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.

Week of May 20, 2013

Colby Lewis has thrown 47 pitches in his AAA rehab start. Velosity is down to about 87 and needs to be about 91. After allowing no hits and striking out three he gave up a bunch of hits and a homer in the third before he was pulled. Progress I say. We need you back Colby because the next big news is Lindblom has been called up to start in Monday night's game against Colon (ha that's funny) since Lindblom has never played Major League baseball before and is pitching against the A's best pitcher. In addition we have Profar called up as well and we'll see what he can do. I personally don't believe he'll be a breakout all-star player....he doesn't have the bat for it.

Derek Lowe was designated for assignment to bring up Lindblom. This means he can be waived, traded, or released in 10 days or the Rangers will have to eat his $1.25 million dollar salary. He is 40. Had a 9.00 ERA and has given up 13 runs in 13 innings. Dare I say it's time for his career to be over?

Pierzynski is back from the DL and so Chirinos is optioned back to AAA. Pierzynski didn't think he needed to be on the DL in the first place and that it was boring, so yeah for him being back for his own sanity....forget what's best for the ball club.

And yet ANOTHER pitcher goes down. Tepesch with a blister missing the 22nd. This article explains who they are calling up and what is happening with the rotation. Rotation changes. This is getting ridiculous. We are now replacing our replacement pitchers. I can't hardly keep track of whose turn it is next. I believe it would be Wolf, Grimm, and Holland....but I really have no clue.

Lowe was released and Teahen was picked up from the Nationals' AAA team. He is being added for depth and won't spend much if any time with the Rangers.

We have a new Outfielder for depth. Joe Benson was claimed on waivers from Minnesota. He has a horrible line batting only .192 this year but the Rangers are putting him in AA Frisco to see what he can do. In my opinion another mediocre outfielder is not what we need, but maybe he'll magically turn into a superstar.

Pretty fun link. There are some good ones in here to sift through. (PEDs and the Hall, WAR, NL or AL to name a few.)The Worst Baseball Conversations

Rangers vs. Athletics (home)

20th-9-2 Rangers lose- Well as I said Colon vs. Lindblom was a joke. So much so that he is being optioned back down to AAA. Neal Cotts will be called up from AAA to replace him. (33 years old, hasn't played in Majors since 2010, but having a terrific season at AAA this year.) Lindblom did pitch decently for four innings and fell apart completely after that. In addition the bats did nothing and defense wasn't specials. Luckily there is always another game the next day.

21st-1-0 Rangers Lose- Yuck. There is absolutely nothing to say about this game because they didn't really play much of a game.

22nd-3-1 Rangers Won- The two rookies Wolfe and Cotts (who came in for relief) got us through the only game in the series we managed to win. We did hit two homers which was enough offensively, but come on we can do better than that.

THURSDAY THE 23RD IS AN OFF DAY

Rangers vs. Mariners (away)

23rd-9-5 Rangers Win-Grimm's pitching was mediocre, The bats were hitting including Berkman who hit a 3 run homer. A solid win overall.

24th-5-2 Rangers Win-Holland outpitched Felix Hernandez. It's just awesome when that happens. To note: Holland struck out 10, Profar got a couple of hits (who doesn't like that kid), and Murphey hit three times as well. The Rangers sure are good at singles this year.

25th-4-3 Rangers Lose- Profar hit a homer in the first, then there were 13 innings of pointless baseball. We lost in the 13th. Sucks.

Rangers 1st in division by 4.5 games. 2nd in baseball to the Cardinals. If you know me at all that second part about the Cardinals is a huge problem. I must go tell them to start losing.

Week of May 13, 2013

Let's start with this article about Darvish Striking out a possible 300 for the year.....? Can Darvish realistically strike out 300?

For those that follow anything about the minors Mike Olt is going on the disabled list for an eye problem. He hasn't been hitting well and/or living up to his potential to be a major league candidate blocked by Beltre at 3rd (where Olt plays) or 1st where he really shouldn't be playing because his defense is too good. He'll be back.

Pierzyski is on the DL for an Oblique Strain. Chirinos is called up from AAA. With Soto being...well not so stellar.... we'll see how this goes.

Colby Lewis threw two innings in a rehab start in Vegas last week, but has been pulled from his rehab assignment due to tricep pain. This is likely pushing his coming back to the rotation an additional week at this point. Bummer.

To add to our pitching problems Ogando is now on the DL for right bicep tendonitis. Josh Lindblom is replacing him from AAA. Out of our five starting pitchers we now have 2 left. We are basically playing a AAA starting rotation.

LETS JUST ADD TO THE DL- Ian Kinsler this time. He has an intercostal strain (rib injury). Profar has been called up and I'm excited to see him play. Let's just hope his bat can be of help and not harm.



Rangers vs. Athletics (away)
We play Oakland this week for the first time. The make it or break it team from last year. The good news is we are up 6 games, so for this series they could lose all three and still be ahead. If you care to read a little further I am providing a link that gives a run down of everything from each teams' stats to the ball park and key players...and a few other tidbits. The Match Up. They dare predict Oakland will win this series but I could not disagree more. We are just a better team. Better pitching, better fielding, hitting is debatable. I'm nervous about this series,mostly because I hate what happened last October,  but nothing is too big at for a team that's first in all of baseball. 

13th-5-1 Rangers Lost- Grimm sucked. Rangers can't seem to win in Oakland. That's really all there is to say about that came.

14th- 6-5 Rangers win. We won in the 10th inning due to Mooreland hitting a home run after Nathan gave up a run to almost lose the game. That was nice of Mooreland.

15th- 6-2 Rangers win. A winning series in Oakland. Progress made for the Rangers. Cruz was player of the game after hitting a three run homer and a diving catch to save a rally by Oakland.

Rangers vs. Tigers (home)
This is a series of probably the two best teams in baseball. I disagree and think the Cardinals have better pitching than us currently and a way better bullpen then Detroit. Either way these pitching match ups should be pretty good and we are at home. I give the advantage to us, but it'll be a tough series.

16th-10-4 Rangers Win- An amazing match up between Verlander and Darvish. Such a shame I don't have cable. Either way the rangers batted around in the third with an included 3 run homer from Soto (he's getting better with the long ball lately) and we won becoming the best Rangers team at this point in the season with a 27-14 record.

17th-2-1 Rangers Lose- It was a battle of weak pitching and the Rangers lost. How awesome is that? Also Martin can throw a ball. He threw the ball from center field on the money to the catcher for the tag out in each of the last two games.

18th-7-2 Rangers Win- ELVIS SHOWED UP! He went 5 for 5 and stole 2 bases. Rumors are starting that Andrus will stay in the lead off spot even after Kinsler comes back. Hard to think of Kinsler not taking that role, but if there is run production from Elvis why change what isn't broken. Justin Grimm went 7 innings like what?

19th- It is currently 3-1 in the bottom of the 4th as I finish this tonight.

I'll let Adam Morris tell you the standings. His look prettier than mine. It's worth celebrating!Current A.L. West Standings

Week of April 29, 2013

Something to feel good about. Josh Hamilton just had a night of hitting 0-8! His current hitting line is is 202/.246/.298 and for those that don't happen to know what that means it sucks. He's batting .202, making it to base .246 times, and slugging (hitting) .298 times. Aren't we glad he's not on our team.

Through 25 games Murphy (LHB) Moreland (LHB) and Martin (LHB) seem to be struggling and bad. Seems we need to be working better from the left side. All the rest seem to be doing respectively well....when they decide to hit.

Harrison has to have a second surgery on his back, but it should not keep him out longer. Just the expect due back date of August 1st as if that isn't already bad. Uggg

Perez and Lewis are both starting their Rehab starts in Frisco and Round Rock respectively and both should be back by the beginning of next month. That's a yeah. I should suspect that Grimm with be taken out first and then Tepesch although I hate to see him go because he's done well.

Yu Darvish is the April Player of the month.

The Rangers had an off game the 29th before starting a week long home stand against the white sox and then red sox.

Rangers against the White Sox (Home)

30th-5-0 Rangers lost because they can't hit. I this this is becoming a theme this year.

31st-10-6 Rangers Win- Mooreland showed up going 3-3 with a walk! About time.

1st-5-2 Rangers Lose-Umm we couldn't manage to hit with runners in position after having five Rangers in a row reach base. What?? Aparently Soto in particular doesn't know how to get around the bases when needed to....

2nd- 3-1- Rangers Lost. I don't have anything for this game except the the Rangers lost the series because of terrible offense. The Rangers were outscored 19-10.  It's the first series they have lost this year. I'm not too disappointed after all the successes we can celebrate thus far. 

Rangers against the Red Sox (Home)

3rd-7-0 Rangers Won- The bats were hitting. Enough said.

4th-5-1 Rangers Won- Ogando pitched a fantastic game, Gentry hit a home run, and our pitching is keeping us in first clearly seen when we can sweep a series against the second best line up in baseball.

5th-4-3- Rangers win a tied game, bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, two on base and Beltre batting after Berkman was intentionally walked. I'm not sure why they would do that, but they did. Beltre hits a single to drive in Andrus and we win the game. Glorious I say.

Another week in the book. Rangers on top 2.5 games.

Week of April 22, 2013

Begin week 1/2 Game up and in 1st place in division

Jokaim Soria has a set back and will not be back to pitch in the bullpen until July 1st. He was due back after Tommy John Surgery in June, but pulled a muscle in his chest keep him out an extra month.

The postponed game from the Cubs will be made up May 6th.

Yu Darvish continues to be amazing with now 49 strikeouts for the year and the most in MLB. Here is a GIF of a series of five pitches all pitched to Pujols to strike him out. The article explains it a little more clearly what is happening. Darvish Pitching

Playing Angels in Anaheim
22nd- 7-6 Rangers Win- AJ hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. I think people are really starting to like AJ at least I am. He's a solid veteran catcher and seems to be a solid bat as well.

23rd-5-4 Rangers Lose- Rangers faced a lefty pitcher, so Baker went in for the lefty Murphy and Gentry went in for Martin. Rangers have had a terrible line hitting left hand pitching. It didn't work. They couldn't end up hitting with runners in scoring position especially after sending the game into extra innings.

24th- 11-3 Rangers win. Darvish was just GOOD.

Playing Twins in Minneapolis 
25th- 2-1 Rangers Win- Tepesch had a decent outing with no back up offense

26th- 4-3 Rangers WIn- Grimm pitched 7 shut out innings. I think he's starting to settle into his role of replacing Harrison for now. By the way the Rangers have matched the 98 Yankees record of 16-7 after 23 games. Pretty good I'd say. Our base running has much to be desired and something I consider to be a weakness especially when two guys are thrown out at home when they shouldn't have been. Also in the bottom of the ninth Ortiz was taken out to put in Nathan who then gave up 3 run almost costing the game. Nathan is great, just not that night.

27th-7-2 Ranger Lose-  Elvis and Beltre were given the night off with Beltre playing as the DH. It's not Garcia or Baker's fault for the loss, they did their job, but a game is always more fun to watch with them in their rightful spots. Holland pitched well with NO run support. We lose when that happens.

28th- 5-0 Rangers Lose- Repeat of yesterdays game. Maybe they are tired after a rode trip and coming home for the week will help. Just a hope.

Rangers end week 2.5 games in 1st place. 

Sunday, April 21, 2013
Rangers on top 1/2 Game!


Tepeche and Grimm are taking hold of the fort until Perez and Lewis are back in May. So far they are making shaky but respectable outings with a win a piece.

Julio Borbon placed goes to Cubs. Played center field for us with his time decreasing due to injuries and the productiveness of Gentry and now Martin. He was out of options and left on waivers. Good luck to him.

Matt Harrison will undergo surgery on his back for a herniated disc, and will not be back until after the lone star break. Our starting pitching was supposed to be a strength this year, but with injuries leaving young arms and Ogando struggling maybe it's not quite as strong for now. With Perez and Lewis both expected to be back next month it should improve.



Played Cubs Away-
16th- 4-2 with Gentry making diving catch to win the game http://youtu.be/06S3LZ8QoEo

17th- postponed

18th- 6-2 loss Rangers aren't hitting

Played Mariners at Home
19th-7-0 Rangers. Finally had first big inning of the year.

20th-5-0 Rangers. Toepech left in the top of the 2nd after being hit in the wrist by a line drive. He should be fine to make his next start.

21st-11-3 Rangers- 4 home runs today most notably Martin's first career home run and Nelson Cruz's Grand Slam.

First is the big news of Nolan Ryan losing his job. Well to water this way down what has happened is Nolan Ryan's position was taken away from him. He was Present of baseball operations and that job has been divvied up between Jon Daniels (President of General Operations) and Rick George (President of Business Operations. There are hundreds of articles out there but the bottom line is that the Daniel camp and the Ryan camp don't get along. They never have.

Ryan didn't want Darvish here and Daniels did.
Ryan wanted Oswalt and Daniels didn't.
Ryan wanted to keep CJ Wilson, Daniels didn't.

Daniels won each of those situations anyway. However it's a true test of someone who has played professional baseball vs. someone who graduated from an ivy league school. They really aren't supposed to understand each other. They have tolerated each other for the past three years while the club has been successful, but something has happened and the shift in jobs has occurred.

Ryan won't talk either. He did eventually make a statement, but all he really said was that the two sides were talking. That was it.


MEANWHILE ON THE FIELD

We currently only have 4 starters until Colby Lewis comes back in May. Until then we have to make do with what we have which isn't much. Martin Perez, Robbie Ross, Justin Grimm and a slew of others. Of them it was the thought that Perez would probably land the spot, and his spring pitching was great; helping his cause. Then a line drive hit him in the write and broke the bone leaving the Rangers without him for the next two months. Now we REALLY don't have a fifth starter.

So we go get Derek Lowe, a 40 year old guy whose "pitching style is good for inifield hitting and a home run friendly park." Just what we need.

That's it for this week. I leave you with one thought that had come out today:
The Cardinals are missing their shortstop due to injury and are in need of one badly. We have 2 fantastic ones. We are missing and end of the rotation guy. They have those. As sad as I would be to see Andrus go, could a trade be possible?

Alright I'm back after a very long Hiatus. It's winter and there is NOTHING going on.

1. Who is going to take Hamilton's ridiculous contract that will be way to much and he won't amount to?

2. What will they do with Profar, Kinsler, Andrus.
On that one I say put Profar in the minors, let him develop a little more, and bring him up later in the year. For goodness sake he's 19.

3. Should they take B.J. Upton to replace Hamilton. Ummmm no, not to replace him. Not many are going to come close to a replacement, but it's in my opinion a better option than Martin/Gentry Platoon. Neither are going to produce offensively the way we need them to.
BJ Upton Article


Until there is more news to report.
Becca

13-3 record as of 4/22/2012! We are first in the division by 5.5 games from Oakland. We are first in all of baseball! Way to go Rangers!

Not a lot to say this week besides the Rangers are amazing. Their starting pitching is phenomenal, their bullpen, when needed, is excellent, defense is great. Their bats could pick it up a bit, as we have had most of our games won by just a run or two, and our bats really are better than that. 

The big news of the week is that Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is retiring tomorrow in a ceremony before the game. He will be pitching the first pitch. He debuted with the Texas Rangers in 1991, and played his last game last year. In almost all of his seasons he hit above a .300 batting average, as was a great catcher. He actually picked off runners stealing 2nd 46.1% of the time!! He will for sure go down in the Rangers Hall of Fame. We will have to see about the baseball HOF. He has been linked to Steroids by Jose Canseco, but never by the Baseball Commissioner's League. For more on Pudge, visit the following link. 

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and his career

This week the Rangers played the Mariners at home in which the won went 3-1. This is expected as Seattle isn't so awesome. It just helped make us better in our division. 

Then they went to play the Twins in a ballpark where they have a losing record since the park opened two years ago. I've never liked watching them play in that park, because they never do well. It's a pitchers park, and the Rangers are hitters....were hitters. Now that we can pitch, they swept and went 3-0. 

Then they went to Detroit to play in Comerica and against the Comerica curse. They second game was postponed to rain, and played a double header Saturday. The only game I really questioned was the second game of Verlander (one of the best pitchers in baseball), and Feliz (3rd game ever pitched.) On baseball that games goes to Verlander easy. What is impressive is that while the Rangers did lose, We had two on in the 9th with one out and one run behind. We had a chance to win that game, we just didn't. I've never been so OK with losing. We won in extra innings today to make up for it, making our record 3-1 over the series. 

Next Up: 3 games against the Yankees, a day off, and then 3 games against Tampa Bay all at home. Look for Hamilton and Young to continue to be part of the top 5 hitters in baseball, which the Rangers as a pitching team being number 2 overall. Exciting stuff going into the end of April!!

1st place AL West: 8-2

Sorry there are no pictures or video. No time.


8-2 record as of 4/15/2012! We are first in the division by 2 games and 4.5 up from LA! We are second in all of baseball! Way to go Rangers to start the year off.


DARVISH
Is the first pitcher since 1910 to win his Major League debut despite giving up four runs in the first inning.


Well, we've all seen him now, twice. Sigh. He doesn't look as special as we hoped, but he says he is still adjusting to American baseball. He's gone 5 innings both games and had mediocre stuff. His first inning of MLB baseball features Yu going 42 pitches! That's roughly 4 innings worth of pitching! If you were curious before his start what his pitching looked like, you certainly had a chance to watch it for awhile once he began. He settled in after that, and we actually needed up winning after him giving up five in the first two innings, thanks to some AMAZING defense, especially by Andrus and Kinsler who have made some incredible diving catches. 
He pitched again yesterday, and was better, but his command was still all over the place. He ended up walking 3 in the sixth before Robbie Ross came in to get us out of the inning.


The quote below was said by a scout before his first start.... While I believe it is true, we will have to wait to see if his pitching can develop into the speciality the scouts have seen. 


[It's] easy to see that Darvish is a special pitcher, one capable of missing a lot of major league quality bats right out of the chute. He showed two types of fastballs (four-seamer, two-seamer, two types of curveballs (66 mph and 78-80 mph), a slider, a cutter, a straight-changeup, and a splitter. He showed the ability to miss barrels with all of them, even when his overall command was good but not great. His delivery is very clean and repeatable, so the command is going to be there. The stuff is electric and explosive, and with his preternatural ability to manipulate the baseball, can show multiple varieties of each pitch, changing the speed and shape at will. It’s really an incredible experience to see the ball come out of his hand and move around as it nears the zone. I’ve never seen anything like it. This is going to be fun.


Kinsler
His contract has been extended until 2017. It is a 5 year $75 million deal. It is the highest average paid out for a 2nd baseman. However that is not spread evenly over the 5 years. The Rangers will pay out  Kinsler $13M in '13, $16M in 2014 and 2015, $14M in 2016 and $11M in 2017. Option for 2018 is $10M with a $5M buyout. 
I didn't used to be a huge Kinsler fan, but the last two years have changed my mind. He's especially gotten off to a great start this year, and actually was 7th in the AL MVP voting last year. He is an overlooked player however. 


1. He doesn't have a high batting average. He has a .276 lifetime so the number doesn't stand out as great.


2. Kinsler is a solid five tool player. He is a good overall player. However he isn't fantastic at any one thing that makes him stand out. 


3. He has had injuries throughout his career which as kept his at bats low. 


For me, Kinsler is a rare player that is getting better the older he gets. Let's hope it says that way. I think this was a great deal the Rangers shouldn't regret to help lock in some of the key players they have. Since Hamilton most likely won't be with the team next year, the concern with Kinsler's health, and new prospects coming up, the Rangers have the ability to even move him into left field in the next couple years. 




Robbie Ross
Is amazing! For someone who was supposed to go to AA this year, since he hasn't pitched above high A, he has earned his spot and proven he belongs on the Rangers this year. He's gone into two stressful innings 2 days in a row and gotten us out of both. So excited for him!




Have a great Week 2 baseball world!

We've Only Just Begun

I haven't written in about a month. One because spring training was completely uneventful, and two spring training was uneventful.

Basically two things to look at here. The Kinsler Contract, and the centerfield/left field dilemma.

The Kinsler Contract
It has been said a deal was/is in the works prior to opening day. 6 years/$14 million was offered. Kinsler wants 6 years/$16 million. When you are making that much, how big of a deal is $2 million really?? He says he is willing to consider a deal being made even though the season has started, but I wouldn't expect one unless it happens by this weekend. He does have a $10 million option for next year, so he will be around at least that long, most likely longer. As it's been said before, with all the big names going on to free agency and commanding ridiculous millions, it sets the tone for what players expect these days. Kinsler isn't any different.

Is he worth it? Yes. He is one of the best 2nd baseman today in my opinion, and he has certainly played like it through spring training and the first 3 games of the season. I'm going to go ahead and call another 30/30 season for him.

Hamilton/Gentry Centerfield/Left Field Debacle 
Quite frankly I"m tired of hearing about it, talking about it, reading about it, and writing about it. Really we don't have a good answer and we aren't going to. The final decision after spring training was that Bourbon has no defense anymore AND no bat. They sent him to the minors and he'll be the in the next trade, where I"m sure he'll go on to do wonderful these he just couldn't do here for some other team. Hamilton was chosen as center and Murphy at left. Go Murph, first year not being the fourth outfielder...but is it? Washington has said that he is willing to put Hamilton in center 100 games, but on game one he moves Hamilton into left and put Gentry into Center after Murphy proceeds to show poor defense in the 6th. To me this says that if Washington is willing to move Hamilton so easily to left, than doesn't that say that he truly believes Gentry has the better defense. Yes Hamilton has the bat, but a Hamilton/Gentry combo is much better. When trades are done in July this is the first thing that will be traded for.

Another thought to ponder: With Hamilton probably being gone next year does it make sense to move Kinsler to left to allow Juckerson Profar (who is considered to be the next best shortstop and #2 on our prospect list) to 2nd while Elvis is still here? Profar should be ready for the big leagues by 2013.

Other Notes
-We are off and running. As I write this we are 1-1 with the Angels losing today, and Rangers winning in the 6th!
-I am no longer friends with Joe Nathan as he let a homer go to the one guy in the Chicago line up without a hit for the season during a tied game in the 9th to lose the game. I was there. Nathan is not my friend.
-If you have not seen the marlins outfield fountain/dolphin/flamingo thing (you tube link attached) and have a way to see a Marlins game on TV please do! When a marlin hits a home run this is what it does!

Happy Baseball Week Everyone!

Spring Training Things

A quick note to those who know me: PLEASE DO NOT text me and tell me that baseball is on TV
(I  already know,) and furthermore PLEASE don't tell me the score or what is happening, as it ruins it for me when I do watch the game later. Following are my Spring Training thoughts and observations:


1. Ryan Braun
Was tested positive for performance enhancing drugs (PED's) in October during the playoffs. He tried to overturn the ruling by stating that the person who collected his sample mishandled it. Apparently FedEx was closed on Saturday so the man took it home and put it in a refrigerator sealed, and sent it in the next day. This is something the person does for his job often and it had never been a problem. Apparently this violates MLB's requirements and Braun's ruling was overturned.
My thoughts: It's crap. We have determined that PED's should not be used in baseball. We spent the entire decade of the 90's watching Sosa, Bonds, McGuire, and multiple others break record after record. I wouldn't doubt that PED's were used before the 90's and I"m sure they are used today, but rarely. In any case the question is: Can the guy perform the same numbers and be the same player without the PED as he is with it? For some yes. For some no.
With the huge hype and MLB's strict rules on PED's now is it right that Braun is now being freed of a 50 game suspention because of a legality? We know this sample was positive, and I'm pretty sure nobody else peed in the cup?

2. Oswalt
Roy Oswalt is sitting out Spring Training and perhaps the first part of the season. He stated he wanted to go to either the Cardinals or the Rangers. (Coincidence these are the teams that played in the World Series last year?) Either way the Cardinals offered him $3 million for a year, he turned it down and said he wanted to play for the Rangers.
Here is the dilemma: The Rangers have not been sure whether to sign him or not. The Rangers philosophy has always been to raise our young pitchers, believe in them, and we will see production from them. We have given everything to the young guys that our in our rotation, (Holland, Harrison, Feliz, Ogando) and they deserve the opportunity to show us what they've got this year.
On the other hand, we have no veteran pitchers except for Colby Lewis. There is always the IF factor of whether a young guy ends up not being productive, or if someone gets hurt, wouldn't it be nice to have a proven veteran pitcher? However if they signed Oswalt, it would be Harrison in the bullpen, and doesn't that go against the Rangers philosophy of giving our young pitchers a chance?
Oswalt was then given a $5 million for a year by the Cardinals, and he still said no. Appears he wants to be with the Rangers bad enough he's willing to not play for awhile.

3.Darvish

Here he is throwing a ball. One of hundreds you can find out there.
Well there is a ton of hype on Darvish. Everything out there has a picture of Darvish, even if the article isn't about Darvish. They have pictures of Darvish sitting in the bullpen, they have pictures of Darvish holding a ball. They have pictures of Darvish talking to Washington. They have pictures of Darvish standing on the field. You get the point. Holland, his long throw partner, (yes an entire article about that because it's not important) says to not forget there are 53 other players in camp. Evan Grant says "I've never seen anybody throw the ball like like." Apparently everyone is liking what they see.
The caption on this picture was Feliz throwing from the mound. Notice Darvish center in the background. Really....do we have to point out Darvish every time?

Link to a photo shoot with Darvish posing in a cowboy hat. Really is that important to winning a World Series??

Link to Yu Darvish Pitching to Kinsler

Why do People like Baseball

1. Anticlimax
The article below details the idea of waiting for something big to happen. As this article by  Joe Posnanski from Sports Illustrated explains, Atlanta was a team that was winning the entire season. St. Louis wasn't even in the mix until the last few weeks when all of a sudden they started winning as Atlanta started falling. On the VERY LAST day of the season Atlanta lost when they needed to win and BOOM, Cardinals in the playoffs. A totally exciting ending to what was a predictable ending. Posnanski states,  "I never argue with people who say that baseball is boring, because baseball is boring. And then, suddenly, it isn’t. And that’s what makes it great."


New thought, I don't blame the Rangers for their World Series loss, I now blame Atlanta!!
Baseball Anticlimax-My favorite baseball article I've read


2. Stats
To me this is what makes baseball fun. The tight pants on the men are fun to look at, watching balls hit out of the park and the fireworks after give you a sense of pride in your team, seeing a play made in the last out of the game to win is miraculous at time (unless you are Feliz in Game 6 of the World Series in 2011,) but what would baseball be without Stats? How would we know what good is?  Sure baseball is about putting a team together that hopefully come October can win it all, but in order to keep track on who is best don't we have to pay attention to stats. Doesn't ERA matter because the team with the pitchers that have the lowest ERA?Statistically aren't they going to have a better chance? Same with any stat.  This brings me to point 2.


3. Arguments
If there is something to argue about a baseball fan can do it. Is ______ better than ________. Were the Cardinals really better than the Rangers in 2011 (no, but they got lucky). Does ________ really deserve to be MVP. Oh and the infamous OBP,now that just about won Oakland the AL pennant in 2002,and then it didn't. This list could go on forever, and it does. Why do fans do this? I think Joe Posnanski from Sports Illustrated says it well:


I think that, in many ways, baseball arguments come down to context. I hear all the time about how baseball fans are “stat people” and “anti-stat people,” but I don’t think that dividing line exists. I’ve never met a big baseball fan who didn’t care about baseball stats. Ever. I’m not even sure how you can BE a big baseball fan without caring about stats. If someone asked, “How many hits did Pedroia have today?” what baseball fan would answer, “Oh, I don’t know, I didn’t count those”? 
Baseball Fans Like to Argue


*Note this says FAN not watcher. I have taken many a friend to the ballpark that had no idea what keeping score meant, was more interested in getting a tan, and wanted to know if we could leave in the 8th inning.
No that person doesn't get to go with me anymore. I've also taken a friend that didn't understand why when 
a player hit a ball up in the air, the crowd would say, "Down, down down, down." I had to explain, "We 
don't want the other team to catch the ball." I would NOT call those friends FANS. They DO NOT care 
how many hits Pedroia or any other player got that day, but a FAN, they will know.


I like baseball for all these reasons and more. The other day I turned on a random game from last season with a friend. It was a game against Oakland where we won in the bottom of the 9th. I turned it on and just listened. I'm so content to just relax, sit around, and watch the game. The anticipation of the pitch, and the hope of the ball being put in play makes my heart flutter just for a second. I realized in that moment baseball needs to be back on TV as soon as possible. It's time and Spring Training has begun...

The news this week is that there is none out there. This is the week Spring Training begins. Finally!

Random Spring Training Facts I found this week 

How many boxes of each of these do the Texas Rangers send to Arizona for Spring Training? (Roughly 6 weeks) 

Boxes of Sunflower Seeds: 30 

Tubs of Gum: 60 

 Number of Dozen baseballs: 1,800 (21,600 individual baseballs!)

The only article of interest includes the quote:
 "Perhaps the biggest issue facing the Rangers will be to figure out on which fingers their World Series rings will go."
This taken from ESPN who thinks the Rangers are the best team going into the next five years when you look at the franchise overall. 
Rangers best Franchise over next five years




On a personal note I have now purchased MLB.TV so every spring training game and then every season game after will be available to me at the click of a button. So excited!


Have a fabulous week baseball fans!

Arbitration Deals

The big news this week if there was really much news at all was the three players headed into arbitration hearings. Arbitration is basically a big word for increased salary. The team offers an amount, the players's agent offers another and they come to an agreement. If they can't reach an agreement they actually go to court to settle; something that hasn't happened for the Texas Rangers since 2000.

At the beginning of the week Elvis Andrus, Mike Napoli, and Nelson Cruz were all looking to go to arbitration with the Rangers towards the end of the week, but luckily agreements were made, and everyone is happy.

Andrus signed for 3 years $14.5 million. I think a great deal, being that we continue to have a great glove with a bat that's definitely going more than it did at first. This will keep us from having to negotiate salary again with him until his free agency in 2015. My personal opinion is that at that time it will be a take it or leave it for me. If he continues to play as he does today he'll be able to go anywhere and get a sizable contract. The Rangers sit in a good spot, where we have the best shortstop prospect in Juckerson Profar and he would be in the waiting. We'll see what happens and how all that plays out over the next three years. I'm excited about Profar though!

Nelson Cruz then signed a 2 year $16 million deal. I like Cruz, although I'd like to see a healthy Cruz. They say he has lost a lot of weight over the off season, and is healthier than he has been. He says he's ready to play a full season and doesn't expect to have the leg injury problems he's had over the past couple years. His signing will also take him to free agency in 2014. My quick thoughts on that is that I hope they are able to trade for outfield at the time. Hamilton will be a free agent next year and Cruz the next. Outfield depth in our minor leagues is weak. I read an article noting who the free agents coming up over the next two years and nobody comes close Hamilton, and only a few come close to Cruz.

The last is Mike Napoli's 1 year $9.4 million. I'm curious to see if he has a year like last year. Looks like the projections say he will. I'm skeptical. 

On Hamilton

We acquired Josh Hamilton in 2008 from Cincinnati. He was originally a number 1 over all draft pick in 1999, and became a drug addict after an injury in the minor leagues. We took a chance on him after he became sober, and what a great chance that turned out to be. The Rangers are all about chances right.

He has a great arm playing center field, a great bat, and he plays the game hard. He was even the AL MVP in 2010. He's fun to watch, and the fans love him. However, he's injury prone. In his four years, he's only played enough games to count as a full season once. He's running into walls, sliding into bases, doing whatever to hurt something quite often. Definitely frustrating since he's a big part of our team.

His contract has however run out, and we have been trying to make a long term offer with him before Spring Training starts to avoid him becoming a free agent next year. If he becomes a free agent he would be one of the biggest free agents on the market if not the biggest for 2012. The two have been trying to come to a deal for about a month now, so what's the problem.

There are several things that go into play when thinking about making a deal with Hamilton. First Hamilton has stated that he owes it to the players union to get the money he deserves for his talent. He believes that if he settles for what the Rangers are willing to pay him, then it will give way to giving proven players what they deserve in the game. He is asking for a contract in the range of about 6 years $120 million dollars. I believe....the Rangers are crazy to do that.

First for as good as he is, he has never been injury free for a sustained period of time. Some believe this is due to the addiction problems earlier in his career, and his body is slightly broken down as a result. He also plays the game hard. Exciting to watch, but he not when he gets injured and is out for months at a time. The addiction is a concern as he gets older. He is hitting 31 this year, so he is at his peak or later by now. If you look at the link below it shows his projections over the next couple of years. I think that 2010 (the year he was MVP) was a fluke year, and what he did in 2011, which is still good, is more of the player he is. I also think he will be a player that can contribute to any club for about three years, and after that his numbers will slowly decline. Therefore, in my opinion, the Rangers are crazy to give him 6 years. Is he worth the money...maybe, but definitely not the years.

Why 2012 should be Hamilton's last with the Rangers by Adam Morris

Out last night, Hamilton relapsed on Alcohol at Sherlock's on Monday. This may or may not be a one time incident, but it certainly says a lot about his character, and certainly hurts his chances at the money he thinks he deserves. Can one say, that if he was willing to take a chance and relapse that one night, that at any point in years to come it couldn't happen again, for a longer period, and even affect his playing? He was actually suspended from MLB in 2003 for his addiction problems. The Rangers are dealing with the unknown right now.

What do the Rangers do? Try to get a contract done with an essential part of this team sometime over the next month, or let him go into free agency and see what happens? In my opinion I'd give him a 3 year extension at about 45 million. If he were smart he'd go with a team that believes in him, even if it's for less than what he wants.

Feel free to weigh in.

Popular Question

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How many modern Major League teams made it to the World Series three years in a row? Have any lost in their first two appearances and won it all the third time?
-- Paul J., Garland, Texas


The Yankees, after acquiring Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, first went to the World Series in 1921 and 1922. They lost both times to the New York Giants. They went back in 1923 and beat the Giants for their first World Series title. They have won 26 more since then.