Today has been a crazy day so far in the world of Major League Baseball and it looks like it will continue to be full of baseball madness.
Now just a little bit ago, the Seattle Mariners and Robinson Cano agree’d to a 10 year contract worth $240 million. You may be asking yourselves right now, ‘David, what does that have to do with the Texas Rangers and Mike Napoli?’.
Because the Mariners were thought to be serious contenders for Napoli after failing to sign him last off-season. Seattle now has Cano and may not be looking to go after the free agent first baseman. So it works out better for those teams looking to add Napoli.
Napoli was a huge piece of Boston Red Sox’s World Series run. Despite having that hip problem that was revealed after a physical, it didn’t prevent him from putting up huge numbers for Boston.
The 32 year old free agent hit 23 home runs and 92 RBI’s with a batting line of .259/.360/.482 in possibly his only season with the Red Sox. But hey, I guess one was enough, right? I mean the guy came in looking for a multi-year deal but seen it cut down to one and still won himself a ring.
What a way to get yourself some big money the following off-season.
Before heading to Boston, Napoli played the previous two seasons with the Texas Rangers. He swapped between both first base and catcher in both years before playing nothing but first base in Boston.
With Geovany Soto becoming the Rangers primary catcher and that huge blockbuster trade that got them Prince Fielder, where would they put him? Maybe it’s Texas being greedy.
They could place him in the designated hitters spot or split time with Fielder. Either way I feel like this move is very unlikely. But after the way things are going so far, I wouldn’t be surprised.
He wishes to stay with the Red Sox but has some other offers on the table according to Ken Rosenthal on Twitter.