Rangers sign Shin-Soo Choo: 7-yr/$130mil

[Eye Black]

Rangers sign Shin-Soo Choo to a 7-year deal worth $130 million according to MLB Trade Rumors.

 

Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo has reached agreement with the Rangers on a seven-year deal for $130MM, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). Choo's deal includes no opt-outs or options, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, but does contain a limited no-trade clause. Choo, 31, is a client of the Boras Corporation.

 

As MLBTR's Tim Dierkes wrote in his profile of Choo, who ranked third on Dierkes's list of the top fifty free agents, the South Korean on-base machine hit the open market at an optimal time. Having never seen his OBP drop below a .373 mark, Choo reached another level last year with a .285/.423/.462 line (over 712 plate appearances) in his first and only season with the Reds. Of course, as Dierkes explained, Choo's biggest weakness -- his struggles against left-handed pitching -- could force him into a platoon role in the later years of his deal. Choo also knocked twenty home runs in 2013 for the third time in his career. Batting atop the lineup in Cincinnati, Choo also swiped over twenty bags for the fourth time, though he was also tagged out eleven times in the process.

 

Though Choo played in center last year for the Reds, the expectation is that he will man a corner position in Texas. If the Rangers indeed intend to go with Leonys Martin up the middle, it would seem likely that the club would be out of the mix for Nelson Cruz. After tacking on over $200MM in future obligations by trading for Prince Fielder and adding Choo, the Rangers would figure to be out of the mix for Masahiro Tanaka, in the event that he is posted.

 

At seven years and $130MM, Choo will receive an average annual value of just over $18.5MM. His deal slots in $23MM shy of that inked by Jacoby Ellsbury with the Yankees over the same length of time. The Rangers were willing to go to seven years and a big sum of money, says Passan, in part due to the weak set of hitters available via free agency next year. Of course, new candidates could emerge; one year ago, it would have seemed quite unlikely that Choo would command this kind of payday.

 

The Yankees may have been willing to reach the $140MM level in a seven-year pact with Choo, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. But the lack of state income tax in Texas boosted the value of the Rangers' offer, and Choo apparently also preferred to join Texas.

 

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported that the deal was expected to be worth $130MM.

[TooLiveBrew]

Are the Rangers forfeiting their 1st rounder with this signing?

[trwi7]

Yes but they'll get one back when Cruz signs elsewhere.

[brewcrewdue80]

A player and term signing like Choo is a 1st round comp deal. 7years? Okay 1st rd pick. If the guy isn't signed beyond 3years I think it's a poor choice to give up a 1st rd pick.

 

The Tanaka non-posting made this become reality. It probably is better for Texas considering their makeup. They needed a Leadoff hitter Choo provides. No more Kinsler their #2 hitter, would have meant trusting their 1/2 of Martin and? to get OB ahead of Beltre/Fielder. Not a good situation imo.

 

I'm surprised the 7yr wasn't an option year. He'll be 32-38 through the deal. Which pairs with Fielder's, and you just have to figure, the age regression will hit 1 of them or maybe both.

[jjkoestler]

Choo, Rios, Beltre, and Fielder is a pretty scary 1-4. The Rangers should be a fun team to watch this year.

[MNBrew]

The Brewers end up with a hitter like him at half the contract (years and/or term) and this board yelps like crazy. Maybe that's just the result of conditioning, but while Choo is fine, he's certainly not $18M/yr good IMO. . . . . Funny thing, too, is that Gomez may well be a superior all-around player (what does Choo do notably better than Gomez besides walk?) and we've had people saying he should be traded from the moment his ink hit the contract.

 

Choo at 32 could still be darn solid. But $18M for a 38-year-old is scary territory.

[trwi7]

Funny thing, too, is that Gomez may well be a superior all-around player (what does Choo do notably better than Gomez besides walk?) and we've had people saying he should be traded from the moment his ink hit the contract.

 

Choo is a superior hitter and Gomez is a superior defender. [sarcasm]And it's not like team situation has anything to do with people thinking Gomez should be traded.[/sarcasm]

[owbc]

Choo at 32 could still be darn solid. But $18M for a 38-year-old is scary territory.

 

Judging by recent deals, I don't think they care. The price tag is for the rest of his career and they would rather have more money at the end of the deal when it will be worth less (assuming salaries continue to grow at an insane rate).

 

The Gomez contract now looks like an absolute steal. He might not match his 2013 offensive numbers again, but his glove doesn't slump.

[JohnBriggs12]

That takes 712 quality AB's away from the Reds. Hamilton can't steal 1B (.308 OBP at AAA) and while his speed will help in the OF, he's still relatively knew to the position.

[monty57]

When Gomez signed his deal, he had a pretty poor MLB history, with one good half season prior to the contract signing. The concern at the time was whether he would build on the good half season, or fall back to his prior ways. That's why he was willing to sign the contract he did. Thankfully it looks like the former rather than the latter. As to the talks now of whether or not he should be traded, that is due to the Brewers' current situation and whether holding onto Gomez would help the franchise more than the return we could get in trade.

 

However, all that's for another topic. To point at hand, I would be pretty upset if Melvin signed a 32-year old to a huge money, seven-year deal. Texas is certainly living for the moment, as Fielder and Choo will eat up a lot of money long past the time they're worth it. But that's baseball. Live for today, forget about tomorrow, and blame someone of something else when the walls come crumbilng down.

[brewcrewdue80]

Man, does Fantasy Baseball really make one disgust a player when the guy is really valuable. I had Choo in his 1 and only serious down year in 2011. Choo looks locked in as being a 3+WAR player when he reaches 145 games or more. A 20/20 player eerily consistency. I'm not behind the last 2years of the deal but if that's what it took to get him for the next 5years good on Texas. He's a vast improvement over David Murphy.

 

You figure though that 20/20 becomes 15/10 the moment his age catches up to him. And I still am leery about players being paid like this when it takes him in to retirement to trust that the age won't catch up to him quicker than longer. What's Choo's motivation to put maybe 6-8hours a day towards Baseball and not just cash in to 1-3hours a day quoting that "I'm at an age I know what I need to do to prepare myself"

 

As a sports fan, I really despise that teams have to resort to these kinds of deals. That a Players Union has enough power to allow any kind of contract over 5years. Just on the fact that when the deal goes bad for the team it really can hurt a franchise/fanbase.

 

I feel that way with contracts needing to be more performance based as I feel drivers age 55 and above should have to take a road test every 2years. Maybe there needs to be an age set on deals like only to age 35 when the player is limited to year to year/2yr deals only. To save Franchises from themselves.

[reillymcshane]

John Sickels has an interesting look at Choo's career, and the guys he's compares against as a major leaguer.

 

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/12/21/5233676/shin-soo-choo-signs-seven-year-contract-with-rangers-prospect-retrospective

 

The list of comps isn't attractive for the Rangers. Basically, he says the second half of the contract is 'troublesome'.

 

Still, Choo might last longer than he would for other teams since the Rangers play in such a hitter's park.

 

Seven years for any player is dangerous. Seven years for a guy past 30 is really dangerous.