Diego Padres management informed Nevin that Xavier Nady would replace him as the starting first baseman, Nevin rejected a trade to the Baltimore Orioles for Sidney Ponson on July 25, 2005. Nevin exercised a clause in his contract that gave him the right to block transactions that would send him to any of eight franchises, one of which was the Orioles. He was instead traded on July 30, a day before the non-waiver trade deadline, to the Texas Rangers for Chan Ho Park, whose salary the Rangers wanted to dump. In his first thirteen games with the Rangers, the team posted a 1–12 record as Nevin batted 5-for-44. That put his season batting average under .200, known as the "Mendoza Line". The Rangers benched Nevin in September, giving his starts to prospect first baseman Adrián González after the team was eliminated from playoff contention. In his first game back in the lineup on September 24, his average dropped to .182. He refuted opinions that he was losing bat speed. Nevin had one year remaining on a contract worth $9 million. Manager Buck Showalter said that despite Nevin's benching at the end of the 2005 season, he was his starting designated hitter for the 2006 season. Despite hopes that help from renowned hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo and the hitter-friendly Ameriquest Field would increase Nevin's offensive production in 2006, he continued to struggle. He batted .216 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs in 46 games. The Rangers promoted rookie Jason Botts on May 23, and Botts began to receive Nevin's playing time. Nevin had only two hits in his last 32 at-bats with the Rangers, though both of them were home runs. The Chicago Cubs sought a slugging first baseman to replace the injured Derrek Lee, and the Rangers traded Nevin to Chicago on May 31, 2006. The Rangers received second baseman and outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. in return. The Rangers also agreed to pay the difference in the two players' salaries. On August 31, the deadline for trades of players who had cleared waivers, the Cubs traded Nevin to the Minnesota Twins for cash and a player to be named later. To make room for Nevin, Twins' outfielder Shannon Stewart was placed on the 60-day disabled list. With the Twins, Nevin stopped worrying about his statistics and enjoyed playing in a pennant race. Nevin appeared in the MLB postseason for