Friday a.m. Rangers stuff

C.J. Wilson is an Angel, signing a 5 year, $77.5 million deal. And it is pretty clear, given that the Rangers 1) never made C.J. a formal offer, and 2) apparently provided C.J.'s agent with "parameters" on a deal that wasn't in the same ballpark as what Anaheim and Miami were offering, that the Rangers were never serious about bringing him back.

Based on what has been said by the local media, it is pretty clear that the Rangers didn't view C.J. Wilson as part of their "core," part of the group they wanted to build around and keep together going forward. Yeah, if the market for Wilson didn't develop, or if he were willing to take a deep discount to stay in Texas, sure, they'd have brought him back. But Wilson wasn't a priority for this team, and the front office has seemingly been prepared for over a year to move forward in 2012 without him.

5 years, $77.5 million seems like a reasonable amount to pay Wilson to stay in Texas. The Rangers felt, at that price, they'd rather see him join their chief divisional rival. I think that's a mistake. We'll see in time who was right.

Gerry Fraley has a story at the DMN behind the paywall that is headlined, "C.J. Wilson will never fit the profile of a top-ranked starter." What's interesting is the use of the word "profile," rather than performance. C.J. Wilson didn't act like most baseball players act, didn't act like a #1 starter acts, and that seemed to rub many, particularly in the media, the wrong way.

Joey Matches doesn't like how all the C.J. Wilson stuff played out.

Anthony Andro says that there are no bad guys in the Wilson saga...the Rangers stuck to what they feel is the best plan for this organization, and Wilson took less money to go be close to friends and family.

Jeff Wilson writes that the Rangers aren't changing their offseason plans based on the Angels grabbing C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols, with Jon Daniels saying that "our focus is on our own guys."

T.R. Sullivan writes that the Rangers focus will continue to be on player development rather than signing big name free agents.

Behind the paywall, Evan Grant writes that the big contracts the Angels handed out yesterday could end up helping the Rangers in the long run, if the contracts do end up becoming as onerous as Texas thinks they will.

Mac Engel writes that the Angels are following the Tom Hicks game plan.

Sullivan says that the Rangers are interested in adding a starting pitcher, but aren't interested in parting with top prospects to acquire a pitcher who would represent only an incremental improvement over the five starters currently in place.

The S-T's notes include quotes from former Ranger front office guy Scott Servais, who is now with the Angels, on the Angels' acquisitions, stuff on Yu Darvish being posted, and info on Greg Miclat, the minor league infielder who is the player to be named later in the Taylor Teagarden deal.

ESPN Dallas explains how the posting system for Japanese League players works.