Tag Archives: Josh Hamilton

The Curse of the Extension

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Since Jon Daniels has been in charge of the Rangers they have sought to sign younger players to long-term extensions early on in their careers in order to be able to control costs. It also eliminates the possibility of having to go to arbitration with a player. That is certainly a positive, but of late it seems that of late there has been a curse on the team and the players who have signed those extensions. In Jon Daniel’s tenure there has been 5 high profile players sign extensions with the team: Ian Kinsler, Derek Holland, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, and Martin Perez. As you can tell from that list only one of those players is on the current active roster right now.

That is Elvis Andrus. Prior to last season he signed a 8 year and 120 million dollar contract extension. That contract made him one of the highest paid shortstops in the game. He had certainly earned it due to his improved work at the plate and his gold-glove level defense he plays at short. Fortunately for the Rangers he has not gotten hurt, but he has underperformed his contract at times. Last season for example in the first half he hit just .242 and this season he started off so slow that the Rangers had to drop him down to the number 9 spot. Defensively he has been a rock and rarely lets the offense keep him from performing in the field. It is his lack of hitting at times that hurts the team though, especially when he is being counted on to be on base.

The first position player to sign an extension though was Ian Kinsler and as all of us know he is no longer on the team. The Rangers gave him a 5 year/75 million dollar extension prior to the 2012 season. He had just come of a 30/30 season, it was the second of his career. At the time it was thought that he would be here for many years and hopefully the rest of his career, but as we know now it was not quite meant to be. The team ending up collapsing in September losing a 5 game lead with 7 games remaining.  Josh Hamilton left after the 2012 season as well as Michael Young, and in 2013 Ian Kinsler was called upon to be the leader of the team. The Rangers signed him to that extension to play well, but also with the expectation that after being around Michael Young for so long he would be able to pick up and carry that torch that Young had held onto for so long. Kinsler did not want that responsibility. He was quoted in an interview this Spring saying,

“They wanted me to lead these young players, teach them the way to compete, when the only thing I should be worried about is how I’m performing in the game”.

That is not the kind of attitude the team wanted and so after refusing to move to first to make room for Jurickson Profar the team dealt him this past winter to Detroit for Prince Fielder.

The first pitcher to sign an extension was Derek Holland. He signed a 5 year/ 28.5 million dollar extension in March of 2012. He had earned his extension too as he went 16-5 with a 3.95 ERA, and 198 innings pitched in 2011. He also had that unforgettable game 4 World Series start where he shut down the St. Louis Cardinals with 8 1/3 shutout innings and only 2 hits allowed as he helped the Rangers tie up the series. Since then, he has failed to build on the success of that season. It was thought he would continue developing into a number one starter, but in 2012 he went 12-7, but with a 4.67 ERA, and allowed 32 home runs. Then, in 2013 he went 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA. Over the off-season though after chasing his dog up the steps of his home he tore cartilage in his knee and had to have microfracture surgery. He is still rehabbing from that injury and hopefully will be back in June or July.

The next pitcher was Matt Harrison. In January of 2013 he signed a 5 year/ 55 million dollar extension. He was coming off of a career season that saw him win 18 games and have a career low ERA, career high in innings pitched, strikeouts, and his WAR was 6.1. It was a great season and one certainly worthy of the extension he got. Since then though he has made 6 starts and may now be looking at the end of his career. He made two starts in 2013 before coming down with a lower back injury that required multiple surgeries. He rehabbed all season and off-season in order to be ready for this season, but a week into camp the same back injury flared up again. He changed mattresses and took it slowly, but was back on the team in late April. Then, on Monday in his 4th start he had to be taken out with stiffness in his lower back. It was revealed to be displacement of vertebra in his back and significant nerve irritation. The doctors have said that he can either choose to live with the pain or attempt a spinal fusion surgery that would end his season and could end his career. Either way, I would be very surprised if we see Matt Harrison on the mound again this season. It is sad, because he is a good pitcher that has just ran into some very bad luck.

The most recent player to sign an extension is Martin Perez. In November of 2013 the Rangers announced they had agreed to an extension with Perez that was 4 years/ 12.5 million guaranteed and 3 option years added on at the end. All together he can earn 32.5 million through the length of the contract. This came after Perez pitched spectacularly in the second half of 2013. He went 7-4 down the stretch with a 3.87 ERA and helped to stabilize the Rangers rotation amidst all the injuries that were plaguing the team. Then, this season he gets off to a 4-0 start that was highlighted by back-to-back complete game shutouts. The second of those was on the road against the first place Oakland A’s. He had outpitched the A’s ace Sonny Gray in that start. That would be the end of it though as he struggled in his next 4 starts. Then on Wednesday it was revealed that he had a partial tear of his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL). He was placed on the DL and will be making a decision soon to see if it heals itself or he just needs to have Tommy John surgery. If he opts to wait it will be 10-12 weeks, if he opts for surgery he likely would not be back till the second half of 2015.

There you have it the curse of the extension. The Chicago Cubs have the curse of the Billy Goat, the Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino, and now we have the Curse of the Extension. It has affected position players and pitchers alike. I don’t really have an explanation of why it has happened, but it has. Most of it has just been bad luck, but some of it has been how these players have been used. The back-to-back shutouts were great efforts by Perez, but maybe it was not the right thing to do. He still is just 21 and it was still April. I think Washington should have erred on the side of caution. Who can say it was anything but bad luck that Holland wrecked his knee chasing his dog up the stairs? Finally, who would have seen Matt Harrison all of a sudden developing back issues just months after signing his extension. For some reason though these injuries and 13 others have struck the Rangers this season. If they can somehow survive all of this and still get to the playoffs it will be Ron Washington’s greatest coaching job of his career.

 

My Favorite Moments as a Rangers fan

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The Texas Rangers have existed as a franchise since 1961 when they were born as the Washington Senators. Then in 1972 they moved the team to Arlington, Texas and became the Texas Rangers. This countdown takes a look at my 10 favorite moments as a Rangers fan. All of the moments tend to range from 1996-2013. I am 30 years old and have been a Rangers fan since about 1992. I didn’t go to my first game till 1994. I know I am leaving out several moments like Nolan Ryan’s no hitters, Kenny Rogers perfect game, Julio Franco All Star MVP, and several other moments from before 1996. I apologize for that, it just is that I was really too young to really appreciate it and remember it. So here are my favorite moments from 10-6.

10. The Rangers clinching the AL West in Oakland in 2010 with a Jorge Cantu Home run.

2010 was a breakthrough season for the Texas Rangers. The theme was, “Its Time”. It meant that it was time to break through and start winning. They had been making a steady climb up hill from 2007-2009. In 2010 the expectation was not to just compete, it was to win. All season long they made moves to help them win. They traded prospects for Cliff Lee, Bengie Molina, and Jorge Cantu. They were serious. The Lee and Molina moves worked out splendidly, but Cantu not so much. Cantu had always been known as a guy who drives in runs. Yet, in his almost two months with the Rangers he had yet to drive in any runs heading into the game against the Oakland A’s on September 21st. The Rangers were one win away from the clinching the division that day, but going into the 8th inning the score was 3-3. Cantu had an RBI single in his previous at-bat, and in the top of the 8th Cantu sent a long flyball to left-center that carried out over the wall and put the Rangers ahead 4-3. They would go on and hold on to that lead and clinch the division that day. That was pretty much the only thing Cantu did in a Rangers uniform. Mitch Moreland would go on to replace him at first base in the playoffs.

9. Nelson Cruz hits 6 home runs in 2011 ALCS.

The ALCS in 2011 was between the two best teams in the AL that season in the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers. The Rangers were led by their powerful lineup with Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, and Adrian Beltre. The Tigers were led by MVP candidates Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. They came into the series having beaten the Yankees in 5 games and the Rangers came in having beaten Tampa Bay 3 games to 1. It was a series that was a season in the making. The Rangers won 96 games and the Tigers won 95 games and due to a Rangers win and a Tigers loss in-game 162 the Rangers had the home field advantage. It was going to be a competitive series. The one thing no one was expecting though was the kind of show Nelson Cruz was going to put on. Cruz hit 6 home runs in this series. Two of them were hit in crucial moments. He hit a walk-off grand slam to win game 2 and he hit a 3-run home run in the 11th inning in game 4 to extend the lead to 7-3 and help the Rangers win that game. He followed that with two more home runs, one in-game 5 and one in-game 6. He helped carry the Rangers to the World Series that year. He won the MVP in this series with a .364 BA, 1.273 slugging%, 6 Home Runs, and 13 RBI’s. He was a machine that series. The Rangers ended up winning the series 4-2 and made it back-to-back AL pennants.

8. Rangers 11-10 Comeback against the Angels on August 1st, 2012.

This series came in late July early August. This series had importance to both teams. After a slow start the Angels had rallied to within 3 games of the Rangers division lead. The Angels wanted all 3 games to give them momentum heading into the home stretch and tie up the division. They did take the first two and were in great position to take game 3 up 7-1 going into the bottom of the 5th. The Rangers turned it around though with a four run 5th finished off by Elvis Andrus’ RBI single to score Ian Kinsler. So from there it stayed 7-5 till the 8th when David Murphy had an RBI single to score Adrian Beltre. That is when things offically got crazy. In the 9th Kinsler hits the game-tying home run and sends it to extras. Then in the 10th the Angels respond with a solo home run by Chris Iannetta and a 2-run home run by Albert Pujols. So you are thinking well they did come back, but it just was not meant to be tonight. The score was 10-7 and was 3 outs away from a loss that night and a series sweep that would have tied up the division. The Rangers under Ron Washington are a never say die group and on this night they responded in an unbelievable fashion. Nelson Cruz gets things started with a home run to make it 10-8. Michael Young reaches on an error, David Murphy walks, and then a single by Mike Napoli to load the bases with no outs. From what looked like a sure loss to a game you would expect them to win just like that. Mitch Moreland then singles to right field to make it 10-9 and Elvis Andrus steps up to the plate to win it with a 2-run single on a ground ball that gets by Alberto Callapso. The Rangers win the game and the Angels end finishing in the 3rd in the division.

7. Yu Darvish nearly throws a perfect game against the Astros in game 2 of 2013 Season.

Yu Darvish came over from Japan in the winter of 2011. The Rangers then proceeded to sign him to a contract in 2012. He came into 2012 hyped as the next great pitcher. He didn’t quite live up to that potential. He struggled his first few months with high pitch counts and a lack of control. He could not quite figure out how he wanted to attack hitters. It wasn’t till the last two months that he started to figure it out. He ended the 2012 season as the Rangers best pitcher and started the AL Wild Card game. Going into 2013 there was high expectations for Yu Darvish. It was expected that he would take that next step and become one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. He didn’t get the opening day start, Matt Harrison did due to his overall performance in 2012. Darvish though left no doubt in game 2 who was the better pitcher. In his first start of the season against the Houston Astros he proceeded to retire the first 26 hitters of the game. He was using a mixture of fastballs, curveballs, and an improved slider. He kept the Astros off-balance all night. It wasn’t until the 27th hitter came to the plate did he give up a hit. It was a ground ball single up the middle by Marwin Gonzalez past Darvish that rolled into the outfield. Darvish continued to bring it every 5th day the rest of 2013 as he went 13-9 with a 2.83 ERA and a league-leading 277 strikeouts. Finally, he finished second to Max Scherzer in AL Cy Young voting.

6. Juan Gonzalez hits 5 home runs in ALDS against Yankees in 1996.

Juan Gonzalez was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 90’s. He won two MVP awards. He would go on to win it in 1996 and again in 1998. Each time he was among the league leader in home runs and RBI’s. Going into this series no one knew how he was going to do or how the team was going to perform. It was the Rangers first time on the postseason stage. Many of their players were experiencing this for the first time. It was thought that going up against the more experienced Yankees would be too much for them. For most of the players you would be right, but Juan Gonzalez had one of the best series from an outfielder in postseason history. He hit 5 home runs in 4 games in that series. He was an unstoppable force, but unfortunately no one else could get their bats going and so after winning game 1, the Rangers proceeded to lose the next 3 and were done. That doesn’t take away from what Gonzalez did in those 4 games. He was spectacular, and his efforts will not be soon forgotten.