Mike Napoli is back for a third tour with the Rangers. Texas announced today that it has signed the slugging first baseman/designated hitter to a one-year contract that includes a club option for the 2018 season. The deal will reportedly guarantee Napoli $8.5MM in the form of a $6MM 2017 salary and a $2.5MM buyout on an $11MM option for the following season. Napoli is represented by Brian Grieper of Paragon Sports. The Rangers have an open spot on the 40-man roster after placing both Prince Fielder and Jake Diekman on the 60-day disabled list this week.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers Depth Chart]
Napoli spent 2016 with the American League-winning Indians, who signed him to a one-year, $7MM pact last January. The well-regarded clubhouse presence went on to mash 34 home runs and post an overall line of .239/.335/.465 in 645 plate appearances. As is the case with fellow 2016-17 free agent Chris Carter, Napoli brings an enticing power/patience mix to the plate, but both his tendency to strike out (he fanned 30.1 percent of the time last season) and issues on the base paths detract from his offensive value. Plus, the normally respectable defender is coming off a rough year at first, where he logged career worsts in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-4) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-4.4) over 859 1/3 innings.
Although flawed, the lifetime .252/.352/.480 hitter gives the Rangers an established first base/DH, which is an obvious need. The reigning AL West champions have been lacking at each position since Mitch Moreland and Carlos Beltran departed in free agency earlier this winter. In-house options to fill those spots include two 24-year-olds with limited major league track records — Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo — as well as an unspectacular group of veterans consisting of Ryan Rua, James Loney and former superstar Josh Hamilton.
Napoli, of course, is hardly a foreign commodity for Rangers GM Jon Daniels and the Texas front office. The postseason veteran spent the 2011-12 seasons in Texas and hit quite well — slashing .275/.379/.552 in 221 total games before going on to spend most of the next three seasons in Boston. The Red Sox traded him back to Texas in August 2015, and Napoli will now return for yet another stint with the reigning AL West champions.
FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported that talks between the two sides were escalating (Twitter links). Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported the one-year agreement (Twitter link). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News added some context on the size of the eventual contract (Twitter links). Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM reported the $8.5MM guarantee and the inclusion of an option (Twitter link). FOX’s Ken Rosenthal added details on the annual breakdown of the deal (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
He is like the Rangers rock, he is always there when you need him, and at just the right times
I like that. The Rock of Napoli.
Good to have Napoli back in the lineup.
Speaking of lineup, it looks pretty scary top to bottom with Napoli in it.
2B- Odor
RF- Mazara
3B- Beltre
DH- Napoli
C- Lucroy
LF- Choo
SS- Andrus
1B- Gallo/Rua/Profar
CF- Gomez
Zero chance Odor hits leadoff. Choo will most likely hit leadoff when healthy.
Yep
Or Gomez would hit lead off over him at least. Odor’s OBP is abysmal
God willing Choo is actually healthy. He was an incredible disappointment last year.
Warn us to put down our drink before speculating a scenario that involves Choo being healthy!!
Honestly, he looked back to health last I recall, but I did almost spit out my drink when I read the when healthy comment added to the guy with 3 DL stints last year. haha. Someone’s gotta be bored with that Choodoo doll one of these days?!
And I’ll quit diggin’ while the puns are terrible. Apologies/you’re welcome. I dunno?! Cheers ball fans 🙂
Not exactly the order I’d go with, and I’d personally take Houston over them in a second
Gomez
Choo
Beltre
Odor
Napoli
Mazara
Lucroy
Gallo
Andrus
Or maybe
Gomez
Choo
Beltre
Napoli
Odor
Lucroy
Mazara
Andrus
Profar
They needed EE
they need to trade Gallo for Jose abreu.
1-for-1? Sox hang up the phone.
That has to be one of the most lopsided proposals I’ve ever seen on this website
No it’s not
Abreu is below average
Gallo has more abilities and much cheaper
Striking out is an ability, I guess.
Lopsided in favor of the Sox. No chance Rangers trade Gallo for Abreu.
Abreu had his worst year last year. 2,8 WAR./126 OPS+/.293 Avg/..353 Obp/.468 Slg
Gallo has hit .173 so far in the majors. The only thing Gallo has going for him right now is his age and his power. He only hit .240 at AAA.
No, just no.
.240 with a 500 SLG and 896 OPS. He’s never going to hit for average so don’t grade him on it. Not saying the trade would be fair, just that Joey gets a lot of harsh criticism despite being young and not evaluated properly.
please stop posting here if you dont have a thought. thanks!
I think Gallo is a great prospect, but my point is that it would be insane to trade Abreu for him. Gallo has elite power and seems to be a competent defender, but he could be a couple years away from above average production. Abreu is already a good producer and an trade chip that could fetch better prospects.
Abreu posted numbers his 1St 2 years in league that only Pujols had done prior. He had a slow start last year still ended up with big numbers. Jose is a top 5 1B in league. I wouldn’t trade you Zach Putnam for Gallo. Thank you come again.
Nope. Miggy, Freeman, Rizzo, Goldschmidt, Votto.
So whenever a player has a huge weakness, we should just ignore cuz that’s no fair. LMAO. Let me guess.. Democrat?
Are you serious??? That’s a horrible trade for the Rangers, not the White Sox. Gallo has so much more value than Abreu, even though Gallo had fallen off a bit from a few years ago. Abreu is a dime a dozen aging 1B.
R u a troll
Nobody wants Gallo, if he was any good, they wouldn’t need Napoli
Lol abreast had a 126 ops plus in a “down year”. There’s no possible way Texas would turn that down
Abreu*
I’m with this. Abreu is a beast with plenty left in the tank.
Players can be still be good if they’re not quite ready for MLB level
Abreu is more valuable than Gallo. Rick Hahn picks up the phone:
Jon Daniels- I was think about Jose Abreu for Joey Gall…
..CLICK…
*thinking
293/353 with 25 HRs. for a gallo? ha! rick hahn hangs up the phone. no one in chicago wants joey gallo.
exactly
I’d happily take him as a throw-in/third or fourth piece in a deal… Hard pass as a main piece though.
@Brixton – yes he is a troll, see the Chris Carter thread.
He’s not a troll, he’s a rols. And that’s worse.
Merry go round with this one.
Guesses on the salary? I’m saying $11.5m
Probably about right. I’ll take the under at $10MM
Thinking $8 million plus incentives based on plate appearances that takes it to a max of $12 million.
I figure $9.5-$10m with the opportunity to add another $500k in performance bonuses (plate appearances, all-star appearance, etc)
My guess is one year, $8MM with a vesting option for a second year at $10MM
my guess is 14 mill considering he made 7 mil from indians when having a crap year before
He wasn’t that good last year either. 1.0 fWAR isn’t worth 14 mil.
I thought giving contract bonuses for awards was no longer allowed.
Clearly it’s one year. No such thing as a bad one year contract…..for the team.
Remarkable. Going forward decent but not elite players like Napoli are going to play year to year, and exit when they no longer add value.
I will miss him in Cleveland, but EE will help me to deal with that loss. 🙂
if i was a tribe fan id be saying napowho?
If Mike Napoli didn’t suck to high heaven in the World Series, we may be talking about a different drought having come to an end.
Tribe looks like team to beat again in 2017. Good luck hope you can stay healthy. Twins, Sox rebuilding Royals, Tigers might be in 2018 AL Central is yours if you want it next couple years. ChiSox winning division in 2019
oh the white sox are winning the division in 2019 now? Not just competing or winning a wild card, but they are going to be division winners? Before seeing any of the prospects that they got work out we are declaring them to be division winners in 2 years? Thanks for the lolz.
According to multiple sources, he signed! Napoli ever after! Pending a physical and will be officially added to the team next week after Fielder can be dropped from the 40 man roster. No word yet on his salary.
Awaiting the “this should push the Astros to trade for Quintana” comments.
This is obviously a sign and trade situation. White Sux really want Napoli, but the won’t sign only want to trade for him. Lololololololol lolololololol lolololololol jk jk jk
Why in the world would the Sox want Napoli?
He was being facetious.
It looks like somebody missed about 75 “JK”
Yeah, sorry. Early alzheimers
Your flubs tried your best to lose to a tribe team missing their best hitter (Brantley) & 2 of their top 3 pitchers ( Carrasco & Napoli got em there, he didn’t hit in W.S. but there is a God and he phoned in a rain delay or those scrubs would lost to a far inferior team.
They tried their* best. If you’re gonna try to insult a team, especially using stupid names, you may want to have it make sense.
Napoli didn’t get anyone anywhere He was a 1 win player. Claiming that Napoli got them to the ws is just an insult to all of the players on Cleveland that performed as well as they did.
The Rangers needed a new first baseman….. Moreland wasn’t very good.
Napoli isn’t a whole lot better unfortunately
Actually Moreland was a good 1st baseman. Won the gold glove. His bat was the issue.
That’s not 2/$28M. Interesting how the market is completely repricing sluggers.
Well this lineup just got scarier…..will be amazing race between Rangers and Astros but personally if the Astros don’t get another top arm they won’t be able to keep up with the Rangers….
keep up with? Hah. Thank you for the obligatory “astros need to add top arm” post though. At least you didn’t suggest they include bregman to get one.
Houston gave up fewer runs last year, had a better runs scored vs runs allowed ratio, had a better team ERA, better team FIP, better team K/9, better team BB/9, but they really need to add a top arm, huh? Yeah, OK. Keuchel was battling injuries and had a major down year. 2nd half numbers much better. McCullers was banged up and needs to stay healthy, Same can be said for Yu Darvish. Collin McHugh had a pretty big down year. Musgrove is up, Martes is waiting. But they really need to trade or sign a pitching arm, huh?
Ooooooookkkkkkk. You also probably think Joey Gallo for Jose Abreu is a terrible trade for Texas, or that Profar is still valued as a top 20 prospect.
Yes so Yu Darvish is a huge injury risk when he’s really only had one injury(an elbow that lead to tommy John). Let’s also remember Mccullers has had elbow and major shoulder problems(much more severe) at 23 years old while Joe Musgrove is ranked as one of the most likely pitchers to get injured this year.
Must have been a different Yu Darvish that missed a month last season with neck and shoulder discomfort.
lmao… sngehl01 u forgot to mention the most important stats, wins and losses…the fact is Astros are still chasing the Rangers…maybe they might make it interesting this year.
On one hand, the Rangers did their fans a favor by not going after Pedro Alvarez but I have just never seen Napoli as a guy who’ll hit an occasional bomb but leave a lot of runners stranded along the way
The Rangers already had a nice line up. Guess if he can provide 20/80 it’s icing on the cake
Uh…have never seen Napoli as anything more than….
Rangers take step back this year.
Most likely
sorry everyone but the Mariners are taking the division lol
Dang…. This just makes the AL west even harder for the Angels… but I’m trusting the halos talent to at least get a wild card spot.
Is this wishful thinking or do you actually think they have any shot at a wildcard??
I’m thinking it is wishful thinking.
Angels are better than people think but WC might be pushing it. Rangers will take step back Nap better days are behind him and Hamels, Beltre not far behind
Strongly Disagree on Beltre. In his age 37 season last year he had his best year since 2012. He’s a first ballot HOF and he’s going to age like Big Papi. See no reason at all to assume he will decline despite the age.
Hamels I can see a little bit. By WAR 2016 was his worst year since his rookie season but I think he makes adjustments. Velocity on 4 seamer dropped a full 1 mph but he throws his 2 seamer more and no change in velocity there, or with any of his other pitches.
Napoli definitely agree but for the price it was worth it. My guess is the trade Profar. Gallo takes over for Beltre whenever that maybe with Guzman taking over for Napoli at 1B next year.
Angels just need to trade Trout and get as much as they possibly can for him.
Party At Napolis!!!
All that talk about Gallo would think he is second coming. Think Chris Carter and look at his market. Low OBP and high strikeout guys just don’t fit in a lineup like they once did. Napoli at least tries to draw walks. Which of course increases his k rate as he is the hole so much. Surprised at Uzr because in Boston he played a decent first base and teammates love him.
Gallo walks a lot more than people think. He’s more Adam Dunn than Chris Carter. Still not super valuable but a solid player.
Chris Carter also walks a lot…
At least Gallo can transition to the bullpen if his bat never comes around lol
RF Choo
SS Andrus
DH Hamilton
3B Beltre
2B Odor
1B Napoli
C Lucroy
LF Mazara
CF Gomez
So much lol at this