Texas Rangers still in contact with Nelson Cruz

Nelson Cruz is still without a home. Despite persistent rumors linking him to the Seattle Mariners and lingering rumors that he still might be in touch with the Baltimore Orioles, there does not appear to be much of a market for the right-handed slugger at the moment.

The possibility has remained open that he might return to the Texas Rangers on a dreaded “pillow deal,” and today Lyle Spencer of MLB.com writes that the two sides remain in touch about a possible reunion, per general manager Jon Daniels:

"If Cruz falls into a financial range with which Texas is comfortable, Daniels could make manager Ron Washington‘s day by making the 33-year-old slugger his primary designated hitter in a familiar environment conducive in all ways to his needs.‘We’ve touched base every week or so,’ Daniels said. ‘Nellie’s highly regarded here. We have a good relationship with Adam. We made our moves [for Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo] and kind of expected [Cruz] to sign elsewhere. But we’ll see where it goes. It’s a unique situation for him as a free agent.’"

Daniels did also note that the team threw big money Shin-Soo Choo’s direction with the assumption that Cruz would sign with another team as a free agent:

"When we made our decision to sign Choo [seven years, $130 million], it was with the understanding that [Cruz’s] best opportunity would be to sign elsewhere. I don’t know what’s going on with other teams and Nellie.”"

If the Rangers did end up Cruz, they would give up the chance to receive a compensatory draft pick, but that might be well worth it in order to lengthen their already scary lineup with Cruz back in it.