Bridges Unburned: Rangers avoid arbitration with Kela, Diekman, and Profar

The streak now reaches 18.

In 2000, the Rangers and Lee Stevens went to an arbitration hearing. Stevens had played 146 games in 1999, thanks largely to a knee injury that befell Rafael Palmeiro. Stevens hit .282 with 24 home runs and 81 RBI, and thought that worthy of a contract worth $4.7 million. The Rangers disagreed, to the tune of $3.5 million. The arbiter sided with Texas in the deal, and the dissatisfied Stevens was traded to the Montreal Expos in a three-team Canadian waltz that brought David Segui to Texas. Segui fared well in Texas, hitting .336 with a .909 OPS in 93 games, but he was shipped off to Cleveland later that year for Ricky Ledee. Ledee stuck around through the 2001 season, but only hit .233 in 136 games. He departed for Philadelphia after the 2001 season.

In parsing this slow degradation of a roster spot, we revisit a valuable life lesson: burned bridges are often the hollow memento of an argument won.

The Rangers have not gone to an arbitration hearing in the intervening years between that hearing and today’s announcement that the team has come to agreements with the final three arbitration-eligible players on their roster.

Keone Kela will make $1.2 million dollars in 2018 as he looks for the breakout season many thought would come in 2017. Instead, Kela didn’t make the Opening Day roster after an “incident” in the final week of Spring Training. Kela’s punishment was a couple of weeks on the Round Rock roster. He then spent two stints on the disabled list with shoulder issues. When he was on the mound, he was effective, sporting a 2.79 ERA and striking out 51 batters in 38⅔ innings. 

Jake Diekman, likewise, spent more time off the field than he would have liked in 2017: he became—as far as we know—the first pitcher in MLB to return from a surgery to remove his colon, due to complications from Ulcerative Colitis. Diekman rejoined the big league club on September 1st and struck out 13 batters in 10⅔ innings, notching a 2.53 ERA. He will make $2,712,500 in 2018.

Jurickson Profar, who is out of minor league options, will make $1,050,000 in 2018 as he, too, looks to make enough of an impact at the big league level to accomplish one of three things: unseat Rougned Odor at second base (unlikely), provide enough trade value that Texas is satisfied with the return (more likely), or give Texas ample confidence in their shortstop depth as they negotiate with Elvis Andrus, who could opt out after the 2018 season (who even knows).

Additionally, Texas announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement with Ryan Rua to avoid arbitration. Rua will make $870,000

One more year, one more bridge left unscorched.