The Rangers announced this evening that theyve released shortstop . In addition, theyve re-signed right-hander to a minor league deal after Strickland was himself by the club yesterday. The news comes not long after president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (including ) that a group of eight non-roster veterans had been informed they would not be making the Opening Day roster. Aside from Ahmed, that list includes , , , Nicolas Claxton Jersey , , , and . While the specific contract situations arent known for all of those players, writes that the Rangers wont block any non-roster invitee from pursuing a big league opportunity elsewhere should they so desire. So far, Ahmed appears to be the only player in that group to take the Rangers up on that and seek his release. The 35-year-old veteran spent the first ten seasons of his career in Arizona, winning two Gold Glove awards during that time and serving mostly as a capable glove-first option at shortstop for the Diamondbacks. Ahmed began to struggle with injuries and ineffectivene s later in his tenure with the club, however, and appeared in just 89 games with a .216/.258/.332 (58 wRC+) slash line in 264 trips to the plate between the 2022 and 23 seasons. That led Ahmed to hit the open market for the first time in his career last winter, and he ultimately spent the 2024 campaign bouncing around the other contending NL West clubs with 52 games in San Francisco, 17 with the Dodgers, and two as a Padre. Ahmeds numbers at the plate last year were once again lackluster, as he hit a paltry .229/.267/.295 overall with a 59 wRC+, though he provided steady defense in L.A. and San Diego amid injuries to incumbent shortstops and . If a club suffers an injury at shortstop, it wouldnt be difficult to imagine him finding a role with a big league club as a glove-first placeholder, though its also po sible hell simply search for a minor league opportunity with a club thats le s settled at shortstop than the Rangers, for whom is entrenched as an everyday player. As for Strickland, the veteran of ten MLB seasons has had an up-and-down career. The righty debuted in 2014 with the Giants and dominated out of the bullpen with a 2.64 ERA and 3.15 FIP over his first four years in the big leagues, but things took a turn for the worse after that. In three seasons split between the Giants, Mets, Mariners, and Nationals, Strickland posted a brutal 4.68 ERA and 4.92 FIP, both well below league average figures. He enjoyed a bit of a renai sance in 2021, pitching to a solid 2.61 ERA acro s 57 appearances for the Rays, Angels, and Brewers, but struggled for the Reds in 2022 and did not pitch in the majors the following year. He returned to the big leagues for Anaheim last year and posted a solid enough 3.31 ERA, though his 4.45 FIP and i sues with the long ball (ten homers allowed in 73 1/3 innings) both left much to be desired. Now that hes back in the fold, hell stick with the Rangers as a non-roster depth option headed into the season. As for the other players besides Ahmed told they will not be making the team today, the most notable among those is Houser, who appeared to be in the mix for the clubs rotation after injuries sidelined and . The club signed to a big league deal so he could serve as rotation depth, but with Corbin not expected to be ready for Opening Day the exclusion of Houser from the big league rotation would seemingly leave the final two rotation jobs behind , , and for youngsters and despite uneven spring performances from both former first-round picks. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot Jersey