Hey there...been active since surgery. Not running yet but walking a lot and doing what exercises I can that won't dash up the doc's art work:) Doc predicted a 3-5 day inpatient stay. Was out in 27 hours. I guess the laps around the nursing station at range walk speed convinced them.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
I saw the article at the DFW site that the Rangers will try to part ways with L. Martin.
You might want to add Rua to the list of departing players... Guess he decided not to go play Fall ball kinda like Martin refused to go to Arizona to stay in shape in case he was needed...
Banny will no doubt have a heavy hand in who gets hired to replace Mag
Here is an excerpt I read that should shine a little light on the subject- "In one memorable moment in early May, before Odor's demotion, Banister tried to work one-on-one with Odor on his approach, an indication that perhaps the manager had different ideas than the hitting instructor."
Some names mentioned so far to fill the hitting instructors position, Justin Mashore, (Rangers AAA hitting instructor) Jason Giambi, (who worked with Joey in the off season) Ivan Rodriguez (can't seem to remember this guy refresh my memory) /s :) and Michael Young (doubtful he will even interview)...
From what I understand all of the other coaches have been asked to return next year...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
Had a thought. Mets are heavy on RH starting pitching. Rangers heavy on LH starters. Perhaps a deal is in order.
They have 2 LHed starters (Matz and Niese) so if they are running a traditional 5 man rotation I would think that is about right. Now if they want an upgrade over Niese then you might get them to bite but I would think they would want you to take Niese which we wouldn't want...
I would think you would want to do business with someone who has none or only 1 LHed SP, that's if they have anybody worth trading for...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
If Gallardo does not sign (he likes being home) and Lewis gone, our rotation is then rounded out by Gonzalez and Martinez.
About the only RHed Free agents out there that are an upgrade over Gallardo are Greinke, Cueto, Zimmerman and maybe Fister if he can get his act back together...
Greinke is currently at 25M, Cueto at 10M, Zimmerman at 16.5M and Fister at 11.5M...
If Gallardo could get at least another inning in each of his starts I think it would be a no-brainer to resign him. That means he would have pitched 217 innings this year which is better than most of the other starting RHers...
With both Gonzalez and Martinez neither one of them seem to get to or thru the 3rd time thru the order. Which means you would have to carry an extra reliever all season (just like 2015) unless they get their act together...
I think you seriously have to think about resigning at least one of the 2. They both have their drawbacks (high ERA and not enough innings) but I don't think you can afford to let both of them walk unless you get one of the Free agents listed above. That would leave you with the young'uns to be the 5th starter and 6th man spot starter/long reliever or back to AAA to learn some more...
You have to be able to get to the point where Yu comes back from his TJ surgery... BUT, he will have an arm that he and the team can't trust I think it makes it imperative you keep one of the 2 or bring in someone else and run a 6 man for part if not all of the season...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
You aren't going to find a CFer that fits that description unless you give up half your body appendages, 1st born child and 1/2 the farm system. So that basically leaves it up to being a LFer...
Now if you are looking towards FA to fill that slot then Cespedes and Upton are the big boys on the block, and suppose both could play CF in a pinch but seem to be better suited to the corners...
If you decide to go the trade route then you have to find someone that wants a LHed 1B/DH or a LHed LF/DH that has health problems and 25M salary...
At the present time there doesn't seem to be anybody in the minors that is ready for primetime that fits the bill...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
You have to be able to get to the point where Yu comes back from his TJ surgery... BUT, he will have an arm that he and the team can't trust I think it makes it imperative you keep one of the 2 or bring in someone else and run a 6 man for part if not all of the season...
Good points. Even when Darvish is back I seriously doubt he will pitch on 4 days rest. So the 6th pitcher is critical for next season. I see Darvish pitching once a week for a few weeks.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
He's definitely trending upwards he played in A, AA and AAA last year. And from looking at his numbers he could be the RHed OF you are looking for, in maybe another year or so...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
The morning buzz from Grant is Mitch Moreland as a trading piece. Guess Grant come here now too:) One team who overpays is looking for another LH bat. That would be the Dodgers. I bet we could rob their farm system:) They will be trying to keep Grienke and that will cost a lot. So someone like Mitch or NYM Daniel Murphy would be economical for them.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."---Romans 5:6
You might want to add Rua to the list of departing players... Guess he decided not to go play Fall ball kinda like Martin refused to go to Arizona to stay in shape in case he was needed...
Now they clarify the situation with Rua, somewhat... Says he declined the Fall League because of a wedding, but they didn't say if it was his or someone else's... Hmmmmm...
Maybe we need to post the pitfalls of marriage and hope he reads it before it's too late... LOL...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
The morning buzz from Grant is Mitch Moreland as a trading piece.
But they didn't even speculate on what he might be traded for like maybe a RHed SP or maybe a C or maybe a RHed OF bat. Just that trading Mitch would open up more possibilities for Joey when "we" don't think he's ready yet...
Now they are saying all of the other coaches were invited back next year but no word yet on their status... I thought it was already a done deal, guess not...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
The morning buzz from Grant is Mitch Moreland as a trading piece.
And when did we first discuss this July or August??? And then I mention it again yesterday and up pops the devil from Grant about an hour later... LOL...
Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!
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
