For 15M: CJ, Hamilton, other, status quo

by rooster on Nov 24, 2011 8:22 AM CST

If the payroll target is 110-120M, the Rangers have 10-15M to play with and I see no way they sign CJ. Unless... a payroll move is made. The simplest way to clear payroll is to trade Hamilton. The right way is to trade FACE for full salary relief, but that's not possible. Slightly more possible could be trading part of Feldman's contract. The simplest way is to trade Hamilton. The simplist way to ensure enough resources to keep CJ is to trade Hamilton, whose contract is entirely tradeable with a prospect coming back to boot.

So, the poll below looks for your opinion on a few options under the constraint of 10-15M to play with this offseason:
Trade Hamilton to clear room to sign CJ (no other FA signings)
Trade Hamilton to clear room to sign a different big-name, long-term FA (no CJ signing)
Wait to see if Yu will post and the Rangers win the post, then look to trade Hamilton (no CJ)
Status quo: Don't trade Hamilton, and don't sign CJ or any big-name, multi-year FA

My feeling is that you want to wait for Yu, and I would trade Hamilton to get Yu. If the 110-120M assumption is wrong and the Rangers can have both, then great. Aside from that, I think the stability of this team is pitching and defense, and elevating the pitching staff needs a higher priority than keeping Hamilton.

Poll

Which following approach do you prefer to keep the payroll to $110-120M?

Status Quo: (no CJ or any other big-name, mult-year FA)

10 votes

Trade Hamilton to clear room to sign CJ

0 votes

Status Quo + extend Hamilton

8 votes

Trade Hamilton, sign someone other than CJ (specify who below)

2 votes

If the Rangers win Yu posting, then trade Hamilton

1 votes

I believe Yu's contract will be less than 10M on this year's payroll, and FO does not count the posting fee, so win Yu and keep Hamilton with a $115M payroll.

19 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Frankly, I don't see how the Rangers can trade Hamilton

there is no one to replace him unless you want to roll with a Cruz / Murphy / Martin / Borbon / Chavez type alignment out there.

I also don’t think CJ will be back, but if the Rangers really wanted him back, they’d find a way to squeeze him in in spite of the purported limits.

I voted the Yu option though. I think that if Yu were available, they’d make a real stab at it as one of those special case deals. This team has money if Nolan is convinced it is a good idea to spend it (or call up his rich co-owners and ask for some extra). I don’t think CJ really inspires that confidence in Nolan, but for all I know Darvish does.

Go Rice Owls!
Would be a Matt Harrison fan, but I only like superstars

by JBImaknee on Nov 24, 2011 8:29 AM CST reply actions

I think we also have to adjust our payroll expectations

With the new caps on draft and LA spending theres probably 5-10 million extra the Rangers had originally budgetted to those areas that can now be put toward the ML payroll

by bigsteve on Nov 24, 2011 9:35 AM CST reply actions

If the Rangers have 15M, why couldn't they sign CJ?

Let’s say he agrees to 5/85

You just start the first year or two lower.

12: $13M, 13: $16M 14: $18M 15: $19M 16: $19M

"The Rangers system just happens to be stupid with depth." - Jason Parks, 7/14/11
2011-07-25 17:44:05 - benjihana: Ahh my backdoor!!!
"It appears I made a mistake. I did not know what pegged meant" - Schultzy, 11/13/11

by vfn on Nov 24, 2011 1:49 PM CST reply actions

Two reasons

He won’t sign for that.

The Rangers don’t think he’s worth it.

Ever been in a boardroom, or a gang fight? Ever save a life? Ever won a court case against the odds? Ever held a dying buddy in your arms?.- jackanape on "perspective," 11/8/2010.

"do you a jet ski rental place would work here" - Mike E, 5/10/2011, in response to me saying I would rather face the Thunder than the Grizzlies in the WCF.

by Aqua on Nov 24, 2011 3:25 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

Because that blows their entire payroll flexibility, if you believe they're in the 110-120M range.

Emily Jones: Adrian Beltre's pretty good?
Mike Napoli: Wow. How about that guy.

by rooster on Nov 25, 2011 6:06 AM CST up reply actions

It would also depend on how many holes the team wants to fill

Or even sees as holes. On top of that, provided they could move part of Feldman’s contract, they could clear some room that way, if they feel Uehara is a lost cause (I don’t, but the FO might), they could get some there, or Yorvit, if they’d rather bring in a different backup catcher. That’s not even touching possibly deferring some of the current contracts on hand.

by vfn on Nov 25, 2011 4:16 PM CST up reply actions

I don't like any of those options

The window is still wide open, and Hamilton can be such an incredible hitter I don’t think I’d trade him, even though on some level it makes sense. I’d rather have them sign Wilson. They can structure the contract in such a way that they can afford it.

Darvish — too many miles on a young arm; too much uncertainty.

613photo

by Black Francis on Nov 24, 2011 3:28 PM CST reply actions

One thought I keep coming back to is Price and Cruz.

I think the Rangers have additional pieces that match up with the rays well. They have either additional young MLers in Harrison and Moreland or high upside prospects on the mound and up the middle. They lack a really enticing 1B option. Other than that, I think the Rays could find a good match.

The Reds appear to be a really good fit for the Rays, now that they’ve dangled Yonder.

Emily Jones: Adrian Beltre's pretty good?
Mike Napoli: Wow. How about that guy.

by rooster on Nov 25, 2011 6:05 AM CST up reply actions

Why are the Rays selling?

They have the same belief that they can win now that we do. Why are they trading their best pitcher?

Ever been in a boardroom, or a gang fight? Ever save a life? Ever won a court case against the odds? Ever held a dying buddy in your arms?.- jackanape on "perspective," 11/8/2010.

"do you a jet ski rental place would work here" - Mike E, 5/10/2011, in response to me saying I would rather face the Thunder than the Grizzlies in the WCF.

by Aqua on Nov 25, 2011 5:46 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

The thought is that he's about to get expensive

You combine that with the owner bitching about the fans not coming and how he’s losing money, and… I don’t think it will happen, yet I wouldn’t be incredibly surprised if it did.

by vfn on Nov 26, 2011 6:06 AM CST up reply actions

Only reason is that they, along with the A's, are the two most revenue constrained clubs.

Under the new CBA, it might be that they have more to dump into their payroll with bot the requirement to spend all of the luxury tax on payroll and the caps on amateur spending.

The only other reason would be to obtain controllable years of impact players. The Rangers don’t align all that well on that front, unless the Rays just simply want Profar, Olt, and Perez.

Emily Jones: Adrian Beltre's pretty good?
Mike Napoli: Wow. How about that guy.

by rooster on Nov 26, 2011 9:22 AM CST up reply actions

trading a guy like Price doesn't signal "selling"

They have a top young pitching prospect who is ML ready and can step into Price’s slot in the rotation (not duplicate his performance but its like us and the CJ/Neffy situation)

Price is going to get expensive real quick. 4 years of arb are going to add up and he will cost more than Shields likely starting next year

Hes been the guy I have had as a dark horse for the Rangers to trade for. With moving Neffy to the rotation I dont know if it’ll happen anymore but it could. It would likely depend on how the rays view Ogando. if they believe he could be a starter long term I could see him being the “ML headliner” in a deal given that he has 5 years of team control left and likely wont be a Super 2 after next year so he would be a minimum salary guy for 2 more years.

it would be expensive there is no doubt but given the amount of control and the likely pieces going that way I think I could deal with it.

by bigsteve on Nov 26, 2011 9:34 AM CST up reply actions