The Texas Rangers have picked up the 2016 option on third baseman Adrian Beltre, the team announced Monday.
The Rangers were rumored to be working on a new deal with third baseman Adrian Beltre over the weekend, and on Monday they announced they have picked up his 2016 option. That keeps the veteran third baseman in Texas until after the 2016 season.
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Texas originally signed Beltre in the 2010-11 offseason to a five-year, $80 million dollar deal, which included a vesting option for 2016 at $16 million.
GM Jon Daniels said he didn’t want the shadow of the option lurking as a distraction for the 2016 season and so they’ve done away with it by picking it up, officially keeping Beltre out of MLB free agency until after the 2016 season. A big part of the distraction Daniels was referring to, is the fact that Beltre would need 586 plate appearances for the option to automatically vest.
You could easily see that becoming an ongoing storyline as the season went along. With the Rangers trying to bounce back from an awful 2014 season, the last thing they need is that type of distraction.
It’s probably a good move for the Rangers. Beltre provides big-time veteran leadership and he had yet another excellent season last year, batting .324/.388/.492 with 19 home runs, an .879 OPS and his trademark brilliant defense at third base. The Rangers went through plenty of hitting droughts last year and many times it was only Beltre providing any kind of offense.
Beltre does turn 36 in April, that could be the only potential downside to adding another year. However, Beltre has been quoted himself as saying he hasn’t been fully healthy the whole time he’s been playing, and yet he continues to put up numbers and games. He has averaged 155 games per year, in spite of sitting out for short periods with hamstring tweaks or similar.
Now, Rangers fans can not only look forward to having one of the most consistent players in the league on the team for at least two more seasons, but also his continued attempts to avoid Elvis Andrus from removing his hat and touching his head.
It might even be longer than two years, Hard Ball Sports reports that the Rangers might still be looking at the possibility of an extension as well.
H/T Lone Star Ball
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