Rangers Pick Up Adrian Beltre's 2016 Option
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SURPRISE (CBSDFW.COM) -- The Texas Rangers have picked up third baseman Adrian Beltre's option for 2016, guaranteeing the four-time All Star $16 million next season.
Beltre could have secured the option for next season by getting 586 plate appearances in 2015 -- something he's done in each of the past three seasons in Texas.
Instead of letting the season play out, Jon Daniels announced that the club would guarantee the option.
"It's really a no-brainer," Daniels told reporters on Monday. "You're talking about one of the best players in the game. Future Hall of Famer, team leader -- all the things that Adrian brings to the table."
Daniels feared that, had the option not been picked up, fans and the media would have become overly wrapped up in Beltre hitting the contract trigger.
"We didn't want it to be a story this summer. If he did miss a game here and there, we didn't want it to be a watch on the plate appearances. It's already hard enough to get him to take a day off."
In four seasons with Texas, Beltre has been selected to the All Star game three times, hitting .314 with 117 homeruns and 376 RBI.
He was the team's player of the year in 2014, leading the club in hits (178), homeruns (19), RBI (77), and runs (79).
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