Rangers acquire Josh Hamilton

The Texas Rangers acquired outfielder Josh Hamilton from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations, the teams announced on Monday. 

The move represents a rocky end to Hamilton's tenure with the Angels, one that included a drug relapse and team officials outwardly looking to get out of his deal. When Hamilton was found not able to be suspended under the collective bargaining agreement by an arbitrator, the Angels should have been happy, or at least supportive towards Hamilton. 

Said Angels president John Carpino at the time: "It defies logic that Josh's reported behavior is not a violation of his drug program."

Regardless, the Angels have been looking for ways to get out of Hamilton's contract and not deal with the outfielder any more. With Hamilton on the disabled list, many Angels and baseball execs around the game believed that his career with L.A. was over even before the deal came into place.

Even after removing Hamilton from their club, the Angels are still on the hook for almost the entirety of the remaining dollars on his contract, with the Rangers paying a reported less than $7 million in the last three years of his deal. 

Hamilton had signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Angels prior to the 2013 season. 

The deal is easily classified as a bust, with Hamilton hitting just .255/.316/.426 with 31 homers and 123 runs batted in over 1,017 plate appearances in 2013 and 2014 with the club. He did not go to an All-Star game and his OPS was considered just 10 percent better than the league average. 

With the Rangers in the five years prior, Hamilton did not miss an All-Star game (going in all five seasons) and won the 2010 American League MVP award, hitting .305/.363/.549 with 142 homers and 506 runs batted in over 2,814 plate appearances. Hamilton's .912 OPS was 37 percent better than league average and 170 points better than his OPS with the Angels. 

The Rangers gave Hamilton the support he needed with his drug addiction problem and he produced. Now let's see if he can do it again. 

--Devan Fink

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