Josh Hamilton is likely headed back to the team where he enjoyed his most successful stretch as a professional baseball player.
Rangers reporter TR Sullivan says that the Texas Rangers are close to a trade to acquire Hamilton from the Angels. Sullivan says the deal will likely be announced on Monday.
Hamilton signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Angels after the 2012 season and had two average seasons for the Halos. Prior to this season, he admitted to the commissioner that he had a drug and alcohol relapse. The Angels were trying to use that as a reason to get out of the remaining $83 million he is owed through 2017.
As a messy situation unfolded, the easiest solution seemed to be for the Angels to trade Hamilton. They appear to be sending him back to Texas, where he was the 2010 MVP and a five-time All-Star. Hamilton also apparently wanted to be gone, too. The Angels wanted him to report to extended spring training in Arizona, but the LA Times’ Bill Shaikin says he balked at that.
