SB Nation User Blog: Bigfan16

Will someone please tell me...

Bigfan16 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:12:48 -0000

that this is not the same old Rangers.

Looking at the stats scare me:

Batting: 1st in batting avg., runs, hits and slg%. 2nd in OBP and Hr's

Pitching: Last in ERA 5.04, most BB's and highest WHiP 1.59

Fielding Wosrt fieling% and most errors.

I am not a Ranger basher and I do like the team. The farm is stocked and the kids look pretty good so far. The stats don't lie and this team once again is all bat and no pitching and poor fielding so far.

Where to go from here?

Bigfan16 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:22:12 -0000

First let me state than I am pleased with this season so far and hope the Rangers continue to re-build the team along the current lines. The real question is what do the Rangers do to get some excitement going forward other than go on a 12 game winning streak. I say get active in the trade market right now.

The Rangers have once again struggled with pitching of late and I question if that was inevitable considering Millwood and the enigmatic Padilla were the only givens going into spring training. Bmac may also be in this group but has yet to start for a full season. Re-treads like Ponson and Jennings are what they are and thank God for Ponson so far. I am firmly in the camp of the game is about the pitching.

Names and teams mentioned recently looking to trade that interest me include the Giants (Linecum, Cain and now Threets), Royals (Greinke) and Bosox are looking for a bat to replace Ortiz.

Start the conversations with the Giants and see what they need for Threets who is out of options and DFA. While you are talking feel them out for the price for Linecum or Cain both of whicjh I believe would demand a handsome price in prospects. Threets coud be a nice LH option behind CJ and Eddie giving Wash a few more options and could come cheap considering the circumstances. Probably looking at a low level prospect at most here for Threets and see if he can stick.

Call the Royals and inquire about Greinke then compare the price with the Giants demands for Linecum or Cain.

Now for the painful part. Shop Bradley (whom I think is great for this team) to Bosox to replace Ortiz in their line-up. Selling on Bradley now IMO is selling high and the Bosox may be in a position to pay a premium for his bat. Though considering the Gagne deal the Bosox may not take your call :). Try to match what you can get for Bradley to the requirements from either the Giants or Royals.

Pull a package from the farm (Davis) and what you get for Bradley and acquire one of the SP mentioned above.

You have taken a flier on Bradley and his history this past off-season and turned it into a young starting pitcher. Added a power LHP with a big upside to the pen and postioned this team better going into the off season.

For arguements sake say we are able to get Greinke and Threets for Bradley, Davis and a low level prospect.

Starting the off season with Millwood, Padilla, Greinke and BMac to start the rotation would put the Rangers in a unique (for the Rangers) position of rotational strength. They could afford a FA signing, or even package a couple of pitchers for another SP who may need a change of scenery. Or just pencil in one of the 12 SP into the 5th spot who will have started a game for the Rangers this season. Personally I would like to see the Rangers money whip Sheets or Sabathia to join the above and form a stout rotation for several years to come.

Where do we go from here?

Bigfan16 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:18:21 -0000

I have been quite for a while and let the trades settle out over the past month. As I review the team today I am left with an awful feeling and questioning how this team is going to get better in 08? Here is what I see as we near the end of August.

Pitching: The pen has been stellar and looks to be solid again next year. The in house front runners for the 08 rotation with 07 ERA to date are: Millwood 5.31, Padilla 6.24, Gabbard 3.86, Loe 5.53, McCarthy 4.79, and Tejada 6.61. Only Loe and Millwood have pitched over 100 innings and Gabbard numbers are solid but based on only a few starts. Does this rotation excite anyone? How do we make it better??

Defense: Lets leave the OF alone for now and concentrate on the IF. Tex is gone along with his gold glove. Kinsler has a .975 fielding % that is .005% better than the much maligned Soriano. OUCH! Young maintains a .979 F% solid but not spectacular and Blalock (leading candidate for 3B in 08) again struggles on defense with a .935 F%. No comment required!

Batting: OK based on 07 numbers You have to give Byrd a shot in LF and Young is a no brainer at SS. Blalock will provide some pop at 3B. After that we have Laird and Salty at C hitting .228 & .221 respectively though Salty has shown more pop. Wilky at 1B with a .235 avg and .304 OBP PLEASE. Kinler started hot but has slumped to hitting .255 YTD. Others who have not impressed me to date include Botts .220 avg and Cruz .223.

The batting average is compounded by the 990 strike outs so far.

Well at least the Team has money for FA right? So I look at the available FA's and feel like old mother hubbard the cupboard is bare.

All of the above is to say out of desparation that I do not see any way to fix this team quickly. poor rotation, poor defense and a team that can not get on base does not add up to a lot of wins in 08 from where I sit.

Am I wrong?
What do you think JD will do to get something going for next year?

Does JD just stand pat and see if the younger players pan out better in 08 than they did in 07? It seams to have worked for Benoit after several years of struggles.

I may just be venting but would like to hear what you think.

The Key to the Rangers future

Bigfan16 — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:24:06 -0000

I am not satisfied this subject has been beaten to death. My apologies if this upsets anyone but I really want to know what this board thinks we should do with our favorite 1B. There are plenty of options and I do not see the best way through this situation clearly just yet.

Heck if I missed an option let me know in your comments.

Poll

What should be done with Tex?

Trade him ASAP

20 votes

Trade him at the trade deadline next year.

6 votes

Extend him now by paying whatever Boras asks for for as long as he wants.

5 votes

Let him play until he is a FA and the pay whatever Boras' asks for for as long as he wants it.

2 votes

Let him play out the contract and then make a run at him.

1 votes

Let him play out the contract and then let him walk for draft picks.

0 votes

34 votes | Poll has closed

It's not too early to look at 2008 is it?

Bigfan16 — Mon, 21 May 2007 06:39:33 -0000

So first I admit I have posted mostly negative opinions about JD to date. So lets look at the bright side of his moves to date. The Rangers look to have a team payroll of around $68.3M per Fox Sports.com. Take away some players that need to go in a rebuilding season including (Wilky,Lofton & Cat)trade for prospects or whatever you can get and you save $13.8M. Now the controversial take away...Trade Tex who is in line for $15M in 2008, and is making $9M this year. Important note, must get quality for Tex, hopefully a SP that could be comfortable at the top of the rotation.

Those take aways/trades puts this team at $45.5M give or take a few bucks as the base to work with. It leaves the GM about $40M to work with keeping the payroll around $85.5M

I like the base we have here.

As always we need to start with the rotation. I keep Millwood, Padilla, BMac, and RobTej. I also throw Loe out there every chance to see if he can stick in the MLB's. The rotation would look much better with a top of the rotation guy who will cost $15-20M per in FA. It would be better if we could trade Tex for a top of the order SP.
Positions are solid. C - Laird and some Body will be ok unless you want to chase after a FA named Pudge. 1B w/out Tex our options include Botts, Dunn is a FA, and given Blalocks injury could he be moved to 1B if Metcalf continues to thrive at 3B??? 2B - Kinsler, 3B - Blalock, Metcalf and Vazquez, SS - MY, Util - Kata and Arias
Without adding anything to the Payroll we could field a decent IF though we WILL miss Tex's power and that needs to be addressed in the OF/DH.

OF - Cruz and Diaz need to play everyday to see if the can handle MLB. I think they will become solid enough to keep but will need1- more OF to make the team a contender.

The Pen has many options but despite their performance to date I think a solid pen is available from the pieces we have on hand.

The glaring needs for this team IMO are:

Top of the rotation starter, preferably a lefty to go along with Millwood.
A quality CF
Power hitter for #4 and #5 spots.

The top available FA for 08 according to MLBRUMOR>.com are:

John Smoltz (41)
Carlos Zambrano (27)
Joe Nathan (33)
Mariano Rivera (38)
Jorge Posada (36)
Curt Schilling (41)
Bobby Abreu (34)
Ichiro Suzuki (34)
Andruw Jones (31)
Carlos Guillen (32)
Jeff Kent (40)
Mike Lowell (34)
Jason Jennings (29)
Jake Westbrook (30)
Ivan Rodriguez (36)
Freddy Garcia (32)
Kenny Rogers (43)
Torii Hunter (32)
Jason Isringhausen (35)
Omar Vizquel (41)
Marcus Giles (30)
Eric Byrnes (32)
Paul Lo Duca (36)
Bob Wickman (39)
Corey Patterson (28)
Adam Dunn (28)
Scott Linebrink (31)
Michael Barrett (31)
Milton Bradley (30)
Jon Lieber (38)
David Eckstein (33)
Aaron Rowand (30)
Juan Uribe (29)
Bartolo Colon (35)

Since my first priority is SP that is comfortable in the top of the rotation the best choices IMO are Zambrano and Colon. If neither can be had I doubt Rogers is coming back to Rangerland so how about a RADICAL idea? Trade Tex and AO for Papelbon (transistion him into a SP) and some other player(s)? Pap, Bmac and Tejeda wood look really nice to me.

CF - Here we have some nice options including Hunter and A. Jones. Sure they will cost but both fit two needs (Field and line-up).
Power - Do we keep Sosa next year or go for an upgrade? Dunn and ABreu would be nice options not to mention Ichiro who if available would look great in RF and atting lead-off.

The point being if we handle the Tex trade correctly we could easily add 2,3,4, oras many as 5 impact FA's and address all the needs of this team.

Who likes or dislikes the following:
Rotation: Millwood, Padilla, Pap, BMac, and Tejeda
Pen: Mostly the same as this year less AO
Line-up:
Ichiro RF
Young SS
Jones or Hunter CF
Abreu or Dunn or Sosa DH
Blalock 3B
Botts 1B
Cruz or Diaz LF
Kinsler 2B
Laird C

I vote for this type of roster come opening day next year.

MY and defense

Bigfan16 — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 21:03:56 -0000

First of all let's get a few points estalished. MY is my favorite Ranger and well on his way to be favorite Ranger of all time. Second his defensive ability at SS has rightfully been questioned in the past. Third point is pitching and defense wins games. All that said I wanted to point out MY's defensive performance last season.

MY finished the 2006 season with a .985 fileding percentage and earned a 4.87 range factor. Those numbers are good enough for 2nd in both catagories among starting AL SS's and 5th for both catagories for starting MLB SS's. Better news than just his ranking is there is no starting SS that rates better than him in both catagories. Finishing better in Range factor are Peralta, Furcal, Coucsell, and Jack Wilson. In the fielding percentage Alex Gonzalez, Everett, Eckstein and Vizquel bettered his 06 performance.

If we ignore MY offensive numbers he still stacks up as one of the best SS's in the game based on his 06 performance. That is an impressive statement considering his past defensive limitations. When you add MY's offensive production I can easily make the arguement he is the best SS in baseball today.

I truly hope he continues to work on his defensive game and trust that he will anchor a much better defensive Ranger team this season.

On the Brightside

Bigfan16 — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:00:44 -0000

Someone used that term when describing AJM's positive outlook every year. While I doubt that many who read my posts would accuse me of being a blind homer I do see some very positive steps for the Rangers. Yes, as shocking as this may be I am going to say something good about the Rangers, Hicks and even JD.
Looking at the roster something really impressive stands out. I count 21 guys that are 27 or younger. The great thing about that fact is how talented this group is. With the exception of a few (Millwood, Padilla, AO, Gagne and Mahay) they all fall into the under 27 bunch. I count 11 guys that could see time this year at one time or another and there is a lot of talent there.
I really like the fact that we do not have to completely rebuild our rotation next off season excluding some disaster. We could have 4 starters together through 2011 I believe. That accomplishment alone makes me smile. (just a little bit though ;)
Positionally we have Laird, Kinsler, Cruz and hopefulle Botts establishing themselves in the MLB. OK Kinsler already did this last year but he is still in just his second year. Wow! These guys as a group have as much talent coming up at the same time as any team since at least the 91 team. For those who don't recall in 91 Juan G. became an everyday player, Pudge and Dean Palmer both made it to the bigs and Kenny Rogers got a chance to start a few games.
I think that JD and even his former boss Mr. Hart have put together a nice and potentially great group of youngsters who can play the great game.

There are no long term horrible contracts hanging over our heads. OK we still have money owed to AROD. And yes I have been known to advocate some controversial signings like Sori and Zito (which I would have done.) There is an upside to not signing these two and a bigger upside by not signing some of the other deals that went down this off-season.

Blalock, Wilky and even Teix all can produce better than they did last year in totals if healthy. Lofton, Kinsler and Cruz can steal a few bases when needed. MY, Millwood, Gagne and Lofton are solid players who I have a hard time seeing how anyone would not like to have on their team. In fact do we have a jerk (ala T.O.) on this team? I don't think so.

Our defense has gotten better the past two years and I see no reason why we don't continue that trend. All in all we are a solid defensive club. That is a vast improvement over some recent teams (yes that was a swipe at Sori playing 2B.)

Finally lets go back to the beginning. The youth mentioned above for the most part have options left. So we don't have to stick with a struggling player to avoid losing him to a waiver claim (as we did with a rookie named Jose Hernandez in the 91 season. Yes the same Jose Hernandez that finished the year with the Phils and could have helped the Rangers more than once at SS.) Not only will OKC be a better team but this also bodes well for the Rangers of 2008 and beyond. OK the SS comment was a little negative but I still remember our SS problems before ARod and MY. It is nice to have a solid SS.

All in all I like how this team is positioned. Perhaps not enough to satisfy my desire to win NOW, but I can certainly see this team being better for the next several years. For that I salute JD, Hicks, and the entire Ranger team.

Merry Christmas Y'all

Bigfan16 — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 14:11:06 -0000

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I really enjoy most of the debates and comments from this blog and want to say thank you to AJM and Z for hosting such a great blog.

Perhaps the Rangers will give us all a great season in 2007 and a trip to the World Series. That's on my wish list this year.

Here is hoping everyone gets what they want for Christmas!

Off seaon mid term grades

Bigfan16 — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:59:49 -0000

In an earlier diary I predicted it was a good time to be a FA. I thought prices were going to be expensive but had no idea they would get to the point that we see Marquis and Meche getting the deals they have received. Thank goodness it ain't my money.

With that said we are about half way through the off season activity. Still plenty of time for signings and trades but many of the choices have already been made. I want to ask the question: Which team(s) have had a good start to the offseason, and which ones have had bad starts.

Here is my humble opinion. In Alpha order not ranked
Good:
A's: Picked up nice role players to compliment rotation and are AL West Champions.
Braves: Nice trade with Mariners. Mostl quiet.
Cubs: spent a bunch of money but added Marquis, Lilly and Miller to the staff. Soriano, deRosa, Ward and kept Blanco. May have best IF in the MLB.
Dodgers: testing the theory that you can never have too much pitching. Schmidt and Wolf added.
Padres: Quiet mostly but added Maddux who should do very well for them.
Phillies: Added garcia and Eaton to the rotation.
Reds: Quietly adding nice players and filling needs.
Royals: Yes the Royals. Bannister, Dotel and Meche will help turn this franchise around.
Tigers: Simple. Sheffield added to AL Champions.

Bad:
Orioles: How much can you spend on relief pitching?
Jays: Lost Lilly added Thomas at high price and riccardi has put foot in mouth a few times. Look for players to revolt soon.
Cards: Lost too much in FA.
D-Backs: Too much young talent to be this quiet. Got the short end of the deal with Brewers IMO.
Giants: May be worst of all teams.
Mariners: Does this team have a direction???
Nat's: Bad team, poorly run.
RedSox: JD Drew??? DM is possible fiasco. Nice move is signing of Lugo.\
Pirates: No activity on a team that has some nice young players.

Nuetral:
Angels: GMJ and what else??
Astros: Added Williams and Lee but lost Pettite. Need the Rocket to have good offseason.
Brewers: Got better end of D-Backs trade but need to do more.
Indians: At a tipping point with their pitching staff and need to make a few moves to take advantage of existing talent.
ChiSox: Did not like giving up Garcia but the team looks to be positioning itself very well for beyond the 2007 season.
D-Rays: A little to quiet but that may be a good thing.
Marlins: Don't need to do much and have not. May be moved to good on doing nothing.
Rangers: Incomplete. Like the Astros everything depends on signing one player. In this case Zito.
Rockies: Not looking so good for this team but not ready to call it bad just yet.

What do you think?

As pointed out I missed the New York teams. The evil Empire: Supirsingly quiet but moved Sheffield and kept Mussina and added Pettite. Overall Good IMO. Mets (AKA the other team in NYC) Good as well. El Duque, Mota, glavine, Alou are all pricey and old but overall decent off season.

Poll

Who has had the best off season so far?

Royals

1 votes

A's

0 votes

Other

6 votes

Rangers

2 votes

Tigers

2 votes

Dodgers

16 votes

Cubs

4 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

Worth it?

Bigfan16 — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:08:57 -0000

Maybe I am need of happy hour, but I am getting tired of the complaints that the deals struck this off season are not worth the moeny involved. Money is just a tool to be used not unlike toilet paper. If someone can get $10M, $15M or $20M per year then good for him. No one is forcing the owners to sign these contracts. It is the free market at its finest.
If you want to win, and there are players available to help you do that then shame on the owners that do not get involved in this game. I say the Cubs have had a great off season as they filled in the holes with available players. Their team is better today than it was a couple of weeks ago. I can not say the same thing about the Rangers. There is still time for JD to make this team better but is options are getting fewer and fewer with each signing and trade.
Would I sign the Meche contract or a few others? Maybe or maybe not. I would if I thought it meant I could make my team better and it offered "value" to my organization.
Please quit whining about the money involved in these contracts. Oh yeah only 3 hours 52 minutes til happy hour!