Nolan Speaks the Truth and Gets Hammered

This has been an interesting week on the Ranger front. I was listening to ESPN Radio’s national feed on XM after Nolan spoke about Josh Hamilton’s tobacco debacle this season. What he basically said was that Josh picked a bad time to quit dippin’. (cue Lloyd Bridges form Airplane). A lot of dialogue followed from the sports world, most of it not very nice about Nolan. I’m with him. If it were on his to do list, the off-season last year would have been good. Hell, spring training too for that matter. Or wait for the off-season. Most of the talk started “well I have never used tobacco, but for his health this shouldn’t be a problem with anyone.” Which health? Physical or mental? I am a smoker. I have tried, to no avail, to quit several times. It messes with everything. You mind, body and soul. Josh, being an epic addict, would be familiar with this.

Honestly? I took Nolan’s comments as a positive thing for Josh. He was basically telling all potential Josh suitors, it didn’t work out well for us, but now he’s done so line up your offers. I also point out that all but the local media didn’t follow the Rangers and Josh on a daily basis. So shut the hell up. You didn’t witness what a sideshow the Josh Hamilton Travelling Baseball Show had become. It was so much more than God punishing Josh for falling off the Copenhagen wagon.  So move along here, there is nothing else to see on the topic of Nolan Ryan.

One of my friends is an Angels fan and he said the Angels should sign him. To which I replied, go ahead. That would be great. After watching the Yankees struggling offensively against the O’s, I think they will be a major player in the “Sideshow” bidding.

Speculation? Yeah it’s starting. Hardly at a fever pitch, there have been some interesting ideas in the Dallas Morning News. One, from Tim Cowlishaw, suggested we go after Nick Swisher, Tori Hunter and Zack Greinke on the free agent market. I’m good with that. When it comes to replacing Josh, I think about that line in Moneyball. When trying to replace Jason Giambi, Billy Beane told the room they would recreate him in the aggregate. Swisher and Hunter would just be part of the equation. I also saw a trade idea thrown out. Derek Holland and Ian Kinsler for David Price. Yup. That works. Then there are the persistent rumors about Justin Upton. Okay, maybe I started those. How about the deal with the Rays and then Mike Olt and Martin Perez for Upton? Another trade chip for us? Mitch Moreland. A lot of people want us to trade Michael Young. I don’t see that happening and Cowlishaw suggested he might be a DH against righties, batting eighth. But no big talk yet as to how we would solve a problem at catcher. But it’s early still.

One last note. We may be visiting with Yu part two. Shohei Otani is an 18-year-old with a strong desire to play in America. His has a fastball that  regularly hits 99 on the gun and a mentor ready to go. No bidding process as he can go straight from high school to the Majors here. We’ll see. Not sure how all of that would work, but I doubt he wouldn’t even start in Frisco.

As I have been saying, this is one of my favorite parts of the game. I would just rather be sweating bullets during a division series.

Why Not Right?

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