SB Nation - Luis Mendoza

Benson activated, Mendoza down, and the state of the pen

Adam J. Morris — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:12:54 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Evan Grant says that the Rangers are activating Kris Benson from the disabled list tomorrow, and are sending Luis Mendoza back to AAA.

Vaya con dios, Luis. Hopefully, you'll spend the next four months in AAA, pitching well, and we won't see you again until September. I think your development would be much better served staying in Oklahoma until rosters expand, rather than bouncing up and down.

As for Benson, the Rangers are being coy, flexible, or indecisive (depending on your point of view) as to what he'll be doing going forward. He's apparently going to be in the pen for the next few days, and then...well, it isn't clear. Scott Feldman continuing to pitch well in the rotation seems to only make the organization get all hot and bothered about what he can do in the bullpen, even though Benson hasn't shown much reason to believe that he's really a viable option in the rotation anyway.

What the Rangers really need is another reliable righty reliever. As it is, Dozer is getting the boot because Ron Washington would be reluctant to put him into that famous 30-3 game in Baltimore, and if you aren't going to use Eddie Guardado in a tie game in the 9th against Ichiro, there seems to be little reason to have him in the bullpen. That, together with the Holland Rules in place, means that the Rangers are effectively working with a 4 man bullpen right now.

And of that four man pen, one guy was an NRI coming off two terrible seasons with no history of relieving, and one is a Rule 5 guy claimed off of waivers a week or so ago. When you bring your closer into his second straight game to get two outs with a five run lead, that's a pretty damning indictment of how you feel about the other options you have out there.

I felt that some guys in the minors could provide some options in May, but Thomas Diamond is hurt, Guillermo Moscoso isn't pitching that well, Pedro Strop just got shelled, and they probably aren't going to bring up Neftali Feliz until Holland moves into the rotation. And a trade at this point of the season isn't realistic.

It wouldn't be surprising if A.J. Murray came up in the next couple of weeks to replace Guardado in the LOOGY role. And maybe Benson can provide a little more security in a long man role, assuming they don't bump Feldman again in the misguided notion that he's more valuable in relief. But right now, you have to be worried about whether the handful of guys Washington relies upon are going to be able to last the season.

Monday morning Rangers stuff

Adam J. Morris — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:48:22 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

7 months ago: Texas Rangers' Matt Harrison pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Sunday, May 3, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Impressive outing by Matt Harrison. In the second inning in his last start, I had mentally thrown in the towel on him, and was pretty much ready to see the Rangers send him back to Oklahoma when Kris Benson was healthy, or else move Derek Holland into the rotation into his place.

And I'm not sure what exactly happened, but it is like a switch flipped...he's allowed 0 runs in his last ten innings, he's been throwing strikes, it is like he's a whole new pitcher out there. This looks like the guy who the Rangers traded for, the guy who was a BA top 100 prospect.

Anthony Andro focuses on how two key parts of the Mark Teixeira trade -- Harrison and Elvis Andrus -- fueled yesterday's 5-1 win. But Ozzie Guillen wasn't impressed with Harrison:

"What did I see out of him?" Guillen said of Harrison. "He throws strikes. He was in deep counts all the time and walking people. But he got the win. To me, whoever got the 'W', that's the one who is the best. I don't care how good or bad he throws."

Harrison actually didn't issue any walks yesterday, although he did go deeper in counts than you'd like, and his pitch count was too high for 5 innings. But I'll take that from him right now...

Jeff Miller's story includes comments from Ron Washington about keeping Andrus in the #2 hole while Josh Hamilton is out, although he then indicated that David Murphy might get some time there, as well.

With Jarrod Saltalamacchia recovered from his eye problem, Max Ramirez is heading back to AAA, and Greg Golson is coming up to take his place on the roster.

Kris Benson's rehab start went fine from a health standpoint, andT.R. Sullivan says the question now isn't whether he'll replace Scott Feldman -- who is apparently sticking in the rotation -- but whether he'll be activated immediately to replace Luis Mendoza in the bullpen.

Gil LeBreton says that, while the Danks/McCarthy trade was a backstory for this weekend's series, it is time to let that go and move on.

Eyre to the d.l., Mendoza up

Adam J. Morris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:19:17 -0000

As expected, Willie Eyre is heading to the disabled list after re-aggravating his groin last night. In a mild surprise, Luis Mendoza is being called up to replace him.

Mendoza is already on the 40 man roster, of course, and has thrown 10+ shutout innings in AAA so far this season. I'm a little leery of this move, though...I'm almost all alone on the Mendoza bandwagon right now, but one of the things I was hoping we'd see from the Rangers this season was Mendoza being left alone in Oklahoma for several months. Both his command and his confidence level were horrible last season, and I think that he would be best served by spending an extended time in AAA in the rotation, getting innings and working on both those things.

Instead, he's up in Texas, filling the role of bullpen long man with Scott Feldman moving to the rotation. And who knows...maybe he's in a better state mentally, and his command issues are behind him. I just know that the guy we saw last season had some really awful body language on the mound quite often, and looked like someone who didn't believe he could get the job done.

If Mendoza can command his sinker and slider, and keep his head straight, he can be a real asset out of the bullpen. If not...well, we'll probably see him head back to Oklahoma before too long.

Wednesday morning things

Adam J. Morris — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:26:00 -0000

Solid start for Scott Feldman yesterday, who has followed up a bad spring debut with a couple of good outings. Feldman said his breaking ball wasn't sharp, but he worked on it some in the pen afterwards and got it going again. Luis Mendoza, meanwhile, ended up leaving the game with a blister that developed and started bleeding during his outing.

Evan Grant writes that Feldman is the latest Ranger pitcher to start working on a slider, with Feldman believing that, with his new arm angle, his curve has lost some effectiveness.

Gil LeBreton has a column on Thomas Diamond and his work this spring to get himself back into the Rangers plans.

Jeff Wilson takes a look at the non-roster veterans who have been invited to camp this spring, noting that they have more combined All Star Game appearances than the guys on the Rangers 40 man roster.

Saturday morning Rangers things

Adam J. Morris — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:42:18 -0000

Rangers are now 1-2 for the spring. Clearly, the season is over. Fire Daniels, fire Washington, fire Maddux, burn down TBIA.

Scott Feldman wasn't good yesterday. Luis Mendoza was, though. Meanwhile, Jeff Wilson says Andruw Jones looked fine defensively in center field, but ran his strikeout streak to six before getting an infield single. Jones might start again today, while Marlon Byrd will sit before making his spring debut tomorrow. And Derrick Turnbow is set to make his spring debut today, as well.

Wilson also writes on Brandon McCarthy's need to stay healthy and productive this year, with some quotes from McCarthy and talk about the mechanical adjustments he has made and the weight he's put on.

Randy Galloway writes about Chris Davis being part of the first wave from a promising Ranger minor league system, but also makes a John Danks reference and whines about Doug Melvin getting fired. And credits Melvin (incorrectly, I think) with building a great Milwaukee farm system...Melvin, in reality, inherited a strong farm system in Milwaukee, much like he inherited a bunch of talent in Texas.

BBTiA has a projected Frisco roster up, and it is pretty nice collection of talent.

Nelson Cruz is heading out to play in the WBC, but Ron Washington insists that being gone for 3 1/2 weeks won't impact Cruz's spot in Texas.

T.R. Sullivan says Mendoza's outing yesterday was a step towards winning a roster spot. Personally, I don't want to see Mendoza win a roster spot...I want to see him spend the year, or at least the first several months of the year, pitching in AAA, working on his breaking ball, and getting his confidence back.

Ron Washington is emphasizing defense this spring. Of course, it seems like every team at this point in the spring is emphasizing defense, but clearly, this is one of the biggest areas for improvement between last year's Ranger team and this year's Ranger team, and if they are going to finish above .500 for only the 2nd time in the last 10 years, the defense has to get better.