Juan back in Texas? - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

FineCubanCigar · 01-06-2002, 04:30 AM

chances are he is back in Texas, i wish he could pitch but i wont complain as long as he doesnt mess up the salary structure.

LonestarROB · 01-06-2002, 10:47 AM

As long as it doesn't mess up our salary, I LOVE it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

djb · 01-06-2002, 10:40 PM

How come he might be coming back? I thought the Mets or some other team was interested in him.

LonestarROB · 01-06-2002, 10:43 PM

He's loves Texas and we're interested in him but only for the right price. He doesn't really wanna play in the NL either.

djb · 01-06-2002, 10:44 PM

I thought he had a poor attitude while here or something to that extent?

FineCubanCigar · 01-07-2002, 02:59 AM

we couldn't afford to keep him, or so doug melvin claimed ... anyways the Mets offered him a 2 year 26 million dollar contract and Juan said that the Rangers would be his number one choice even if they dont exceed that offer due to New York state income tax. Furthermore he stated that he would like to play in Texas again, and would prefer not to go to the N.L. ... he is better than Rickie Ledee, Greer, or Kapler ... A.Rod,I.Rod,Palmerio,Everette,Gonzales, Catalanotto ... the list goes on. This team kinda reminds me of the Indians in the mid nineties.

djb · 01-07-2002, 03:01 AM

Don't forget Park and Rocker [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] What's with all the rumors of the team dealing I-Rod?

MFFL · 01-07-2002, 09:08 AM

I doubt if the Rangers are going to resign Pudge. If the team is not in contention by the trading deadline, Pudge will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Kinda sad actually - but he has those huge piles of money to console himself with.

LonestarROB · 01-07-2002, 11:03 AM

Juan will supossibly make his decision today. I hope it's the Rangers. If so, look for Gabe Kapler and possibly Mike Lamb to be traded soon after for a starting pitcher. Maybe Ponson or Chen.

FineCubanCigar · 01-08-2002, 08:08 AM

i think your right rob. Pudge will inevitably leave the club by the end of next season, it is sad. However, he will have a hard time staying behind the plate in upcoming years, the amount of games he has caught is ridiculous for his age, and his offense is good, but not spectacular for an outfeild or third base position. I wish the greatest catcher of all time would go to the hall in a rangers jersey, but the buisness aspect just doesnt make sense.

LonestarROB · 01-08-2002, 10:57 PM

He's BAAAACK. 2 years $24 million.

MFFL · 01-08-2002, 11:03 PM

Damn - I was going to post that!

MFFL · 01-08-2002, 11:05 PM

Here's the link

Rangers, Gonzalez agree on two-year, $20 million deal
Deal contingent on Gonzalez passing physical
01/09/2002
By GERRY FRALEY / The Dallas Morning News

ARLINGTON - The Rangers on Tuesday night reached agreement on a two-year deal that will bring back former American League Most Valuable Player Juan Gonzalez.

General manager John Hart and Jeff Moorad, who represents Gonzalez, completed work on a two-year contract worth about $20 million. A significant portion of the salary is deferred.

Gonzalez, 32, began his career with the Rangers and won the MVP in 1996 and '98 while with them. Former general manger Doug Melvin traded Gonzalez to Detroit after the 1999 season. He spent one season with the Tigers and moved to Cleveland as a free agent for last season.

The deal is contingent upon Gonzalez passing a physical. He has a history of back problems and carries a $50-million insurance policy.

djb · 01-08-2002, 11:14 PM

Who will Pudge be dealt for?

MFFL · 01-08-2002, 11:49 PM

I'm pretty sure that Pudge will stay with the team for the entire year if we are in playoff contention (which we should be). If for some reason we fall out of contention, then we trade Pudge to the highest bidder. Which team that is is unknowable - the team that wants Pudge the most will probably have an injury at the position.

FineCubanCigar · 01-09-2002, 04:46 AM

whith juan, texas's lineup is Amazing ... but the lineup has never been the problem... i am excited about the upcoming season though

LonestarROB · 01-09-2002, 11:03 AM

Kapler and Lamb will be traded sometime over the next couple weeks. Bet on it. My guess is for Sidney Ponson.

I'm really look forward to this coming season aswell.

MFFL · 01-09-2002, 05:43 PM

The reaction in the New York papers is funny. I'll post a few.
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Here's the link

SEEDY GONZALEZ DISSES THE METS
By MICHAEL MORRISSEY

January 9, 2002 -- In the end, the Great Gonzalez Chase felt more like a hostage negotiation than a baseball deal. And Met general manager Steve Phillips was sized up for the Jimmy Carter role, circa January, 1981.

Free agent outfielder Juan Gonzalez is heading to the Rangers for two years and $24 million, a deal inferior to the Mets' two-year, $25 million offer with a vested option.

In a late night conference call, Phillips did his best to mask his disappointment and assert that Gonzalez's spurning of the Mets was not devastating.

"In my opinion, we're a playoff caliber team without another addition," said Phillips, who was nevertheless tired and dejected. "I think we still have several options and several ways to improve the team.

"This is just another step in the process. Not a step back, just not one giant leap forward. By no means is this a crushing blow."

Gonzalez's agent, Jeff Moorad, made a surprise overnight flight to Puerto Rico to rescue his client from indecision yesterday.

It turns out money didn't matter. The Mets' offer was $25 million for two years, and that included a 2.5 million buyout for 2004. The third year would've been worth $13.5 million, and the Mets did vest it.

But the Rangers' offer of a $2 million signing bonus, $10 million salary next year and $12 million in 2003 was enough to persuade Gonzalez to return to Texas, where he spent 11 years from 1989-99 and won two MVPs.

"It was just a gut-wrenching decision," Moorad told the Post from Puerto Rico. "And Juan felt extremely flattered by the Mets' interest, which had been consistent since Day One of free agency.

"In the end, the AL is his home and that's where he felt comfortable. I think familiarity was the key theme as we analyzed things."

Bobby Valentine, who managed Gonzalez in Texas from 1989 to 1992, tried in vain to reach the two-time MVP. So did assistant GM Omar Minaya and Roberto Alomar.

Gonzalez had told reporters in Puerto Rico he'd opt for income-tax free Texas if the money was close, but the Mets worked around that issue by offering $12 million of the contract as a signing bonus. Still, many thought Gonzalez never wanted to come here.

"I can play in New York. Who says I can't play in New York?" an angry Gonzalez told someone Monday afternoon.

He must have meant road games.

As news hit the wires around 7 p.m. that Gonzalez was close to a deal with the Rangers, a beacon of hope came from Met co-owner Fred Wilpon's cell phone.

"Well, until you're told you're out of it, definitively out of it, you have to keep your faith," Wilpon told The Post around 7 p.m. "I think it would be a shame if he doesn't take our offer, because I believe it is the best offer.

"I believe New York would be the best place for him to make his push to maybe get into the Hall of Fame."

Phillips didn't believe the player was being disingenuous about wanting to be a Met ("people change their minds," Phillips said), nor did he think Texas GM John Hart was laying in the weeds for the right moment.

Moorad respectfully disagreed.

"There's no doubt John Hart was laying in the weeds. He's done it two years in a row."

MFFL · 01-09-2002, 05:46 PM

Here's another

January 9, 2002
Gonzalez and Mets: No Market for Truths
By MURRAY CHASS

If Steve Phillips believed outfielder Juan Gonzalez when he gushed about playing for the Mets, he might want to go out and buy the Brooklyn Bridge and give it to his boss to add to his real estate empire.

As Phillips, the Mets' general manager, tried to lie in the weeds in his pursuit of Gonzalez, Gonzalez was quoted in recent weeks about how much he wanted to play for the Mets. Alleged friends of his were quoted as saying how much Gonzalez wanted to play for the Mets. "Juan has never wanted anything more in his life than he wants this," an anonymous friend was quoted as saying 10 days ago.

Mo Vaughn was traded to the Mets and immediately began beating the drums for the Mets to sign Gonzalez. He rat-a-tat-tatted during a conference call the day the deal was completed, and he toot-a-toot-tooted the next day when he showed up at Shea Stadium for the unveiling.

Did Gonzalez, who had never before expressed a desire to play for the Mets, wake up one morning this winter and proclaim: "I had a dream. I had a dream that I was playing for the Mets. It's my destiny"? Or while watching ESPN Classic, did he see the ball roll between Bill Buckner's legs, strike his forehead and declare: "I have to play for these guys. They're cool"?

No, the truth, if there's anyone around who will tell the truth, is that no market had developed for the free-agent Gonzalez, just as none developed a year ago when he was forced to sign a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians. Somebody had to do something to create a market. Another one-year, hat-in-hand deal would not do.

Vaughn and Gonzalez happen to be represented by the same agent, Jeff Moorad. Moorad had been unable to generate a market. Gonzalez, Vaughn and the ever-present anonymous friends tried to do it for him. The Mets were their focal point; they seemed to be the most likely target, maybe the only target.

But Moorad informed the Mets last night that his client had decided to sign with the Texas Rangers. Goodbye, Shea Stadium. Maybe next time. In two years, when Gonzalez will have to go looking again, if his fragile back doesn't do him in before then.

Nothing has gone right economically for Gonzalez since he rejected an offer from the Detroit Tigers of $143 million for eight years. He offered various explanations for his decision but wound up saying he didn't want to play in Detroit that long.

So he played for the Tigers in 2000 for $7.5 million, and he played for the Indians last season for $10.3 million. Now he returns to the Rangers, with whom he won two American League Most Valuable Player awards, back to Texas, where John Hart, who signed him last year in Cleveland, is the new general manager.

But Tom Hicks is still the Rangers' owner, and he approved the two-year, $24 million deal even though after the 1999 season, the last for Gonzalez in Texas after 10 seasons and 3 failed postseason ventures he said: "We can't win with Juan Gonzalez. He's not a winner."

The Mets will have to try to win without Gonzalez. Maybe they'll change direction and try to interest the Minnesota Twins in returning Rick Reed to them so that they can have a No. 2 starter.

The Mets wouldn't have to worry about Reed's $7 million salary for the coming season, even though it would put their payroll at about $100 million, or $5 million more than they have budgeted. For weeks, if not months, Phillips has invoked that budget, that $95 million budget, in saying he was limited in what he could do with the roster.

But then Fred Wilpon, who would be the recipient of the Brooklyn Bridge, unmasked that repeated phrase as a misleading mantra. Phillips, Wilpon said the other day, has had the O.K. to go beyond $95 million.

"We've been talking about it for a long time," Wilpon, the Mets' co-owner, said. "We had decided some time ago, but we just don't negotiate in the press."

Maybe Phillips continued talking about a $95 million ceiling as a negotiating ploy in his subtle chase of Gonzalez. But in so doing, he was not truthful with Mets fans, not to mention the reporters, who took him at his word. In that regard, the Gonzalez decision was poetic justice. He never meant what he said about his feverish desire to play for the Mets, and Phillips never meant he couldn't spend beyond $95 million. They won't be working for the same team, but the two of them deserve each other.

FineCubanCigar · 01-09-2002, 06:16 PM

if the mets had signed Gonzales his "fragile back" wouldnt have even been mentioned in the above article. . . i love it

FineCubanCigar · 01-11-2002, 02:40 AM

the dallas mourning news just blasted the new york media in todays sports section.

LonestarROB · 01-11-2002, 10:28 AM

NY media's been wineing like little babies.