Texas Rangers Spend Excess Cash on Lance Berkman

Lance Berkman is one of my favorite players in the game today. I truly believe he is the most underrated player from the 2000s, seeing as his career OPS is .953 and no one really knows about it. Even though I am a Berkman fanboy, I realize his best days are behind him, which is why I am nonplussed by the Texas Rangers giving him a one-year, $10 million contract.

As I have said many, many times before. I love one-year deals, figuring that very little could go wrong on a one-year deal. However, it’s hard for me to believe that Berkman can earn a $10 million deal. Although he will probably spend a majority of his time at DH in order to keep him healthy for a 162-game season, Berkman will not live up to his contract. At this stage in his career, Berkman’s ceiling is probably around .270/.370/.470, even if he is a couple years removed from a resurgence of sorts with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I feel like this was just an angry signing by the Rangers. If there was any team who has had a more frustrating off-season than Texas, please point that team out to me. They have missed out on Zack Greinke, lost Josh Hamilton, and haven’t landed Justin Upton even though they have been rumored to be interested in the talented rightfielder ever since the season ended. They have whiffed more than Josh Hamilton did in September, and that’s saying something.

Final verdict: An angry overspend by the Rangers, should be a solid DH if healthy, and really won’t matter all that much in the big scheme of things. Good luck, fat Elvis.