The Texas Rangers continue to search for a good right-handed bat — one that could be an impact bat and hit in the heart of the Rangers' order along with Adrian Beltre.
That search lost another candidate on Monday when Justin Upton inked a six-year deal worth well over $100 million with the Detroit Tigers, who always seem to make a big splash in free agency. While Upton was an option for the Rangers, he was more of a pipe dream.
There was talk Upton, whose market was slow to pick up and was without a lot of action, might play the 2016 season on a high-dollar one-year deal, somewhere in the $18-20 million range.
While it would've been tough, the Rangers could've made that work within their payroll for just one year. Now, that possibility is off the table even though the same has been said about fellow right-handed slugger Yoenis Cespedes.
Now, the Rangers can shift their focus a bit, and that might be back to the trade market and right-handed hitting catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Either way, Upton is off the table.
