Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports took a close look at Rangers third base coach Tony Beasley’s battle with cancer last year. It’s an interesting read that highlights Beasley’s remarkable attitude and his relationship with the club even while undergoing treatment.
Here’s more from the AL West:
- The Rangers “would love” to find accord with righty Yu Darvish on a new contract, owner Ray Davis told reporters including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (links to Twitter). Davis did note, though, that the club is already at record spending levels and wants to stay beneath the luxury tax line. That doesn’t appear to be a significant limiting factor at this point, and certainly the owner didn’t delve into many details, but it seems as if Texas will have its limits in contract talks with the staff ace.
- Meanwhile, the Rangers are keeping an eye on late-inning righty Sam Dyson, who is dealing with a slight wrist injury. As Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports on Twitter, Dyson suffered a sprain upon falling, though it doesn’t seem as if it’s a major issue. The reliever has already begun throwing.
- Astros righty Will Harris left his appearance today upon experiencing groin discomfort, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets. But the issue isn’t believed to be a serious one, with Harris expressing a lack of concern. Harris, 32, inked a two-year deal over the winter that could prove to be quite a bargain for the club if he can maintain anything approaching his excellent 2016 effort.
- Mariners righty Tony Zych will take the bump today for the first time this spring, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. Zych will be looking to reestablish himself after an injury-plagued 2016 season in which he struggled with control when he was healthy. He’s working back from a shoulder procedure, and seems unlikely to be ready by Opening Day, but could give the M’s another live arm if he can get back to full health.
Not sure what an extension has to do with the Rangers staying under the luxury tax. The extension wold go beyond this year and after all of the one year deals handed out they have plenty of room next year for Yu. They are around 165M now and with the luxyry tax being what, 196M next year? Shouldn’t think that would be a problem.
$167MM right now, $114MM already on the books for next year.. Darvish, Lucroy, Gomez, Napoli, and Cashner are going to be needed to replaced or resigned plus arb raises and extensions (Odor) that $80MM could disappear really quickly
True, although Lucroy is the only one besides Darvish I’d spend significant money on from that group, not counting an Odor extension.
One advantage is he’s already on payroll making $11M, so if he signs for an AAV around $25-28M, then they need to find an additional $14-17M. Even better, if they can sign him to an extension, and not a new contract, which happens if he declares free agency first, then the prior contract gets factored in, lowering the AAV even further as it relates to the Luxury Tax. Re-signing Darvish should not be an issue for the Rangers, assuming he wants to stay, or just test free agency.
That $114M is not including the 9M Rangers get back from Prince’s insurance. Plus the probable buyout of Napoli’s contract. So that right there saves you 18.5M. I’ll give you the arb raises but there’s ways to work it out.
Even with the luxury tax threshold going up, most of the owners are still wary of approaching it. If the Rangers re-sign or extend Darvish, they’ll want to make sure they have enough room under the threshold to re-sign or extend Lucroy, sign a 1B if Gallo doesn’t pan out after Napoli leaves, take on $$ in a trade for a playoff run, etc.
I’m *guessing* that darvish will get anywhere from 5-7 years for 150-185M. Honestly, I think that’s pretty reasonable given his ability and the market for starting pitchers these days.
Darvish imo is in the top 5 SP’s
Kershaw
Scherzer
Arrieta
Sale
Syndergaard
my top 5^^^^
I’d take Bum and Kluber over Arrieta and Sale but good list. I’m a Rangers fan and even I don’t think Darvish is top 5. Borderline top 10 though when healthy. He’ll get paid from someone but did read somewhere that he would like to stay with the Rangers.
He has to say he wants to be a ranger to put pressure on gm. The guy is on the other side of the world from where he lives. He is here to make money
>Astros fan
I could actually see the Cardinals becoming potential trade candidates if the Rangers are selling by the break.
Doubtful. Our division isn’t as lopsided as yours with one team like the Cubs dominating everybody else.
Yea honestly can’t see them selling, AL West is going to be tight, Mariners are still a little behind the Rangers and the Astros slightly behind the M’s, probably leading to a lot of canibilization in the division
Im really hoping that Yu makes it to free agency! That way if the Astros cant afford him (Likely) at least the Rangers are going to have to pay top dollar to resign him. Yu is an elite arm when healthy and I dont want him in the AL West if he’s not on the Astros. Come on Yanks/Cubs/Dodgers!!!
Stros haven’t landed a top tier free agent in over a decade. Should change these coming years
I sure hope so. Stros are not my team but they have a couple of my favorite players in baseball. That team is a lot of fun to watch and I hope they bring in whatever pieces they need.
I’ll be shocked if Darvish isn’t a Yankee next year (assuming he stays healthy). Yanks have currently have all 5 rotation spots blank for the 2018 season, they’ll have close to 100 million coming off the books with no position players they’ll need to spend it on, and Darvish has great numbers vs the AL East.
Talent wise, yes, although I’d rate him short of that overall because of quantity. He’s only once eclipsed 200 innings. This will be an important year to show he can deliver they quality AND the quantity.