Week of June 17th, 2013

Roster Moves of the Week:

• Jeff Baker to 15 day DL for spraining his thumb on a high five
• McGuinness who has been playing 1st since Mooreland has been out is back to AAA because he can't bat.
• Joe Ortiz (reliever) brought up from AAA
• Chirinos (catcher/1st) brought up from AAA- I don't really think he can bat either but Mooreland will be back soon.
• Martin Perez up from AAA 
• I think this was the right choice as Perez is a better pitcher than Lindblom certainly, and I'd say Tepesch and Grimm probably as well. I think they were giving him time since his injury, and should have brought him back long ago.
• Josh Lindblom back to AAA. 
• Joe Ortiz Optioned to AAA
• Mitch Mooreland will be back tomorrow which gives the Rangers their full lineup.
• Yoshinori Tateyama was traded to the Yankees for future considerations. He was effective before the trade of Uhaura and Adams in 2011 and declined from there. He's more of a right hand pitcher guy that was probably used as a long hand man incorrectly. He signed a contract in our minor league system this year. 
• Gentry to DL for a hand fracture after being hit by a pitch on the 18th
• Engle Beltre called up from AAA. Has a .300 average in AAA and is the best outfielder to man any outfield spot. Welcome up Beltre.

A note about roster moves.....there sure are way too many of them, thus showing off how injury ridden this team really is. I'd really like to see this list get shorter, get a healthy team out there, and win some ball games.

1. We are back to talking about Profar. His incredible talent to play the infield is blocked as has been said before, but after being called up to the majors due to Kinsler's injury he showed that he can hit well enough to make a case for himself in the majors there as well. Currently Washington is rotating him around to different positions to get him some playing time, but the only long term solution being tossed around out there is to stick him in the outfield where he has never played before. I'm still sticking to the leave him at AAA theory, use him as needed in the majors, and make a gigantic trade for him later. Please don't put good talent in the outfield where is doesn't belong.

2. Biogenesis has begun interviewing players said to be involved in possession and/or using of PED's. A-Rod and Braun are being questioned last. Why?

3. Joakim Soia is starting his rehab assignment in AA Frisco. This is an interesting situation. He was one of the best relievers for the Royals before having Tommy John Surgery in April of 2012 setting him back a year. He was acquired by the Rangers as a free agent with the hopes that he'll be just as good when he comes back. Assuming he is, it poses a problem with what to do with our relievers. We have a pretty good bullpen (9th) in the league (I think) but I know it's pretty solid. We have two good middle relievers in Cotts and Frasor, Ross in the 7th, Sheppers in the 8th, and Nathan in the 9th. All of them have proven they deserve to be where they are, so who do you take out? Soria has up to 30 days in rehab although he doesn't have to use all of it. If I had to take a guess they take out Frasor, but that's just drawing from a hat at this point.

Rangers vs. Athletics (home)
This is a make it or break it series...possibly for the entire season. Basically the Rangers have played worse than they really are, while the Athletics have played better than they are. Currently we sit three games behind them, and worst case scenario we are 7 games back when it's all over. However, Murphy is going to start swinging a bat, Kinsler will go back to hitting the way he was before his injury, Martin/Gentry will make some run production, Andrus will start hitting better to bring his OPS up.....oh wait newsflash...this needs to happen starting tonight! Scary thought since they just scored a total of four runs in a four game series. Oh well here's a link that breaks down the situation a little more clearly. Rangers/Athletics Breakdown

17th-8-7 Rangers win! Yes they won! Cruz hit 2 homers and knocked in four runs alone. That's as many as we had in the four game series against the Blue Jays. Pierzynski went 2-3 with a walk. The bats were as hot as the 95 degree heat. The only not so hot thing was Tepesch who left in the fourth after giving up 6 runs.

18th-6-2 Rangers Lose-Our win streak didn't last for long, and what a disappointing game this was. Darvish wasn't on his game, and naturally the offense didn't help him out. Enough about that. The worst case scenario at this point is being 5 games back, which would still be pretty awful. Ian Kinsler did slam into Jaso (the catcher) for a run...in which he then got three stitches in between innings to finish the game. It's pretty fun to watch. KInsler slam at the plate

19th-9-4 Rangers Win-Leonys Martin scored big going 2-3 with a walk, stolen base, and two runs scored. He's putting his best foot forward for the Martin/Gentry duo out there, not to mention the 15.5 million we payed him 3 years ago for his amazing arm. Martin my man your earning your spot on this ball club. It wasn't just Martin though, the offense showed up!

20th-4-3 Rangers Win- That's right folks, the Rangers came back from that horrible losing streak to win  three out of four to the Athletics decreasing their lead to one game. The Rangers were up 4-3 in the ninth with the tying run sliding to the plate for an incredible out. I've linked the Audio to the play. Winning call at the plate

21st-6-4 Rangers Win-Holland didn't have the best start through five, but ended up retiring his final 12 to go seven innings. Murphy got a hit (incredible) After checking stats he's up from .208-.220. Still terrible. Cruz drove in the game winning double in the 9th to win a game that had been tied since the 2nd. Feels really great to beat the Cardinals. After our heartbreak in 2011, it should be a time for celebration. Although I do have a feeling at the same time that it's all bygones because it's not the same Ranger team playing the same Cardinals team either. Just two great ball clubs duking it out. They won't play each other again this year unless it's the world series.

22nd-4-2 Rangers Win-Perez showed us he can pitch. Oh and apparently Cruz is doing great in the #3 spot in the rotations. He's on a four game hitting streak from that spot. Good game gentleman.

23rd- DELAYED

Rangers up .5 game in AL West 
4th in MLB

Hell of a week for the Rangers but they pulled through with those big wins against the Athletics. We went from 3 games down last week to winning this week. Way to go guys.

Week of June 10th, 2013
Rangers are on an 11 game home stand woohoo!

Kirkman has been moved to the 60 day DL list making his return mid-August. I am NOT sad about this. It is what is best for the ball club. Justin Miller was removed from the DL and optioned to AA. What a terrible and unexciting series of events, but as strongly as I feel about Kirkman and his bad pitching, so be it.

Leury Garcia has been lifted from 3rd base duties mostly because of his low offensive efforts (a .176/.222/.216 line yikes) not to mention the many mistakes defensively as well. I like the kid but he needs more time before becoming a mainstay as a utility infielder. He was optioned to AAA with Kinsler now being back from the DL......this means.....

Profar is still in the majors and it will be interesting to see how they get him playing time on a regular basis.

Biogenisis update: So the MLB offered incentives to Bosch to talk so he would drop a lawsuit that he then did not drop. Furthermore the Florida judge didn't throw out the case. Think of this as a case between the MLB against the players who have taken the PED's. However they are blaming Bosche the 3rd party for it since he was involved. Fair?

Ian Kinsler and Matt Harrison have started Rehab assignments. Sad for Profar who is actually one of a few doing anything offensively but such it is.

An article on why the Rangers suck at hitting


Rangers vs. Indians (home)

10th-6-3 Rangers Win- Berkman hit the huge go-ahead two-run shot, Josh Lindblom threw the exact definition of a quality start, and the red hot Jeff Baker shifted the game back toward winnable with a game-tying two-run home run of his own.  (source:Erik Thomson-LoneStarBall.com)

10th- 6-3 Rangers Win- Lindblom had a quality start (way to go!), Baker hit a homer to tie the game and Berkman finally did something with his bat to hit a homer to win the game.

11th-5-2 Rangers Lose- I wish I could have gotten me a cool Yu bobblehead. That would have been cooler then watching the Rangers lose again. This is not fun. Holland didn't have his best game, and the offense especially of late was terrible....AGAIN.

12th-5-2 Rangers Lose- I'm REALLY getting tired of this. Not only did we lose to a mediocre picture, Topesch, couldn't pitch a good game. Add in the fact that the Rangers make a hitters park look like a pitchers park with their bats and you get a really crappy game. I watched it and gave up in the 3rd inning. 

Rangers vs. Blue Jays (home)

13th- What's more frustrating. Not scoring runs or not letting the other team score runs? Either way we suck right now. Darvish was still fantastic and the Rangers still didn't think they needed to back him up. Losing sucks. Oh and Leonys Martin is day to day due to a sprained wrist after leaving this game early. We just can't win on the injury front.

14th- 8-0 Rangers lose. Yes folks that's four in a row. Must I say it again. Losing sucks. I do not need to say again because it's obvious the bats did nothing. Oh and Jeff Baker had to sit this game out because he sprained his thumb giving a high five. That's right, a high five. We don't have anybody else to get injured or we won't have a 9 man team. frustration abounds because we are now 2 games back with Oakland currently playing.

15th-6-1-Rangers Lose- They didn't hit....especially with RISP (1-13)There is nothing else to be said about this game.

16th-7-2-Rangers Lose. Yup folks that's 6 losses in a row. I have nothing.


3 games back in AL West 
Tied for 6th in MLB

Week of June 3, 2013 (my birthday)

PUDGE RODRIGUEZ WAS ELECTED INTO THE TEXAS BASEBALL HALL OF FAME!

Since I can't embed the video see the link to see Profar's 2 run walk off homer to win the game yesterday Profar's Homer. Profar is just a superstar. Kinsler is about to come off the DL and that means one of two things,
1, Profar stays in Majors and gets VERY limited time. Maybe 2-3 days a week. There is nowhere to plug him in where he will be an offensive upgrade.
2. Send him back to AAA and allow him to get at bats while keeping him on reserve for other DL fatalities.
Unfortunately he IS major league ready, but his time is not now in this club. He is only 20. That's a good thing.

-Ogando is back. Ortiz was optioned rather than Kirkman being called down. Ortiz has options which can leave him in the organization. Kirkman would have to clear waivers in order to do that, and that wouldn't happen. So we keep a crappy pitcher.
-Scratch that, Ogando is not back. He has right shoulder inflammation this time is so he went back to the DL. Josh Lindblom was called up from AAA. He will get the start on Monday.
-The Rangers are questioning whether Ogando can handle the starting role with all the DL he has had. He has a great arm, but he's had much better success in the bullpen.
-Michael Kirkman has been put on the 15 day DL due to skin problems from cancer he had a year ago. They basically did this because he sucks. Nobody is sad.
-Kyle McCleellan has been called up to replace Kirkman. He has been plagued with injuries but the small sample of 9 innings in the minors he has pitched excellently.

The 130 million dollar pay roll of the Angels is being outplayed by the 25 million dollar payroll of the Astros. Boom Yeah! That's what you get for being greedy Angels.

The MLB draft (which I am so sad I am missing due to work and the fact that I don't have ESPN) is Thursday. More to come when it is over. Rangers have just over 6.5 million to spend. I haven't been reading up on prospects but it'll be all over the Ranger news when it happens. Rangers have the 23rd and 30th pick in the 1st round. Here are some guesses for the top 33. Top 33
Rangers sign Omarlin Lopez for $825,000 Stats on Omarlin Lopez
#23 went to RHP Alex Gonzalez Read about Alex Gonzalez
#30 went to SS Travis Demeritte Read about Travis Demeritte
The rest of the picks- Round 3-10

Biogenesis and MLB suspensions. It looks like it's going to happen. Tony Bosch the founder of Biogenesis is talking and admitting in some cases he administered PED's to players such as A-Rod, Ryan Braun and even Nellie Cruz of the Rangers just to name a few of 20 players. These players are suspected of not only taking PEDs but then lying that they took them- two offenses in MLB. Because of this, it is said they may face up to a 100 game suspension for the combination of the two faults. According to ESPN this is to happen in the "next couple of weeks."
I also think long term. These players may never reach the hall of fame due to their usage of PEDs.  We have to remember the days of Mark McGuire and Sammie Sosa and the like being on hall of fame voting ballots and not making it last year. How many years will that go on. Should they be in the hall of fame? My opinion: Would they be just as good of a ball player without the PEDs? If so elect them in. Same with this new set of guys.

The Rangers are about to play 20 consecutive games of hard baseball. They will play eight series and 6-8 will have averages over .500. Ouch. This is where we see if our pitching is as good as the numbers say it is. Hey, we always have Yu.

MONDAY IS AN OFF DAY

Rangers vs. Red Sox (away)

4th-17-5 Ranger Lose-Divid Murphy our Right Fielder pitched. Enough Said

5th-4-3 Rangers Win- Ogando was back from the DL and pitched a good game. Andrus hit the game winning double off the wall, and Mooreland went out of a game due to hamstring tightness and onto the DL. With Beltre just coming back from his hamstring problems (and playing the rest of this road trip as the DH) this poses a first base problem. We don't have a first baseman in the ball club including AAA. Olt is our only option and he's been back in AAA after being on the DL for 5 games. I'm assuming they will call him up anyway, and I was wrong. They called up McGuinness instead. A rookie who is doing sub-par work at AAA.

6th-6-3 Rangers Lose in the bottom of the ninth. Go figure. David Ortiz hit a 3 run homer off Kirkman...again go figure. If you don't already know this, when the Rangers are tied going into the bottom of the ninth and they are pitching we will lose almost always.

Rangers vs. Blue Jays (away)
The blue jays suck, but quite honestly so do we lately. We are in desperate need of home and in bigger need to get healthy. We have:
-Lance Berkman who proved he can only DH after giving 1st base a try for old times sake.
-Mooreland on the DL (I would have never said I'd miss him, but he's putting up some big numbers,) with a rookie McGuinness taking his spot. Wait who?
-Beltre isn't in shape after his hamstring injury to play on the turf leaving Leury Garcia to take his spot. I like the young kid, but he is young, and is making mistakes.
-Ian Kinsler is on the DL-so there goes our run production....what we have of it.
-Kirkman can't do JACK and they keep letting him go try to throw the ball. When will they get a clue he just makes us lose.
-Colby Lewis it seems might never be back, and Harrison is out as well.
So Blue Jays bring on your terrible team and let's play some ball.

7th-6-1 Rangers Lose-Tepesch had a good game with a bad 6th inning. Tepesch hit the #9 batter before having to face the top of the line up which then scored four runs. Am I a repeat record saying our bats suck and provide no run-support for our pitchers who pitchers who are for the most part pitching their hearts out. On paper our bats are much better than this.

8th-4-3 Rangers Lose-This was the marathon game of the year. Two games all wrapped up into one running 18 innings in 5 hours and 26 minutes! Berkman played first and Soto caught (ugg). Ross Wolfe believe it or not held on to the game for 5 innings. The run that was scored was scored off of a base hit and a wild pickoff attempt to first. At that point I think everyone was glad for the game to just be over. Nobody wants to watch that much baseball in one day again. Thanks for the opportunity though.

9th-6-4 Rangers Win- Finally. What a rough road stretch. Grimm pitched into the 6th allowing a three run homer in the 2nd. The rangers hit some homers mixed in with some small ball in each of 5 innings in a row. Run production. I like it. Oh and Chris McGuinnes got his first hit in the majors...and RBI double.

Rangers up .5 games in AL West, Tied for 4th in MLB

Week of April 27th, 2013

In minor league news Mike Olt is  back from the DL with vision problems. He'll be in Frisco. I'd love to see him play. He is so good at third base. I know he's just trading bate due to Adrian Beltre being at third, but that kid is good. Scratch that....he's in Round Rock at AAA now.

I read an article about catchers. There aren't a lot of good ones out there. MLB Catchers

So Chris Davis is a beast we traded for Uehara in 2011. Basically Davis was doing nothing for us at 1st or offensively. We traded him for a good reliever turned bad. So bad he was left of the post season roster the year we went to the world series and lost twice in one game to the Cardinals. What if he would have been able to pitch that fate fall  inning? Now Uehara pitches mediocure baseball and Davis has one of the hottest bats in baseball. Hmmm... You can read more here Chris Davis Trade

Ogando had a great start going 6 innings on 60 pitches allowing just 2 runs and no walks at AA Frisco. He'll be coming off the 15 day DL and should be ready for the next 5th Starter sport. This will knock either Perez, Teopech, or Grimm out, but I'm guess Perez. The other two seem to have been solid thus far. Perez was all over the  place last week. Ogando will be taking the mound on Wednesday.

Rangers vs. Diamondbacks (away)
Double Header for Memorial Day

27th- Game 1- 5-3 Rangers Lose- The good news, Martin Perez is finally back, bad news, Perez had zero command, the offense struck out 15 times before an attempt at a comeback in the 9th. It wasn't a good game.
         Game 2-5-4 Rangers Lose- Darvish struck out 14 before giving up a homer in the 8th.The defense held their own against Cahill, and at the very least we can celebrate Cahill not getting the win.

TUESDAY WAS AN OFF DAY FOR THE RANGERS

Rangers vs. Diamondbacks (Home)
29th-POSTPONED

30th-9-5 Rangers win-We finally won a game. That's nice of the Rangers to do. Grimm had a good outing. Kirkman did not. Also did you know Robbie Ross has a .37 ERA. AMAZING.


Rangers vs. Royals (Home)
31st-7-2 Rangers Win- Holland went 7 innings and struck out eight and Beltre went 4-4. Good game gentleman.

1st-41- Rangers Lose- Well there was a lot of baseball. 10 innings of 1-1 boring baseball. Then in the 10th Robbie Ross with the bases loaded and nobody out had two amazing strikeouts before allowing a two singles to drive in 3 runners. It was exciting for a minute, then it wasn't. Robbie Ross with his .37 ERA doesn't have a .37 ERA anymore, but it's still pretty damn good. Everybody is allowed to make mistakes, especially in tough situations like that. Oh and Beltre left the game in the 10th due to a tight hamstring.

2nd- 3-1 Rangers Win- Beltre sat out due to his hamstring. Profar hit a 2 run homer to win the game. Read this reaction to the Darvish pitch count debacle, it's amusing. Darvish Pitch Count

Rangers lead AL West 2 games up. 
2nd in MLB next to the Cardinals.