That seven-year offer to Shin-Soo Choo we heard about earlier? Well, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com has the scoop on where it came from:
According to a source, the Rangers have a seven-year offer on the table to free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and he is giving it serious consideration. The offer is less than the $153 million deal that Jacoby Ellsbury signed with the Yankees this off-season but is still strong enough for Choo to consider.
The Rangers had a two-hour meeting with Chin prior to the Winter Meetings and gave him a strong sales pitch about coming to Texas. Choo turned down a six-year offer from the Rangers, according to the source. But now it appears the Rangers have gone seven years and could have a good chance to sign him at possibly around $130 million.
That’s not quite the eight-year offer he is reportedly seeking, but unless the Mariners are somehow willing to blow everybody out of the water like they did with Robinson Cano last week, this might be the best he can do.
The best free agent left on the market, Choo batted .285/.423/.462 with 21 home runs, 54 RBI and 20 stolen bases over 154 games with the Reds this past season. The 31-year-old owns a .389 career on-base percentage.
UPDATE: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News hears that the Rangers and agent Scott Boras are having “ongoing conversations” regarding Choo, but that reports of a seven-year deal on the table are inaccurate. As with most of these reports, it’s hard to know what to believe, but we’ll continue to track it.
