Spike Owen available to fill in as third base coach

Spike Owen, former major league shortstop (and former Longhorn before that), will be joining the Rangers major league camp tomorrow, the Rangers indicated today, in one bit of non-Ian Desmond-related news.

Owen, who is slated to manager the Rangers' low-A team at Hickory, will fill in for third base coach Tony Beasley, who is undergoing treatment for cancer. If Beasley can't start the season with the team, Owen will fill in for him, and manager Jeff Banister wanted Owen to be present and with the team throughout so he'd be ready if called upon.