The Texas Rangers Sign Catcher J.P. Arencibia on Tuesday as Jon Daniels Continues to Make Moves

The Texas Rangers and Jon Daniels continued to solidify their lineup on Tuesday as they finalized a contract with veteran catcher J.P. Arencibia.  Texas signed him to a one year free agent contract worth $1.8 million with incentives.  He has spent the last three season with the Toronto Blue Jays as their number one catcher.

"We feel very good where we are at with Geo and J.P.," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "We wanted to make sure we have two guys who are capable of carrying the load in case of injury. We were very impressed with J.P. His goal is to win and to be a tandem with Geo. These are two selfless guys who want to put the pitching staff in the best possible position to win."

Arencibia (Pictured on the right) became a free agent after Toronto non-tendered him.  The Rangers tried to trade for him before the non-tender deadline, but the discussions ended when the two teams were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract that would have avoided an arbitration hearing.

In 2013 he played in 138 games for the Blue Jays, including 131 behind the plate, while hitting .194 with 21 home runs and 55 RBIs.  Arencibia totaled a .227 on-base percentage and a .365 slugging percentage.  He also had the lowest batting average and on-base percentage of any player with at least 450 at-bats in the American League.  Those numbers will have to improve if he want expect serious playing time during his time in Texas.