Let the Speculation Begin

I have pretty much been reading non-stop (after about two hours of cooling off) about the Rangers. The speculation is rampant.  More than I ever remember. So let me put a big fat “nobody knows anything” on this and join the games.

Several comments about the Rangers re-visiting the Red Sox and talking about Jacoby Ellsbury.  He is, for sure, a gifted athlete. He is different from Josh Hamilton. Wouldn’t put up the same numbers but plays much better in the outfield. The problem with him? He actually gets hurt more than Josh does. Not sure how JD feels, but for me, that’s a no.

The Dallas Morning News had a nice picture gallery with suggestions that included Ellsbury but also Tori Hunter. No thank you. Too old. On their list they also had Colorado Rockie Carlos Gonzales. He goes into the “I wish” category. I don’t think we would give up what they would want for someone that young, that talented, with that many years left on his contract.  I agree with everyone though, that it all starts with Josh.

I am not a fan of re-signing Josh. Not totally because of his late season collapse. Not the ridiculous lazy play in the outfield in Oakland either. I am tired of the drama. The injuries. The bizarro comments to the media. I don’t like that it takes a village to hold him up. I think that may have played a bigger role in our demise, more than any of us will ever know for sure.

As far as the money goes? Don’t spend it on Napoli either. Mike was hurt more than not this season. Mike never got his swing on track this year and I can only remember one noteworthy game in Boston early on. I won’t rule out his return. He was looking at a big contract before this year. That’s the funny thing about free agents and will be true with Napoli and Hamilton. Napoli will be sold with last year’s numbers and Josh will be sold on his very hefty season numbers. Both are misleading. Ryan Dempster and Roy Oswalt won’t be back. It’s doubtful for Mark Lowe. I won’t rule out Mike Adams and Koji Uehara returning to the Rangers. They both have some miles left.

I firmly believe that we will make at least one “blockbuster” trade this off-season. We have enough moving parts to make two. For fun and nothing else, I will throw a couple out this week.

The last bit of speculation I read about this weekend involved Ron Washington. Most was about him staying. I read a few reasons why he might be let go. Some of the reasons were valid and one particular one got my attention. It had to do with Wash not playing Jurickson Profar more. I truly believe he could have provided a spark that this team sorely needed. I have no idea how good his numbers would have been, but his attitude is infectious.  According to some sources, Nolan was more than miffed. The only thing I have to offer on Wash is, if that were to come to pass, I would totally expect our next manager to be Mike Maddux. I still think that is a long-shot.

I Think the Replacement for Josh will Come VIA Trade

Injury Bug Gets Busy

First things first. The Rangers won, ahead of another A’s victory last night. The three game lead is intact with Seattle coming to town. I wonder what tonight’s lineup might be. Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre, who both homered in the game, came out with injuries. For Josh it was a knee and Adrian’s shoulder. Later Mike Olt pulled up lame running to first. There is a rule that if you pull your DH (Michael Young) out of the game and put him in the field you lose the DH and the pitcher hits, so Ian Kinsler said he would play third. While a ball wasn’t hit that way, it was the first time in his pro career he played something other than second and made me proud because he wanted to just get the job done. Come to find out, he did play a little third in AAA.  This is the time of year older players start having some health issues and Beltre and Hamilton are the offensive heart and soul of this team, so I will be curious to see the what the lineup produces tonight. I also wonder if it speeds the return of Mike Napoli. Naps seems pretty rusty on his rehab assignment though.

Ryan Dempster was solid again last night. I read an article or blog post yesterday (I can’t remember) that said it was doubtful we would re-sign him. I don’t want to be so fast saying it won’t happen because first, Colby Lewis will be in play and second, we don’t really know how much Dempster likes playing here. He may like it enough to lower the asking price.

Tonight is another chance for Derek Holland to prove he is a second half guy. He did this last year too and I suppose if I had to choose him being really good in the first or second half, this would be better. He has been quite good his last few outings.

Kins at third base

Dempster Gets it Done Again

Try this on for size: Over his last four starts, new Ranger Ryan Dempster is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA. Let that sink in for a bit. While we didn’t get who we originally targeted (Greinke) I think this may be working out for the better. He struck out eight last night, the most since he’s been a Ranger, in fact the most since April. He has a focus that I have always loved since his early days with the Cubs and I hope he can get quite a few starts in October. For a lot of reasons.

Offensively, it remains the Adrian Beltre Story as he continues to clobber the ball. We had to hold on at the end as Ogando, Adams and Nathan all surrendered a run. There’s just something about relievers in the game with too big a lead that inspires them to choke. I have no real concerns with our bullpen but I have to admit I was squirming a bit towards the end of the game.

The game tonight is already on. I have been buried at work all day. I will post in the morning the wrap of this one and we’ll take a look at the weekend series with Tampa Bay.

I Couldn’t Watch

I will admit, after the last Angels  last little losing streak and my refusal to take the A’s for real I was feeling pretty comfy. The good news after the Rangers 6-3 loss last night, the Angels took game two of their series with the A’s. Who knows? In the bigger picture maybe the Angels are giving the A’s their last reality check. I doubt it though.

Since the Royals landed Jeremy Guthrie, he has been very good. Such was the case again last night as he shut down out hitters for seven innings. Matt Harrison has hit another rough patch. So now it appears our hottest pitchers are Dempster and Darvish. We went through quite the rough patch with hitting the baseball but really haven’t had a collective rough patch throwing it. Speaking of Ryan Dempster, he’s on the mound for the Rangers tonight. Twenty seven games to go. Three more with the Royals, then off to Tampa. Tick tock, tick tock.

By the way…..he was out.

Game 131 a Win But Yet Not

Those pesky A’s. They just won’t go away. Aided by a very weak schedule (although who thought the Red Sox would be this weak), their usual good pitching and suddenly off the hook hitting, we just can’t shake them. So while we took the game last night 5-3, the A’s were right there. Who knew they would be the ones neck and neck with us at the end. Thirty one games to go and we still have a handful of games left with these very A’s. That’s why it is important for us to stay on the Tribe as they try to snap out of a month-long funk.

Ryan Dempster was good again last night and now deserving of consideration for Game One starter status. Harrison and Darvish still lead him, but if he remains the consistent one, he has to be in the running. No dramatic stuff with the offense (outside of Adrian Beltre being RIDICULOUS right now), but just got the job done off of a pitcher who owned us in his previous match up with us.

Speaking of consistent, Scott Feldman has been anything but lately. After rattling off several very good starts, he has inspired a big “meh” from me. We’ll see tonight. I know he doesn’t want to be the one to allow the Indians to snap their current six game losing streak.

The biggest news were our Sept. 1 roster moves last night. It looks like our new utility man will be #1 prospect Jurickson Profar. While I am sure it has happened before (but I don’t remember it), Profar became a bench player the last week in Frisco to kind of get ready for being used sporadically. After a not so hot start, he hit .296 the rest of the way there and had a streak of fifty straight games getting on. That’s what he brings to the table. While he won’t dazzle you Mike Trout style, he gets on base so the rest of the guys can do their thing. He is now the youngest player in the Bigs. I do think, with a handful of at-bats and his good eye, he could surpass Elvis Andrus in homers for the season in the last month. It might put the finishing touch on Andrus time in Arlington.

The Rangers also added Martin Perez, Yoshi Tateyama, outfielder Leonys Martin and utility player Brandon Snyder from Round Rock. They’ve all been here. They join Mike Olt and show the rest of the majors how strong our organization is.

 

I Hate Off Days Pt. 27

In the old days, I cherished off-days this time of year. It was a break from being reminded daily how bad the Rangers were and or how far out of the race we were. I could catch up on the Cowboys upcoming season too. Instead, today, I am watching the scoreboard as the A’s once again beat up on the Indians, knowing they will close to within four games. Everybody keeps discounting these guys but they won’t go away. At least we cruise into Cleveland to hopefully also beat up on the Tribe.  I just hope the guys don’t think like that.

Last night’s game was almost over before it started.  It was very uncharacteristic for Matt Harrison and while I never count us out from any deficit, I think we were all just a little freaked out. Was it enough of a meltdown to give Yu Darvish the edge in the Game One starter contest? I am reserving judgement until Harry’s next start. Wash has confirmed that Yu has chucked the tinkering and is just going to do battle with each hitter. That is great news.

While this home stand was hugely successful and Adrian Beltre won accolades for being very good, the unsung hero award goes to Mitch Moreland. He had another homer last night but more importantly he continues to get better on defense. If you go back to the early posts and even up to July, while Moreland was on the DL, I was hoping that Mike Olt would play more first or even look for some help elsewhere. I am taking it back now. Not that I don’t want Olt to get more AB’s (I do), but Mitch is turning into a formidable first baseman and maybe, if this continues, we think about extending him. He is also part of this team and the family that resides in the dugout. A winning combo for sure.

Tomorrow we run Ryan Dempster back out there. He’s getting stronger, based on his last three starts. Ubaldo Jimenez throws for Cleveland. And throw he does. Hasn’t been much of a pitcher in the month of August and has gone the way of the rest of the Indians. Over-confidence is our enemy and I expect the guys to have their eye on the prize. Less off days and more October.

Rangers Score Early and Often, Coast to Win

Another big win over the Twins today. 9-3 the final. Long balls from Ian Kinsler and Mitch Moreland. A decent, but not terribly efficient outing by Ryan Dempster. In his defense, Justin Morneau loves hitting in the Ballpark. Interesting because he was on my early season wish list and ended up at his second home, the DL. Interesting because Mitch Moreland suddenly likes hitting at the Ballpark too.  We scored nine runs in the first three innings and coasted.

We have an opportunity for a four game sweep tomorrow. Scott Feldman is on the hill for the Rangers. He was a victim in his last outing. Well sort of. Hoping that Scott will get back on track. He had a pretty good run before that. It would take him to have a real good September to hit the Game One starter’s competition. I would love for Wash to have a hard time deciding on who it will be. As opposed to picking the lesser of five evils.

On the trade front (yes trade front), the Red Sox and Dodgers not only pulled off a waiver trade, it was magnificent in scope. Before I talk about the deal, remember I  HATE what money has done to baseball as far as team who spend so much money on payroll. That said, the Dodgers pretty much told the Giants to simmer down, this race ain’t over yet. A-Gonz will be a huge addition to the Dodgers. In fact he homered tonight in his first game. I believe Josh Beckett will enjoy not being in Boston anymore and pitch better than he has been. That said, there is no way the Red Sox will be doing a simple rebuilding. In fact I will be shocked that this isn’t them clearing the books to make huge offers to Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli. Not kidding. Rebuilding  Bah.  Two good articles on the trade. One from Jayson Stark and the other from ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes.

 

Rangers Lose, Hamilton Slumping Again

Josh Hamilton struck out three more times tonight, including once as the lead run in the 7th inning. I suppose he must have started dipping again. That’s five K’s in the last two games and even worse tonight, he took a very bad angle on a ball hit to the right center gap. I feel pretty certain had he not taken such a drastic one in towards second base from center, he would have had a better chance to make a play. It was so bad, that I let Scott Feldman off the hook in the fifth inning, as the flood gates opened after that.  We just can’t seem to get to 22 games over .500.

Positives from tonight: Ian went yard and even better, so did Geovany Soto. While he has had little success throwing out base-runners,  he has been great with the pitchers and now his bat is starting to look good. He may end up making J.D. looking even more like a genius. …David Murphy is now showing everybody that he is serious about being a full-time player for the Rangers…still swinging the bat, he made a hellacious play in the field tonight, nailing a runner at second trying to stretch a single to a double….the law firm of Kirkman, Scheppers and Ross shutdown the Orioles the rest of the way tonight, allowing only one base hit while striking out four and walking none.

We face our former teammate, Tommy Hunter tomorrow night. On the hill for the good guys, Derek Holland. He has spent some quality time with Ryan Dempster, as they had a dual of Harry Carey impersonations. Derek has been hard on himself lately. Something I think that had been missing. But still being a youngster, I think he may have over-compensated that way, so it was nice to see him have a little fun. Hopefully “shutdown” Derek will show up. I think we’re also about due to see Mike Olt get some swings in too. So back to 21 over tomorrow and maybe we can close the deal over the weekend against the improved Twins.

HOLY COW!!!!

In the Zone

Lots of thoughts this morning about the Ryan Dempster trade. I never really had a chance to get fired up about landing Ryan Dempster. The whole thing caught me off-guard. Because so much talk surrounded Dempster’s refusal of a trade to the Braves and his insistence on wanting to be a Dodger, I never really considered him among the players we would even go after. It’s no secret that I wanted us to trade for Cliff Lee. I knew we were making a run at Zack Greinke. It all happened so fast and at a time when it looked like we would come up empty on a starting pitcher.

Dempster was not great in his first few Ranger outings. In a couple he was awful. But I think part of that was the suddenness he experienced in the deal. I would imagine at the same time I figured we wouldn’t get a pitcher in a deadline deal, Dempster was figuring to remain a Cub. Last night the real Ryan Dempster showed up.

Over the years I watched a lot of the Cubs. Not so much the last few, because of MLB At Bat, but back when Ryan first became a Cub, WGN was still a place, that if you are a baseball fan, you could turn to catch a game. But I did get to see him both as a starter and a closer. He always struck me as an un-rattle-able guy. He was methodic and always seemed to have a plan for each hitter he faced. We saw that guy last night. He went out and got the job done. In fact at the end of his night, as he retired his eleventh consecutive batter, it hardly seemed he had thrown 111 pitches.

The Ranger offense was the Ranger offense. Well the new Ranger offense. While Josh Hamilton seems to have turned things around, he did strike out twice last night. The new Ranger offense is being led by David Murphy. Murphy was red-hot again last night going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and walked once. He is playing so well that Ron Washington, who is a platoon guy in the bottom part of the order, is not platooning Murphy anymore.Say hello to the new full-time left fielder for the Rangers. Other highlights from the game, Ian Kinsler, still trying to get back on track, walking twice and a ridiculous play by Elvis Andrus on a ball in the hole between short and third. It’s one that happens in real life far less than it does on my PS3.

Tonight the Rangers face Chris Tillman. This is one of those scenarios that I had talked about earlier. Tillman, who started of nicely, has been struggling, especially in his last two starts. It seems like a nice setup for us. But these guys always seem to make their bones on the Rangers. His last start, he threw 110 pitches before he was pulled with two out in the fifth.  If we work him and take some pitches, we can send him out of the game. We have Scott Feldman pitching tonight. After great starts from Harrison and Dempster, we’ll see if Scott wants to join the “Game One Starters Club”. We have no clear choice for game one of a playoff series and it looks like we have a min-competition going.

I like it.

Welcome to the Party Mr. Young

It’s been a long season for Michael Young. It’s been an even longer season for fans who watch Michael Young. One of Ron Washington’s best and worst traits is his loyalty. He has stuck with Young no matter what. August 19th was payoff day. Of course there is no guarantee this will continue, but there have been signs that a day like today was coming. One of them was NOT the second inning when Young hit into a double play. But after that he was only a triple away from hitting for the cycle. Through the first six games of this road trip, the Rangers amassed only 39 hits. Yup, just a little over six a game. But sixteen of those 39 hits were in just one game. The finale vs. the Yankees. So with a shout out to Mr. Tilley, that’s 13 hits for the other four games. Or a tick over 3 hits per. Not good. Only Mr. Kuroda was what you would call a real good pitcher. So it was nice to see us bust out for 19 hits today. They came in mostly one variety. Very hard. While it appears Ian Kinsler is still having some issues, everyone else had a good day. Hopefully it’s the first of many for Michael Young. By the way, I will be very disappointed if after his playing career Young isn’t with the team in some capacity for years to come.

Pitching wise? Not too much wrong with Matt Harrison’s eight inning two hit effort. He was on it. Mark Lowe knocked the cobwebs off in the 9th to end it. Harrison  is working his way towards being a Game One starter.

Tomorrow night we get back to some home cooking and the Baltimore Orioles come to Arlington.  We send Ryan Dempster out against Miguel Gonzales. Gonzales has been good all year and very good in August.

One last note- it won’t be this home stand, but hopefully the next one, when we can reward the new owners by hitting the three million mark in attendance. Besides the new TV contract, I’m sure that will go a long way to getting the budget we need this off-season.