We’ll check in on some news coming out Arlington over the past 24 hours.
- Globe Life Field, the new ballpark slated to open in 2020, caught fire yesterday afternoon (reported with video by Anthony Andro). Fortunately, no one was injured, relays Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who notes that the blaze was quickly contained by the Arlington Fire Department. A team spokesperson confirmed to Wilson that work will continue on the facility while an investigation into the fire’s cause is underway. Globe Life Field is slated to host its first exhibition game March 23. Texas’ regular-season home opener is March 31. Whether the incident will delay completion of the facility is not yet clear.
- Texas put forth a six-year, $192MM offer to Anthony Rendon, which fell well shy of the seven-year, $245MM bid that wooed him to Anaheim. That figure, though, may not have been as high as Texas was willing to go for the superstar third baseman. The club viewed their $192MM proposal as a “starting point,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, but Rendon’s camp seemingly never reengaged with them before he signed with the Angels. Whether and to what extent the Rangers would have gone further is unclear.
- Having missed out on Rendon and seemingly not in play for Josh Donaldson, the Rangers may now pivot to the trade market to address holes on the roster, Grant further reports. Among those drawing interest from other teams are catching prospect Sam Huff and reliever Emmanuel Clase, in addition to the previously-reported José LeClerc.
- Rendon pursuit notwithstanding, the Rangers didn’t come away from San Diego empty-handed. One executive tells the Athletic’s Peter Gammons (via Twitter) that Texas’ signing of left-handed reliever Joely Rodríguez to a two-year, $5MM deal was “the most underrated move of the Winter Meetings.” Rodríguez hasn’t had much success in affiliated ball, but he thrived in Japan, working to a 1.85 ERA with a 103:28 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 87.2 innings in NPB. Interestingly, Gammons notes that Rodríguez is now reportedly sporting a 97-99 MPH fastball. In his most recent MLB action, he averaged just 94.07 MPH on his four-seamer, per Brooks Baseball.
Please, please don’t trade Huff. I haven’t been this excited about a prospect since Profar (I know). I want to see us make some moves but Jung, Huff, Crouse and Winn actually give me hope that we have some formidable pieces in the farm.
Man, I wanted to see TX land someone in this offseason. They still have some possibilities, but it seems like par for the course has been, “Texas is out on ______”.
Ask, and ye shall receive: mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/rangers-finalizing-core…
If you expect to trade for a significant upgrade to the team then one of the top 4 prospects will probably be involved.
Without question. You can’t acquire a quality piece without trading away a top-end prospect. Still, I really like the guys at the top of our prospect board and would be sad to see us part with any of them. Especially Huff. I really liked him before he had his big blow-up last year so I feel attached to seeing him be successful in a Rangers uniform now.
Well you are about to find out who you lost in the Kluber deal.
Honestly beyond fine with that deal.
So how can you trade for an impact player without giving up your beloved prospects?
Texas just did. It’ll be a tougher call if we try to make a move with Bryant or Arenado. Then we’ll get depleted I’m sure.
Yeah Rangers don’t need to be trading away any of their top guys. We’ve been rebuilding for 3 years. You can’t blow that up as soon as you get close to the finish line.
What a joke that whole Rendon thing was!
Why? They made a big opening offer and then Boras disappeared. There’s no way of knowing what Texas would’ve done next but I guarantee if Texas was willing to offer 33 mill per over 6, they wouldn’t have stopped there.
Please take Machado and/or Hosmer off our hands in SD.
hahahaha, yeah right.
Angels fans may be saying the same thing about Rendon in a couple of years. Rendon had a career year this year which was perfect timing for him.
Rendon has been a pretty good hitter for years now.
So like the Phillies to let a pitcher walk only to have him pick up 3 mph on his fastball.
Hope that fire doesn’t turn out to be a bad omen for the Rangers.
It could show where we’ll be come the end of summer. En fuego, baby!!
Maybe we bang a trash can this season, and Odor goes MVP…
The Rangers are on fire!
Don’t expect to hear this once the season begins. Seriously, a stadium is mostly seats and, maybe, a fish tank. How does this chit catch on fire?
Why would the Rangers putout an offer that was less than the 7/210 they knew he had on the table from the Nationals already? Seems that 7/210 was already the starting point for negotiations.
Because they did not understand the market or know how to negotiate.
If you break the numbers down…7 years @ 245 mil is 35 mil/year. Texas offered him 6 years @ 192 mil 32 mil/year with club option for year 7 and prob would have included option for year 8 like they did with Beltre(who played all 8 years btw) after he signed his 6 year deal. 32 mil/year in Texas a state that has no state income tax compared to 35 mil/year in California where you do pay state income tax.. add in the taxes you pay to play in away games and the taxes you pay on bonuses(Once again, tax friendly TX) he prob would have taken home A LOT more of his money signing for the 32 mil/year in Texas. Especially, when you factor in he’s going to have to purchase real estate in CA and pay taxes on that too. He already owns homes in TX. Also, they never came back and tried to negotiate further with the organization… that was the Rangers initial offer made prior to the meetings I believe. They prob would have bent on the 7 year guarantee… even though they did not want to.. and def would have thrown more money at him…but I doubt they would have given him a full no trade clause unless it was a deal breaker. Another fact, Rendons contract with the Angels is back loaded bc of Pujols contract still being on the books for 2 or 3 more years. For someone who said they didn’t want any kind of deferred money situation…I would say that is a little sketchy. The only thing I can take of why in the world he would sign with them is from what I have read Rendon is super laid back and hates the spotlight and does not want to be in the media AT ALL. Texas would have absolutely wanted him to be the face of the organization coming off a WS win and paying him $$$$ like that … sources say he knew playing w/ Trout who is already the Angels poster child, that he would never have to worry about that and would always play second fiddle to him, basically. Now he can just show up play ball and get paid like he wants. But he clearly, did not want to play for Texas. They didn’t even try to get a counter offer or bidding war started… very un-Boras like.
Backloaded is way different than having deferred money. There is no deferred money in the Rendon contract. They are paying 245 million for the seven years, this doesn’t mean they are paying 35 million each year.
A lot can happen in 7 years… and it may as well be…if you are getting the larger portion of a signing at a later date. He just seemed so against any kind of deal that wasn’t cut and dry that I was surprised he was okay with the way it’s set up was all I was getting at. But they also, said he only wanted to play ball for 5 more years and retire and then he demanded a 7 year guarantee, or Boras did. So what do we peasants really know out here? Hahaha
Umm, U read War& Peace lately?