Rangers put Josh Hamilton on unconditional release waivers

The Texas Rangers have chose to release 35-year-old outfielder Josh Hamilton.

“I’m hopeful that if he’s healthy and our roster is in a spot where we’d still like to have him back, we can work it out”, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said in a conference call according to ESPN.

It remains to be seen if Hamilton will get a new contract over the winter, but Texas will at least keep him in mind. He underwent another operation in June – this one to fix a torn ACL and cartilage damage – and that was that for his season.

That was Hamilton’s third surgery on the knee since September, along with cortisone shots and a stem cell and a platelet-rich plasma injection during spring training that may have led to more damage.

Hamilton, 35, did not play this year because of reconstructive knee surgery.

While this “release” seems to mostly be a procedural move, it goes to show when it comes to getting Josh Hamilton back on a baseball field, nothing is ever as simple as it could be. He hit.292/.368/.554 in 98 games with 19 homers and 47 RBI in his first year in the Queen City, an astonishing feat considering he had never played above Double-A and had only 14 games under his belt from 2003-06 at Single-A Hudson Valley.

The Reds traded Hamilton to the Rangers after the 2007 season in a deal for pitcher Edinson Volquez. He left as a free agent after the 2012 season and signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers released Josh Hamilton on Tuesday but he could be back next season.