Giants fans are all over the place with opinions on whether the team should sign Tim Lincecum to a contract surpassing $100 million, but imagine the views in Texas on Josh Hamilton.
Hamilton has surpassed Matt Kemp as the most productive hitter in the majors, batting .402 with 18 homers and 41 RBIs, leading the American League in all three categories.
Lincecum's slow start is a red flag for fans (at least according to talk-show and social media fodder) who question whether an extension for five or more years makes sense, even suggesting a trade could be preferable if it beefs up an offense that needs beefing up - as goofy as that might have sounded a few months ago.
With Hamilton, there's absolutely no concern about production. It's about a history of addiction and injuries and whether he's too risky to commit all that money for all those years.
Ordinarily, he'd be a cinch for the next $200 million deal, following Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, but the Rangers need to weigh in more than numbers and age. Hamilton is a recovering drug addict whose latest alcohol-related relapse was just before spring training, an incident that made the Rangers pull back on contract talks.
They're back on. Hamilton, the 2010 AL MVP who's in the second year of a two-year, $24 million contract, would be the biggest free-agent prize next winter. But how far can the Rangers go on a guy who played more than 133 games in a season just once (back in 2008), will turn 32 next season and has a history of substance abuse?
The Rangers are trying to protect themselves financially in case of further relapses or major injuries. Meantime, Hamilton is doing his best to increase his value by the day, helping to solidify agent Mike Moye's case in negotiations with general manager Jon Daniels, president Nolan Ryan and owner Bob Simpson.
If becoming the 16th player to collect four home runs in a game (plus eight RBIs and a league-record 18 total bases) wasn't enough for the week, Hamilton homered once in Thursday's win in Baltimore, twice in Friday's win over the Angels and once in Saturday's loss to the Angels. He's so far ahead of the rest of the league that his numbers look cartoonish in comparison.
Consider this: He leads the league in homers by seven.
Now consider this: Nobody on the Giants' roster has as many as six homers.
We're seeing Hamilton at his best. The demons are another part of his story, but he has comfort in Texas, a support group that he trusts. While he was stunned during the 2010 World Series with the odor of marijuana from the bleachers in San Francisco and a guy downtown puffing on a joint with a cop nearby, it's different in Texas, where respectful teammates spray ginger ale instead of Champagne at each other after playoff series wins.
During Hamilton's drinking binge at a Dallas-area bar in January, it was teammate Ian Kinsler who reportedly arrived and tried to persuade him to go home. As it turned out, Hamilton admitted later, he stayed out and drank more.
The Rangers know the history, including Hamilton's suspensions in the mid-2000s for repeatedly violating the game's substance-abuse policies, but they're still on board with keeping him long term.
But how long? Pujols got 10 years, Fielder nine and Kemp eight. The Rangers will push for a shorter term but probably need to top Kemp's $20 million annually, a deal consummated before Pujols got $25.4 million annually and Fielder $23.8 million annually.
Either way, Hamilton is enjoying one heck of a salary drive.
Balancing act: MLB scheduling needs feng shui
The A's will play the Astros a whopping 18 times next season.
No offense to the Astros, but is that really necessary?
No, it's not.
Just like it's not necessary for the Giants to play the Rockies 18 times a year.
With MLB moving the Astros to the AL West in 2013, forming two 15-team leagues and forcing interleague games virtually every day, the A's will play more than 10 percent of their schedule in Texas - nine games in Houston, nine in Arlington.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/12/SPKC1OHA1H.DTL#ixzz1uoOj9d1M
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