Got to looking a little more in depth at the Cardinals since I brought them up and it looks like they could use an upgrade at 1B... Maybe you could trade Moreland for Lance Lynn a RHed SP 3.03 ERA, 1/2 the price of Gallardo and a year younger and normally makes it thru 6 innings... Doubt they would discuss Wacha unless you sweeten the pot considerably... :)
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Also remember Donaldson used to get lippy with Yu when playing for the A's. Yu used to pitch him a bunch of off speed stuff and made him look like a little leaguer.
This is what Bautista did against Darvish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yWwHkyBxGo
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
Then again the only way to guarantee Bautista gets drilled is to let Odor pitch a game against them:)
That boy has moxy.
Kela has an attitude just like Rougie, he'll do it without being asked and smile while doing it... :)
But I have a sneaking suspicion Dyson will beat him to it and the dugouts will empty, that is if he's still in Toronto next year. He has a buyout on his 2016 contract and might take it to get the chance for some bigger bucks, he's making 14.5M now...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Yu used to pitch him a bunch of off speed stuff and made him look like a little leaguer.
When Yu throws the "screwgy" to RHed batters it has a way of making them look that way.
Start it out slightly above the knees out over the middle of the plate and it will run back inside about 12-15" and end up about ankle height, nothing Donaldson is gonna do with that pitch except look wayyyyyyyy overmatched...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Evan Grant already said no one wants Elvis and his toxic contract.
The Rangers have other recourses if it really comes to that, which might not be that far down the road if Profar comes back and is playing really well...
They can always flat out release him or do a buyout on his contract which in either case wouldn't cost them that much considering Profars lower contract will offset it for most of what is left of "EVIS's" contract...
Receiving the bag of used pucks would be nice but it's not a deal breaker when you are fixing a mistake like that one...
There is a video on ESPN (under MLB and then go to Texas Rangers, scroll down about 1/2 the page) where Rick Sutcliffe is opining that EVIS will never recover from his 7th inning debacle...
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:13892070
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Fraley is saying they should check out Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake this off season. Both are currently in the NL average close to 200 innings but a move to the AL would raise their already 4.00 ERAs even higher. Fraley must think Maddox can help them be better pitchers...
Fraley is saying they should check out Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake this off season. Both are currently in the NL average close to 200 innings but a move to the AL would raise their already 4.00 ERAs even higher. Fraley must think Maddox can help them be better pitchers...
Fraley has some weird ideas at times. The one who has JDs ear and TLs ear is Grant.
Ok I can see Kennedy as he has pitched in the AL. But only seemed to beat the Rangers consistently:)
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
Yeah Sherrington the guy who spoke of Hamels as a bad deal.
So he wants to drain the farm for an even bigger risk.
Plus there are questions if Sonny Gray is healthy. Interesting how the A's limited his outings in the last month. Probably to keep his trade value up.
Who knows. Fraley seems to think the Rangers are now a big market team and have money to burn. I thought different.
Saw a piece on MLB trade rumors on Crush Davis and his FA value. Yes the Ks really hurt but he bats around .256 and crushed the ball well against LH and RH pitching. He also has power to all parts of the field. So if one is looking for a power bat that can play corner OF and corner INF Crush may be who the Rangers want back. He's 30 and in power prime. If Fraley is right and the Rangers have $ then taking on another $100+ million 6 year deal is no problem:)
So that leaves Mitch trade fodder to get the RH pitcher we need.
Just a thought.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
Who knows. Fraley seems to think the Rangers are now a big market team and have money to burn. I thought different.
As of right now their total payroll is right at 152M. That includes all kinds of salaries like players that are gone, the soon to be free agents, some on the DL so forth and so on. It would take awhile to sort all of this out but I would think that this is about where they want to be at the start of next year after everything sorts itself out. But if they resign Napoli I don't see how they could maintain the 150M figure, it would have to go up. Especially if they resign him to a contract that is as overpriced as the one he just got done with, that was 16M...
And if I remember correctly you said they signed a big TV deal just last season and now that they are winning again the stadium should be full on a regular basis. This would allow them to go up to maybe 175M but I think that is about as high as it could get...
I also noticed A-Roids contract isn't listed, I thought they still owed money on him but I could be wrong...
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/texas-rangers/payroll/
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
I got to looking closer at the payroll and it looks like somewhere around 35M is coming off the payroll when everything shakes out... (And if Moreland gets traded that's another 3M, and Martin leaving would be another 4.75M)...
So they need to acquire/resign 2 RHed pitchers and 1-2 RHed bats at a minimum (one I'm assuming will be Napoli). They probably will go after a few RPers and might decide they need an upgrade at catcher. (If you extrapolate Chirinos and Giminez stats out to a full season you will get somewhere around 20HRs and 70/75 RBIs, I can handle that at the catchers position for 2M dollars)...
Another thing will be arbitration with some players and some of the younguns will also get a pay raise...
I think one of the first things they need to decide is do they go thru arbitration with Martin to resign him and let him compete again next year for a spot on the team or sign/trade him or just flat out release him??
Then will they put a qualifying offer on Gallardo to ensure they get a draft pick if he walks, which I assume he will... But what if he accepts the offer will they sign him or just cut him loose??
Then how much do you want to pay Colby because I would just imagine he's going to ask for a lot more this time around, home town discount time is over I think especially since he won 17 games this year...
Then you have to figure out what Napoli is worth if you plan on resigning him. He averages 57 RBIs per year in his career, is that worth 16M a year??? (I say no but that's me)...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
ARoid was a 10 year contract and signed in 2000. Yankees signed him to a longer term contract in 2007. Don't know if some of the option years got rolled up with the Yankee contract.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
All good points and questions. We won't see much movement until the winter meetings in December.
However the Rangers did outright Corporan, Blanks, and Strass and another I think to AAA. Corcoran and Blanks will go to FA of course. Remember Blanks was doing well with the long ball in his few starts until his injury.
There are plenty of misfit toys out there in FA market which will no doubt make Oakland's Beane salivate. Then again he took a "promotion" and is no longer GM.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
However the Rangers did outright Corporan, Blanks, and Strass and another I think to AAA.
Antoan Richardson was the other.
Also the Dodgers claimed Lisalverto Bonilla from the Rangers on a waiver claim. Speaking of Dodgers Mattingly is gone, am wondering who will be their new head coach. Sounds like getting to the playoffs (with an overpriced mish mash of never have ever accomplished anything players) wasn't good enough for the new owners. You could trim close to 200M off that payroll and still be competitive with the new faces...
I got to looking at some stats and one jumped right out at me Leonys Martin's batting average is all over the place. When he's on he's on when he's off he's really off. I'm betting they bring him back and see if the new batting coach can "fix his stroke". He's 27 has lots of talent but can't quite get his head around what he really needs to be doing, (like his little temper tantrum during the playoffs) maybe they need to introduce him to Josh's shrink to see if he/she can "fix his head"...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
I also noticed A-Roids contract isn't listed, I thought they still owed money on him but I could be wrong...
The reason I said that was when I was watching part of a Yankees game the announcers made mention of it when they were discussing him and his contract. Maybe they were wrong or maybe I just misheard...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
And if I remember correctly you said they signed a big TV deal just last season and now that they are winning again the stadium should be full on a regular basis.
Yeah Gabe. Would be nice but his resume is a bit short.
True, but maybe the think they need someone who is young enough to relate to the players of today, Mattingly may have been too old school for the owners taste...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
ARLINGTON -- The Rangers' catching depth was reduced on Monday when Carlos Corporan refused outright assignment and opted for free agency. Texas still has Robinson Chirinos, Chris Gimenez and Bobby Wilson on the 40-man roster. All three are eligible for arbitration.
Catching could be an area that the Rangers look to upgrade in the offseason. It is also a position that is relatively weak all through the Major Leagues and the arrangement that helped win an American League West title in 2015 may be as good as the Rangers can put together for next season.
"We need to be careful not to covet something that may or may not be out there," general manager Jon Daniels said. "It's tough a position in the industry to fill. At the same point, we'll look at make sure we're coming to camp with the best set up as we can."
Chirinos goes into the offseason as the Rangers' No. 1 catcher. He was that for the first four months and again in the postseason after playing most of the final two months of the season with a torn muscle in his left shoulder.
Chirinos batted .232 with 10 home runs, 34 RBIs, a .325 on-base percentage and a .438 slugging percentage. He also threw out 23.7 percent of attempted basestealers after leading the league at 36.2 percent in 2014.
Gimenez played in 36 games with the Rangers after being called up at the end of July and hit .255 with five home runs, 14 RBIs, a .330 on-base percentage and a .490 slugging percentage. He also threw out just one of 19 attempted basestealers, but he had shoulder "cleanup" surgery immediately after the season.
Gimenez, who turns 33 on Dec. 27, has never had a full season in the Majors, but the Rangers were 25-7 in his starts. He was also the personal catcher for starter Cole Hamels and emerged as a clubhouse leader down the stretch.
Wilson shared the catching duties with Gimenez in the final two months while Chirinos and Corporan were sidelined. Wilson hit .221 with one home run, 10 RBIs, a .291 on-base percentage and a .325 slugging percentage, although club officials also consider him the best defensively of the three.
The most interesting name on the list of potential free-agent catchers is Matt Wieters, a three-time All-Star with the Orioles who played in 75 games last season after being out from May 11, 2014 to June 5, 2015 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The other potential free agents include Alex Avila, who was an All-Star for the Tigers in 2011 and their starting catcher for five years before falling off in '15. Also eligible for free agency are veterans Chris Iannetta, Dioner Navarro, A.J. Pierzynski, Geovany Soto and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
On the trade front, the Brewers may try to trade Jonathan Lucroy, who was an All-Star in 2014 and is signed through next season with a club option for '17. But new general manager David Stearns said Lucroy is the type of player they may want to build around. Other potential trade possibilities include Wilson Ramos of the Nationals, Tyler Flowers of the White Sox, Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies, Christian Vazquez of the Red Sox and A.J. Ellis of the Dodgers.
The Rangers' own catching depth took a bigger hit on July 31 when top prospect Jorge Alfaro was included in the trade with the Phillies and Tomas Telis was sent to the Marlins for reliever Sam Dyson.
Triple-A Round Rock finished the season with Brett Nicholas and Patrick Cantwell sharing the catching duties. Nicholas is a converted first baseman with left-handed power who is still learning the position. Cantwell, a third-round pick in the 2012 Draft, is excellent defensively, but he hit just .178 this past season. The Rangers still have hopes for Kellin Deglan, a first-round pick in 2010 who has the defensive ability and left-handed power at the plate. But he has played in just 17 games at Double-A Frisco.
T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields, follow him on Twitter @Sullivan_Ranger and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
And the latest on the catching situation for next year...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Frankly I think we have an above average situation at catcher. Most teams probably envy us.
Catcher is the hardest everyday player position to fill in MLB... You either have a very good defensive catcher or you have a offensively gifted catcher. But hardly ever do the 2 come together in the same body, and if it does then 162 games behind the plate grinds it down to a useless nub. It's better (IMO) to have 2 to platoon (1 LH bat and 1 RH bat) to be able to matchup against the opposition pitching and to ensure they aren't beat down and useless by the end of the season. It also helps to create a little competition between the 2 for playing time, ensuring both play their best...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Having Wilson in RR would be a good thing for the young pitchers, but for himself earnings wise not so much... I'm pretty sure he's out of options so if you need him he has to clear waivers when he's not needed anymore and thus open to someone to claim. Now if you can convince him to be a teacher to the younguns (both Pitchers and Catchers) and adequately compensate him then he might go for it. But he would have to be making as much as Chirinos/Gimenez I would think to be happy doing it. And not mind riding a damn bus everywhere he goes!!!
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
