Rangers' Free Agency Updates: Donaldson and Cabrera
The Rangers still have yet to fill their need at third base. News on a couple different free agents gives the Rangers' situation a little bit more clarity.
Early in the offseason, the Rangers have been tied to Josh Donaldson. Even in their pursuit of Anthony Rendon, Donaldson was always thought of as plan B for Texas.
After Rendon agreed to his seven-year deal with the Angels, it didn't take long for the Rangers to contact Donaldson's representation. It felt like it took an even shorter amount of time for the Rangers to find out Donaldson's asking price.
Levi Weaver of The Athletic reported back on December 12th that the Rangers were "likely out" on Donaldson due to the asking price being too high. Now, a new report gives us a very clear indication of what Donaldson is looking for.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported on Saturday that Donaldson is looking for four years and around $110 million.
Paying $27.5 million per year for a 34 year-old player, even in the American League, comes with high risk. Donaldson missed significant time in 2018 with shoulder and calf injuries, only playing in 52 games between Toronto and Cleveland.
Donaldson had a bounce back season in 2019, slashing .259/.379/.521 with 37 home runs and 94 RBI's. He owned an impressive 6.1 bWAR in 2019 as well.
Maybe 2018 was an anomaly. Other than that season, Donaldson has been considerably healthy. He's played in at least 155 games five times since 2013. He also played in 113 games in 2017, and still hit 33 home runs that season.
Texas could change their mind and decide to lay down that offer for Donaldson and hope for health for Donaldson as he continues to age. After all, they may only need him to man third base for two seasons, which hopefully top prospect Josh Jung would be ready to compete for that spot in 2022. After which, Donaldson could transition to a full time designated hitter in hopes of preserving his health and extending his career.
Unless circumstances change, the Rangers will more than likely still stay clear of Donaldson with the asking price being that high.
A former Ranger also made news Saturday morning. Asdrubal Cabrera re-signed with the Nationals on a one-year, $2.5 million deal. This is coming off the heels of Washington signing infielder Starlin Castro.
Cabrera primarily played second base for Washington last season, but Washington signed Castro to play second base for them. There's speculation now that Washington signed Cabrera that the Nationals may be out on going after Donaldson or trade targets Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant.
On the flip side, the Nationals could still pursue top names and make Cabrera a utility infielder. However, this signing could still give some further clarity to the Rangers' situation.
If the Nationals are now out on Donaldson, that leaves the Braves and Twins as the frontrunners for him. As we mentioned before, the Rangers could change their mind and decide to go hard after Donaldson and try to outbid those teams.
This could also pave the way for Donaldson to reunite with Atlanta, effectively taking them out of the Arenado sweepstakes. That would increase the Rangers' chances of landing the all star third baseman. Atlanta has a deep farm system and could easily put a better package together than Texas could.
By signing Cabrera and Castro, the Nationals could now decide they don't want to part with prospects for Arenado, especially since it's been reported the Rockies would want Victor Robles as a part of the return package. The Nationals don't seem to be comfortable including Robles as a part of a trade package.
Even the smallest transactions can change the Rangers' circumstances drastically. If the Braves now decide to pony up for Donaldson, it's a possibility either Nolan Arenado or Todd Frazier will be the Rangers' third baseman in 2020. Of course, many hurdles have to be cleared for Arenado to become a Texas Ranger.
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