Wednesday Morning Rangers Notes: Josh Hamilton Wins The AL MVP
Josh Hamilton follows through on his homer in Game 3 of the World Series on Oct. 30th.Now that I've magically shifted the post date/time all the way forward into Wednesday (I'll stop doing this soon enough), a couple of miscellaneous things: (a) Derek Jeter has been smacked down by Brian Cashman, (b) nobody really knows anything, and (c) if you're interested in helping support BBTiA and don't read The Clubhouse, well, I'll direct you here, and that's the last I'm going to say about that:
● As expected, Josh Hamilton snagged the American League Most Valuable Player Award on Tuesday afternoon, snagging 22 of 28 first-place votes against five for Miguel Cabrera (who finished second) and one for Jose Bautista (who finished fourth); interestingly, Vladimir Guerrero amassed enough down-ballot votes to finish 11th among the 20 players who received at least one 10th-place vote, beating out the likes of the Rays' Rafael Soriano and the Yankees' CC Sabathia (BBWAA.com)
[I'm honestly beginning to lose interest in the post-season awards carousel nd all of its associated manufactured controversy, but there's little of that to be found here -- Hamilton was an eight-win monster, and players who enjoy seasons of his caliber and play a material role in propelling their team to the World Series end up as virtual locks. A well-deserved award for somebody who should at least be a four- to five-win player over the next two seasons, and could possibly be more of a six- to seven-win player ... if he remains healthy. And what a huge "if" that will always be.]
● The Detroit Tigers have reportedly signed free-agent catcher Victor Martinez to a four-year, $50 million deal, overpowering confirmed bidders Boston, Chicago (A.L.) and Baltimore in the battle to secure his services (Ken Rosenthal, FOXSports.com)
[I can't say definitively that this is above and beyond what I would have been willing to pay, because I'm still internally debating it -- years one and two aren't terribly risky, but years three and four might be. If a full-time move to first base/designated hitter is necessary say, two years into this deal, his value is sapped by a factor of 15-20 runs relative to where it is right now. That's the difference between being All-Star quality and being league average with the lumber. Of course, I may be talking myself into disliking the deal solely because it's not the Rangers that issued it, and there's a decent chance this pays off well enough for Detroit -- and an equally decent chance that they come to regret it.]
● Texas has hired Thad Bosley as the successor to Clint Hurdle, who vacated his spot as the Rangers' hitting coach in order to pursue a managerial gig in Pittsburgh (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)
[You probably want to know what this means approach-wise, and, frankly, I don't know. We could look at team runs scored or wOBA or walk-to-strikeout ratios or some such during his stint as the Athletics' hitting coach from 1999-2003, but wouldn't those numbers be more reflective of the talent he was given to work with than his coaching prowess? Probably. The only three things I have to say about this are that (a) if Texas deemed Bosley worth hiring, then it was an organizational decision and not merely a concession to Ron Washington, who's been close to Bosley for more than two decades, (b) this section from Moneyball featuring Bosley is worth re-reading, and (c) damn, this song is funky.]
● The Rangers have formally offered salary arbitration to two of their four Type 'A' free agents (Cliff Lee and Frank Francisco), but refrained from doing so with Bengie Molina and Vladimir Guerrero; should Lee and/or Francisco reject their respective offers in the allowed time frame (up until November 30th), Texas would net two compensatory first-round draft picks in the 2011 amateur draft for each player (T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com)
[I've already written a post over in The Clubhouse that goes into a bit more detail on these happenings, but the two most interesting issues here are Francisco and Guerrero -- according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Rangers expect Francisco to accept his offer, thereby locking in a one-year deal at around $4 million or so. That could conceivably enable a jump for Neftali Feliz to the starting rotation, although this idea becomes decidedly more plausible if Cliff Lee doesn't re-sign with Texas and the Rangers find their rotation options running short. Guerrero, of course, would have banked at least $8-9 million if he had been offered arbitration, and as I've argued already at some length, he may not constitute a smart buy at even $4-5 million, let alone high seven-figure territory. And there's that. Stay tuned.]
Analysis, Hot Stove Season, The Off-Season
Reader Comments (32)
Any opinions on Bosley? I don't know anything about him.
http://tinyurl.com/2ag2uhm
I know he was the A's hitting coach during what seemed to be the height of the "OBP is king" era. His teams seemingly always had a 90+ spread between BA and OBP.
Is not landing V-Mart considered failure #1 for this off-season?
Is not landing V-Mart considered failure #1 for this off-seaso
Not at a four-year, $50 million price point it's not.
Bosley's hiring is a Washington choice in deference to his success this past season. I don't have a good feeling about this but it could just be bad pizza. How cool would it be if he brought pitch selection and Base on ball to free swinging Rangers. My tea leaves are not giving me a "buy" notice. If the Angels owner is really upset enough to spend whatever it takes and has had a payroll of $110 mil and Oakland is 'Lights out' in pitching then I'm thinking slide for Rangers in '11.
1st of all WAY TO GO HAMMY! An awesome award for an awesome player. Well deserved!
If whoever votes on Executive of the Year didn't have their head up their butt, the Rangers would have had the triple crown. It's a shame JD didn't win. And although he could probably give a rats behind, he deserved it and should've won... and that's NOT a biased opinion.
Regarding VMart; why is $12m a year for 4 years so absurd? What $$ would make sense to you?
You have a 31 yr old guy that knows how to hit, will play some catcher and maybe 1B, and will spend his age 33+ seasons as your primary DH. Color me stupid but that $$ sounds about right.
Is it the years or the $$ amount... or both? Would you react negatively if it were 3 yrs $36M?
How much is Crawford realistically looking to bank; 6 years $110M? Is he worth $18M per year? Probably not... but what $16.5M per year? Offer him 6 yr $99M and see if it sticks. When you factor in cost of living, state income tax, etc... that's equivalent to Boston or NY offering 6 yrs $110M.
I really hope Lee isn't holding up the Rangers from being active in free agency. There's maybe 6 or 7 guys left that would provide a significant improvement (to the roster).. but they're not going to be around forever.
Just a minor detail, but Hamilton received 22 or 28, not 20 of 28. Probably just a typo. Just giving you the heads up though, not criticizing.
22 of** 28 (I went ahead and made a typo myself dangit)
Detroit is spending ze money.
Detroit always seems to be offering the money to hitters. I'm kinda partial to pitchers myself.
Congrats to Hamilton. I have to admit I'm a little surprised he got it spending since he was hurt much of the season. But when he was in and healthy - wow.
Berkman.
He fits the team's needs more than any other FA who is within our price range.
Do it.
I am estatic for Hamilton. He was superb when the season was in the balance in midseason. And the Yankees feared him enough to walk him almost every time.
Let's do it again, Josh!
Wash wanted Bosley last off season but RW had the Big Untold Truth hanging around his neck so he had no leverage. After this season Wash has a new contract and enough go juice to get his man in Bosley. Call it concession or call it deference, it still comes out that Wash has the juice he did not have last off season. It remains to be seen if continuity means anything in coaches. Clint did better than Rudy. Now, we'll see if Thad does better than Clint or Rudy.
Vlad is history...somebody will give him too much money over multiple yrs. I'm starting to get concerned about how they are going to fill that void. Of course, the void was there anyway over the 2nd half of the season when Vlad quit hitting, so maybe I just need to chill. It's just that the roster has an abundance of left-handed hitting, and Vlad balanced it out, especially when Cruz and Kins missed so much time. The scouts probably have somebody in their cross hairs already that might surprise us, but will turn out to be the perfect dude for the role.
Is it the years or the $$ amount... or both? Would you react negatively if it were 3 yrs $36M?
Again, I can't say definitively how I would feel about that if the Rangers had been the team to submit that offer, but I think I feel a lot better about one less year on the back end of that deal. I'd probably do 3/$36M and swallow hard knowing that Year 3 might be pretty underwhelming from a value standpoint.
It seems there's a similarity between this and the Lee talk, actually -- in both cases, that extra year on the back end of the deal is a bigger sticking point than the average annual value.
Now the issue is what do we do at the catcher's position. We need to find a good young (20's) guy who is good defensively and offers some pop in his bat. We seem to be too comfortable with Molina, Treanor, Teagarden, Ramirez.......?? Find a good young guy (Washington Nationals have a couple we should look at) and keep either Molina or Treanor as the backup and mentor to the guy.
Who puts Hamilton 4th on their ballot? I understand some not voting him number 1 if they felt the month out was a big deal but if you put 3 guys ahead of Hamilton, you're the same kind of idiot that gave Jeter a gold glove. Oh well...The right guy won!
With all the stupid FA money flowing I think Ranger needs will have to be solved internally or via trade.
I figure that after Lee gets 7 years and signs with the (damn) Yankees the Rangers should start working on second pitches with feliz and stretch him out.
At C they will have to go the trade route. A Treanor resign combined with Teagarten is possible, but not very desirable. BTW,I viewed V-mart as a primary DH backup C so the problem of everyday C would not have been solved by paying stupid money for V-Mart anyway.
When it is time to draft there are typically some high value guys that fall quite a bit due to their crazy baonus money demands. I think this would be a good place for the Rangers to spend a little stupid money.
Mlbtraderumors has the rangers linked to paul konerko... what do you guys think?
@jon - good point on the draft... maybe a couple of studs drop into our laps due to signing demands, who knows!
Regarding the 2011 catcher spot; would it be so horrible if we re-signed Molina and Treanor and used the same platoon that sent us to the WS? It's not ideal, I know... but there are few options out there.
The Rangers need not be stupid about who they choose to go after in FA... but Crawford makes alot of sense, he's still reasonably young, and I cannot imagine him getting more than $17M or $18M a year. Take a shot and see if it sticks. If he signs elsewhere, so be it... but at least make him an offer.
After that, go hard after Greinke and see if you can find an upgrade at catcher.
@Garrett - Konerko would be nice but how much $$ does he want? Moreland may be the solution at 1B and there are more pressing needs. I like the idea of adding Konerko but only if it makes $$$ sense.
Konerko is probably better for the next couple of years than Moreland is going to be. But I don't think that the added offense Konerko would bring is enough to pay through the nose for him (both in prospects and in salary.
I say give Moreland a chance. He has hit like a star since he was drafted. Let him see if he can keep on improving in 2011 in the majors.
Yes, the catcher position is a mess. But I think that is the ONLY hole that Texas has on the roster (with the possible exception of SP ace if we can't resign Lee). I say offer Lee 85% of NYY's money and let him decide on those even offers (tax rates and cost of living would negate the higher NY offer at or near that point and give Texas a slight edge in all likelyhood). Lee might not value being an hour or two from his Arkansas home over the media nightmare of being in NY. But give him that great offer and let him make his choice. It is worth a try because this team is close to being back in the running for a WS run next year and I don't think Texas has an ace-ready pitcher in the system now.
@Garrett - I went back and looked at Konerko's stats... and while I knew he was an all star caliber slugger last year, I didn't realize how CONSISTANTLY he's been one. Put him in the Ballpark, he might hit 45 HRs.
He's a career .280 hitter that doesn't strike out too much, bats right handed, is willing to talk a walk and stays relatively healthy (avg 141 games per year for the last 12 years).
The million dollar question is a truly million dollar question; what's he worth. He made $12M last year. Being 34, he's probably looking at nothing less than 4 years. Offer him a modest $2M per year raise (to $14M) and throw a 4 yr/$56M get it done... I would think so.
VMart's getting 4yr/$50m from the Tigers... and he plays a premium position... but he doesn't put up Konerko numbers.
Maybe $14M per is too much... but this guy may be worth it.
@Spanky - (re: Lee) I'm with you on factoring in cost of living, state income tax, etc... but if we use the rumor going around that the Yankees are going to submit a 6yr/$140M offer, you'd offer him $21M, or $3.5M per year, less than NY. That's alot of money to leave on the table. The guy has to feed his kids. How do you expect him to do that on only $20M a year?
I feel like the Rangers need to poop or get off the pot. Make him your best offer and if he doesn't take it, move on. From what I've read, he's going to drag this thing out a while.. and with each passing day the Rangers miss out on other FAs.
Offer Lee 5yrs/$110M and be done with it. We can't compete with the big boys and saddling this team with anything more ($) could cripple us.
Maybe, just maybe, Lee is somwhat taken by the great clubhouse, great GM, likeable manager and pitching coach, potential of winning year in/year out, and the close(r) proximity to his home and family. I have a bad feeling the top bid will secure his services, regardless of perks.
I know this is a baseball website... and the following comments are indirectly tied to baseball (Chan Ho Park, Obama and the White Sox).... but I have to voice my opinion on something; what are we doing about North Korea? When is enough enough? Diplomacy won't work. Sanctions won't work. The bully responds to being bullied and we need to do something to protect not only the South Koreans and our 30,000 troops, but also ourselves. It's only a matter of time before N. Korea threatens to fire nukes at us... and then what, do we play the same game that's going on now? No! We have to punch them back NOW!
I'm not going to bash Obama on here because it's only going to stir things up... but if there was ever a time to have a strong, confident President, now is it.
BTW - I'm pretty sure Jamey sent out a report saying AJ Pierzensky was not offered arbitration, which I find amazing since his 2010 salary was a very reasonable $7M. You add him and Konerko and you've instantly upgraded your roster.
Hey pabloesque, should be interesting time for the rangers these next two weeks... Hope c lee's negotiations arent holding up our chances with other FA
A-yep, and this is why it was not a great deal for DET. We shall see if it is a good deal in 4 years.
"Multiple Red Sox sources tell Alex Speier of WEEI.com that they doubt Victor Martinez will remain a viable catcher for more than two seasons."
So most of you probable have much more info than me on this - but isn't there still an issue with Crawford in his willingness (or lack thereof...) to play in center? Would he still be worth the big money even if he doesn't give us an everyday centerfielder?
Vladdy wins Edgar Martinez DH of the Year: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/11/24/vladimir.guerroro.dh.ap/index.html
Someone is going to give him a 2 yr deal... and I wouldn't be suprised to see an offensively challenged team like the A's do it. How about 2 yrs /$16M?
@Alamo - I think you're correct in that Crawford doesn't want to play CF... but money can make a guy do funny things.
Joey -
Even with the payroll expanding, aren't the Rangers a little handcuffed until Lee decides what he wants to do? Lee + all the arbitration raises probably takes us close to $90 million? Too lazy to dig around myself.
I'd take a look at A.J. for the catching position with Benjie as the backup. Washington Nationals have a couple of young catchers in their system worth looking at as do the Cubs. At least Molina shows flashes of offense whereas Treanor doesn't.......forget Teagarden. I don't know if I would spend the money on Crawford.......our OF of Hamilton, Cruz, Borbon, and Murph isn't the worst in the world by any means. And if Crawford does not want to play CF then I certainly would not mess with him. No to Konerko at 1B...Moreland will be fine, become more settled in, still have Davis in the background unless we trade him. Start putting something together for Greinke!
A.J. seems like a A- -hole and might be bad for morale, but how many available catchers provide an upgrade?
Konerko for 1B/DH is way too much money for a low priority need, but he does bat right handed.
Dunn for 3 years at DH won't work unless you have plans to unload Young. I know I don't want to see Michael at 3B for 3 more seasons. If Young is DH and utility infielder starting in 2012, then get Vlad at 8 or 9 million for one more ride. Everyone was on Vlad's butt late in the season but he was the MAN when Kinsler and Cruz missed so much time!
I'm afraid that if the Rangers wait on LEE's decision then everything else collapses around them and many good players will have already been taken...we'll see what kind of magic JD can pull out of Ryan's cap.