Even before Josh Hamilton had his relapse with alcohol last week, the Texas Rangers were faced with having to make a tough decision this year regarding his future with the team. Hamilton can become a free agent at the end of the coming season. He’s already established himself as one of the greatest players to ever wear a Rangers uniform, and naturally that makes him one of the most popular players on the Rangers roster.
But his injury history gives one pause. Plus he’s going to turn 31 this season. The overwhelming body of evidence in baseball suggests that most players peak between the ages of 27 and 29, which means that Hamilton is past his peak and will see his skills decline from here on out.
Which isn’t to say that he won’t still be a valuable player this year, and for a few more years yet. If he’s looking for something like the 10-year deal that Albert Pujols got from the Angels this offseason, that seems unlikely (and would be incredibly unwise.) Â Last November, Adam Morris of Lone Star Ball argued that the Rangers should let Hamilton walk after 2012. In January, Grant Brisbee of Baseball Nation called Hamilton’s situation “The Most Difficult Contract Decision in the History of Baseball” and argued that Hamilton is worth a big money-short term deal.
So does what happened at Sherlock’s last week change anything at all? Â The Rangers had reportedly been discussing a possible extension with Hamilton, but that has been tabled now. Â And yesterday on Fox Sports Southwest, Dallas Morning News writer Evan Grant said this:
If he walks away from the Rangers after this year, I don’t think that the Rangers will have “lost” him. I think the Rangers will be OK with that at this point in time because he will have kind of come to the end of the road here.
I don’t think what happened last week really changes much of anything. I suspect the Rangers knew that incidents like it will always remain a possibility with Hamilton. I think the team would very much like to sign him to a short-term deal. But some other team is bound to be willing to overspend on Hamilton’s prolific talents and to commit to a ridiculous contract length.
If the relapse did anything, it gave the Rangers (if they let Hamilton walk) a bit of cover with the casual fans who think of Hamilton purely as a baseball god and don’t understand that the odds are that we’ve already seen the best he has to offer.
