Rangers & Hamilton Talking Contract Again?
NEW YORK (CBS SPORTS) - Understatement: Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton did not disappoint his employers on Tuesday night. Indeed, on the strength of Hamilton's outstanding start to the season (he's hitting .406/.458/.840 on the year and on pace for 76 homers and 194 RBI) comes a tweet from ESPN's Jim Bowden that says Hamilton and the Rangers are once again talking contract extension.
You'll recall that the two sides had been engaged in cursory discussions at the time of Hamilton's February relapse. Since then, however, there's been no movement. Of course, a start like this -- combined with team success like this -- changes things.
Pegging the market for the 30-year-old Hamilton, who's eligible for free agency after this season, is of course tricky business. His off-field issues will no doubt be baked into any negotiations, but the real concern may be the fact that, in his relatively brief career, he's lost more than 200 games to injury and been on the disabled list five times.
As Jeff Passan of Yahoo! notes, in part because of these concerns, the Rangers will be hesitant to hand out something similar to the nine and 10 year pacts given to, respectively, Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols this past offseason. Passan's straw poll of three GMs shows that no one would be willing to go longer than six years with Hamilton.
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