There was some talk that Mike Napoli’s breakout performance might earn him a long-term extension with the Rangers, but the catcher says talks of a deal have been “squashed” for the time being. Napoli told Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he expects to hit free agency after the 2012 campaign.
“I’d love to be here, but I’ll test the market,” Napoli said. “Every player plays to get to free agency. But it’s not something I’m going to worry about. That’s why I have my agent.”
Brian Grieper of Paragon Sports International represents Napoli, who hit 30 home runs and posted a .320/.414/.631 line in 2011. The 30-year-old will earn $9.4MM on a one-year deal this coming season.
Yadier Molina recently agreed to a five-year extension that appears to be worth $75MM. Napoli offers far more power than Molina, but less defensive value. Victor Martinez, a possible comparable for Napoli, signed a four-year, $50MM deal with the Tigers during the 2010-11 offseason. The 2012-13 free agent class for catchers also includes Miguel Montero, Russell Martin, and Chris Iannetta. It doesn't appear that Montero or Martin will sign extensions before the offseason.
Thank you Yadier for ruining napolis talks with your contract. And thank you napoli for testing the market and potentially not staying with the rangers. Now to hope you dont end up in New york next year.
yours truely,
Your average angels Fan.
P.S (We should have kept you instead of mathis last year)
Hey at least you can still get Mathis on the cheap
i dont think the yanks want him hell command an insane amount of money as opposed to martin on a hopefully 3/23 deal while having 2 catchers (1 somewhat ready and 1 3 years or so away)
As one of the best power-hitting free agents after the 2012 season, Napoli could very well wind up going somewhere as a 1B or DH, rather than catcher. Off the top of my head, I could see the Dodgers, Giants, or Indians making a play for him…he’d be a significant upgrade at first for any of those teams…
He claims to prefer to catch, but that could have just been for the media’s benefit since that’s likely where he’ll see the most action this year.
Ok, JD, Time to trade him. if he dont want to be here or sign the extension then get on the horn and trade him. we want prospects we dont want to let him go for free.
So you suggest making your potential World Series contending team significantly worse, just in case you cant sign him?
This why JD is a GM and your on a comment section.
We will offer him arbitration after the year and get picks. JD has been good at turning those picks into promising players so we are fine. The goal is to win the WS not continually looking to the future.
Jays shoud try for him
JK
I hate the Cardinals even more now.
Hamilton and Nap hitting free agency? Sounds good for Angel fans
Don’t count on it. The Rangers have enough money to sign both, then some.
I’m sure the Rangers have enough money to sign him but don’t know if they or anyone else well be able compete with a new Dodger Billionaire owner that wants to make a huge splash with the fans.
… you DO know that the Dodgers are apparently going to go for around $1.5BIL, and a billionaire owner will now have $1.5B less in his pocket to spend on payroll…
You do know that anyone thats willing to spend $1.5 BILLION on a team is going to want it to win,right. Plus the Dodgers are on the verge of an astronomical TV deal.
If i recall Texas isn’t the only team in the Majors. Others will bid on Hamilton and Nap.
Interesting, the idea of the Angels paying Pujols $25M-$30M a year for the last 6 years of that contract sounds good for Rangers fans.
You do know Angels have a man by the name of Wells right.. Whom they are paying 20M+.. Having Pujols hitting bombs year in and year out wouldn’t hurt Halos at all. and Once wells is gone. WOOO it will get a lot more interesting.. Cant wait!
Wow.I didnt realize that Napoli hit .320. I woulda guessed in the .275-.280 range.
both Napoli and Hamilton will be highly coveted on the free agent market and I feel the Rangers will have to spend big to even keep one of these guys around. it would be smart to extend Napoli if you can mid season because I could see the Yanks going after him hard! no way you’re competing with yankee dollars if you’re the Rangers organization.
I think the Yankees have shown this off-season that they desire to get under the luxury cap by the end of 2014… spending Yankee $$$ on Napoli would go completely against everything they did/didn’t do this off-season.
I’m sorry but saying yankees wont spend money is a joke. Plus look at the money that’ll be coming off the books after the season, contracts of (Nick Swisher) and I hate to say it Mariano Rivera; as well as Russ Martin. Oh yeah they’ll make a free agent splash. My money is on the Bronx Bombers going after Napoli.
Didn’t think about that but that’s a very high possibility. Or even Hamilton. Or both o.O.. Ranger fans say they have enough to sign them both and some.. Imagine what the Yanks can do.. scary stuff
Napoli is a VMart though at best behind the plate with more power and a worse glove if possible. Not sure how Molina’s situation helped him next year.
Sure, he can play a few games behind the plate and a few games at 1B, but his LT projection is at DH, just like VMart which is exactly why Boston never even triedto resign him. i can see the NYY making a small attempt to sign him as a PT C if he goes for the 3year range and nothing over 10-12-15m a year, but napoli is probably better off staying in Texas where he seems to have found a home and is in the perfect surroundings.
You do realize that Napoli had the 3rd highest catcher ERA for those who caught over 50 games. I do know it is a small sample size but bear with me, it is all I have to work with. He also threw 36% of base stealers. 1 past ball and 2 errors. He had a bad wrap in LA because he was being micromanaged and not allowed to play to his strengths. If he repeats (because last year was career year on defense and offense) then it was more a byproduct of Sciossa than his talents. And yes I am biased as I am a huge Ranger fan and a huge Nap fan.
I gotcha on that. VMart also had that “rap” in Cleveland and improved a tad in Boston, even threw out 21% his 2nd season with Boston after an abysmal 11% his 1st after working with Sox catching instructor Gary Tuck on his catch/throw technique.
Remember that Sox pitchers are not known for holding runners on also, as well for exactly brilliant pick off moves and he caught Wake some as well who is a magnet for stolen bases.
Also.. Another Boston catcher, Ryan Lavarnway is regarded as having bad (or still learning) overall mechanics, but a rifle for a throwing arm…
Not saying that Napoli is a horrible catcher. But maybe we will know more then if he plays another season behind the plate FT before he either hits FA, or resigns with the Rangers? Maybe Texas is playing it that way also.
I really hope the Dodgers can get him next year, He would fill our hole at 1st and Catcher.
I didnt know Napoli could play 2 positions at once. Sh$t the Dodgers should pay him double if they could get that kind of production… Go Halos!
I’m as big a Napoli fan as anyone, but don’t you think we should wait and see if he can even come close to the year he had last year before we start talking about him as if he is the 2nd coming? There was nothing in his past to show he was capable of doing what he did last year. He had some power, low average and was thought of as a below average catcher. He was traded for Frankie Francisco for God’s sake! Lets just tap the breaks a little bit and see how he does this year first.
“Every player plays to get to free agency.”
Silly me, thinking that players played for the love of the game rather than the paycheck. What is wrong with these guys. I’d play in the majors for 20 years for food and I’d sleep in the damn ballpark if I had to. Ridiculous.
No, you wouldn’t.
I don’t think that’s terribly realistic. Players should play for free while the teams get rich? No one can blame players for taking whatever the market will bear, all other things being equal. Napoli has only been with the Rangers for a year, so it’s not like he should feel obligated to give a big discount, no matter how much he likes the team. if he *wants* to take a little less to stay, great. If not… can’t fault him.