In a 2014 season when countless players were injured and the Texas Rangers finished buried in the standings, Adrian Beltre was about as close to a bright spot as there was to be found. Now, the team has decided he’ll likely be a key player for at least the next two seasons, picking up his contract option.
John Blake, the Executive Vice President of Communications for the Texas Rangers, made the news official:
The Rangers would have had the option to bypass the extension had Beltre failed to accumulate 600 plate appearances this season, per Ron Matejko of ESPN Dallas, but decided against going that route with the third basemen.
The move isn’t a surprise from Beltre’s perspective, as he spoke a few days ago about wanting to remain a Ranger so long as the team continued to push to win a World Series.
“I don’t have time to waste,” Beltre told Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News. “I want to win a World Series, and I want to be with a team that’s thinking of that. I want to be here. This is a great spot for me. I can’t even think of how appreciative I am of the organization, the fans, the city of Dallas and Texas.”
The move makes plenty of sense from the team’s perspective as well, per Fraley:
Exercising the option on Beltre would allow the Rangers to give über-prospect Joey Gallo more time to develop at third base. Gallo, 21, is in major league spring-training camp for the first time. Keeping Beltre through the 2016 season would also help rookie manager Jeff Banister by giving him a cornerstone player in the lineup and the clubhouse.
Beltre certainly continues to produce. Even at the age of 35 he hit .324 with 19 home runs and 77 RBI this past season. While his power numbers were down, his batting average and on-base percentage (.388) were his highest marks since 2004.
For his career Beltre is a .285 hitter with 395 home runs and 1,384 RBI. He’s won four Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards at third base and has hit 30 or more home runs in three of his four seasons with the Rangers.
While a slight decrease in production is to be expected at some point, the Rangers clearly believe Beltre will be a key player for them over the next two seasons. He’s certainly given them no indications that would suggest anything to the contrary to this point in his career.
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