Texas Rangers rumors: Elvis Andrus will opt out, says Jeff Passan

Texas Rangers rumors: Elvis Andrus is currently in the third year of an 8 year, $120 million contract extension he signed after the 2012 season. That deal seemed reasonable at the time (to me, at least), looked problematic a couple of years ago, and now, with Elvis’s offense blossoming, looks pretty good again.

However, Elvis has the right to opt out of the deal after both the 2018 season and after the 2019 season, and Jeff Passan says he will opt out in one of those two years “barring an absolute collapse.”

Its worth noting that Passan appears to be speculating/predicting versus reporting this as fact, but he is likely right. Passan says that “[g]ood major league shortstops are $20 million a year players,” and it seems likely that Elvis would get a raise from the $15 million per year he is guaranteed, as well as another year or two on the back end of the deal.

I’ve suggested before that I think the Rangers could explore renegotiating Elvis’s deal this offseason, buying out the opt-outs now and assuring them of having Elvis locked in beyond 2018. He’s taken his place alongside Adrian Beltre as one of the key cogs in the Rangers clubhouse, and I suspect is being looked to as the person to assume the team leadership mantle Beltre currently wears once Beltre retires. The Rangers also don’t have anyone in the farm system who looks ready to be a major league shortstop in 2019 (unless you count Jurickson Profar, who will be a free agent after the 2019 season anyway).

A lot could happen between now and the end of next season, but this is something worth keeping an eye on. The Rangers have a very good core of young position players who are coming up, and it would be nice to know that they can keep Elvis — who is still just 28 years old — around for a while as well.