Mike Napoli signs one-year deal with Texas Rangers – MLB News
The Texas Rangers made another move on Sunday, February 12 to avoid arbitration with their catcher, Mike Napoli. The $9.4 million deal will now bring the player in the team for a one-year contract, adding to the team’s strength.
With the deal struck, the Texas Rangers may now stop looking for any bigger contract in the near future given the fact that they might be facing shortage when it comes to finances. Only last week did the Rangers sign Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus to avoid
hearings.
The move pertaining to Napoli was pretty expected given the indispensable role he plays for the Rangers. In 2011, for example, the player had a salary of $5.8 million which saw a rise this time, exceeding $9 million.
Despite the urgency that the team evinced as far as signing the player is concerned, the general manager Jon Daniels did admit that he was convinced there will be a hearing on Napoli’s arbitration.
Interestingly, the fact also remains that in the past 12 seasons, the Rangers do not have any player that has had his contract extended after arbitration.
"This was really the first time since I've been here where I was pretty convinced we were going to go to a hearing," Daniels said. "For the most part, we have usually been able to get it done well in advance. This was a situation where we were prepared to
go. We all had flights scheduled for Tampa. Our guys did a tremendous job.”
However, a worrying factor that the club had to deal with is that of sprained left ankle that Napoli currently has.
"He's still feeling it," Daniels said. "It was a pretty severe sprain. Once he gets into his conditioning and gets into Spring Training, our guys we'll get their arms around it.”
The injury that affected the player in the postseason has not healed yet, rendering the player incapable of working out actively. Nonetheless, he is one of the players whom the club intends to sign for the long-term contract once he regains the fitness and
momentum that he is famously known for.
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