Josh Hamilton Is Going Back to Texas

27 Apr, 2015

Josh Hamilton is back with the Texas Rangers after two troubled seasons with the Los Angeles Angels filled with poor performance, injuries and an alcohol and drug relapse.

Less than halfway through a $125 million, five-year contract, Hamilton was traded Monday by the Angels to their AL West rival for a player to be named or cash. The Angels and owner Arte Moreno, wanting to rid himself of Hamilton, agreed to pay most of the remaining $80 million Hamilton was owed under the contract, which runs through 2017.

“I played, and played hard when I was there,” Hamilton said during a news conference. “I worked my butt off to be that guy this year going into this season for the Angels. They just didn’t want that to happen for some reason.”

On the 15-day disabled list while recovering right shoulder surgery on Feb. 4, Hamilton took a physical and will report Tuesday to the Rangers’ spring training complex in Surprise, Arizona.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said the team expects he will be there for about 10 days, then spend 10-to-14 days on an injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Round Rock. He is on track to be activated during the second half of May.

“I’m back here. I’m back home,” Hamilton said. “I’m going to give everything I’ve got.”

Daniels called Hamilton is “a player we feel can be productive and help us win games.”

Hamilton, who turns 34 on May 21, returns to the team he helped make consecutive World Series appearances in 2010 and ’11. He was the 2010 AL MVP and an All-Star each of his five seasons with Texas (2008-12).

Hamilton was owed $80.2 million for the remainder of his contract: $20,234,973 of this year’s $23 million salary and $30 million in each of the final two seasons.

AP

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