Here's the latest on the two-time defending American League champs…
- Josh Hamilton said he hasn't heard any new information from his agent about a possible long-term extension with Texas. Hamilton spoke to media (including ESPN Dallas' Richard Durrett) at a Rangers winter caravan event and said he was holding to his deadline of cutting off contract talks at the start of Spring Training. Hamilton is eligible for free agency after this season but said he wanted to remain with the team. "We‘ve already told the Rangers that if it doesn’t happen before the season that they are the first ones we’ll come to after the season is over," Hamilton said.
- The Rangers' arbitration hearings with Elvis Andrus, Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz have seen respectively set for February 9, 15 and 17, reports Durrett. The Rangers were known to be discussing a multiyear deal with Napoli, though the two sides had apparently focused on settling Napoli's 2012 contract first.
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com describes the Rangers as "in, but not [a] favorite" for Prince Fielder (Twitter link). Fielder and the Rangers "love" each other but Heyman believes Texas doesn't have the payroll left to sign Fielder after the club signed Yu Darvish. For the full roundup of today's Fielder news, click here.
- In case you missed the news from earlier tonight, the Rangers have been discussing Koji Uehara's availability with several other teams, including the Blue Jays.
I’d love to see Prince as a Ranger, but the only way its going to happen is if he decides to cut his price way down. Which won’t happen, I think they would no doubt about be a World Series favorite if he somehow lowered his asking price.
I like that the Rangers are always in the WS conversation now, but no team is a WS favorite…as we’ve learned.
That’s the truth. I like the Rangers team as is. Even though the Tigers picked up Fielder i still see the Rangers as a great lineup
I believe the Rangers could get creative and need to make a decision about which one they want between fielder and Hamilton. If they dont have the cap for Fielder and know they wont offer Hamiltons asking price y not trade Hamilton and sign Prince. Trade Hamilton in a three team blockbuster to get Andrew Mccutchen to play center… Thats pretty creative and probably gives you a beter team to be honest. With and without this move,(sign Yu Darvish,Prince Fielder; trade Josh Hamilton to get Andrew McCutchen)
1. Ian Kinsler 2b
2. Andrew McCutchen CF
3. Michael Young DH
4. Prince Fielder 1b
5. Adrian Beltre 3b
6. Mike Napoli C
7. Nelson Cruz RF
8. David Murphy LF
9. Elvis Andrus ss
Dangerous!
Adding Fielder to the Rangers would make their offense boarder line unfair.
“We‘ve already told the Rangers that if it doesn’t happen before the season that they are the first ones we’ll come to after the season is over,” Hamilton said.
Nice work, dude. Throw your pre-season extension right out the window, watch it smash on the street and get run over by a bus.
He didn’t say anything new. He’s stated publicly for a long time now that this is where he wants to be.
… then watch him have a healthy season and OPS .950 and his paycheck gets that much bigger.
Maybe, but I’d say his margin to the downside is much bigger given his injury history.
Honestly, i’d gladly take that season from Hamilton lol. Even if meant us paying him more.
Still think it is going to happen and rest of AL better hope it doesn’t. Adding Fielder would add an nice amount of wins to the Rangers total this season.
It will also add to the dissapointment of losing in the world series for the 3rd year in a row.
Not as bad as the A’s though, am I right? 🙂
Dont even remind me. Worst GM and owner in all of sports
Come on now. You can’t be a bad GM and get a book and movie about you.
How would you like it if every single player you have ever liked got traded. He is so overated. Im afraid that if I write too good of a post he might trade me for prospects so I will stop
Beane works with what he has.. Unfortunately in that market and ballpark, its not much.
Can’t fault him directly for not having the money to lock up players
The best hitter he has ever drafted in his 13 years of being a GM is nick swisher and he has traded away prospects like andre eithier carlos gonzalez and nelson cruz uh yeah it is his fault. If billy beane and lew wolf got fired and they get to move to san jose I will be doing cartwheels.
Well, Cruz jumped from alot of teams. The Rangers actually waived him, but he wasn’t picked up. Daniels also traded Adrian Gonzalez. Most of the guys on the Rangers weren’t drafted by Texas. Point is that prospects are just prospects until they hit it big wherever. All GMs make mistakes. It would be interesting to see what Beane could do with real ownership. Then again, I wouldn’t blame A’s fans for wanting a completely fresh start (new owner and GM).
San Jose is not the market to put them into. I really do not understand that move. If they allow them to move which is very likely, they will be competing with the Giants for fans. If they perform the same way after the move as in Oakland, they wont attract any fans anyway. I think they should of moved to North Carolina. California has enough teams anyway. I have also seen arguments for Vegas, Portland, Mexico City which I think are all better options than San Jose.
Just my opinion though…
Beane is accumulating young talent right now, by the time a move happens they should have a much better on field product.
He’s handcuffed by an owner that won’t spend. It doesn’t help that nobody goes to the games. Moving the team to San Jose would probably “revive” or renew interest, get more people out to the games. Beane is forced to win by continously racking up prospects by shipping out good players when they are close to free agency. That’s the only chance the team has. It’s just like the Rays, except I do think Friedman is slightly better.
Bottom line though is that a new owner needs to get in there and be willing to slightly take a hit for a couple of years to build the team back up, then you can turn a profit once your team starts racking up winning seasons and playoff appearances.
I feel you though. It would kill me to have another owner like that.
Sounds like your best option if you ask me.
besides the giants and cards.. there are 27 other teams who haven’t been as succesful as Texas the last 2 seasons..
making it to back to back world series is probably more difficult than winning one WS.. or at the very least its more of an anomoly
The Rangers are going to need to commit a ton of money as it is between Cruz, Andrus, and Napoli if they want to keep this group together. Prince Fielder would be a luxury, not a necessity. If the Rangers never signed Darvish, Prince is probably a Ranger right now. Instead it looks like the Nationals could actually end up with Fielder.
Andrus is years away, and is more than likely to be a trade chip due to Jurickson Profar.
Napoli and Hamilton should be top priority right now. It will be interesting. I would hate to see Hamilton in another uniform, but I want to see more so what’s best for the team…which I trust JD to make that call.
Andrus won’t be a trade chip, rather Jurackson Profar will move to 2B splitting time with Ian while Ian also DHs. I see that happening first before Andrus is traded, then again who knows what will happen 2 years from now.
After we pay Kinsler, Hamilton, Cruz, and Napoli, we’ll need some salary relief. It will be hard to pay Elvis. There could be a team willing to part with a great pitcher, and Elvis could be part of the deal.
There haven’t been any talks of Profar going to 2B. Out of Beltre and Kinsler, who is most likely to be a DH in 3 years? Exactly.
I want the Nats to get Fielder, I really do. He would help the team in ways that stretched beyond the field. Jason Reid had a really good article about how Fielder would not only impact the team, but the District community as a whole. I don’t know if he wants to be that guy, but he could do the game a tremendous amount of good as the Nationals first black superstar.
If the choice is extending Cruz or signing Fielder, you take Fielder. He is far better than Cruz. Not only that but he is younger and the market has dropped for him so you may be able to get away with a 6 year deal or something around there. Why would you extend Cruz at 31 years old when you can sign Fielder at 27 for his prime years?
Cruz wouldn’t be the one affected by a Fielder deal, although I would definitely give up Cruz to get Fielder.
His projected arbitration salary is $5.7million. Any idea how much money the Rangers have to work with at this point? Cruz is the same as Quentin except 3 years older but they can trade him once and most likely get a prospect back. Im not really sure how much money the Rangers have at this point though. That would be an additional $5.7 million and if they can trade Koji, thats another couple million.
Nobody knows what their real budget is. The TV deal in 2015 is what everyone’s looking at. We pretty much will backload contacts until then.
…. you see… and THAT’S why Fielder needs to sign with Seattle. Think of all the games he’ll play in Texas without even being on the team, and then he can take out his pent-up rage on Texas for not forking out the cash to sign him.
Brilliant!
Brilliant no, think about half the season he will have to play at Safeco Field…plus there is really no one in the Mariners lineup right now to protect Fielder legitimately. He would end up every at bat getting terrible pitches and being walked all the time because no one after him could hit well enough to make a pitcher actually pitch to him. Not a good situation for a guy that likes to make contact with the ball. Not to mention, he won’t be seeing postseason while being a Mariner.
If the rangers sign fielder thats not even fair
Are you kidding me San Jose is the perfect place for them. New stadiums always makes teams draw fans. The giants used to only draw 5000 fans a game at candlestick and now theysell out even when they were terrible between 2005-2008. The more fans you draw the more money you have.
I dont know if you have ever been to oakland but its cold in the summer which makes it a terrible place to hit. San Jose in the summer is 15 degrees warmer and the air is less thick. Meaning the ball will carry more and FA hitters who would never want to come to oakland will come to san jose.
Bottom line a new stadium is a good idea in san jose.
Prince should take a 3 yr deal with an option for a 4 and get even more money Before he’s 30. It should be 3 yrs 75 mil to the Rangers.