The Rangers released former first-round pick left-hander Kasey Kiker on Thursday. Texas openly admitted a huge draft mistake by cutting loose the 12th overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft. Kiker, 24, never made it past the Double-A level with the Rangers. The club exposed him to the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft during the winter meetings, but no team was willing to spend $12,000 to select Kiker.