Hamilton Signs With Angels

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Be careful what you wish for.

That is the message to Rangers fans and media who booed Josh Hamilton last season and filled the airwaves with talk that he must go.  He did.  The perennial All-Star signed a reported 5-year, $125 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Hamilton played with the Rangers for 5 seasons and was easily their biggest superstar.  His career batting average is over .300 and he has hit a minimum of 25 home runs in 4 of those 5 seasons, including 43 last year.  

The problem with Hamilton is that when things go bad, they really go bad.  Fans grew tired of the drama, from blaming his inability to hit during day games on his blue eyes, to blaming caffeine for his vision problems, to losing the handle on the bat and sending it into the stands.  The final blows last season came late in the year when his off-field problems (alcohol and girls) caused a disruption, followed by his nonchalant attitude after flubbing a fly ball in the playoffs that allowed 2 runs to score in a tie-game.

Hamilton was expected to give the Rangers a chance to match any offer before he left, but in the end, Texas was not afforded the chance.  Rangers general manager Jon Daniels was surprised and disappointed by the news, “Our full expectation was that the phone call was going to be before he signed, certainly not after and giving us an idea.  Josh had indicated recently, last week, he told us he felt it might be time to move on, but that we were still talking. I’m not going to get in to the reason, technically, why. I thought we had additional conversations this week that had moved it along in a positive direction. Apparently not.”

Losing Hamilton is another blow to the Rangers, who have not been able to sign any of the high-profile free agents available this off-season.  In addition, two other Texas starters have left for other teams, most notably Michael Young, who signed with the Phillys earlier this week.  Young had spent 12 seasons with the team and became the Rangers’ all-time leader in games played, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples and total bases.

Texas will have a new look this spring, and if it doesn’t look good, remember we asked for it.