Sunday, February 12, 2012

Rangers, Napoli avoid arbitration with one-year contract

The Texas Rangers and catcher Mike Napoli agreed to a one-year contract worth $9.4 million to avoid salary arbitration, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Napoli had asked for $11.5 million and the Rangers had offered $8.3 million.

Although he played in more games in the previous two seasons, Napoli set career highs in 2011 with 30 home runs, 72 runs and 75 runs batted in.

Even more impressively, he hit .320 and he's a career .264 hitter. His previous career high in batting average was .273.

After Cleveland's Carlos Santana and Atlanta's Brian McCann, Napoli is my third-ranked fantasy catcher heading into the 2012 season.