Texas Rangers Possibly Interested In J.P. Arencibia Or Travis d'Arnaud

Ron Washington and the Texas Rangers do not know who their starting catcher will be in 2013, with current starter Mike Napoli--very briefly a Blue Jay--heading into free agency this offseason. After an unexpectedly productive season in 2011 where the catcher hit .320/.414/.631 with 30 homers after a career line of .251/.346/.485, the Rangers signed him for 2012 for $9.4 million. This past year he regressed to a .227/.343/.469 line with 24 homers.

Napoli has stated that he wishes to return to Texas, but in case a deal can't be hammered out, the Rangers may be looking for catching elsewhere, as their highest ranked catching prospect is 19-year old Jorge Alfaro who spent 2012 with the Hickory Crawdads (one of my favourite minor league team names).

An organization with catching depth are the Toronto Blue Jays, as noted by TexasRangers.com writer T.R. Sullivan. The Blue Jays' best prospect is catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who probably would have been called up at some point in 2012 if not for a torn PCL ligament. The Rangers may also have interest in current starting catcher and fan-favourite J.P. Arencibia.

Catcher is a position of strength for Toronto and they should use it to solve their holes in starting pitching and middle infield. Sullivan points out possible Rangers who could be dealt to Toronto: Derek Holland, Alexi Ogando, or most interestingly, #1 prospect Jurickson Profar. I highly doubt the Rangers will trade Profar for d'Arnaud straight up, but I do wonder what package they would need for him.

What do you think?