Texas Rangers

Free Agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is no longer a free agent, after signing a 6-year, $96 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

I'm sure this move is getting Rangers fans very excited.

If I were a Rangers fan, I'd be upset.

Over the past two years, Brandon Webb has thrown a grand total of four innings in the major leagues.  However, in 2011 he will attempt to fill the void in the Texas Rangers’ rotation created by Cliff Lee packing his bags and heading to Philadelphia.

Prior to his injury problems, Webb was one of the elite players in the game. 

It was only a couple months ago that the Rangers were (near) the top of the baseball world.  They fulfilled their role as David, when slaying the Goliath Yankees, and endeared themselves to millions of baseball fans across the country with their love of all things hustle.

MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan is reporting Adrian Beltre has agreed to a six-year, $96 million contract with the Texas Rangers. The deal is pending a physical, and is not expected to be made official until next week.

In this day and age of high-priced free agents and long-term contracts for players that have one or two good years left, it is comforting to see my beloved Rangers continue to make good decisions. 

Signing Lee would have been an awesome signing, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed, but at least he didn't go to the Yankees.

Josh Hamilton had a monster 2010 campaign. 

No one can take that away from him, but should fantasy owners base an early round selection on that success? Many people actually believe that he is good enough to select in the first round of 2011 drafts. 

Is it justified? Let’s take a look:

2010 Stat Line:

It has been reported that Brandon Webb has reached a one-year agreement with the Texas Rangers.

The contract has a $3 million base salary, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

The Rangers were in the running for the great Cliff Lee, but he ultimately shunned them for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Rangers had a lot to offer Lee, who just missed out once again on a World Series ring.

The Rangers played fantastic throughout 2010 and should field the top team in the AL West in 2011.

On paper, Rafael Palmeiro is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, in the real world he is not. He is the poster boy for the steroid era, and he in turn sullied the game the same way others like Rose and the Black Sox did.

Despite vehemently denying the use of steroids, he failed a steroid test, was named by Jose Canseco as a user and he was also named in the Mitchell Report. The amount of evidence against him is staggering, and because of that evidence, Palmeiro must be kept out of the Hall of Fame.

Considering what ace left-hander Cliff Lee accomplished for the Texas Rangers last season, losing him to the Philadelphia Phillies had to be difficult to stomach for a franchise that reached the World Series.

When searching for lefties for his bullpen, Texas Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels must believe in the phrase “Age is just a number.” He already has one 40-year-old in the pen, who has done pretty well in his stint in a Ranger uniform in Darren Oliver, so why not add another 40-year-old?