Texas general manager Jon Daniels will head to the winter meetings in Orlando Sunday with one less thing on a lengthy shopping list.
The Rangers have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent catcher J.P. Arencibia according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. According to Rosenthal, the deal will pay Arencibia $1.8 million with the possibility to earn up to $2.1 million.
The club said Friday it wouldn't comment on the news.
Arencibia became a free agent Monday when Toronto declined to tender a contract to him. Texas had tried to acquire Arencibia before the tender deadline from the Blue Jays.
Daniels said earlier this week that acquiring a backup catcher for Geovany Soto was a priority for the Rangers. Arencibia, a first-round pick for Toronto in 2007, has hit for power since making his big-league debut in 2010 but has struggled to get on base.
Arencibia hit 21 homers in 2013 but batted just .194 with an on-base percentage of .227. For his career, he has 64 home runs in 1,299 at-bats but a batting average of .212 and an on-base percentage of .258.
Even though free agents like Carlos Ruiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia signed early this offseason, Daniels said Wednesday he wasn't too concerned about missing out on a catcher.
"Nobody's gone off the board that we had really pursued," Daniels said at the time. "There have been some good players that have gone off the board, not necessarily the right fit for us. I'm confident we'll find the right fit."
Daniels said durability was key at the position and Arencibia has played in at least 102 games in each of the last three year and doesn't turn 28 until January.
Daniels also said Wednesday that the plan going into the season was Soto would be the starter to open the season and that's the pitch he'd make to potential free agents.
Texas re-signed Soto last month to a one-year deal for $3.05 million.
