MLB roundup: Rangers make qualifying offer to Hamilton
The Texas Rangers have made a $13.3 million qualifying offer to outfielder Josh Hamilton, but they did not make a qualifying offer to catcher Mike Napoli, MLB.com reported Friday.
The qualifying offer to Hamilton was expected, because it allows the team to receive compensation with draft picks if Hamilton turns down the offer to become a free agent and winds up signing with another team.
Hamilton has until next Friday to decide whether to accept the Rangers' offer. If he accepts, it would keep him with the Rangers for one more year.
However, few expect Hamilton to accept the Rangers' offer.
The amount of the qualifying offer is the average of the previous year's top 125 free-agent salaries. This year that amount is $13.3 million.
Hamilton, 31, is expected to be one of the most sought after free agents on the market. He hit .285 with 43 homers and 128 RBIs in 2012.
The Rangers are still interested in re-signing Napoli, but didn't want to offer him $13.3 million to accept a qualifying offer. Napoli, 31, made $9.4 million in 2012, when he hit .227 with 24 homers.
--As expected, the Boston Red Sox officially made a $13.3 million qualifying offer to designated hitter David Ortiz.
He has until next Friday to accept the qualifying offer, which is less than the $14.58 million he earned in 2012.
Boston didn't extend qualifying offers to outfielders Scott Podsednik and Cody Ross, pitchers Aaron Cook, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Vicente Padilla, or first basemanJames Loney.
--First baseman Aubrey Huff has received a $2 million buyout from the San Francisco Giants after the club declined the team option on his $10 million contract for 2013.
Huff, 35, was limited by injuries this season and hit .192 with one home run and seven RBI in 52 games. He went 1 for 9 in the Giants' postseason run to the World Series championship.
Huff had signed a two-year, $22 million deal with the option for 2013 after the Giants won the World Series in 2010, but his production has fallen and Brandon Belt has taken over the first-base job.
---Ten candidates have been nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the pre-integration committee.
On the ballot are former players Marty Marion, Bucky Walters, Bill Dahlen, Wes Ferrell, Tony Mullane and Deacon White, former Cardinals owner Sam Breadon and former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, sporting goods executive Alfred Reach and umpire Hank O'Day.
The veterans' committee will announce the the inductees on Dec. 3 at the winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn.
. ---Less than a week after Rick Hahn began his new job as general manager of the Chicago White Sox, he has traded the son of the man who formerly held his job.
Hahn dealt minor-league outfielder Ken Williams Jr. to the Colorado Rockies for first baseman-outfielder Mark Tracy, the White Sox announced.
Williams is the son Ken Williams Sr., the team's former general manager who was promoted to executive vice president. Tracy is the son of former Rockies manager Jim Tracy.
---The Minnesota Twins claimed Colorado Rockies reliever Josh Roenicke off waivers Friday.
The Twins also claimed triple-A infielder Tommy Field from the Rockies, the Kansas City Royals took pitcher Guillermo Moscoso and the Chicago Cubs were awarded reliever Zach Putnam.
---The Baltimore Orioles claimed second baseman Alexi Casilla off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
Castila, 28, hit .241 with one homer and stole 21 bases for the Twins this past season.
He is eligible for arbitration in 2013 and projected to make around $1.5 million.
---St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire plans to accept an offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers to become the Dodgers' hitting coach, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
According to the report, the Dodgers' deal with McGwire is not final, but it appears to be close.
The Cardinals ranked second in the National League in team batting average and runs scored this past season. They won the World Series in 2011 and got to the N.L. Championship Series this year.
