ARLINGTON -- The Rangers¡¯ active offseason continued on Monday morning, when president of baseball operations Chris Young announced that the club signed reliever Shawn Armstrong to a one-year deal. To make room for Armstrong on the 40-man roster, Texas designated catcher Sam Huff for assignment.

The club entered this offseason needing to address its bullpen, with Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jos¨¦ Leclerc and Jos¨¦ Ure?a all reaching free agency. They were joined by Andrew Chafin when Texas declined his club option.

Armstrong is the fourth bullpen arm the team has signed in free agency, joining Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Luis Curvelo. The club also acquired Robert Garcia for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in a trade with the Nationals on Sunday.

¡°Shawn is somebody we feel like is going to help our bullpen,¡± Young said via Zoom. ¡°He's had a track record of success, obviously, a couple years ago with Tampa. He¡¯s someone we are excited about in terms of raising the floor of our bullpen and helping us as we build out our bullpen.¡±

Armstrong has made appearances for seven teams over parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, recording a lifetime 4.15 ERA. He pitched for the Rays, Cardinals and Cubs in 2024 and had a 4.86 ERA with 66 strikeouts over 66 2/3 innings.

He had a career year in 2023 with the Rays, when he posted a 1.38 ERA across 52 innings with a 305 ERA+.

¡°With Shawn, he¡¯s somebody that has pitched in a variety of roles in his career,¡± general manager Ross Fenstermaker said. ¡°He's pitched in leverage. We see some bounce-back qualities there. He's a strike thrower. He generates strikeouts, swing and miss. We just felt like it was a unique opportunity to add him and elevate before the ¡®pen, and add another veteran presence back there that could help us out.¡±

It¡¯s been a busy offseason on the whole for the Rangers, who also reached a deal with free-agent DH Joc Pederson (per a source) on Monday. Earlier in December, the team brought back starter Nathan Eovaldi and signed catcher Kyle Higashioka in free agency and acquired corner infielder Jake Burger in a trade with the Marlins.

There is still work to be done -- specifically as it pertains to an experienced closer -- but the Rangers feel good about where they are heading into the new year.

¡°I'm very happy with the moves we've made,¡± Young said. ¡°But certainly we don't want to stop. We feel like we're trying to build a team that can compete for a division title and hopefully a World Series championship, and we're going to need to continue to pursue leverage arms. That's not going to be just this offseason. That's going to be into the season as well.¡±

The Higashioka move left Huff, a former top prospect, without an obvious path to playing time with the Rangers. The 26-year-old has appeared in 78 games over parts of four seasons with Texas, hitting .258 with 10 homers and a .768 OPS.

The Rangers, as the roster currently sits, will have just two catchers in Jonah Heim and Higashioka.

¡°Sam, obviously, has been a Ranger for a number of years now,¡± Young said. ¡°It's always hard to make these decisions. That said, given our catching situation, where we are, we felt like this was the right move for us moving forward.¡±