SB Nation - Brandon Boggs

Rangers designate Thomas Diamond for assignment

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:00:07 -0000

Per the S-T blog, Thomas Diamond has been designated for assignment, and Brandon Boggs has been recalled and transferred to the 60 day disabled list, moves necessitated by the activation of Brandon McCarthy from the 60 day disabled list and purchasing the contracts of Kevin Richardson and Craig Gentry.

Esteban German and Eddie Guardado have been activated from the disabled list, and Guillermo Moscoso and Warner Madrigal have been recalled. Willie Eyre will likely be recalled, as well, as soon as his 10 days run.

The Diamond move is a bit of a shocker, as I figured Joaquin Arias would be the one to get the axe, but Diamond has disappointed this season after being considered a dark-horse candidate to make the team out of spring training in the bullpen. Diamond has missed a lot of time the past three seasons due to injury, and I suspect the Rangers are going to look to move him for a fringe prospect in the next 10 days.

4th of July Rangers stuff

Adam J. Morris — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:04:10 -0000

More photos » by Sharon Ellman - AP

5 months ago: Texas Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco, right, and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia celebrate after a baseball game against Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, July 3, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. Texas won 3-1. (AP Photo/Sharon Ellman)

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Back in a tie for first place. 8 games above .500. Things don't seem so bad for a Rangers fan right now.

Jeff Wilson writes that a solid effort from Tommy Hunter and strong defense let the Rangers overcome another weak offensive night last night. Hank Blalock had a huge homer, but otherwise, the offense was pretty much stymied again.

Jeff (the writer) Miller writes that this series has the potential of being a "trap series", coming between a home series against Anaheim and a road series against Anaheim, but Hunter and the defense came up big to take game 1.

Getting Josh Hamilton back is expected to provide a boost to the offense, but Hamilton has gone 1 for 16 in his rehab stint thusfar, and Ron Washington and Jon Daniels say it will now be Sunday at the earliest before Hamilton is back. They want to see him have better ABs before he's activated.

mlb.com's write-up of players who have debuted in the majors this week focuses primarily on Julio Borbon.

Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels both say Tom Hicks' financial situation hasn't impacted what they are doing so far, and Ryan says he suspects that any sale of the team won't happen until after the season.

Brandon Boggs suffered a separated shoulder last night, and the Rangers are going to evaluate him today to see how serious the injury is.

Graph of the Day: The 2008 Rangers Outfield

Dan Turkenkopf — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:30:15 -0000

The Texas Rangers are in first place, and a lot of credit has been given to their improved defense.

Today's Graph of the Day looks at last season's outfield defense using David Pinto's Probabalistic Model of Range (PMR), which gauges the probability of each play being turned into an out by an average fielder.

More info after the jump.

Interestingly, all three positions seemed to do poorly with balls right at them. There were lots of different outfielders with playing time last season.

In LF: Brandon Boggs, David Murphy, Marlon Byrd and Frank Catalonotto all saw time in left. Boggs was by far the best, but the left fielders in general were pretty good.

In CF: Josh Hamilton was the major culprit here. He really does belong in a corner. David Murphy wasn't much better in his limited playing time. Marlon Byrd was pretty good in center last season.

In RF: Five different players got time here. Murphy had the most and was quite good. Nelson Cruz was pretty bad in his short time there - although he appears to have improved this season. Milton Bradley managed to play the field a little without hurting himself and was basically average.

All three outfielders returned from last season, although the playing time is being shared differently in 2009. The Texas outfield wasn't horrible last year, so there's not as much room to grow as in the infield.

Speaking of the infield, you may see a bonus Graph of the Day tonight if I can finish the infield (there's a lot of overlapping zones so I'm trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the graph).

Brandon Boggs is in NYC, Guillermo Moscoso is not

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:56:06 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

6 months ago: Texas Rangers relief pitcher Guillermo Moscoso delivers to Oakland Athletics' Jason Giambi in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas Saturday, May 30, 2009. The Rangers won 14-1.(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Jeff Wilson reports that Brandon Boggs is in New York City and at the stadium...if the Rangers decide Josh Hamilton needs to go to the disabled list, Boggs will be able to be activated for tonight's game.

Hamilton's appointment with the hernia doctor was at 2 p.m., so he's not going to start tonight regardless.

Wilson also indicates that Guillermo Moscoso has returned to Oklahoma City, as he's being optioned to make room for Vicente Padilla on the 25 man roster. Padilla is being activated from the disabled list to make the start tonight.

Tuesday a.m. Rangers stuff

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:27:38 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

6 months ago: Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, left, is unable to come up with the throw to second for the double-play attempt as Oakland Athletics' Ryan Sweeney (15) advances on a ball hit by Aaron Cunningham, who was safe at first in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, May 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Relatively quiet day in Rangerland...

Jeff Wilson writes that the Ranger players expect for this team to be a playoff contender, regardless of what those on the outside think.

Evan Grant takes a look at the accusations that Alex Rodriguez tipped pitches, with Miguel Tejada, Carlos Guillen, and Omar Vizquel appearing to be the opposing middle infielders who had the most success against the Rangers in blowout games. Grant also includes this interesting item, which I hadn't heard before:

Rangers manager Ron Washington, who was with Oakland at the time, was once called to a staff meeting because an A’s coach suspected Tejada was tipping pitches to opponents.

Washington listened to the accusations, then got up and left the meeting, even after being told to stay.

"That was all I needed to hear," Washington said. "I told them to back off that and leave it alone. When they didn’t, I got up and left. That stuff never happened. Miguel won way too many games for us for anybody to be thinking he was helping another guy do good against us."

Bob Sturm breaks down the splits for the rotation in the months of April and May...

Richard Durrett says that Mike Maddux is visiting the mound a lot during games, but it seems to be working...

Nothing official yet on the Josh Hamilton situation, but we are supposed to hear something today. Although the fact that he pinch hit on Sunday would suggest the team is hopeful he will avoid a d.l. stint, I have a sneaking suspicion that he's going to be put on the disabled list today, and Brandon Boggs will get called up.

While we obviously don't want Hamilton out of the lineup, Boggs' presence would help the Rangers when they face lefty starters, who they've struggled against thusfar.

Monday a.m. Rangers stuff

Adam J. Morris — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:12:00 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

6 months ago: Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, top, makes the throw to first after forcing out Oakland Athletics' Matt Holliday (5) on the first half of a double play in the third inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, May 31, 2009. Jason Giambi was out at first. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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I can't really complain about taking 3 of 4 from the A's. Last night's game was winnable, but then, there have been some losable games out there Texas has won of late, so...

Frankie Francisco picked up the loss, giving up his first run since last August. I probably would have preferred to see Derek Holland pitch the 9th, with a couple of lefties coming up, and then used Frankie in the 10th, but that has to do in large part with my lack of faith in the Rangers scoring in the 9th, and thus the desire to maximize the amount of innings you get from the bullpen pieces available, and not just because of the matchups Holland would get.

Evan Grant says that Frankie Francisco reacted no differently after yesterday's game than he has in any of the games he's closed successfully, an indication that he has the mindset and short memory necessary in a successful closer.

Josh Hamilton is getting an MRI today and seeing a hernia specialist tomorrow, as the team tries to figure out what is causing him pain. Hamilton says he hopes to stay off the d.l. -- if a trip to the d.l. were to be in the offing, I suspect Brandon Boggs would get the call to replace him.

Richard Durrett has an item up about Michael Young's improvement defensively at third base.

Friday morning things

Adam J. Morris — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:13:42 -0000

The story from yesterday was the terrific performance from Brandon McCarthy, who threw four shutout innings, allowing just one baserunner while striking out three.

Evan Grant has a lengthy write-up of McCarthy's performance, including quotes from a couple of scouts who raved about him, and in particular, about his new breaking ball. Grant also said McCarthy's fastball was ranging from 90-92 mph.

Anthony Andro notes that McCarthy throwing first-pitch strikes to 11 of 13 batters he faced was key to him keeping his pitch count down.

Five Rangers prospects from the Dominican Republic have been held up over visa issues relating to the investigation by MLB of age misrepresentations, but Jon Daniels says neither Wilmer Font nor Martin Perez are among the five.

Jeff Wilson writes about the glut of outfielders in camp now, with Andruw Jones, Frank Catalanotto, and Brandon Boggs all vying to be kept as the fifth outfielder, although the Rangers may end up keeping only four outfielders.

Gil LeBreton says that the farm system is loaded, but now the Rangers have to decide who to keep and who to trade.

Mike Hindman has a write-up on Wilmer Font, the giant 18 year old RHP who throws in the upper-90s but missed most of last year with a variety of issues.

Friday morning stuff

Adam J. Morris — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:56:39 -0000

Brandon Boggs says the injection he received has helped his shoulder, which an MRI showed was structurally sound. He says he should be at full speed in a few days.

Jeff Wilson writes that Marlon Byrd -- who was already getting squeezed for playing time as the 4th outfielder -- would face even less playing time if Andruw Jones makes the team, since Byrd would become the de facto 5th outfielder

Jim Reeves re-visits the Danks/McCarthy trade, as part of a column on the importance of Brandon McCarthy this season, and offers a surprisingly level-headed view of things that includes quotes from Mel Didier and McCarthy himself:

It’s important to remember that virtually every Rangers’ scout and official advised Daniels to make the deal when it was offered, though to a man most would have preferred putting Thomas Diamond in the trade, not Danks. If Daniels had bothered to ask me, I’d have said the same thing and for the same reasons.

McCarthy appeared to be a highly talented right-hander who had the ability to become a No. 2 or 3 starter in anyone’s rotation. Best of all, he already had big-league time and, by almost everyone’s estimation, was probably at least a year, maybe a year and a half, ahead of Danks in development.

We were all wrong on both fronts. McCarthy has proven, so far, to be as brittle mentally as he has been physically. And the Rangers drastically underestimated Danks, who promptly earned a spot in the White Sox rotation.

T.R. Sullivan says that McCarthy and C.J. Wilson have been the stars of spring training in the early going, and also writes about Jarrod Saltalamacchia wanting to seize the opportunity to be the starting catcher.

Sullivan also has some bloggy notes this morning, including the news that Joe Biemel turned down a minor league deal with the Rangers.

Jean-Jacques Taylor says the Rangers are better with Michael Young at third, although he doesn't really explain why.

Thursday a.m. things

Adam J. Morris — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:50:50 -0000

Jeff Wilson writes that a year has made a huge difference from Nelson Cruz, who cleared waivers and was outrighted last spring (not released, as is indicated in the article) but is now apparently pretty solidly in place as a starting outfielder.

Cruz will also be playing in the WBC for the Dominican Republic as the starting right fielder.

Brandon Boggs' shoulder is bothering him. An MRI showed inflammation on the shoulder, which was operated on during the offseason, and he's still apparently not at 100%.

Jim Reeves writes about how Rudy Jaramillo is "hurt" about the revelation that so many of his pupils have used PEDs.

T.R. Sullivan writes about several players who are in "roster limbo" this spring.