Ken Rosenthal writes today that he thinks the Rangers could be bigger players on the free agent market than some of us are giving him credit for:
That would be something.
But man, I’m skeptical. While that big new TV contract impressed all of us when it was announced, others have reported that it’s fairly backloaded, and that the front-end of it was going to be largely devoted to debt service connected with Chuck Greenberg’s purchase of the team. I don’t have any independent intelligence on that, but some people I talk to who know a few things about the Rangers believe that the TV deal isn’t going to launch them into a new world of payroll expenditures so quickly, even if they do bump it up a tad. And signing Lee and Victor Martinez would certainly be a new world.
Anything is possible -- that’s whey we love the hot stove season -- but I’m having a hard time seeing the Rangers landing Lee alone -- due to the money and the competition involved -- let alone getting him and another top-end free agent like Martinez.