SUNDAY 10:24pm: The deal is likely to be completed Monday, Gonzalez tweets.
7:19pm: The Angels indicate that they do not expect to have any announcements today, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez tweets. That suggests that the trade won’t become official until Monday or later.
1:25pm: The trade is expected to be finalized today, tweets Sullivan. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan adds (via Twitter) the trade is now in the “I-dotting, T-crossing stage.”
SATURDAY: The Rangers are still awaiting approval on the rumored Josh Hamilton deal, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Sullivan’s source with the Rangers see no impediment to finalizing the agreement. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets, the swap is slow moving because it involves five parties – the Angels, Rangers, Hamilton, the commissioner’s office, and the players’ union.
The Rangers are expected to cover about $7MM of the roughly $82MM remaining on his contract. Since Texas has no income tax, Hamilton is reportedly willing to renegotiate the size of his contract. Per Sullivan, the club is eager to complete the trade. Hamilton is in the midst of rehab for a shoulder injury. The Rangers would like to get him out to their Arizona facility at the earliest opportunity.
Some might recall that Hamilton was “booed out of Texas,” writes Yahoo’s Tim Brown. However, he’ll be quickly forgiven if he helps the anemic Rangers offense produce some runs. Per Brown, his former teammates are looking forward to reuniting with Hamilton. Many hope that he can fall back into his old support system. That could help him focus on health and production.
The Rangers are the beneficiaries of the “arrogance” of Angels owner Arte Moreno, opines Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register. Moreno was the one who wanted to acquire Hamilton in the first place. GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia would have happily added Hamilton’s bat to the lineup, so the decision to discard him must have come from Moreno. It’s fair to wonder if Moreno should take a lighter hand in the Angels’ baseball operations.
Surprisingly, the move makes sense for all five parties involved, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers take a minimal risk on a guy who was a core component of several successful seasons. The $6MM Hamilton will forgo doesn’t devalue his deal due to the different income tax laws. The MLBPA is looking out for Hamilton’s welfare even though they’re usually against restructuring contracts. Meanwhile, the Angels and the commissioner’s office avoid a potentially embarrassing situation.
The rangers are getting such a good deal
The angels are right in the middle of an embarrassing situation. But at least they kept the commissioners office out of it.
whatever consoles your perception of Arte Moreno’s utter failure of the situation.
Josh will be comeback player of the year in Texas.
Especially since he will come back to Texas
It’s amazing what a change of uniform can do for your perception of a player.
Pretty obvious statement that applies to every player ever.
Only to certain people.
As an Angel, .665 OPS in Anaheim, .814 on the road and .916 in Arlington(small sample, that).
Great deal for the Rangers. They’re benefiting from the Angels’ desperation of really, really wanting to get rid of Hamilton at any cost. Assuming Hamilton isn’t complete toast, they should get a good amount of surplus value from him.
Agreed. If he only needs to put up 2 WAR in 3 years, the surplus should be there. And it’s not like the Rangers are getting anything from those roster spots right now.
Agreed, he only really needs to put up just over 1 WAR in 3 years with the amount the Rangers would pay, so the surplus value should be there. And it’s not like the Rangers are getting anything from that roster spot anyway.
I’m thinking that if the Angels are essentially paying his salary anyway, they’d be better off getting some use out of him. He’d have to be at least some help to the anemic lineup they’ve been running out there early in the season.
You know, that’s the thinking of someone who might hold the title of General Manager. However, this doesn’t appear to be a move associated with the GM, but rather the owner, and if an owner wants someone gone, the GM BETTER make them gone, or he, himself, might be gone.
The Angels did not avoid embarrassment.
I wonder if MLB compensated the Angels for that arbitrators decision on the condition that they trade him back to the Rangers to help them out (assuming Hamilton can turn it around). Otherwise there seems nothing much in it for the Angels except 13 million in salary relief over 3 years . Josh would only have to produce 2 WAR over 3 years to be worth that.
The angels get to cut tires with someone they damaged their relationship with. That is what they are getting out of this.
angels are cutting ties to a drug addict that broke the promise he made and who even signed on the provision in the contract.
A provision that is not allowed via the CBA.
Oh, it’s allowed, it’s just not enforceable.
That is right. Sorry, wrong wording on my part.
Wording, in this instance, is very important. It’s probably part of the reason Moreno came out so strongly against Hamilton. Enforceability is probably why Hamilton’s agent allowed the clause in his contract. And it’s probably this clause that gave the Angels owner the confidence to lay down that kind of money in the first place, not knowing it wasn’t enforceable.
Further proving how big of an idiot Moreno is.
you know, that idiot made more than $billion from scratch. the amount you won’t see even when you are dead.
He’s an idiot in the baseball sense, for sure! And he just cost himself a lot of money, and probably some fans as well!
It’s a business decision. And while he made a bad decision in this case, he has made pretty good decisions through his life. He is a billionaire after all. No need to be calling him and idiot, specially if the average mlbtr reader is not even worth $500K
What a very Republican way of looking at people. He’s worth 10 digits, so he can’t possibly be an idiot, cut him some slack. Oh, these other people aren’t worth jack financially, they’re not worth anything period. Financial worth is not, and should never be, a measure of a person’s worth, and in no way is it a measure of a person’s intellect.
FYI, I’m not a republican. But I have respect for people that earned a lot of money and I would hold off on calling them names for making a couple of bad decisions.
I’m jacked as a Ranger fan. It’s possible that Holland, Perez, and Hamilton could all return within the same month. If Hamilton is 75% of what he was here before then that is an upgrade.
I’m thinking this is the second time The Halos have eaten a huge contract. Thank you, Arte Moreno for your charitable work. The Blue Jays thank you. The Rangers thank you.
If you told Rangers fans 3 years ago that in 3 years they would get 3 years of Josh Hamilton and 7 years of Prince Fielder for a combined $145M, no one would have believed you.
I’m shocked that no one offered more than this. If Hamilton were a free agent, one would have to think that he could get much more money than a three year, $7MM deal. The Angels paying like $70MM so someone could play for a division rival seems insane to me.
Well… you are right, but this is a desperate move by the Angels. Desperate times call for desperate measures
A desperate move… only because Moreno, the “not an idiot because he’s a billionaire” owner who made it a desperate move to save a small amount of face because he doesn’t know how baseball contracts work. He badly wanted out of the Hamilton contract and he didn’t get his way. Had he known about this thing called the MLBPA and the Joint Drug Agreement, he would have known putting in specific relapse clauses weren’t enforceable.
Most expensive contract of all-time. Take original $125M, subtract $15M for Rangers part and Hamilton’s state tax discount and you have $110M for 240 games over 2 seasons (or 1.6 seasons), or $450K+ per game.
You’re behind on the news, the Rangers are reportedly only paying $7M, not $15M
What about the “state income tax” reduction?
Part of the deal, the part that involves and requires MLBPA approval, is that Josh Hamilton is agreeing to reduce his salary by the amount that he would actually pay the state of California in income tax. Teams only pay players, they don’t pay your taxes; though they might withhold them to the state on your behalf, much like traditional employment. This part of the deal only benefits the Angels, as pure salary relief.
So…. That money ALSO comes off the original $125M
What happens if the Rangers trade him to a team in a state that does have income tax?
Have to await final reworked contract details. Perhaps Angels are still responsible for that.
The exact same thing that happens when ANY player is traded. Teams aren’t responsible for paying income tax, the players are.
You missed the point. Hamilton is eating about $6M of the contract himself, because being traded to Texas means he won’t have to pay an income tax, so he’ll make that money back. If he’s moved again, he’d have to pay taxes again and he would have eaten that $6M for nothing.
Correct. But the ‘re-working’ of this contract is only acceptable to the union because of the income tax factor.
So wouldn’t that potential trade get rejected, not this one?
I’d guess there’s a full no-trade clause or maybe no-trade clause unless it’s to a team with no income tax in that area.
I would imagine they would just wait and see and if they did trade him somewhere else they’d renegotiate it appropriately at the time.
I like it.
There’s practically no reason for this. If he fails to significantly produce, who’s going to want to trade for him? And why would there really be a reason to trade him. At the cost that the Rangers are going to pay him, they wouldn’t be able to acquire a veteran outfielder that would be any better. If he does produce, why would they trade him?
both are great points. if Josh can produce, why would TX trade him away? If he doesn’t produce, no one else would give up anything for him and the Rangers would just release Josh who would then be free to negotiate a new deal somewhere else.
Any trade the Rangers make afterwards will have no bearing on this deal. Either the union approves this deal, or they don’t. They might require the Rangers, or even the Angels, to agree to a trade kicker in this unlikely event.
EDIT: My point is, the MLBPA has never gotten involved in a trade where a team in a no-tax state sends a player to a tax state.
This whole state income tax for MLB players is silly. They play games all over the US, they get traded all the time and they make way too much money to be able to find ways to avoid paying taxes. Most of players “live” in Florida for this sole purpose (see Max Scherzer). The IRS finds and prosecutes people who avoid taxes on a $30K salary but these guys make $20-$30MM a year, and because they move or use their agent’s address in FL, it’s ok. Stay classy America
A couple things you need to understand. D.C. is not a state and doesn’t have the same powers as a state. D.C. is really the equivalent of a county. Think of this tax as the SAME as New York City’s income tax; a tax payable only by those who reside inside the city. If you live right outside NYC, you don’t owe. This rule applies to EVERY MLB player, ie. only those living in D.C. pay the D.C. tax, and only those living in NYC pay the NYC tax. I assure you that Max Scherzer pays the state taxes owed on his salary.
This state income tax thing is being overstated. The only games that aren’t going to be taxed are his Rangers’ home games. When he goes to New York and plays the Yankees, he absolutely owes nonresident New York state income taxes. It’s just that half of his games are now tax free to a state instead of just the handful of games played in Texas (and the other states that are tax free)
it’s a little unrealistic for fans to expect the old MVP-type Josh to be in the lineup at age 33 when he’s been pretty mediocre at best for the last 2 1/2 years. remember, the second half of the 2012 season, he hit less than .250. But the Rangers are desperate for something to give their team a boost and this is a deal with few risks. Texas can cut him with very little financial hit if he proves to be a head case.
3 years/7m is something I’d get pretty excited about if I were a Rangers fan.
The best thing is there is little risk involved for TX.
Cheaper than Choo…
Not sure where you get your stats, but Josh Hamilton, 2nd half 2012, hit .259/.323/.510. Sure, not nearly as good as the first half of the year, but his biggest problem was actually June and July, not August and September. Either way, his 2nd half 2012 slash line are better than his slash as an Angel.
And even then, his Angels stats are better than what they’ve gotten out of LF the last 2 years.
actually, I was also counting the second half of May. He was hitting .404 on May 16th and only hit .241 after that. Keep in mind that Josh played a lot of CF for Texas. But your point about Rangers problems in the OF the last couple years are well taken. The thing is, to have kept Josh would not have been worth the salary they would have had to pay. JD way overpaid for Choo …. and so far, that has been a real disaster. I guess in hindsight they would have been a lot better off signing Cruz who has been a very good hitter at the Ballpark. I guess the Rangers were ticked off that Cruz missed so many games serving suspension for PEDs.
How odd of you to say one thing and then try to verify that by counting from a point a month and a half before it. May 16th is literally only 1 1/2 months into a 6 month season.
Daniel, if you want to be “right”…whatever. It was more than just a half season as I stated. There….you win. But the point about Josh is that after an incredible start in 2012 he has mediocre since and that there is no reason for Rangers fans to suddenly expect the MVP type of play Josh displayed his first four years, six weeks in Arlington.
Yeah, I’d say hitting .310/.368/.575 in August is pretty mediocre. And while he only hit .245 in September, his .873 OPS that month would roughly be 130 OPS+. I will reiterate his problem being June and July, ie. the middle third of the season.
June: .223/.318/.436
July: .177/.253/.354
It’s not about being “right”, although I am, it’s about understanding where the real problem was. His .943 OPS in August was higher than EVERY year except his MVP year, and his September OPS of .873 was on .009 lower than his OPS in 2011.
and from the middle of May, 2012 to the end of the year, josh hit .241.
the problem is that from May 17th through the end of the season, Hamilton went 105 for 426, which yields a batting average of .246 not .241. Also, from May 17th thru May 31st, Hamilton hit .261. You are marginalizing the 2nd half of May and the entire months of August and September in order to make his June and July impact his statistics more than necessary.
Daniel, once again you are correct and I was wrong. I missed two hits at the end of the month of May that would have raised his average for the remainder of the year to .246. But I don’t think those two hits somehow changes the fact that from May 17th to the end of the season, Josh was mediocre
dead horse…He was terrible basically from June on…
Let’s talk September. Texas had a five game lead with nine games left to play. They won only two of those games and Josh hit .256 with 0hr and 4rbi. Then in a one game playoff with Baltimore in the wild card, Josh didn’t get a hit. I will say this, JH can’t be worse than anything Texas has right now in the OF.
I am confuse about the tax problem if you move to another state why do you need to keep paying taxes to that state if you are not longer living there
In baseball, taxes are paid in the state in which you earn the money, ie. where you play each individual game. If you play 7 games in New York, you have to pay New York state taxes on 7 games worth of income. It really doesn’t matter where you live.
It does matter where you “live” see Max Scherzer
So, did you not actually read what I wrote? And saying “see Max Scherzer” doesn’t mean anything, see every single baseball player. Where did I even say anything about where the player lives? You pay the taxes for the state in which the game is played. In the case of the Washinton Nationals, which I believe is what you really mean when you say “see Max Scherzer”, Washington D.C. income tax only applies to residents of D.C. It’s kinda written that way. Nationals players play 81 games in D.C. That’s 81 games worth of taxes, ie NONE if you don’t live there. But when Scherzer goes to NY, he pays NY state tax, and when he goes to California he pays California state tax, and when he goes to Texas he pays Texas state tax, which HAPPENS to be none.
But in Max Scherzer’s case it does matter. If he “lives” in DC he pays taxes (for the games played in DC), but he decides to use a Florida address (no state tax) on his tax forms and pays no taxes on his $200M contract (for the games played in DC that is). But that is a substantial amount of tax money that was circumvent by using a different address (and renting rather than owning in DC). I am not making this up, there was an article written saying how Scherzer will be able to “save” millions of $ in tax money
Again, that has NOTHING to do with Max Scherzer nor his contract. That has to do with the tax law in D.C. This is covered by the Home Rule Act.
The District of Columbia Home Rule Act was passed on December 24, 1973. This isn’t even CLOSE to news.
the bottom line is this: Josh can’t be worse than the players the Rangers are putting into the OF right now and the investment is so low for Texas that it’s a deal that really has no terrible down side. Maybe Josh will take this total rejection of him personally that it will motivate him.
Arte Moreno proves in this situation to be a moron! He was insistent on signing Hamilton to much more than anyone else, and now his comments turned a losing financial/baseball proposition into a worse one! My interest in the Angels as a team was waning, but this about did it for me.