Options Shaping Up for C.J. Wilson

The Winter Meetings are getting hot in Dallas, and the Texas Rangers are scheduled to meet with their ace that went 16-7 and posted a 2.94 ERA in helping lead the Rangers to their second straight pennant in 2011.

C.J. Wilson has basically already been written off by many Rangers fans as being gone in 2012, but the question is, where will he end up?

The price demand from Wilson and his agent hasn't exactly been deemed "fair" by pretty much all of baseball. So the price tag will likely come way down from what Wilson and his agent are seeking, which is somewhere in the $100 million range.

Reports are that the rival Los Angeles Angels have already made an offer to Wilson, as have the Miami Marlins, who seem to be in on everybody this off-season.

More reports say the Rangers will make their initial offer to Wilson today, and it likely won't be what a) Wilson wants or b) as high as some of the other offers he's getting, including the one from the Angels.

As Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News pointed out this morning on the Norm Hitzges show on KTCK-1310 AM, there are different reasons Wilson would go to his different apparent suitors.

If he goes to the Angels, it'll be because of the Southern California lifestyle that Wilson craves and grew up in. He's Mr. SoCal, and that would obviously be a big draw to the Angels, not to mention the possibility of sticking it to the Rangers in the AL West division race.

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If he goes to the Marlins, it'll be because they make the biggest offer with the most figures and the intrigue of playing in a brand new stadium in South Beach with Jose Reyes already in and an established closer behind him in Heath Bell. If the Marlins, in fact, are able to land Albert Pujols with their reported 10-year deal for more than $200 million, that would likely take them out of the Wilson picture.

That leaves the Rangers, where Wilson would have the best chance to win, and win a lot. The Rangers are the two-time defending AL champions and that has to go a long ways with Wilson, who despite what people say about him, is a professional in his approach and wants to win baseball games.

Which way will he go? It was said last week that Wilson wanted to make his decision before the Winter Meetings ended, so we should know in the next couple of days.

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