ARLINGTON -- The Rangers on Friday tendered contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players and did not tender a deal to outfielder Jared Hoying, making him a free agent. Hoying is not eligible for arbitration. The club's 40-man roster sits at 39.
Friday's deadline at 7 p.m. CT was when clubs had to offer players contracts for 2017 or allow them to become free agents. The roster moves give the club room for trades or free agents going into next week's Winter Meetings.
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The Rangers offered contracts to relievers Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman, Tanner Scheppers and Jeremy Jeffress, catcher Robinson Chirinos, infielder Jurickson Profar and starter A.J. Griffin.
Hoying, a 10th-round pick by the Rangers in the 2010 Draft out of the University of Toledo, finally reached the Major Leagues this past season. He played in 39 games and hit .219. He was on the postseason roster as an extra outfielder who brought speed and defense off the bench.
Hoying played in 100 games for Triple-A Round Rock, hitting .269 with 16 home runs, 66 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. He had a .336 on-base percentage and a .474 slugging percentage.
Hoying spent all or parts of the past four seasons at Round Rock and was a Pacific Coast League All-Star in 2014 as well as the club's Most Valuable Player. He had 26 home runs in 2014 and 23 in '15, along with 20 stolen bases in each season. He is only the second player in PCL history with back-to-back 20-20 seasons.
Hoying also had a reputation for being a great teammate and hard-worker. He was famous in Spring Training for being a regular for early morning live batting practice and simulated games for Rangers pitchers.
Dyson, Diekman and Jeffress are expected to be an integral part of the bullpen next season and Profar is safe as well. The Rangers see Profar as an important part of their club in 2017, but even so, they would have no trouble trading him rather than making him a non-tender free agent.
Chirinos enters his fourth full season with the Rangers and is viewed as a solid backup behind Jonathan Lucroy. The other backup catcher on the 40-man roster is Brett Nicholas.
Scheppers has been dealing with injuries for three straight years, but he did pitch well in the final month of this past season. This is his second year of being arbitration-eligible and the Rangers have hung with him to this point in the hope of getting a full season from him.
Griffin was 7-4 with a 5.07 ERA in 23 starts for the Rangers in 2015. The club is still trying to upgrade its starting pitching, but right now, Griffin is listed as the fifth starter and general manager Jon Daniels said he expects Griffin to be in Spring Training.