The Rangers have signed 29-year old righty reliever Ross Wolf to a minor league deal. Wolf made his debut in AA-ball for the Rangers recently and it didn’t go too well. He worked 2/3 of an inning and he gave up 4 hits, walked 2 batters and he gave up 4 earned runs. Wolf has pitched in 8 games (0 starts) in AA-ball overall this year for the Rangers and Orioles and he is 0-0 with 1 save, a 10.38 ERA and a 2.31 WHIP. Wolf last pitched in the majors in 2010 with the A’s. He has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 0-1 with a 7.92 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP.

22-year old lefty reliever Robbie Ross is looking sharp for the Rangers so far this year. He has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Last year, Ross pitched in 27 games (26 starts) in A+AA-ball last year and he was 10-5 with a 2.34 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. Ross came into this season as the Rangers’ #14 prospect according to Baseball America and he’s showing why so far this year. The Rangers have to be pleased with Ross as he has already vultured four wins so far this year.

The Rangers have released 34-year old righty reliever Justin Miller. Miller had Tommy John Surgery last week and he will miss the entire 2012 season. He pitched in 11 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Rangers last year and he was 1-2 with 2 saves, a 8.49 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP. He last pitched in the majors back in 2010 with the L.A. Dodgers. Miller has pitched in 216 games (33 starts) in his first seven years in the majors and he is 24-14 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. This is no loss for the Rangers as Miller isn’t going to pitch in 2012 anyway.

UPDATE: (4/29/2012) - The Rangers have re-signed Justin Miller to a minor league deal at a lower salary while he rehabs.

Lefty swinging OF/1B/DH Al Oliver was only with the Rangers for four seasons, but he left his mark. Oliver played in 534 games in his four years with the Rangers and he was 639 of 2,032 (.319 avg, .824 OPS) with 283 runs scored, 49 homers, 337 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. Oliver’s best season with the Rangers came in 1980. Oliver played in 163 games in 1980 for the Rangers and he was 209 of 656 (.319 avg, .838 OPS) with 96 runs scored, 19 homers, 117 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Oliver made it to 2 All Star teams and he won 2 Silver Slugger Awards in his four years with the Rangers. He is also the Rangers’ all-time leader in batting average with a .319 mark.

30-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton is killing the ball so far this year. He has played in 16 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 28 of 67 (.418 avg, 1.214 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 7 homers, 17 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Hamilton has now played in 515 games in his first five years with the Rangers and he is 639 of 2,032 (.314 avg, .917 OPS) with 331 runs scored, 106 homers, 395 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. Hamilton is currently #2 in Rangers’ history in both batting average (.314) and OPS (.917). Hamilton is in his free agent walk year, so I don’t see anything stopping him from having a monster year except possibly an injury.

23-year old righty starting pitcher Neftali Feliz was the closer for the Rangers the last couple of years, but he has moved into the starting rotation for 2012. So far, so good. He has started 2 games for the Rangers this year and he is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He has given up 9 hits in his first 12 innings while whiffing 7 batters and walking only four. Feliz is doing a good job of pacing himself in his new role. 37-year old Joe Nathan was signed over the winter to replace Feliz as the Rangers’ closer. He has pitched in 7 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 0-2 with 3 saves, a 5.14 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Nathan got off to a rough start this year, but he has been better as of late and I think he will do a solid job for the Rangers in 2012.

24-year old lefty swinging outfielder Leonys Martin comes into this season as the Rangers’ #4 prospect according to Baseball America. Martin has played in 11 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 19 for 51 (.373 avg, 1.017 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He got his first shot with the Rangers last September appearing in 8 games in which he was 3 for 8 (.375 avg, .875 OPS) with 2 runs scored. I have a feeling that Martin is going to play for the Rangers again in 2012, but not as a bench player when he gets there.

25-year old rookie righty starting pitcher Yu Darvish was set up for success with his first two starts coming against the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins, who have two of the weaker hitting lineups in all of baseball. But, he had a hard time with both of those lineups. He has started 2 games so far this year and he is 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA and a 2.21 WHIP. Darvish has given up 17 hits and walked 8 batters in his first 11 1/3 innings as batters are running up to the plate to bat against him. On the plus side, he has 9 whiffs and he has battled despite having a rough time. The Rangers hope that he straightens out soon, because they have invested a lot of money in him.

32-year old righty starting pitcher Colby Lewis has really looked sharp so far this year. In his first two starts, Lewis is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. He has given up 12 hits in his first 12 2/3 innings, but he has whiffed 15 batters and walked only one to limit the damage. If Lewis keeps pitching like he is right now, he’s going to win a ton of games with the Rangers’ offense behind him.

The Rangers have released 24-year old righty reliever/starter Mason Tobin. Tobin was a Rule 5 Pick off the Cubs’ roster two winters ago. He pitched in 4 games (0 starts) for the Rangers last year and he was 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP. Tobin has pitched in 25 games (21 starts) in his first three years in the minors and he is 6-4 with 1 save, a 2.43 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Tobin is brittle, but some team will give him another shot at some point this year. The Rangers won’t miss him at all.