Hamilton signs

I just finished reading "Beyond Belief." It's pretty amazing to see how far he's come. I hope that he gets a long-term deal with the Rangers. He's going to have a "special" career

Hamilton has probably made more money off that book than what the Rangers are paying him. Hopefully this is just a stop gap until they can pay him something along the lines of what Kinsler is getting. Even at that price he is underpaid. It is sad to see how the Rangers milk their players promote the heck out of them, then re-up the guy for $555,000. That is chump change in the baseball market and very financially flexible.

I'm surprised his one year deal is for such a small amount. Hope it works out in the long run.

Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/

I don't think Josh is in the "Show me the Money' world anymore.

Besides, the team never does its negotiations in public or the media. It's just good business for everyone concerned.

I'll bet they get him that long term deal that is mutually beneficial to everyone and we get to see him play for a big part of his career.

ssarltx, do you live in the metroplex? "Besides, the team never does it negotiations in public or the media." The Rangers have always and continue to use the "media" to spin its web. Lets go back to the Texiera deal where the Rangers intent was to deal Tex all along, yet there was Hicks on TV and the print media, touting how much he had offered TEX to stay but Tex didn't accept it. That was HICKS using the media to say hey this isn't my fault, i tried to pay him. Hicks orginal intent was to deal and dump Texiera because he didn't want to ante up. I aint saying it is right or wrong, it is Hicks team. But the fact is Hicks is notorious for not keeping players that want just compensation in baseballs world. So on to this. If SMOAK is being touted as the next Mark Texiera does that mean within 4 years he is playing first base for the Yankees?

I am amazed at the lack of knowledege on public relations. Any "Metro" area that hosts a major league baseball team do alot of negotiations in the public spotlight. Local news media demands it since it is the local population that are your regular money makers. They buy the tickets, food and team gear. Their children rush the bullpen for Josh Frazier to give them a ball. They stand in outragous lines in the broiling heat to get an autograph. We love our Rangers and make them a part of our life from April to October every year. So we are always interested in what is going on behind the scenes. With todays instant news we think we know why someone is kept or lost but I bet their our few who know the whole story and that is just fine with me. I like baseball.

I am glad that Josh signed on this year. I had the pleasure of hearing him and his wife share their story with the fans last June. We met him at spring training and watched him toy with the young kids there. We were told that our "Rangers" are the nicest team out there by the volunteers that work the training camps for the Cactus league. It made me proud of them. I am proud that we have a young man on our team that is still "humble" enough with his talent that he still goes out of his way to mentor others whether it be writing a book or signing a ball.

So negotiations for a long term contract for Hamilton will continue to go on behind the scenes as the owners look to see what he will bring this season. We will cheer him and be proud he calls Texas his team. And when the dust settles and lights go out, we will pray that for once Hicks and Daniels will not allow another jewel to get away.