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2012 MLB All-Star Game: Rangers Doing Well In Voting Polls

brandon_k_scott — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:03:52 -0000

The Texas Rangers really don't have any weaknesses. They've got Gold Glove candidates at nearly every position, and every got in their batting rotation can be dangerous on a given night.

It really is compelling, and has to be somewhat deflating for teams in the American League that know getting to the World Series is going to have to go through Texas in some fashion.

So next month's MLB All-Star Game is likely to reflect how much talent the Rangers organization has been able to collect over recent years. Check out the voting numbers after the jump.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

FIRST BASE
Prince Fielder, Tigers: 1,027,070
Mark Teixeira, Yankees: 697,602
Paul Konerko, White Sox: 671,430
Mitch Moreland, Rangers: 618,226
Albert Pujols, Angels: 478,020

SECOND BASE
Ian Kinsler, Rangers: 1,447,171
Robinson Cano, Yankees: 1,164,448
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox: 699,422
Robert Andino, Orioles: 317,434
Chris Getz, Royals: 278,585

THIRD BASE
Adrian Beltre, Rangers: 1,179,864
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers: 886,365
Evan Longoria, Rays: 789,434
Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: 657,315
Mike Moustakas, Royals: 432,379

SHORTSTOP
Derek Jeter, Yankees: 1,698,777
Elvis Andrus, Rangers: 1,033,986
J.J. Hardy, Orioles: 489,941
Alcides Escobar, Royals: 392,195
Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians: 344,065

CATCHER
Mike Napoli, Rangers: 1,224,565
Matt Wieters, Orioles: 713,469
Joe Mauer, Twins: 637,364
Russell Martin, Yankees: 431,435
A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox: 424,646

DESIGNATED HITTER
David Ortiz, Red Sox: 1,204,904
Michael Young, Rangers: 1,049,170
Raul Ibanez, Yankees: 492,183
Billy Butler, Royals: 477,257
Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays: 391,131

OUTFIELDERS
Josh Hamilton, Rangers: 2,587,991
Curtis Granderson, Yankees: 1,406,128
Nelson Cruz, Rangers: 992,992
Jose Bautista, Blue Jays: 930,814
Adam Jones, Orioles: 857,543
David Murphy, Rangers: 652,379
Nick Swisher, Yankees: 624,215
Brett Gardner, Yankees: 437,126
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners: 433,899
Jeff Francoeur, Royals: 422,304
Austin Jackson, Tigers: 389,664
Nick Markakis, Orioles: 384,390
Alex Gordon, Royals: 378,459
Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox: 346,774
B.J. Upton, Rays: 277,173

Read more about the Texas Rangers at Lone Star Ball. Head over to Baseball Nation for more around the league.

Former Pirates Manager John Russell Sent To Orioles' Bench

CardiacHill — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:30:21 -0000

In a somewhat interesting story, former Bucs' skipper John Russell has apparently lost his job as the Baltimore Orioles' third base coach. O's skipper Buck Showalter says it's not due to performance, but the two apparently disagree at least a bit on that:

Showalter, however, insisted Russell — a former big league catcher — was moved to bench coach because he has a sore knee and can provide advice to catchers Matt Wieters and Craig Tatum between innings.

"I think I kind of took initiative with it more than anything because he is not going to say anything physically (about the knee)," Showalter said.

Russell dismissed the knee as a non-issue, but acknowledged that his new position as bench coach will give him a chance to work with Baltimore's catchers.

Russell believes the 'benching' is perhaps due to his error in judgment in getting a runner thrown out at the plate recently:

The switch comes less than a week after Russell waved pitcher Chris Jakubauskas toward the plate with no outs in the fifth inning of a game against Washington. Jakubauskas was running from first on a double by J.J. Hardy, and by the time he arrived the catcher was waiting with the ball. Jakubauskas was tagged out after an awkward slide.

"You try to look for ways you can score, and sometimes it backfires and you get a guy thrown out," Russell said Friday. "I probably shouldn't have done that, but you never know."

If Jakubauskas' name sounds familiar, it should. He was the Pirates pitcher on the mound that got hit in the head by a nasty line drive by the Houston Astros' Lance Berkman in a game last season ... when Russell was manager. I'd have to see the play but trying to get a pitcher home from first, even on a double, sounds like a very questionable call. And the fact that Jakubauskas was thrown out by a mile, not Russell's knee, is the likely reason he's now riding the pine.

Twins Send Jeff Manship Down To Rochester, Call Up Jim Hoey

Christopher Gates — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:07:54 -0000

With the re-shuffling of the Twins' bullpen, the team has decided that they need some fresh blood, and they've brought some up from AAA Rochester for just that purpose.

The Twins sent right-hander Jeff Manship down to Rochester following today's 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, and called right-hander Jim Hoey to take that spot in the bullpen.

Manship has appeared in five games this season, and in 3.1 innings pitched has compiled an ERA of 8.10. His last appearance came in Friday's 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay, where he allowed two hits and walked one in one-third of an inning.

Hoey was acquired by the Twins' this off-season as part of the trade to send J.J. Hardy to the Baltimore Orioles. . .who, coincidentally, the Twins start a four-game series with at Camden Yards tomorrow.

If I may be so bold as to do so. . .since all of these relief pitchers today have entrance music, after the jump I would like to humbly make a suggestion for Mr. Hoey's entrance music when he makes an appearance at Target Field.

Tell me this wouldn't be great.

"Now pitching for the Twins. . .right-hander. . .Jim. . .Hoey!"

Ooooooooooooooh, Jungle Love. . .HOEY-OH-EE-OH!! Think I wanna know ya (know ya). . .

If they actually use that, I want credit for it or something.

Nishioka Will Play Second Base For Twins

Christopher Gates — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 06:20:58 -0000

We all knew that the Minnesota Twins' middle infield would have a new look this season, with Orlando Hudson being allowed to leave and J.J. Hardy getting shipped to Baltimore, but nobody was entirely sure who would start at which spot.

Only a couple of weeks into Spring Training, it appears as though we have our answer.

Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire has announced that Tsuyoshi Nishioka will play the majority of the year at second base for the Twins, while Alexi Casilla will be the primary shortstop.

"I talked to Nishioka and got him to admit that he’s more comfortable at second, and that pretty much told me what I needed. More than any of the drills, I wanted him to say something to me, and I knew it would take time. He always says, 'Whatever you want me to do.'"

The Twins are pretty excited about Nishioka thus far this spring, and hopefully he will continue to transition to the majors in a positive way. The Twins' primary acquisition this off-season, he was the leading hitter in the Japanese league last season with a .346 batting average. At this point, it appears as though he'll hit in the #2 slot, as well as play second base.

Pirates Approach MLB Non-Tender Deadline

Charlie Wilmoth — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:27:11 -0000

The deadline for major league teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is tonight. To put that in plain English, players with three to six years of major league service time have their salaries for the year decided by an arbitrator, unless they can reach agreements with their teams first. By tendering a contract to an arbitration-eligible player, a team essentially accepts that the salaries doled out by arbitrators - which are always above the major-league minimum salaries that rookies make, but are usually less than a player might make as a free agent - will be a factor in the player's salary for that season. The arbitrator's decision about the player's salary will be broadly predictable, and will, in almost every case, rise each year until the player becomes a free agent, so there are some cases when a team decides a player isn't worth taking to arbitration and non-tenders him.

I'm not sure whether that qualified as plain English or not. (If not, you can check out Pirates Prospects' uber-detailed primer.) But the important things for you as a Pirates fan are as follows.

1) The Pirates have five players - Ross Ohlendorf, Lastings Milledge, Joel Hanrahan, Ronny Cedeno and Jeff Karstens - about whom they have to make a decision. Of those, the first four will almost certainly be tendered. I bet Karstens will be too, although that's less certain.

2) The Pirates already effectively made decisions about several arbitration-eligible players by designating Zach Duke, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young for assignment, essentially getting rid of all three of them.

3) If a team does not tender a contract to a player, that player has been non-tendered and is a free agent. The Pirates will be looking through the list of non-tendered players, once that becomes available, to find players they'd like to sign. Chief among those is Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy. The Twins have lost interest in Hardy, and he seems likely to be with another team within the next few months, but it's unclear whether the Twins will non-tender him, or whether they will offer him a contract and then trade him. In either case, the Pirates, who could use Hardy's blend of hitting ability and defense, could pursue him.

MLB Rumors: Juan Uribe Signs With Los Angeles Dodgers

DanUpBaby — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:58:01 -0000

That's one middle-infield upgrade off the table—the Los Angeles Dodgers have apparently signed Juan Uribe to a three-year deal worth $21 million. Uribe is 31 and has a three-year dead spot in his career that will worry me indefinitely, but he was, worryingly enough, the class of the free agent options in the middle infield, and the Dodgers are at least playing this the right way, presumably moving Uribe to second and leaving Rafael Furcal at short. What remains?

Well, there's Bill Hall, who had an even more terrifying 2009 season before bouncing back a little with the Boston Red Sox; Miguel Tejada, who is probably the favorite to replace Uribe in San Francisco; and Jason Bartlett, likely on the trading block. The Dodgers will probably nontender Ryan Theriot to make room for Uribe, if you feel a need to give Tony La Russa yet another scrappy white guy to play with.

My favorite options right now, pending any Jose Reyes blockbuster or Hiroyuki Nakajima actually being posted after all, are Marco Scutaro, also on the block, who would make a nice second baseman (although the year-to-year variance in his defensive numbers and his age [35] are both concerns), or J.J. Hardy, who had a decent-enough bounceback year with the Minnesota Twins and is still just 28. If the Cardinals are still intent on adding power this offseason, Hardy, who should be available after the Twins won the bid for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, might be the best lottery ticket around in the middle infield.

Jon Heyman: Pirates Already "Aggressive" In Free Agent Market

Charlie Wilmoth — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:27:16 -0000

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated tweets that the Pirates have already been "aggressive" in hunting for players on the free agent market. We'll see what this offseason brings - as I've said, I think their best path is to try to sign or trade for a good defensive middle infielder (like Orlando Hudson or J.J. Hardy) to help their starting pitchers thrive. They'll also probably have to grab a couple relievers - I think they have the beginning of a pretty good bullpen with Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, Chris Resop and the newly-re-signed Wilfredo Ledezma, but they'll need help after that.

Every indication has been that the Pirates will also be interested in signing a starting pitcher. That's not necessarily a horrible idea, but if they don't improve their defense, signing a starter might backfire on them, and most of the starting pitching options in their likely price range (Dave Bush, Doug Davis, etc.) aren't much of an upgrade on what they already have. A hitter to play first base or corner outfield is also a possibility, but I think that even if the Pirates don't move Pedro Alvarez to first, they should be okay at first and right field with Garrett Jones, Lastings Milledge, Steve Pearce, John Bowker and possibly Jeff Clement.