8:21pm: Texas will pay $1.5MM of Napoli’s salary, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets, with Boston keeping the rest.
7:06pm: The deal is for Napoli and cash in exchange for a player to be named later (or cash considerations), the clubs have announced.
6:14pm: The Rangers have agreed to acquire first baseman Mike Napoli from the Red Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports on Twitter. Boston pulled Napoli from its lineup at the last minute, leading to speculation of a deal that appears to have come to fruition.
Texas continues to be a fascinating to team to watch. The team added Cole Hamels at the deadline, seemingly more for his future value, while shopping (but not dealing) veteran Yovani Gallardo. Now, after a solid run coming out of the deadline, Texas is just five-and-a-half back in the division and 2.5 games out of Wild Card contention.
Napoli represents a right-handed power bat to plug into a heavily left-handed lineup. The club has utilized Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland at first base and DH for much of the season, but can now deploy Napoli at both positions as well. Unsurprisingly, Napoli has been much better against southpaws this year than same-handed pitching.
As he rejoins his former club, Napoli will look to carry forward a strong start to the second half. Having scuffled badly early in the year, over his last 69 turns at bat, Napoli owns a .267/.362/.533 batting line.
It remains to be seen what the return is, but in all likelihood Boston’s primary benefit here will be salary relief (along with freeing a roster spot). Napoli is earning $16MM on the season before hitting the open market this winter.
Napoli played mostly at catcher when he last suited up for the Rangers, but in spite of the team’s needs in that regard, it would be rather surprising at this point if he got back behind the dish. Bradford notes on Twitter that Napoli’s limited no-trade clause gives him veto power over a move to Texas, but obviously he’s decided to waive that.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Returning to Texas. Hamilton’s been revitalized a bit, now we see if Napoli can do the same (although his power swing has returned of late)
NAP-O-LEE! NAP-O-LEE!
I love this move for Boston… what are the details?
Haha, you don’t even know who they got or how much cash was included.
Exactly, take him away at the pro-rated minimum and I’m happy. Last thing we need is someone trying to win games this year. Embrace the fact that the team is terrible and have a protected 1st rounder next year to help fix the rotation.
That’s exactly what I wanted the Rangers to do last season! Then, Bogart took over as interim manager and they got hot and ended up going from the #1 pick to the #4. -_-.
There are already two bad contracts in an expensive and ineffective rotation. Will more long-term money fix it?
2 bad contracts? Who’s the 2nd one (Porcello and ?)
I never said to shop at the top end of FA (where most of the starters will not have qualifying offers anyway since they were traded for the most part). Having a protected pick means you can scoop up a player who’s stock plummets because of rejecting a qualifying offer, as we’ve seen in each of the past several seasons. Give this rotation a solid #3 type of guy to pair with Buch (club option) ERod, Porcello, and the winner of a competition for the #5 spot (plenty of internal candidates who can audition the rest of 2015) and the rotation isn’t in bad shape. Get Hanley out of LF (1B?) and you’ll see the team ERA improve as well.
Hanley and Sandoval are also 2 pretty bad contracts as well, so that makes 3, though Porcello’s is the most asinine deal I’ve ever seen made.
Yes, but he said big, bad contracts in the rotation. Neither Panda nor Hanley pitch.
It’s not a lot of money, but nobody would be lining up to pay Miley 15+ million to be below average.
That’s fair, I forgot Miley signed for 3 years. $15M over 2 years isn’t terrible though for an innings eater (although not the type of arm you want to build around)
Lining up a rotation full of #3 starters is what they have now. Basically you are saying sign the 2016 version of Masterson, and are expecting better results. I would say a top of the rotation arm is a need.
the 2015 version of Masterson was never sniffing a QO for his work during 2014, and the deal he signed in Boston was $5M – $6M below the QO rate for the upcoming FA class. He was a lottery ticket that didn’t pay off and doesn’t have much to do with this discussion unless you’re counting all of the issues that the rotation ran into this year, in which case you’d be blaming the #5 guy which still seems odd.
Zimmerman? or a second tier pitchers who get the QO like Gallardo, Samardzija
I’d be afraid of the Zimmerman contract unless his market falls with all of the other SP’s out there. Samardzija might be a decent option coming off of a down year (although FIP has been kinder to him than his ERA). I still wouldn’t go past 5 years on a deal for him.
Gonna miss him. He was a great guy while in Boston and it sucked to see him significantly struggle this season. Here is to hoping he can have a great end to the season while in Texas!
Yeah, the fans loved him in Texas, too! Glad to see him back, I’m just unsure of how Texas will use him.
platoon with Moreland?
Maybe. Moreland is good on defense and has been good offensively this year thoug.
Doing better, but Moreland’s still only .255/.311/.362 vs LHP. And Napoli, even while struggling, is slugging .500 vs LHP
Yeah. Moreland is streaky, too. So when he is on a bad streak, Napoli could take some extra ABs, too.
This move ONLY makes sense in 2 situations.
1) Napoli returns to catching duty
2) right handed power bat off the bench
The Rangers have NO need for Napoli to play 1B.
Ummm…We already have Moreland and Fielder? Plus, Fielder, Moreland, Choo, and Hamilton share the role of DH. If he could still catch, it would make sense. Otherwise, I’m not really sure how he fits.
Fielder/Moreland/Hamilton/Choo all left-handed…..Napoli bats right handed
True. We definitely needed another right handed bat.
I take back my initial confused reaction.
Good luck, Nap! As with Vic, thanks for what you did in 2013
I’m guessing with his salary, the return will mainly be salary relief?
Wonder if it is a straight waiver claim
I’d be surprised if that were the case. The Rangers would probably want a bit of salary relief and the Sox probably want some mildly intriguing middle relief prospect in return.
He is a free agent after this year,
Anything Boston gets is better than the nothing they would’ve gotten, and maybe Nap will keep his recent success going in a place where he used to mash. Wishing him all the best!
Napoli/Cash for a PTBNL or cash, being reported by Evan Grant and Pete Abraham
Good for Red Sox. A bit later than I expected but it’s ok, no future for Napoli in Boston. Not sure what is the gain for Rangers but that is their problem.
Only three words to describe Napoli….What an Idiot!!!
Fringe player who obviously got the Fenway boost in hitting. Couldn’t cut it in Anaheim. 69 average at bats hitting .267 means nothing which is obviously why Boston traded him. Can’t believe the comments about “what a great guy”
Yep, a catcher hitting .251/.346/.485 isn’t “cutting it”.
or perhaps you meant his hitting in Angel Stadium… .254/.354/.513 … yep, that doesn’t cut it either.
You know, when stats can be checked so easily, you really shouldn’t rush to shove your foot in your mouth.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Well done.
Try reading Vandals Took The Handles for good commentary on your thoughts.
He was an awful catcher, which is why he stopped catching years ago.
Always rated as an average to slightly above/below league average behind the plate using dWAR. His worst dWAR while spending time behind the plate is -0.6. He wasn’t awful, but not a Gold Glover either. Moving him to 1B was more about keeping his bat in the lineup in those harsh Texas summers.
He stopped catching because of his hip.
Vandles…right on. If he couldn’t cut it behind the dish with his manager in Anaheim being a hall of fame catcher, then I rest my case.
So you want to go for it do ya.
So your a big stat guy ah! Well if his stats were so good as a catcher than he’s still be a catcher rather than a marginal first baseman with less that average first base skills. And, his days at .251 are well over as evidenced by his recent “skills” with the bat.
Oh and hey “stat man” one more thing since you have your stats right near your side….. .251 was his Anaheim average, it was .242 in friendly hitting Fenway which was why the Sox brought him in. He did have a couple of good years in Texas but that was three long years ago and we’re talking about him in the now, not his league average over his career.
He has actually been a really good hitter throughout his career. Stop being so ignorant.
Bye Nap. Thanks for everything you did including helping bring another WS title to Boston. I wish you only the best in the future.
Thanks a lot. I had a great time in Boston.