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.