Julio Borbon is tentatively positioned to be the Rangers' starting center fielder in 2010.The Whitey Herzog-in-Texas era came -- and just as quickly went -- some 15 years before I was born, but after reading and re-reading Mike Shopshire's anecdote-laced "Seasons In Hell" (in which the 1972-74 Rangers and Herzog's brief managerial stint were chronicled in excruciatingly funny detail), I find it oddly gratifying that Whitey finally found himself elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday:

11:15 P.M. CST -- Minutes after officially declining the Rangers' offer of salary arbitration, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez has signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Nationals; also, Marlon Byrd officially declined arbitration (Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)

[Wow. It was debatable whether the Rangers could even justify throwing $1 million in Pudge's direction (yeah, he's got his merits, but the eroding offense is still a pretty significant stumbling block at the end of the day), but $6 million over two years? Interesting thought process there, and one that has earned Texas a second supplemental-round draft pick in the 2010 amateur draft.

One possible option for Texas could be Rays catcher Dioner Navarro, who nabbed All-Star recognition in 2008 and then absolutely cratered in 2009, prompting Tampa Bay to supplant him with their acquisition of Kelly Shoppach. His non-tendering is virtually assured, which will obviously breed strong motivation to trade him for something -- anything! -- before Saturday's deadline, and that combination of a solid .295/.349/.407 campaign two years ago, relative youth and major league experience could form the basis for a connection with the Rangers.

6:30 P.M. CST -- Kevin Millwood is drawing interest from other teams, including the Orioles (whom Rangers executives met with on Monday); however, general manager Jon Daniels reiterated that the Rangers are not under orders to clear payroll (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)

[Well, that's reassuring. I think. I've grown really tired of talking about Millwood trade possibilities without having something more concrete than "well, a bunch of teams really like him because he's such a swell guy!" in hand, so here's a little September 2007 scouting info on new Rangers left-hander Clay Rapada (courtesy of Scout.com's Mark Anderson: "Rapada was a more conventional lefty at the time he turned pro, only adopting his low-3/4 slinging motion after he started working with the Cubs instructors. Clay breaks his hands quickly, hiding the ball behind his back leg, before slinging it towards home plate from his low arm slot. He works from the extreme first base side of the rubber, making it extremely tough for lefties to pick him up."

Other random tidbits of interest: Rapada has hit 93 mph on the radar gun in the past (juiced gun?), is most effective when he smashes the corners with hard fastballs, has an "above-average" slider which he struggles to command effectively due to problems repeating his delivery, and has occasionally utilized a change-up through his minor league career, albeit with minimal success. Not that pitchers whose sole purpose is to effectively retire left-handed batters really need a killer change-up, mind you.]

5:00 P.M. CST -- The Tigers are close to trading right-hander Edwin Jackson, but the identity of the acquiring team is not yet known; the Mariners and Diamondbacks are believed to be the most interested parties, with the Angels lingering on the periphery (Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi, FOXSports.com)

[There has been some discussion regarding the merits of the Rangers acquiring Jackson, but it's probably for the best that Texas doesn't seem to be involved -- sure, his arm is excellent and the peripherals are improving, but I'm not sure whether I trust his command going forward, and he seems to be the sort of guy who will end up netting more talent than he should. Also, he's about to get quite expensive.

Then again, FanHouse.com's Ed Price is reporting that Detroit is weighing offers from 12 teams for Jackson, so it's entirely possible that the Rangers are a dark horse candidate in this race ... but I'm not really counting on it.]

3:00 P.M. CST -- According to Rangers manager Ron Washington, the tentative Opening Day outfield alignment will be Josh Hamilton starting in left field (!), Julio Borbon in center field (and leading off, which he did 36 times late in the 2009 season), and Nelson Cruz in right field (Jeff Wilson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

[Smart. By optimizing the outfield alignment in this way, Texas can roll with newly anointed "swing man" David Murphy some 20-30 percent of the time in left field and protect Josh Hamilton's body while maintaining slightly above-average defense in that corner of the outfield; I expect Cruz will be relieved in a similar way by Murphy, but not nearly as often, and only time will tell as far as how the Rangers plan to spell Borbon, since Hamilton's an enormous risk there outside of occasional spot work and Cruz/Murphy aren't realistic options. Whither Brandon Boggs?

Washington on Borbon, whose defense has markedly improved during his Dominican Winter League stint: "I think Borbon is ready for that task. But with any young player, you are going to have to watch them grow some. He is going to have to develop his bunting. He is going to have to develop on the bases. He is going to have to develop his decision-making abilities." Also, expect the batting order to include Borbon-Ian Kinsler-Michael Young-Hamilton at the top and Elvis Andrus in the nine-hole, giving Texas a potent injection of speed at 9-1-2.]

2:25 P.M. CST -- According to the afternoon scuttlebutt from the Indiana Convention Center lobby, the Rangers are "still talking about dealing [Kevin] Millwood" and remain in the hunt for Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley (Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News)

[I'm not sure why Texas wouldn't be talking about dealing anybody that's not untouchable, and let's be perfectly candid here -- how many of those players do the Rangers really have? Elvis Andrus? Martin Perez, maybe? There's no harm in discussing every possible option, and dealing Millwood isn't a bad idea so long as the cost savings are put to good use, so everything looks just fine from this end.

For what it's worth, one Rangers official told MLB.com's Carrie Muskat yesterday that the ballclub wasn't sure if they wanted to deal with "that headache" again. Bringing Bradley back still makes considerable sense in the abstract, but if the players and coaches -- whom reportedly "called him onto the carpet" last season -- by and large can't support that move, then that's a big hindrance as far as getting a deal done. Sounds like the front office isn't wholly convinced that it's a good idea, either.]

2:15 P.M. CST -- When free agent-eligible outfielder Marlon Byrd was queried on Monday afternoon as to whether he would accept the Rangers' offer of salary arbitration, he tersely replied, "I don't think so" (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)

[Byrd further stated that he (a) didn't know what the Rangers were working on, (b) didn't know if the Rangers would even be able to do anything, and (c) didn't know what his market value was. Doesn't know much, does he?]

1:35 P.M. CST -- Texas has acquired 28-year-old left-hander Clay Rapada from the Tigers for either cash considerations or a player to be named later; additionally, right-hander Willie Eyre -- who has cleared waivers and accepted a minor league assignment -- has been outrighted from the 40-man roster, which now comprises 38 players (Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News)

[Shades of last year's Laird-to-Detroit deal, which was also consummated on Day One last year. Rapada's exhausted his supply of minor league options and was going to be outrighted by the Tigers regardless, so this is hardly a show-stopping transaction; however, the former undrafted free agent does boast a LOOGY-attuned repertoire, with an 85-87 mph two-seamer and high-70s slider thrown from a deceptively low arm slot. Right-handed hitters will slaughter him, whereas left-handed hitters will hate him. Conversely, the Rangers will love his league-minimum salary if he ends up making the ballclub.

Rapada's dominance of the minors has been relatively thorough (396.1 IP, 2.91 ERA and 9.1 strikeouts to 3.5 walks per nine innings), and at this stage in the game, his chances of cracking the Opening Day bullpen as the Rangers' primary left-handed specialist seem to be as good as anybody's in the organization. Beware of the walks, however.]