The Rangers have joined the fray for Zack Greinke, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Their interest in the free agent right-hander seems to further indicate that Josh Hamilton's time in Texas has come to an end.
The Angels are seen as the favorite to re-sign Greinke according to Heyman, but they'll have plenty of competition. The Rangers are looking for rotation help with Colby Lewis unlikely to be healthy in time for Spring Training and the trio of Scott Feldman, Ryan Dempster, and Roy Oswalt hitting free agency. A nine-figure commitment to Greinke would greatly improve their rotation while also weakening their division rival's.
Because he was traded at midseason, Greinke was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer and will not require draft pick compensation to sign. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes ranked the right-hander as the top free agent available this offseason in his Top 50 Free Agents list, predicted that the would wind up back in Anaheim.
I thought it was common knowledge that LAD, LAA, and Tex were vying for him
And of course a mystery team is all but certain to enter the fray late ala Cliff Lee
I think the mystery team is gonna win it all in 2013!
Could be that the Rangers are willing to go hard for Greinke like they did with Darvish and then hope they find enough offense to replace Hamilton’s good spells in the lineup.
They didn’t have enough offense with Hamilton. When it got time to go to the playoffs it was the Rangers offense that let them down and not the pitching. The Rangers could have had a whole staff of Greinkes and still would have got swept in the first round because of their lack of hitting.
The Rangers had one of the highest run totals in the league..it wasn’t plain hitting that was the problem, it was situational and clutch hitting that cost them. You can get a .260 guy who gets big hits when they matter and he’ll be more valueable come playoff time than a .300/45/130 guy who isn’t clutch. The Rangers need the pitching more than the big hitting numbers guys..
They had an unreal first half of the season and then slumped for the most part after that. Something happened to them. The .260 hitter is great if he is clutch in the playoffs, but it will be hard in this division to make the playoffs with .260 hitters. You need some guys who can hit well both in the regular season and in the postseason. Josh typically carries them offensively along with Beltre. They do need to replace some of their hitters, but Josh isn’t one of them. The Rangers have had the pitching to go all the way the past three seasons. The difference in 2012 was that for some reason their hitters couldn’t hit for a very prolonged period of time. This coming year all three of their returning starters should be better than last year. They will also add an All Star pitcher to that rotation in Alexi Ogando. That is good enough to go all the way again. They don’t need to go out and pay $20 million or more per season to bring in a pitcher who has only had one season with an ERA bleow 3.40.
they ran out of gas after back to back world series runs, Wash ran his starters into the ground because he refused to play the young guys and give key players Days off
Kinsler and Young struggled for much of the season. Cruz struggled off and on through a lot of the season as well. I agree about what Wash did, but some of them hit poorly well before that could be used as an excuse. The bottom line is they will sorely miss Hamilton in the lineup. Even if they pick up another mediocre bat or two it will not help get the offense to where they need to be. I hear a lot about them trading for J. Upton, but his numbers last year were only slightly better than Michael Young’s.
I have to admit, Grienke in Texas would be a good fit for both sides. Texas sure seems to know what they are doing lately. 3 yrs max for Hamilton? I was shocked they had the guts to say that, but good for them. HUGE risk to go much more than that. Letting Wilson go and bringing in Darvish. I gotta say I’m impressed.
Which Ranger official was quoted as saying that?
Reported on MLB TV – A un-named source from the USA Today said it…. No One from the Rangers has actually said it, but it is looking more and more to be the case (short contract or nothing offer).
You can’t trust un-named sources when it comes to Ranger information. Last offseason sources had the Rangers tied to several free agents and none of them were true. The Rangers don’t leak information to sources. Usually Ranger news comes out of the blue. They keep things as close to the vest as any team in sports.
I realize that. I was just replying to your question inregards to the orgin of the “3 year max for Hamilton” comment was generatted. Realizing that what was reported may or may not necessarily be the truth.
how can it be good for both sides? pitchers don’t like to go to texas.
Interesting that numerous pitchers have broken that stigma about pitching in Texas the previous 3 years.
They have the money to sign RA when his contract comes up and are in a position to win a ring right now. Sounds like a pretty good situation to me.
Rangers are making changes to the ballpark to help with the Jet Stream
JD knows what he’s doing
I still think the angels will resign greinke,I think rangers will most likely sign sanchez.
As a Ranger fan I hope the Angles overpay for him. He has only had one season with an ERA below 3.40. Let them overspend for him and hurt their budget for years to come.
I would be surprised if Greinke goes to Texas. I say that because people said this past summer that he wasn’t keen on being traded there for the playoff run, and he was supposedly very happy to land with LAA. I think Texas will make a splash in a trade, using either Olt or Andrus as bait – that’s my prediction. I also think they’ll sign Swisher, and I think they will bring back Napoli and Koji Uehara.
For about the same money as Napoli you can possibly get AJP. Not sure he would sign here, but having a true catcher is more of a pressing need than a part-time 1B/DH/C (Napoli). Just my prediction
Can you provide a source for Greinke saying he’d prefer not to be in Texas? I follow every single thing said about my team and never once heard that.
Also, Napoli will not be back.
Angels wont let him walk like they did Lackey a few years back. Although that worked out nicely.
Go get em, Rizzo
lol I think the Angels have done it more though, every year they are trying to add a big name pitcher to their staff.
Since when? CJ Wilson was the only big name pitcher they have signed through free agency.
Well they traded for Zack Greinke, in 2010 they traded for Dan Haren, also in 2009 they got Scott Kazmir from the Rays.
Those are just the pitchers they’ve got. The Angels are turning into the Yankees with the amount of money they have spent.