Kinsler: Trade to Tigers best thing for his career

ARLINGTON — Two days after Prince Fielder sat at a podium at Globe Life Park and announced that neck injuries had ended his baseball career, the other piece of the Tigers-Rangers trade returned to Texas.

Ian Kinsler doesn’t want that trade to define his career, and yet he believes the deal rejuvenated it.

“It’s the best thing that’s happened,” said Kinsler, back at his former ballpark for the third time since being traded for Fielder after the 2013 season.

Kinsler admits he didn’t look at it that way when the trade happened. He had eight good years in Texas, a pair of World Series trips, three All-Star selections, made his home in the area and was in the middle of a long-term contract, hoping to be a Ranger for his entire career. The deal, which went down while he was on vacation, stunned and frustrated him.

“It had nothing to do with Detroit,” he said of his emotions. “It was just the way everything happened and where I thought I was in [regard] with the [Rangers] organization.”

As he looks back now, enjoying his third season anchoring the Tigers’ middle infield, he thinks maybe he needed to be stunned, to be taken out of his comfort zone.

“I didn’t know a lot about Detroit,” he admits. “I knew about the …

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