The Rangers are in the unique position of being both a “win now” and “win later” team. Their current roster with Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Joe Nathan, and others is good enough to win in 2013, but they’re also set up for the future with guys like Jurickson Profar, Martin Perez, and Mike Olt. They also have a handful of players who bridge both the “win now” and “win later” groups, including Yu Darvish, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, and left-hander Matt Harrison.

Harrison, 27, has been the team’s best pitcher over the last two years, so it wasn’t a surprise when Jeff Wilson of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported last week that the two sides are in “preliminary negotiations” about a contract extension. Harrison is arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter, but more importantly he is on pace to become a free agent after the 2014 season. He will have just turned 29 when that rolls around, and if he continues to pitch like he has these last two seasons, he’ll be in line for a huge free agent contract.

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Until he was dethroned by Mike Trout this summer, Evan Longoria had been a fixture atop my annual Trade Value series. It was partially due to the fact that he was both young and an excellent player, but, primarily, he ruled the list because his contract was so absurdly slanted in the Rays favor. Despite already racking up +29 WAR in his first four years in the Majors, Longoria has made a total of $8.5 million in salary to date, and is scheduled to make just $6 million in 2013. For comparison, Joey Votto — who also broke into the league as a full-time player in 2008 — has made $16 million thus far, is slated to make $17 million in 2013, and signed a $225 million extension that will keep him in Cincinnati through his age 37 season.

Well, today, Longoria joined Votto, Troy Tulowitzki, and Ryan Braun in signing contracts that should essentially take him through the rest of his productive career. The extension is officially for nine years, beginning next season, though it begins by guaranteeing the three team options the Rays already held for 2014-2016. Under the previously agreed upon deal, Longoria will earn $7.5 million, $11 million, and then $11.5 million before the new years under the contract he signed today kick in.

The breakdown of the contract hasn’t been released yet, but the new deal adds six more years and $100 million in guaranteed salaries, so the AAV of the extension is right around $17 million per season for his 2017-2022 seasons, and then there’s a team option — apparently mandatory if signing a deal with Tampa Bay — for 2023.

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The 2013 Hardball Times Annual is 15% off for today only with the following discount code: LNDEY3Y4

Just follow the link and when the book is in your shopping card copy and paste the discount code into the box and you’ll get 15% off. This discount code is only valid when you order through this link.

In case you hadn’t heard, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2013 has hit internet bookshelves. You can read all about it here in Dave Studeman’s post, or you can listen to Carson Cistulli and myself discuss it here on the FanGraphs Audio podcast he posted earlier today.

Because we’re giving folk, and since it’s the beginning of the holiday season and all, we want to give you a chance to win yourself a free copy of the book. So each day this week, we’ll be running a trivia contest based on one of the articles in the book. The first person to post the correct answer in the comments will win a free physical copy of the book (sorry, no free Kindle or Nook versions). It’s just that simple!

Today’s question comes from the article entitled “The Giants and Scutaro Win, as Does Valverde (Sort Of).” Written by THT’s Brad Johnson, it looks at the postseason through the lens of The Hardball Times’ traditional postseason win probability metric, Championships Added. It’s one of the book’s annual articles, and as such it seems like a good place to start.

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We now have new search functionality, which will hopefully allow you to get to the player pages much faster than before.

Typing something in the search box will now display a drop-down of all the players you searched for, just as would have been displayed on the actual player search page. You are still able to hit enter and get to the old search page if you want.

One additional note is that when the search bar is empty, the drop down displays a list of the most popular Major League and Minor League players on FanGraphs.

Episode 279
FanGraphs contributor Paul Swydan discusses the many splendors of 2013 Hardball Times Annual (available for buying here), in what is certainly not just a 30-minute infomercial-type episode of the podcast.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 31 min play time.)

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As the title says, the FanGraphs iPhone app is discounted to $0.99 for today only!

The app will of course include data for the 2013 season and already has the 2013 Bill James Handbook Projections available in the player pages.

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Darwin Perez Status Update: Perez Signs with Oakland
2. Five Notable 40-Man Roster Additions
3. SCOUT Leaderboards: Venezuelan Winter League

Darwin Perez Status Update: Perez Signs with Oakland
Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, famous for having never told a lie, reports that middle infielder Darwin Perez — recently of the Angels and, even more recently, a person of some interest in these Notes — has signed with the Oakland Athletics.

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There aren’t as many high-ceiling talents as there were in recent years – thanks to the promotions, as well as the burn out of prospects such as Mike Montgomery – but the good news is that an influx of international talent is starting to slowly refill the ranks. The organization has relied heavily on its development system in recent years.

#1 Wil Myers (OF)

Opening Day Age: 22
2012 Level: AA/AAA
Acquired: 2009 draft (3rd round)
Projected 2013 Level: AAA/MLB

The former prep catcher and 2009 3rd round draft pick out of North Carolina has developed into one of the top power hitting prospects in baseball. Myers, 21, split the 2012 season between double-A and triple-A, and hit 37 home runs between the two levels.

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