Rangers Agree To Terms With Adrian Beltre On Mega Contract

On Wednesday, the Rangers formally announced the signing of Adrian Beltre at a team press conference. The third baseman stands to be a big improvement both at the plate and in the field, cementing the Rangers’ status as the team to beat in the AL West.

Now, courtesy of Ken Rosenthal, we have some more details about his contract. We knew that it had a maximum value of $96 million over six years, but here’s the complete breakdown:

The Adrian Beltre sweepstakes have now officially reached a conclusion. Earlier Tuesday evening, it was reported that Beltre had reached a contract agreement with the Rangers, and that the only remaining holdup was a physical exam. The assumption was that Beltre would fly into town Tuesday night for a Wednesday exam, but according to Jon Heyman, Beltre flew to Texas and immediately had his physical, and - unsurprisingly - he passed.

So that settles it. Adrian Beltre is officially a Texas Ranger, and the team has called a press conference for Wednesday to announce the deal. Terms of the contract are that it has a maximum value of $96 million over six years, but the sixth year can be voided by the Rangers if Beltre doesn’t reach a certain level of plate appearances in 2014 and 2015, or just 2015.

Earlier on Tuesday, it was reported that Adrian Beltre was nearing an agreement with the Texas Rangers. Now, according to several reports, the contract is all but official.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson says that Beltre is expected to fly into the area Tuesday night for a physical, after which everything should be peaches. The physical exam is always the last big step of any contract agreement, and in Beltre’s case, there’s no reason to believe that anything will go wrong.

The Adrian Beltre negotiations have gone back and forth, as the free agent has searched for a home. For a long time, the Angels were considered the favorites to bring him in. Then, on Sunday, reports emerged that he was nearing an agreement with the Rangers. The next day, other reports suggested that the Rangers weren’t optimistic about signing Beltre. And now, on Tuesday, we’re back to where we were on Sunday - rumor has it that Beltre and the Rangers are close to an agreement.

Yahoo!‘s Tim Brown suggests that a contract could be finalized as early as today, and while Brown’s source pegs it as a six-year deal, Jon Morosi hears that it will instead be a five-year contract with a vesting sixth-year option. Jon Heyman chimes in to say that the total value is expected to be somewhere in the $90 - 100 million range. In other words, it looks like the reports on Sunday were right on.

On Sunday, rumors emerged from ESPN Deportes that the Rangers were close to reaching an agreement with Adrian Beltre. However, the team held a Monday press conference to discuss a number of things, and according to T.R. Sullivan, nothing appears to be close on the Beltre front.

Sullivan says that the Rangers officials were “not particularly optimistic” about the team’s chances of signing the free agent third baseman. Additionally, while current third baseman Michael Young has been asked about a position change, he was less than receptive and expressed a reluctance to make another move.

Free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre has drawn interest from the A’s. He’s drawn interest from the Angels. But if Sunday’s rumors are correct, he may soon be ending up in Texas.

Earlier Sunday, Jon Morosi tweeted that the Rangers and Beltre have been talking. And then later on, Enrique Rojas wrote up the following report for ESPN Deportes [poorly translated]:

The Angels began the offseason with a lot of money to spend, they have a need at third base, and they missed out on top priority Carl Crawford when he signed with the Red Sox.

Adrian Beltre is looking for a big contract, he doesn’t have interest in playing for Oakland or Baltimore, he lives in southern California, and his desired return to Boston was blocked when the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez.

Free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is looking to cash in on a monster season he had in Boston last year. Unfortunately for Beltre, while he expressed a desire to return to the Red Sox, they’re all full, having traded for Adrian Gonzalez and signed Carl Crawford. However, there’s good news: one suitor now stands out as the perfect place to land.

Adrian Beltre has been connected to the Angels for a while, now, as the Angels have the money, and Beltre has a home in the LA area. Complicating matters was that Beltre wanted to return to Boston while the Angels were focused on Crawford as their top priority, but with Boston all done and Crawford off the table, Beltre is left as a near-ideal silver medal for Anaheim.

Late last week, free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre said that his preference was to return to the Red Sox, all things being equal. However, the Red Sox then put themselves on the verge of pulling off an Adrian Gonzalez trade, and with Gonzalez at first, Kevin Youkilis moving to third, and David Ortiz at DH, all of a sudden there was nowhere for Beltre to play.

But now there’s good news for Beltre - the Gonzalez trade has reportedly fallen through, and while the deal isn’t completely dead, it certainly looks as if the Red Sox will have to turn their attention elsewhere. And without Gonzalez, then a spot remains for Beltre to return.

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, we noted that Adrian Beltre may have been offered a five-year, $45 million contract by the Oakland A’s. That was according to one Spanish-language report.

Now ESPN’s Enrique Rojas checks in to say that, according to his source, Oakland’s offer is actually worth $64 million, rather than $45 million. And, as you can imagine, that changes the picture quite a bit.