After 14 Major League seasons, New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has decided to hang up the cleats.
According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Teixeira will announce his retirement today and will go into effect at the end of the season. The Yankees announced a 3 p.m. eastern press conference with Teixeira but did not give a reason as to why. The 36-year-old Teixeira was initially drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2001 MLB Draft. The fifth overall pick was selected out of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It didn’t take long for Teixeira to earn a big league promotion, making the team out of Spring Training in 2003 and appearing in his first game as the designated hitter on April 1, 2003. Teixeira would go on to have a very successful season, hitting 26 home runs and driving in 84 with an .811 OPS. He finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Teixeira would go on to play four-and-a-half seasons with the team that initially drafted him, posting a slash line of .283/.368/.533 while there, being named to an All-Star team and winning two Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers each. In 2007, Teixeira was traded to the Braves in a deal that got the Rangers Elivs Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He suited up for 157 games with Atlanta before being dealt to the Angels at the 2008 trade deadline. During the 2008-09 offseason, Teixeira became a free agent and cashed in. He signed an eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees, leading many to wonder if it was time for a salary cap in baseball. “At the rate the Yankees are going, I’m not sure anyone can compete with them,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told Bloomberg News in 2008. “Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap.” Teixeira went on to earn his money the very next season, hitting .292/.383/.565 with 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, both leading the American League en route to the Yankees’ World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Since, the Yankees have seen Teixeira decline, likely due to both age and injuries. He’s posted just a .239/.336/.463 slash line since 2009, averaging 23 home runs and 69 RBIs. Teixeira has battled injuries and has not played 150+ games since the 2011 season. In 2016, Teixeira is having the worst season of his career, hitting .198/.287/.340 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs over 303 plate appearances. With that in mind, it only makes sense that the impending free agent has decided to call it a career. Cover Those Bases wishes Teixeira the best of luck in retirement. —Devan Fink
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The Texas Rangers have added a big piece to their lineup on Monday, as they hope to upgrade their lineup at the designated hitter spot.
As first reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Rangers have acquired designated hitter and outfielder Carlos Beltran from the New York Yankees in exchange for minor league right-handers Dillon Tate, Eric Swanson and Nick Green. Beltran, 39, is enjoying another successful year in New York in 2016. Named to his ninth career All-Star Game, Beltran has hit .304/.344/.546 this season with 22 home runs and 64 RBI in 387 plate appearances, playing both the outfield and designated hitter. The Rangers are generally set in the outfield. Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar and Ian Desmond have done well there. However, they're struggling at designated hitter, where top prospect Joey Gallo has been recently. Rangers' designated hitters have posted a -2.3 fWAR, ranking 15th out of the 15 American League teams. Beltran is a free agent at the end of the season, finishing off a three-year, $45 million deal he signed with the Yankees during the 2013-14 offseason. Regardless, the Rangers hope that he will be able to add to their lineup in a spot that needs an upgrade in particular. In exchange for Beltran, the Yankees will get Tate, a 22-year-old starting pitcher who was the Rangers' 1st round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Tate has struggled this season, going 3-3 with a 5.12 ERA and a 55-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's still listed as the Rangers' 5th-best prospect, sporting a fastball that ranges between 92-98 MPH. --Devan Fink
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce was thought to have been a huge trade chip last season as a left-handed, power hitting outfielder that came with a year-and-a-half of team control.
Aug. 1 came and Jay Bruce was still a Red. But this season, Bruce has an even higher chance to be traded. The Reds are 34-58, sitting in last in the NL Central and are in full rebuild-mode. Bruce is a free agent at the end of the season, finishing off of a six-year, $51 million contract. And teams need him. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, six teams have already checked in on Bruce. These are the Indians, Rangers, Nationals, Orioles, Giants and Dodgers. The Blue Jays have also reportedly shown interest in Bruce. In addition, all six of these teams have been in the markets for other outfielders such as Ryan Braun, Josh Reddick and perhaps even Carlos Gonzalez. The 29-year-old Bruce was picked by the Reds in the 1st round (12th overall) in the 2005 MLB Draft and has been a staple in their lineup ever since coming up to the Major Leagues. The three-time All-Star (including 2016) is a defensive liability, however, many teams value offensive contributions, especially on the left-handed side of the plate. This season, Bruce is hitting .265/.317/.532 with 18 home runs and 64 RBI over 353 plate appearances in 86 games. Though according to FanGraphs, Bruce has only been worth 0.1 Wins Above Replacement. This is because of his defense. Bruce has an awful -20.6 ultimate zone rating per 150 games (UZR/150), meaning that he would be almost 21 runs worse than the average right fielder in terms of range and making defensive plays. Over his career, Bruce has always been an offense-first player, carrying a .249/.319/.467 line with 226 home runs and 644 RBI in parts of nine seasons. His career wRC+ of 107 suggests that he has been seven percent better offensively than the league-average hitter. This year, his wRC+ is 118. As the Aug. 1 trade deadline quickly approaches, it's more than likely Jay Bruce will find himself in a new home. --Devan Fink
The Texas Rangers agreed to sign 1st round pick Cole Ragans to a slot value deal, a source told Cover Those Bases on Tuesday.
Ragans, the No. 30 selection in the 2016 MLB Draft, will make $2,003,400, the suggested slot value for the pick, the source said. The 18-year-old is a left-handed pitcher out of North Florida Christian High School (FL). The Rangers have one of the smallest bonus pools in the Majors this year. At $5,358,500, the team has the fourth-lowest pool, making it tough on them to sign some of the better draft picks out there. Just the Giants, Royals, and Cubs have smaller pools. Ragans was rated as the 57th-best draft prospect on Cover Those Bases' draft prospect rankings from Zack Silverman. Nevertheless, the scouting report on Ragans from MLB.com is promising. "Ragans looks and throws like a future big league starter...All of his offerings are a tick above-average, starting with a fastball he throws 89-93 mph with some angle and outstanding command. His curve is Major League average to a tick above and his changeup could be plus when all is said and done. Still growing into his body, there could be more in the tank." The Rangers are expected to announce the signing of Ragans, as well as some other draft picks, at some point on Tuesday. --Devan Fink
Texas Rangers' third baseman Adrian Beltre might have just turned 37 last week, but he plays like he just turned 27.
So, despite his age, the Rangers made it a priority to keep him in Arlington, with 2016 being his last season on his current six-year, $96 million deal signed with the club in the 2010-2011 offseason. And on Friday, the two sides agreed to a two-year, $36 million contract extension, as T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported. Beltre, who has been with the Rangers since 2011, which is the second-longest amount of time he has been with any club, has a .309/.358/.515 slash line since joining Texas, good for a 133 OPS+. In this timeframe, Beltre has the second-highest OPS of any third baseman in baseball. The only player he is behind, Miguel Cabrera, has not played third base regularly since 2013. Now, Beltre will get to finish up his career with the Rangers, the team he may end up going into the Baseball Hall of Fame with. Once this reported deal concludes, he'll have spent more time with the Rangers than anyone else. Rangers' general manager Jon Daniels and Beltre both expressed sentiments during Spring Training about the possibility and the desire to complete a new deal. Beltre did say, however, that he was not willing to negotiate an extension in-season, but would be willing to look if an offer was put on the table. In 2015, Beltre hit .287/.334/.453 with 18 home runs and 83 RBIs in 619 plate apperanaces, posting a 110 OPS+ and a 4.6 FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement. So far in 2016, he has a .310/.370/.571 line in 46 plate appearances. --Devan Fink |
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