The Texas Rangers added some emergency rotation depth yesterday by signing veteran right-hander Derek Lowe to a minor-league deal, effectively pushing them out of the Kyle Lohse market for good. But in the case that you don't want to take my word for it, a source from the Rangers' organization put it in pretty clear terms Wednesday to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com:

"We are not going to sign Kyle Lohse. I can’t be clearer than that."

He's right, it's pretty hard to be clearer than that.

It was thought that the Rangers might have increased interest in the right-hander following Martin Perez's freak injury earlier this week, but it is pretty evident that is not the case.

With the Rangers pretty explicitly out of the running for Lohse, the market for the right-hander once again looks to be a mystery. Lohse is reportedly still looking for a three-year deal from someone, but with Opening Day now just three weeks away, he may have to temper his expectations if he wants to have a job come April.

The 34-year-old is coming off a career year but has run into several impediments to his signing somewhere this offseason, namely the draft-pick compensation albatross hanging about his neck.