Red Sox trade Mike Napoli to Rangers
The Boston Red Sox have traded first baseman Mike Napoli to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash, it was announced Friday.
WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford was first to report the deal, followed by MLB.com’s TR Sullivan and others.
Napoli played two seasons in Texas before signing with the Red Sox in 2013. He will be a free agent after this season.
Napoli is in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career. He is batting .207 with a .693 OPS, both career lows, and has 13 home runs in 98 games.
The Rangers are currently 5.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West and 2.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the second Wild Card spot. Baseball Prospectus puts their odds of winning the division at 3.8% and their Wild Card odds at 12.8%, while Fangraphs has their division odds at 3.9% and their Wild Card odds at 13.2%.
- Dan Gartland
