The GM's Almanac…The Third Man

A look at Baseball’s Hot Stove League on the 202nd anniversary of Napoleon being crowned Emperor of France…

A baseball official described right-handed free agent pitcher Miguel Batista as "steady, durable and not very sexy."

But the Rangers would find him possibly desirable as a No. 3 starter in a rotation headed by Kevin Millwood and Barry Zito.

Batista, who will be 36 in February, has been with seven different organizations and was 11-8 with a 4.58 ERA in 206 innings over 34 games, including 33 starts, for the Diamondbacks last year. The previous year he was used exclusively in the bullpen by the Toronto Blue Jays, making 71 relief appearances with a 4.45 ERA.

All through his career, which includes all or parts of 13 Major League seasons, Batista has gone back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen. This is a guy who has also been – at some point of his career – a Rule 5 pick, released, waived, traded and a free agent who signed a three-year, $13 million contract with the Blue Jays after the 2003 season.

They included him in a trade package to the Diamondbacks a year ago for third baseman Troy Glaus.

That he can be used as both a starter and a reliever could be extra desirable for the Rangers because they could use a starter now but have young pitching that could be ready next year.

So if Batista does sign a three-year deal with the Rangers, he could start in 2007 and then move to the bullpen after that if they feel John Danks, Thomas Diamond or Eric Hurley are ready.

The Rangers also get the feeling that it might take only a two or three-year deal to get Batista while Ted Lilly is looking at four years and $40 million. Lilly is also being pursued hard by the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays.

If the Rangers can open with a rotation of Millwood, Zito and Batista, then they can follow with Robinson Tejeda and one more from their system. But Batista only looks good if Zito and Millwood are in front of him.

The Mets appeared to have the best chance of signing Zito but that seemed to diminish on Friday when they re-signed Tom Glavine.

The Mets, with Pedro Martinez out, could use another starting pitcher to go with Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, John Maine and Oliver Perez but may try to address that need through a trade.

General manager Omar Minaya was quoted in Saturday’s New York Post as saying, "With Tommy on board, we’ll still look at ways of improving the starting pitching. But it’s fair to say that if we had to start the year with Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and the guys that we have, I think we’re a pretty good team starting the year."