The last free agent weighed down by a qualifying offer is reportedly set to sign:
Source: #Rangers sign Desmond.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 28, 2016
Agreement between #Rangers and Desmond will be pending a physical. Deal in place.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 28, 2016
Source: Desmond deal with #Rangers is for one year.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 28, 2016
Given the Rangers’ healthy middle infield presence, you’ve got to figure that Desmond will be playing some kind of utility role with the Rangers or perhaps moving to the outfield full-time, which is in some ways shocking, given how fantastic he was just two years ago as a shortstop.
[adinserter block=”2″]But a really down 2015 season torpedoed his value, and it seems like a number of teams questioned whether he could still be a premium shortstop, as well as whether the bat would come back. It wasn’t that long ago that he looked like a certain $100 million player.
The signing is relevant to the Cubs only insofar as it was plausible that an NL contender could have picked up Desmond on the cheap. Absent a Dexter-Fowler-like-shocking twist, that won’t happen now.
Desmond, like Fowler, will try to have a great year and hit free agency again next offseason in hopes of a bigger score. It’s a much weaker class (though it will be assisted by guys like Fowler, Desmond, Yoenis Cespedes, and Scott Kazmir signing deals that make them available again next offseason).
In terms of the fun and craziness around the game (including the fact that we’re nearly in March, and a guy like Desmond just signed), here’s hoping next offseason comes even remotely close to matching this one.
UPDATE: OOF –
Source: Desmond deal with #Rangers is one year, $8M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 28, 2016
Somewhere, folks are compiling a list of the better deals secured by inferior players. And that somewhere is deep in the bowels of MLBPA headquarters as they throw darts at a sheet of paper that says “qualifying offer.”