Looking for help at first base, the Rangers have signed veteran Mark Canha on a minor league deal. It’s a good deal for both. 

The Rangers get veteran leadership and depth at first, a position they were razor thin last year once Jake Burger went down. Canha gets a chance to prove last year’s disastrous season was a fluke.

After spending his first seven years with Oakland, Canha has bounced around from town to town more than the Athletics have. He went to New York to play for the Mets, Milwaukee, Detroit, San Francisco, Kansas City. 

Guys like Canha always land on their feet because they’re good players to have around. Solid, reliable. Except for last year.

The thirty-seven-year-old first baseman and outfielder put up an OPS+ of 111 in his Oakland and New York days. For comparison, that would have made him one of the top three hitters on the Rangers last year.

But that’s not how his year went last year. Canha had a season more along the lines of Joc Pederson’s. Meaning, forgettable: .212 average, ,272 on-base, .527 OPS, 52 OPS+, meaning he was half as good as the average hitter. 

It was quite a falloff from his previous season with the Giants and Tigers.

He and the Rangers are hoping he can bounce back and be a solid option to back up Burger at first and plug into the outfield where needed.