BOSTON -- Cory Gearrin arrived in the visitors' clubhouse at Fenway Park on Monday not long after his new teammates, and despite the whirlwind of a day he had just experienced, he was all smiles as he introduced himself to all with a firm handshake.
A team official pulled him aside to get his number preference and clothing sizes, he chatted with pitching coach Doug Brocail and received his new Ranger-blue cleats, then he finally took a moment to reflect on what it was like being part of a trade for the first time in his career.
"I told my wife, 'Trades always seem like something that happen to other people.'" said Gearrin. "I got that phone call, they said this might be happening. A little bit later, it's happening. It was a shock, it's a surprise. It's not unique, it happens all the time in baseball, but it's a first for us. It's been a bit of a whirlwind."
He made a good first impression on the Rangers in their 5-0 loss to the Red Sox. Making his American League debut, Gearrin worked a spotless 1 2/3 innings, forcing three groundouts and striking out one.
"For him to go out on the first night, obviously the travel and a lot of different implications, for him to go out and throw the ball the way he did against this ballclub, both right-handed and left-handed [hitters], it was a really nice first outing, something that our scouts had talked about, his ability to do that," manager Jeff Banister said. "First one-plus [inning] outing for him this year, was very quality."
Traded along with outfielder Austin Jackson and right-handed pitcher Jason Bahr on Sunday, the 32-year-old right-handed reliever joins the club on the heels of 35 appearances for San Francisco this season, having gone 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA over 30 innings.

Gearrin, who had made 243 relief appearances for the Braves and Giants over seven seasons in the big leagues, is ready to show his third organization what he is capable of while keeping momentum on his side, having allowed just two earned runs since the start of June, a span of nine appearances, before coming to Texas.
"I'm excited to be a part of this group. I want to come in and see that I can learn here and go out and show the organization what I'm all about, what I can bring to the table," he said. "I've felt great lately, velocity feels good, movement and stuff really feel like I've been well-represented with the pitcher I am lately."
Prior to the start of the Rangers' three-game series in Boston, Banister said that he hoped to use Gearrin akin to some of the other arms on the roster.
"Similar to how we've used [Ricardo Rodriguez], [Tony] Barnette, Jesse [Chavez] when we kind of moved Jesse out of that long role into to more bridge-type situation, comfortable with being able to use him in later situations if we need to," said Banister.
As far as getting settled in with his new club, Gearrin, who has played in the past with the likes of Mike Minor during his time in Atlanta and Matt Moore in San Francisco, feels that the hardest part will come off the field in trying to determine what he and his wife have to do from here.
"The first thing that went through our head was, 'What's next?' I'm in my first year of marriage, so it's my wife's first time going through, too," Gearrin said. "Just trying to figure out how to ease the move for her. For ballplayers, I'm going to the yard, I'm going to do my routine, we're going to go out and play baseball. Not much changes on the field in what I do. Most of it is trying to figure out just the practical everyday stuff."
To make room on the roster for Gearrin, the Rangers optioned right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings on Sunday, to Triple-A Round Rock.