Making final pitches?
That would be a decent guess, based on yesterday’s reports that free agent righty Tyson Ross had met with the Rangers, who are making a “push” to sign him, and now this overnight:
Source: Before visiting the Texas Rangers today, Tyson Ross met with the Chicago Cubs. They are the two favorites to sign the right-hander.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 5, 2017
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Even as of last night, there was no indication that the Cubs were out of the running. Combine that with Passan’s report, and it’s possible that – for one example – the Rangers are pushing Ross to make a decision now, and thus the Cubs were also making their final pitch to him.
If that’s the case, we could see a decision fairly soon.
Ross, 29, sports excellent career numbers (3.64 ERA, 3.38 xFIP, 3.48 FIP), and in another life, he would have been one of the most pricey free agents of this year’s class. As it is, the only reason he is a member of this year’s free agent class is because the Padres elected not to tender him a contract following surgery to address the thoracic outlet syndrome that cost him virtually all of 2016.
So, then, Ross is still being aggressively pursued by thoughtful teams, but all understand that he’s far from a sure thing in 2017. Instead, he is among the better lottery tickets out there in recent years.
For more on Ross and the Cubs, see last night’s post, and previous write-ups here and here.
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