The Rangers have had several discussions with catcher Mike Napoli regarding a long-term contract extension, a source tells Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, although the talks are still early in the process. Napoli is arbitration eligible for the final time this offseason and is slated to earn $9.2MM in 2012 through that process, according to the model created by Matt Swartz for MLBTR.
Napoli, who turned 30 in October, enjoyed a career season with the Rangers after being traded twice following the 2010 season. The right-handed hitter posted single-season bests with 30 homers, 75 RBIs, and a .320/.414/.631 line.
Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com first reported earlier this month that the Rangers were hopeful of working out an extension with Napoli.
I’d give him 4yr/50m
Seems reasonable.
I’d still rather lock up Kinsler and Hamilton before Napoli.
Who cares what order as long as they all get locked up?
Hamilton is a former MVP and Kinsler is a rare 2nd baseman that can hit for power and steal bases, not to mention his exceptional defense.
And Napoli proved last year that he’s a rare catcher with good power, solid average, and solid defense/game calling. Texas can afford all of these guys, it just depends on how long this drags out.
Ummmmm….power hitting C (played about 50% of his games there) who has managed to be a good, sometimes great, OBP machine. That’s probably as “rare” as they get.
I do however, think that one has to value him with caution as last year was clearly a vast hike from his usual production.
Unlike Bautista/Jays, the Rangers don’t have the luxury of waiting one more year to see if he can duplicate what he did in 2011 since he’s a free agent after this upcoming season.
His average may be a mirage, but even if his BA is around .280, with his good walk rate, high power and solid defense, he is worth it.
Actually, the Jays locked Bautista up one year away from free agency after 1 1/4 monster years, right? That could be a good comparison IMO.
Unless I am wrong about how long the Jays had Bautista under control when they locked him up.
you are correct.
Former MVP is the key here. Rangers should let Hamilton walk.
I agree and I could see the guy in Boston next year
More likely NY.
Most likely neither of those two.
Are you crazy? He would have had the same production this year if he wouldn’t have been out for 2 months with a broken arm. Even with that, he hit 25 homers.
No, are you?
Hypothetically they could wait until next winter to lock up Kinsler just to see how Profar progresses and to see if a pitcher like Felix becomes available, in which case we would lose Profar and have to re-sign Kinsler.
That being said, Kinsler is my favorite player and I would very much like to see him locked up for the long-haul.
If he could just level that swing out he would be a top 5 MVP every year and a .350 hitter. I really want to tlike him but the pop ups drive me insane!!! I like his OBP though.
Theoretically because you might not have the money to keep the others after you’ve signed the first couple players.
If you’re positive that you can afford all of them, it doesn’t really matter.
Pretty sure the Rangers are swimming in cash after that TV deal.
It doesn’t kick in for a few years. These extensions would require major backloading.
That’s hogwash. WAY too much for a .250+ career hitter
his career batting average is .264 and his career wRC+ is 130 – 30% better than a league average hitter. that’s great for anyone and phenomenal for a catcher
Catchers with insane power, ability to get on base (even despite a lower BA), and good defense are hard to come by.
Batting average eh? So who’s better – Mark Teixeira or James Loney?
Mark Texeira easily. Look at those RBI!
Hmmmm… to close to call.
I hope he chokes on a chicken leg… 🙁 I still love you Nap
Three years and $30M max or the Rangers will be very sorry.
I completely agree. I was gonna say 4 years and $40 million though.
LOL. And why is that?
He is no better than average behind the plate and catchers usually don’t age well if playing regularly. Also, his bat won’t play at DH going forward – especially with Hamilton on the team.
Don’t go nuts over his career season. I would not sign him to any extension and let him play out his contract year and then talk after next season.
Good job proving you don’t know much about Napoli.
I’m sorry, but Napoli was flat out great calling games this year, and I haven’t seen so many runners caught stealing since…oh, say…Pudge.
Love watching Napoli. The guy is a monster. Must have been nice for him last season playing for a manager that recognized his talents and appreciated him. I doubt he’ll keep up that high of an average, but the guy has a lot of value in his bat.
On a side note: That line-up is just crazy. When you have a guy like this hitting 6th or 7th, just nuts.
Back off Sciosc. Nap’s dWAR was negative every year he was with us and even when he did hit 26HR’s it came with a .238 bAve and 137 SO’s nearly 1/3 of his AB’s were SO’s that year… He blossomed huge in TX, that’s cool and hindsite is always awesome.
I’m not saying anything against Scioscia, Napoli wasn’t the type of player he wanted.
I’m saying that it would be hard on Napoli. I imagine going to work for your boss on a daily basis and knowing he would rather have someone else do the job would not be the ideal situation. I’m sure he felt much more comfortable this year and that’s probably why he had more success.
It’s not really hindsight though. Pretty much everyone knew trading Napoli (some trade value) for Wells (negative trade value) was horrible to begin with.
I have to agree with you there. I’ve never seen a player become a fan favorite so quick here in Texas. JD needs to lock him up.
In game 2 of the ALCS when Napoli came up to bat it gave me chills hearing the entire ballpark chant NAP-O-LI. I’m happy that DFW is finally turning into a baseball town. I’ve been wanting that atmosphere since I was a kid, and i’ve always been envious of baseball towns like Boston and St. Louis. Napoli did turn into a fan favorite rather quickly.
Napoli is way over rated, career .260 hitter, anything over 3/25 is an overpay.
Even if he only hits .260, a catcher with his power and ability to get on base (career 11.6% walk rate) is worth a lot more than 3/25.
Signing him to that deal would be a monster win for the Rangers.
Agreed. Not to mention his defense was highly underrated. His game calling and ability to throw out runners is very good.
I dunno. Last year he finally came into his own as a game caller. He also threw out runners at a solid rate and his bat improved wit every game. Maybe he was just waiting to have a manager who actually appreciated him to break out.
Even if he regresses to a .260/.350 20-25 hr guy he would still be worth more than that (slightly) when you consider what guys with similar or lesser production (see McCann, Martin, etc) are going to make in 2012.
This is kind of like the situation with the Blue Jays and Bautista last year. Napoli had a great year and has one year of arb left. The difference is though I don’t think Napoli can keep up with anything close to that production. Even if his production dips a lot he’s still good and Tex should want him, but shoot he’s going to cost a lot if they extend him right now.
But if they don’t sign him now and he has a huge season again next year then he will price himself out of us being able to get him. Even if he regresses a little, it could still be a win win for about 10-12 mm per for 4 years. Napoli gets his security and the Rangers get a good deal if he contiunues on this pace.
Yeah it’s kind of a risk either way. I wouldn’t do it but I said the same about Jose Bautista last offseason and look at the season he had. Sure proved me wrong.
If the rangers could lock up 3 position players this offseason, my votes are for Fielder, Hamilton and Napoli. I think Kinsler would be great to keep, but Profar will be ready by the time Ian’s contract expires. Cruz is on the wrong side of 30 and injury prone, so unless he takes a Kubel-like contract (7.5mil/yr), let him walk. I love Cruz and Kins, but Fielder seems like a better investment long-term than Kins and Cruz combined, which would about the same amount of money annually.
Please tell me you’re joking. Keeping Kinsler over Hamilton isn’t even debatable.
Hamilton is one year older than Kinsler. So there’s not a big age difference. The ballpark more positively affects Hamilton than Kinsler. Plus we have a quality prospect replacement for Kinsler, don’t really have one for josh. And Josh won an MVP so despite his injury history, Hamilton is more valuable to the rangers than Kinsler, so keep Hambino over Kinsler.
I can see your point, but I honestly think that we won’t go after Fielder. I think they’re going to do their best to make Hamilton a fair offer for no more than 5 years. I think they’ll wait on Kinsler until next winter when they’ll have a better idea of where Profar is and if there’s a chance King Felix becomes available. In which case we’d have to re-sign Kinsler if we made a trade.
Of course, if none of that happens we’ll have to figure out where to put Olt and Profar.
While I do see Felix becoming available at some point, I really don’t see the Mariners trading him to a division rival. I know they did it with Cliff, but the circumstances are different, plus Felix means so much more to the Mariners.
It could go either way. I don’t think there’s any ill-will between the Rangers and M’s. I think that they could come to an agreement, although it would cost us a premium since, as you stated, it’s within the division.
I would lose my mind if we had a rotation of Hernandez, Darvish, Holland, Feliz, and Lewis/Harrison/Ogando.
Makes my mouth water. As a fellow Rangers fan, what do you feel about them winning the bid for Darvish? Listening to 103.3 at work today, there seemed to be a lot of negativity by everyone not named Ben. I, however, love it, and hope they can sign him. Also a question, if he does sign, who would you like to see start opening day? I’d go with Holland, rewarding him for that magical game in the World Series.
I feel like signing Darvish would be good. I have cautious optimism right now. I think he’ll be successful here if his work ethic is what they say it is…that’s one thing that made CJ a success here…that and our superb defense.
I love listening to Ben and Skin, but honestly, Ben is really bad at analyzing things critically. I feel like he just looks at things on the surface. I remember he posted an article on espn Dallas talking about how the Rangers should absolutely go get Darvish and that he’s be so amazing here…and this was like a day after he just found out who Yu Darvish was.
Nevertheless, I expect great things from Yu, and i’m sure he expects them from himself.
Holland is my favorite pitcher (has been since he was about to come up) I told everyone that Holland has the best stuff on the team and that he WILL be the first Ranger in this rotation to throw a no-hitter…I still believe that.
I think Colby gets the Opening Day start though. As of this very moment.
I think you’re right about Colby being the #1 in the rotation as of this moment. It seems they will be looking to him to anchor down the staff. Colby is a good pitcher but his in-game success completely rides on his ability to effectively throw his curve..not only for strike but with enough movement that hitters can’t tee of on it. He also likes to get ahead early in the count with his fastball (88-91 mph) which tends to get him in trouble if its evident early on his curve isn’t locating. I don’t mind him being the “#1” right now simply because of his experience but I can see him being the next to leave the nest if he has another 14 or 15 win season.
Anxious to see Holland be more consistent this year and just dominate. Harrison as well..I think he flies under the radar but he could put up some good numbers again this year.
I cant imagine how amazing Felix’s stats would be if he had more consistent run support but it’s also pretty amazing he is only 25! Now I think he becomes a free agent in 2015 and Im sure the M’s will be offering him extensions of high dollar amount before the market can just go crazy.
The M’s will more than likely be opting out of their current tv contract after the 2015 season and will probably have better contract ready to kick in by then which will net them more spending money. That should help them lock up Felix for several more years IF he wants to continue playing there. He might start getting the itch to be on a competitive team if the M’s management haven’t made enough progress to show they are heading in a positive direction.
Well these are just my preferences. I’m not saying the rangers will or won’t do anything. And I think the rangers would move Andrus to second and let Profar play short. Also I think we’ll see Olt start to pick up some time at first base because third base is occupied and I don’t think there’s much faith in Moreland long term.
I think they have faith in Moreland. This is his season. He’ll be healthy and the Rangers want him to show what he can do.
I’m a fan of Olt and he has gained alot of attention since doing really well in the Arizona Fall League this year but I would be surprised to see him up in MLB anytime soon. He faced some good talent in the AFL but I bet he will take the regular route of heading to Frisco to be evaluated for atleast half the season before being considered to move up to Round Rock.
Mitch is kind of on that same trial period as C. Davis was at this point it seems. If Mitch can’t produce as expected and the Rangers feel Olt can be fast tracked then I guess you could always potentially say maybe they package Mitch with someone to obtain more pitching.
Only 75 RBI? Clearly he sucks.
What are people’s guesses as to what Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton would command on the open market in free agency? Interested to hear what people think.
I’ve always liked Napoli, considering what the Rangers gave up for him and how he played in the post season if a modest deal can be made than this should work out pretty good for the Rangers. Taking a look at the better catchers in the league something around 4 years 42mil seems feasible for both sides. You know his agent is going to be referencing to Victor Martinez’s 4/50 he got from Detroit. Of course, as we all know Napoli is not V-mart, but coming off a very good season/post season I can see him getting a rather large contract.