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Olney: Rangers Could Claim Jason Kubel

ESPN's Buster Olney expects the White Sox, Indians, Yankees or Rangers to claim Minnesota's Jason Kubel.

The Minnesota Twins placed outfielder/designated hitter Jason Kubel on waivers on Monday, and now ESPN's Buster Olney expects one of four contending teams to claim Kubel: either the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees or Texas Rangers

Kubel has not performed at an extremely high level since 2009, when he belted 28 home runs to go along with a .908 OPS. Last year, Kubel hit .249/.323/.427 and so far in 2011 through 303 at bats, Kubel is hitting .290/.348/.449 with nine home runs. 

Kubel is set to hit free agency after this season. After everything is said and done in 2011, he'll have earned $5.25 million. 

While his presence wouldn't be a necessity in Texas, he'd still be a nice player to have either off the bench or potentially in the lineup - depending on what Ron Washington draws up from here on out. Of course, Texas could simply claim him to prevent the Yankees from working out a deal with Minnesota.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.