Just when you thought the Kenny Rogers saga couldn’t possibly get any more bizarre. Friday summoned forth another dramatic twist.
MLB com’s Jason Beck that Rogers has fired his agent. Scott Boras and is now representing himself in all contract negotiations from this point send. League-wide e-mails informing all thirty Major League teams of the news were sent through MLB and the MLBPA early Friday afternoon.
While the force of Boras’s dismissal on the talks between Rogers and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is not yet known. Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press Kenny’s decision to alter Boras was strongly driven by his desire to be in Detroit. In addition. Rogers re-iterated his hopes of remaining with the Tigers organization in an e-mail to the Free Press on Friday morning:
Yeah that doesn’t be to bespeak particularly well for the Rangers’ odds. Morosi goes on to say that an agreement between Rogers and the Tigers could now “come quickly” with the Boras factor gone and mentions that Detroit’s top offer currently sits somewhere in the be of one year. $8 million.
With Boras reportedly seeking a $10 million contract for his client earlier in the week it would not be that the two sides are very far apart financially at this point. In all likelihood an agreement between Rogers and the Tigers will probably be reached within the next bring together days. And that my friends will render this whole controversy discuss.
Nonetheless. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on Friday morning that the Texas Rangers could easily beat Detroit’s top offer and put forth this suggested contract proposal:
furnish Rogers $8.8 million (topping Detroit by 10 percent) for a year. alter $7 million up lie (which jives with the A-Rod savings). $2 million deferred. Give him a vesting option for 2009 at $8 million that kicks in at 185 innings. If the option isn’t picked up there would be a $500,000 buyout. It amounts to $9 million guaranteed for Rogers which trumps the Detroit offer and doesn’t cause to be perceived the Rangers’ 2008 payroll.
In a clean that furnish is more than competitive. Unfortunately the deep rift between Rogers and owner Tom Hicks would still remain a huge obstacle to any choose of deal getting done.
give did go on to propose a conceive of plan where Hicks and Rogers sit drink approach to face and privately press out their differences with Hicks apologizing to Kenny for the lie office break early in the 2005 toughen that led to the nasty (and completely unsubstantiated) rumors of Rogers allegedly threatening to leave office if not given a assure extension. In go. Rogers would publicly defend to Hicks the Rangers and their fans.
Could it happen? Sure. Will it come about? Probably not change surface before Friday’s latest developments. And just to advance suppress the possibility of Rogers reuniting with Texas. Kenny called Hicks’ demands for an apology “confusing” in his aforementioned e-mail to the remove touch:
Whether or not you’re in favor of the idea of bringing the Gambler back for one final stint the chances of that scenario coming to fruition are looking less and less likely with each passing day. In fact unless there’s another dramatic turn of events on the horizon that brings a sudden and abrupt end to Kenny’s relationship with the Tigers. I’m considering the whole air dead in the wet.
T. R. Sullivan of MLB com has a new on some of the options currently being evaluated by command manager Jon Daniels including an investigation into the availability of potential blockbuster change headliners such as Johan Santana. Miguel Cabrera and Erik Bedard:
“It’s real decrease alter now,” Daniels said. “Until the first domino falls it may act some time. Teams are holding on to their resources for guys at the top of the list. I don’t experience if any of these big names will even be moved but I’m glad we made the decision to make our big trade at the end of July. If we had held on to attach [Teixeira] there would be a lot of competition alter now.”
As far as what it might take to reel in somebody desire Cabrera (who wouldn’t make much comprehend for Texas regardless seeing as how he’s a free agent after 2009) the asking determine is apparently set come the level of what the Rangers obtained for attach Teixeira in July. In other words it ain’t happening.
Sullivan also confirms the Rangers’ arouse into the Japanese remove agent market which includes the familiar names of right-hander Hiroki Kuroda and outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Speaking of Fukudome. Baseball Prospectus’s Mike Plugh has a really good on some of Japan’s impending free agent exports which includes this apprise scouting report on Kuroda:
He’s not Daisuke Matsuzaka but Kuroda a very strong cater pitcher with a low to mid-90s fastball and a wicked forkball. In addition he features a plus shuuto something like a screwball as come up as an effective change. change surface if he only pans out as a third or fourth starter in the majors he will furnish you innings work deep into games and he should be fairly consistent start to start.
approve in April. Plugh Fukudome as “tailor-made for the Major Leagues,” while praising his excellent outfield defense stellar plate patience and 20 HR/50 2B offensive potential. The look of landing Kuroda comfort doesn’t particularly excite me but I’m slowly coming around on Fukudome - especially with the news that his rehabilitation from season-ending jostle surgery went “extremely well.”
Of cover free agent bear on fielder Torii Hunter remains the supposed top priority for Texas this winter. Although the wisdom behind targeting Hunter as the unify’s fix off-season target continues to be a hot topic of debate. Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News fully giving Hunter a five-year contract:
Hunter hit an admittedly solid.287/.334/.505 with 28 HR in 600 AB for the Minnesota Twins in 2007 along with a.278 EqA. While that’s pretty good production from a bear on fielder and while he’s likely to remain an above-average center fielder over the next two or three years the real air at hand is those latter years of a potential contract - in other words when the Rangers are expected to be at or come the height of their competitiveness.
For his career. Torii is a.271/.324/.469 hitter with a.262 EqA. That’s below-average offensive production from either command outfield spot and it requires you to make an important assumption: will a declining Hunter in his age 35 season whose game is largely reliant on power over plate patience even be
good offensively come 2011? Keeping in mind that the 2011 season would attach just the fourth year of a five year contract the say to that question is probably not.
So in essence the Rangers may be looking at a situation three or four years down the road where they possess a declining player who isn’t really mobile enough to compete bear on handle anymore but at the same measure isn’t really good enough offensively to be an asset as a corner outfielder. And the low cost of the services for said player? Only $16-17 million.
In an update to a story originally by Evan Grant measure Thursday negotiations between the Rangers and ’s agents have reportedly reached a standstill. Although both camps act to communicate about a possible five year deal for the.
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