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Offseason Movement: The Rangers signed a bunch of used-to-be’s to minor league contracts, including OF Andruw Jones, SS Omar Vizquel and pitchers Kris Benson, Derrick Turnbow and Brendan Donnelly. Truth be told, all of these players could wind up helping Texas in some way this season save for Jones, who has had a brutal spring and most likely won’t be kept.

Top Prospect: Derek Holland, LHP
Neftali Feliz, who the Rangers got from the Braves in the Mark Teixeira trade a couple years ago, deserves mention here as well. But Holland’s dazzling 2008 season in the minors (14-2, 2.05 ERA in 29 starts) gives him the nod over the 19-year old Feliz. Holland, who is Texas’s Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year, probably won’t make the Opening Day roster this season, but he could be called up by mid-summer if he continues to dominate the minor league hitters.

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The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the Rangers have signed outfielder Andruw Jones to a minor league contract.

An official announcement is expected soon, general manager Jon Daniels said. Jones will make $500,000 if he makes the big-league roster and can earn another $1 million in performance bonuses.

Jones, a 13-year veteran who turns 32 in April, is another low-risk, high-reward signing by the Rangers. Overweight last season, Jones hit only .158 with three home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he had knee surgery in May.

But Jones has lost weight, perhaps as much as 25 pounds, and the Rangers hope that Jaramillo can help him find the powerful stroke that produced at least 25 homers for 10 consecutive seasons from 1998 to 2007.

This was a solid signing by the Rangers. If he’s brutal in spring training, then the team could cut ties and not lose much in the deal. But if he’s in shape and ready to compete again, then maybe Texas just got one of the better bargain deals of the offseason.

Either way, this is probably Jones’ last chance to make an impact at the major league level.

This past week, John Smoltz officially signed with the Red Sox and the Braves inked Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million deal, something Atlanta’s rival New York Mets could not match. Imagine that. But what runs deeper here is that the second and even third tier of pitchers continue to be signed and many position players remain team-less.

Less than a month before pitchers and catchers report, here are some of the big names still available: Manny freaking Ramirez, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey, Orlando Hudson, Frank Thomas, and to a lesser extent, Kevin Millar (20 homers last season) and Orlando Cabrera. To put this in perspective, the Astros signed pitcher Russ Ortiz to a minor league deal a few days ago, the Dodgers signed reliever Guillermo Mota, the Angels inked Darren Oliver for one year, and the White Sox brought back a Bartolo Colon who is on the downside of his career. Clearly, it’s a pitchers’ market this off-season, and it’s almost mind-boggling that Ramirez has gone almost three full months without being signed.

Part of the problem here is that the big spenders (ahem, New York teams) have blown their collective load on the likes of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, etc., leaving a team like the Dodgers the likely scenario for Man-Ram in 2009, which at the end of the day is probably best for both sides anyway. But some of those other guys are going to have trouble finding work, or they are going to take a recession-friendly deal from a team they wouldn’t have signed with otherwise. It’s already happened with Pat Burrell in Tampa and Jason Giambi with Oakland.

In other more recent news, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with Kevin Youkilis on Thursday, agreeing to terms on a four-year deal. And the Dodgers finally released beleaguered outfielder Andruw Jones, who the Braves are considering bringing back for the league minimum salary. The Braves are also mulling over whether to bring back injury-plagued LHP Tom Glavine for one more season.

The Dodgers decided to release outfielder Andruw Jones after just one season despite giving a two-year, $36.2 million contract.

The 31-year-old center fielder reported to spring training overweight, then was booed roundly by fans as he struggled at the plate during the season. He had knee surgery in May and finished the season on the bench as the Dodgers won the NL West and beat the Chicago Cubs in the NL divisional series before losing to Philadelphia in the NL Championship Series.

Jones asked to be traded after that and the Dodgers tried, but found no takers. The Dodgers owe Jones $22.1 million, which he’ll receive over the next six years.

When the Dodgers added Manny Ramirez in a trade deadline deal July 31, that left Jones with minimal opportunities. But with the staggering performance by Ramirez (.396 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 53 games) and the fine work of fellow outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, Jones was hardly missed.

With Jones out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see if the Dodgers put an end to their dance with Manny Ramirez. The club is offering him a two- to three-year contract, but Manny wants a deal somewhere in the five-year range. The Dodgers seem to be the only true contender for Manny’s services, especially now that rumors of the Giants being interested have proven to be false.

What’s next for Jones? A once promising career appears to be falling apart and it’s highly unlikely any team signs him for more than one year after the debacle in L.A. Maybe he can return to Atlanta?