Jose Mijares opts out of deal with Red Sox

By Drew SilvaMar 23, 2014, 12:03 PM EDT
6 Comments

From Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports comes word that veteran reliever Jose Mijares officially opted out of his minor league contract with the Red Sox on Sunday morning to pursue a better opportunity.

Mijares was buried too far down the Boston bullpen depth chart to have a legitimate shot at an Opening Day roster spot and will try to latch on with a team that is a little more desperate for relief help. He had an ugly 5.14 ERA in seven innings this spring in Red Sox camp, but the 29-year-old left-hander boasts a 3.23 career ERA in 259 total major league frames.

Mijares has held left-handed batters to a .225/.288/.335 slash line since breaking into the bigs as a 23-year-old in 2008 with the Twins. He should have no trouble finding another contract.

Texas Rangers fire manager Jeff Banister

Getty Images
By Craig CalcaterraSep 21, 2018, 2:08 PM EDT
1 Comment

The Texas Rangers just announced that they have fired Jeff Banister as the team’s manager. Bench coach Don Wakamatsu has been named interim manager for the remainder of 2018 season.

Banister was in the last year of his contract with the club, but there was an option for 2019. Rangers brass, obviously, has decided to go in a different direction following what will be the club’s worst finish in Banister’s tenure. At the moment the Rangers are 64-88 and are assured of last place in the AL West.

Banister was hired before the 2015 season and led the Rangers to first place finishes in each of his first two seasons. The club fell to a disappointing third place and a 78-84 record last season, however, and this season the descent has continued. Injuries and under achievement has been the order of the day for the past two years and, with the career of Adrian Beltre nearing its end and the Rangers having been passed up by the Astros as the class of the division, a rebuild is in the club’s future.

Banister ends his reign as the Rangers’ skipper with a record of 325-313.