From the Hardball Times. Who is #1 you may ask? Go see for yourself.

Linky

Seattle's #1...

1. Michael Saunders: I have gone on record stating that Saunders is one of the very few prospects with true 30/30 ability. He has the skills to be a .300 hitter to boot. Judging by his brief major league debut, however, I am a bit leery of his ability to fully transition, leading me to believe that he will not live up to every bit of his potential. But he has a legit chance at stardom, and therefore he is the best that Seattle has to offer.

Rangers #10...

10. Wilmer Font: Font is a young man whose reputation is built on upside. His frame has room to grow, leaving many to believe that a consistent mid-90s fastball could be in his future, but consistent movement from all of his pitches has been lacking. His secondary offerings and control leave much to be desired at this point as well.

Didn't know AJ Murray was a FA. I expect the Rangers to resign Benjamin or a sign a FA SS to stash at OKC next year.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=6994

 

Texas Rangers (19)
RHP: Bryan Corey (AAA), Brian Gordon (AAA), Jailen Peguero (AAA), Corey Ragsdale (Lo A), Elizardo Ramirez (AAA), Josh Rupe (AAA), Mike Wood (AAA)
LHP: Mike Hinckley (AAA), A.J. Murray (AAA)
1B: Ian Gac (Hi A), Mauro Gomez (Hi A), Royce Huffman (AAA)
3B: Adam Fox (AAA), Justin Leone (AAA)
3B: Travis Metcalf (AAA)
SS: Casey Benjamin (AAA)
OF: Ryan Freel (AAA), Dustin Majewski (AA), Kevin Thompson (AAA)

 

Cha-ching. Add Dustin Nippert to the arbitration eligible Ranger players. Nice time for him to have his best ML season to date.

Edit: Cots says has his servicetime at 1.140. I believe they haven't added in 2009. The cutoff was 2.139.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091111&content_id=7655452&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Players such as Fontenot earn Super Two status and get an early start on arbitration, which can bring hefty raises. Other Super Twos include Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, Rays pitcher Matt Garza, Cubs pitcher Tom Gorzelanny, Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, Orioles pitcher Matt Albers, Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens, Astros outfielder Hunter Pence, Rangers pitcher Dustin Nippert and newly acquired Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez.

Some other notes from http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Olney believes other teams could join the Reds and Tigers in cost-cutting mode. He says the teams with payroll space "will be in position to make some excellent deals."  Could be a nice back up IF available.

Catcher Brad Ausmus on 2010: "I could end up playing if somebody wants me."  Anyone interested as a back up?

The Blue Jays are not resigned to trading ace pitcher Roy Halladay, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. However, Feinsand believes Halladay "wants out of Toronto," and would require an extension as part of waiving his no-trade clause. As you know, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos won't rule out trading within the division, opening up Yankees and Red Sox speculation.  He wants an extension. Count the Rangers out.

 

MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan sees a three-year deal worth $18-24MM for Marlon Byrd, though he notes the limited demand for center fielders.  

Mainly posting this to cite this article... Boise St can't get quality opponents.

Bleymaier is making a nearly unheard of offer in college football scheduling – Boise will bring its popular, high-profile, top-10 team to any stadium in any town to play any big name team in America in 2011. And they don’t have to return the date in Idaho.

 

Is TCU scheduled to play in Sept. 3, 2011? How about Texas Tech?

The Rangers and The Field Part1: OBP vs. SLG

This subject is something I originally investigated last winter. I finally had time thee last few weeks to continue the research and put together this fan post. Some may see this as Rudy bashing but it is just coincidence that I finished this  on the day the news comes out that Rudy will not return next year.

I started with trying to answer a simple question. How do the Rangers OBP and SLG compare to playoff teams? Winning seasons are nice but a playoff season would be better. That question has morphed a bit as I got into the details. I am not a statistician nor a sabermatician. My idea was to use simple data and see through observation how the Rangers ranked against the AL in terms of OBP, SLG and wins. I used Baseball Reference to rank each team from 1996 to 2009. I omitted 1995 due to it being a strike year. The 14 year timeframe also covers 14 of the 15 wildcard years. (Before I get flogged, skewered and quartered, I know these numbers are not park adjusted and that wins are highly dependent on pitching and defense. Remember, simple data and observation.)

Top 4 vs. Bottom 4

Lets first look at the top 4 in OBP and SLG vs. the bottom 4. Why the top 4? Because the top 4 teams in wins usually qualifies for the playoffs. The exceptions are 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2009. It also made it easier for a spreadsheet novice like myself.

AL ………………………OBP…………………. SLG……

Avg Wins top 4.…………92.2.…………………..88.9.……

Avg Wins bot 4.…………70.4.…………………..68.7.……

Top 4 range………..….95.8 - 87.……………95.5 - 82.8.….

Bot 4 range………..….78 - 56.5.………………76 - 59.8.……

The top 4 OBP teams averaged 3.3 wins more then the top 4 SLG teams. At the bottom end, OBP teams averaged 1.7 more wins then SLG teams. What about the Rangers when they finish in the top/bot 4?

Rangers.……………..…OBP…………………SLG………….

Avg Wins top 4.…………83.8..(4yrs)………..81.8..(11yrs)…

Avg Wins bot 4.…………83.7..(3yrs)………..***.……

　

*** The Rangers have not finished in the bottom 4 in SLG since 1995. The 3 years they didn’t finish in the top 4 in SLG they averaged 75.3 wins.

Winning teams

Jon Daniels has said in interviews that he wants to build a consistent winning ML team. First, if you are expecting 17 years of consecutive winning seasons like the Yankees, don’t hold you breath. How about 3 consecutive winning seasons? From 1996 on there has been 10 teams (9 franchises) that have met the criteria. Texas hasn’t had 3 consecutive winning seasons but, I fudged a little and included there 96, 98-99 teams.

Team…………avg wins………………avg OBP rank……………..avg SLG rank…..

NY 96-09.…….97.5.……………………2.2.…………….……………4.1

Bos 98-09.……92.2.……………………3.8.………………………….4.6

Min 01-06.……90.………………………7.…………….……………..8.5

Sea 00-03.…….98.3.……………………2.3.…………………………7.8

Oak 99-06.……93.9.……………………5.3.………………………….8

Ana 04-09.…….94.5.……………………6.8.…………………………8.2

Cle 96-01.……..92.……………………..1.8.………………….………2.8

CHW 03-06.……89.5.……………………8.………….……….……..4.3

Tor 06-08.…….85.3.……………………8.7.…………………………9.3

Tor 98-00.…….85.………………………7.7.…………………...…….4

Tex 96,98-99.…91.……………………..3.7.………………….……..2.7

Tex last 14 yrs….80.7.………………….6.8.………………….…….3.1

All of the winning teams above made the playoffs at some point in their streak except… Toronto. That is life in the AL East.

OBP vs. SLG Rankings

Some quick hit observations when comparing a team’s OBP ranking vs. their SLG ranking.

Percentage of teams that OBP ranked higher or equal to SLG from 1996 - 2009.

All teams: 63%
Winning teams: 76%
Playoff teams: 80%
Texas Rangers: 14%

Some quick Rudy/pre-Rudy numbers from 1984 - 1993 for the Rangers.

Avg # wins: 80.7 / 77.7

Avg OBP ranking: 6.8 / 8.2

Avg SLG ranking: 3.1 / 7.3

OBP >= SLG: 2 / 3

Also, not sure it is fair to gripe about the Rangers’ OBP under Rudy when they have never been a high OBP team. At least not since 1984.

　

Conclusions:

I report…. you decide. Like I said, I am not a statistician.

　

Borbon in CF tonight vs Seattle per Anthony Andro. Byrd will be in RF and Blalock is still out for the count after taking a phantom shot to the head. That is one tough knee that Derek has. Will Andruw be at 1B again tonight?

 

Sometimes it is difficult to decide where to put the patest Ranger news. This could have been a fanshot since I have a link. It could go in the morning thread or one of the other front page threads and get lost. But it is directly related to the Rangers so I opted for a fanpost. Am I at 75 words yet?

 

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/