SB Nation User Blog: NorCalRangersFan

We've got #1!

NorCalRangersFan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:33:52 -0000

Or at least we have, on many occasions. This post has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while and the upcoming draft made me decide to post it now. Back when we signed Kris Benson, people were talking about how the guy had to be good since he was a former #1 overall draft pick (?!?!). I know that Josh Hamilton is also a former #1 and that got me wonder how many other #1 overall picks have passed through the Rangers over the years. So, I went back though all the previous drafts through 1965 and checked which players had played for the Rangers at some point during their careers. I also looked up their WAR for the time they were here to get a rough idea of how much they were worth to the Rangers.

Ten #'1's have played for the Rangers. I'm not sure how that number compares to other teams. If someone knows of a way to compile that information easily, I'd be very interested to know it. Of the ten that played in Texas, six of them played at or below replacement level. The total WAR for all the player in all the years they played for the Rangers is 35.9, but most of that is from A-Rod with his 24.6 Wins. Josh is still here and we all hope that he will add to his total of 6.5 so far. The Rangers have had the #1 pick twice, which is about you'd expect without looking at records with 30 teams and 44 drafts so far. The Rangers have been historically bad, but not bad enough to get more than their share of #1 picks, unlike the Mets and Padres who have had five #1's each.

Notes for the data below. Baines was aquired mid-season in '89 and traded mid-season '90. He played 50 and 103 games for the Rangers in those season, respectively. For Benson and Hamilton, their current WAR numbers come from fangraphs.com All historical WAR, including Hamilton's '08 season come from baseballprojection.com. FanGraphs and BaseballProjection have different number for Hamiltons '08 WAR (FG: 4.0, BP: 5.6), so they are calculating WAR differently. That makes Hamilton's total WAR number of 6.5 questionable since its adding apples and something similar, but different, to apples.

Player                  Drafted By      Year    With Rangers    Total WAR
Jeff Burroughs          Senators        1969    '72 - '76             8.1
Dave Roberts            Padres          1972    '79 - '80             0.0 (0.5, -0.5)
David Clyde             Rangers         1973    '73 - '75            -0.5
Floyd Bannister         Astros          1976    '92                  -0.7
Harold Baines           White Sox       1977    '89 - '90             0.9
Phil Nevin              Astros          1992    '05 - '06            -1.0
Alex Rodriguez          Mariners        1993    '01 - '03            24.6
Kris Benson             Pirates         1996    '09 - current        -0.3*
Josh Hamilton           Devil Rays      1999    '08 - current         6.5*
Adrian Gonzales         Marlins         2000    '04 - '05            -1.1

I'm calling a winner

NorCalRangersFan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:42:18 -0000

DJCahill wins the McCarthy Community Projection with a 4/60/40/4.2. This is, of course, predicated on him not pitching in the majors again this year. I'm expecting the stress fracture the take longer than expected to heal, then he'll have some sort of setback while on rehab (a blister, maybe?). We can expect the obligatory "It's so frustrating. Every time I start feeling good and pitching well, something else goes wrong. I just want to help the team and show them what I'm capable of. Blah. Blah. Blah."

I really wanted to be right with my prediction of 14//160/140/3.95. I was really expecting him to carry the rotation this year. As Adam would say: "Bah.".

Props from BtB for one of our own.

NorCalRangersFan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:34:37 -0000

Props from BtB for one of our own.

Sky Kalkman has a nice shout out for our own philkid3 on his work on the Top 25 Rangers list.

Rangers Team Report on Yahoo!Sports

NorCalRangersFan — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:40:40 -0000

Rangers Team Report on Yahoo!Sports

Nothing real interesting there except that this quote jumped out at me.

"Kevin Millwood, who was challenged last fall by club president Nolan Ryan to have a full spring training or lose his rotation spot, had a solid first outing of the spring"

Was this ever mentioned anywhere in the local media? I don't ever remember reading a quote from NR like that.

On MLB Network NOW!

NorCalRangersFan — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:45:08 -0000

Just clicking through the channels and got to MLB network and found the they are showing Nolan's 7th no-hitter against Toronto on May 1, 1991. They just completed the 5th inning. Note that I am in PST. I do not know if MLB channel has same programming on at all times across US, so ymmv.

This reminded me of a memory I have from 1989 or 90 where I clearly remember another Nolan Ryan game where he had a no-hitter into the 9th when Julio Franco booted what would have been the last out. The next batter promptly broke up the no-no. I have googled around for this game, but I have been unable to find it anywhere. Did a game like this actually happen, or did I dream it?

LAAA Outfield

NorCalRangersFan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:37:52 -0000

LAAA Outfield

BTB's R.J. Anderson is not all that impressed with the Angels in the Outfield.

LAAA Outfield

NorCalRangersFan — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:37:52 -0000

LAAA Outfield

BTB's R.J. Anderson is not all that impressed with the Angels in the Outfield.

Brewers add pitchers Wright, Mendoza

NorCalRangersFan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:58:35 -0000

Brewers add pitchers Wright, Mendoza

No, not that Wright. And not that Mendoza, either. But I definitely clicked the link when I saw the title on Yahoo.

OT: Doesn't smell like teen spirit

NorCalRangersFan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:14:33 -0000

Up here in the SF Bay Area, John Madden (yes, that John Madden) has a radio bit every morning on KCBS (740 AM), an all-news station. Its a pretty free-form 5-10 minutes where they chat about many topics, but mostly sports or food. When its not football season, they sometimes get into some pretty strange subjects.

So, this morning, they progressed from the All Star Game to the fact that this was the last year for Yankees Stadium. On many previous occasions, Madden has talked fondly about the smells and the dripping ooze that you find in the bowels of the old stadiums like Yankees Stadium and Fenway park, and that is, of course, where the conversation ended up again: stinky stadiums. At this point, the KCBS sports reporter popped in and said that the smelliest stadium he's ever been in, including Yankees Stadium and Fenway Park, is... The Ballpark in Arlington!

Now, having grown up in Washington DC and now living in the SF Bay Area, I have never been to any of these stadiums, but I was wondering if that could be true. Does TBIA smell? I find it hard to believe since its a fairly new stadium. When I eventually get to see a game at TBIA, should I stay away from the "bowels of the stadium"?

Danks' Development

NorCalRangersFan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:57:45 -0000

There is an interesting post on Beyond the Box Score about The Emergence of John Danks. Its an analysis of his pitching this year and looks at the Pitch F/X data to see what has changed that led to his breakout year. The things that jumped out at me were that he has added a new pitch (the cutter) and has added a couple of MPH to his fastball.

I still don't question the trade which I think was a good idea at the time. What I do question is whether he could have put together this year's season in the Rangers' organization. I don't think he could have for a couple of reasons:

1) I don't think Mark Conner and Co. could have provided the instruction to quickly add an effective fourth pitch, or to add 2 MPH to his fastball. Ever since Hershiser left, I don't see a lot of improvement in our pitchers once they reach the Major League level. This presumes that Danks would have been called up to the Majors, which brings me to my second reason...

2) I don't think he would have been given the chance to stay in the rotation after putting up the numbers he put up in Chicago in 2007 (which probably would have been even worse in Arlington). Chicago had the patience to let him learn and are being paid off for their patience.