 18-6 last season with a league-best 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts. He walked just 36 batters in 232 innings.

"We saw a guy that we felt was built to pitch innings and has a classic pitcher's build," GM Jon Daniels said shortly after Darvish signed. "He has a real commitment to his conditioning and work ethic. We think he can pitch innings at a high caliber for a large amount of time."

Darvish pitched in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has been consistent after getting through some growing pains in his rookie season at age 18. He was 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA in his career in Japan.

Darvish said all the right things at his news conference in Arlington a few weeks ago and then thanked fans (apparently more than 10,000 of them showed up) when he returned to Japan. Now he has to show the ability that the Rangers are banking will make a difference the next six seasons.

It's unclear what order the Rangers' rotation will take this season, but we put Darvish at No. 3, thinking that manager Ron Washington could put him between left-hander Derek Holland and left-hander Matt Harrison.

The Rangers have avoided arbitration with Elvis Andrus, agreeing to terms with the shortstop on a three-year deal for between $14 and $15 million pending a physical, according to sources.

Andrus, 23, will avoid arbitration for the remainder of his career with Texas thanks to the contract. He batted .279 with five homers and 60 RBIs with 37 stolen bases in 2011.

It was Andrus’ third season in the league as the club’s starting shortstop. He was second in the AL rookie of the year balloting in 2009, hitting .267 with six homers and 40 RBIs with 33 stolen bases. He had a .265 average with no homers and 35 RBIs with 32 stolen bases in 2010.

Andrus was acquired as part of the Mark Teixeira trade in July 2007 and never even played in Triple-A before earning the starting shortstop spot in 2009. Michael Young, who was a Gold Glove shortstop in 2008, moved over to third base to accommodate Andrus’ arrival.

FoxSports.com first reported this story.

The Texas Rangers announced Tuesday night that Shayne Kelley has been named a major league staff assistant and part of his duties will be to support Josh Hamilton.

Kelley, a graduate of the University of Alabama, will also help hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh and the Rangers coaching staff as part of his duties.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said that Kelley has already started in his position and accompanied Hamilton to New York on Monday as the slugger saw two doctors, one with MLB and one with the union. Daniels said he’s expecting a full report on that meeting within the next few days.

Kelley fills the position vacated by Johnny Narron, who left this offseason to become the hitting coach of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Kelley has a religious background as team chaplain at Alabama from 1996-99. Kelley has been around baseball at the college and high school level for more than 15 years, including a two-year stint as minor league strength and conditioning coach for the Kansas City Royals.

The Rangers revealed their 2012 spring training broadcast schedule Tuesday, and it includes 10 games on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM, 10 games on local television and 10 free audio webcasts at texasrangers.com.

The exhibition game against the Mexico City Red Devils on April 3 at Rangers Ballpark will be televised by TXA 21 and carried on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and 1540 AM ESPN Deportes, the team's Spanish flagship station.