SB Nation User Blog: RangerMad

Redhawk Notes

RangerMad — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:38:59 -0000

from Jeff Wilson, FWST blog

Hamilton - "said that his timing is there even if the results aren't."

Benson - "should be ready to start a game early next week."

Eyre - "Rangers try to get him stretched out to be better suited for a long relief role" What do the Rangers see in this guy?

Neftali ~~Perez~~ Feliz - "clocked at 98 to 101 mph two outings ago"

El Duque - "He can opt out of his minor-league deal July 20."

Max Ramirez - "Max Ramirez continues to be bothered by a sore wrist."

Who leads OKC in HRs? Go read the article.

7/1 Borbon-less Pregame Thread

RangerMad — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:28:47 -0000

Since it seems as if the GDTs are not starting until just before game time, here is today's pregame thread.

The Rangers are going up against Jered Weaver. He has a 2.13 era in RBiA covering 5 GS. The Rangers have put up an anemic .225/.294/.317 slash line against him.

The Rangers counter with the hot hitting combo of Murphy and Byrd in the middle of thier lineup again tonight. Omar is making his weekly start at SS tonight. I guess Elvis is too tired from all that running last night.

The Borbon-less Rangers lineup.

2B Ian Kinsler

3B Michael Young

LF David Murphy

CF Marlon Byrd (5-for-12 against Weaver)

DH Hank Blalock (8-for-21, HR)

RF Nelson Cruz

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia

1B Chris Davis

SS Omar Vizquel

http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/

tonight's Borbon-less lineup

RangerMad — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:16:31 -0000

The GDT won't drop for another hour and the AM thread is >350 posts. Lets start another focusing on tonight's lineup vs LHP Joe Saunders. No Borbon. I am not surprised. Elvis and his .391 obp vs LHP is batting ninth. Sure would be nice if he batted first and Kinsler moved down to 3rd.

Ian Kinser, 2b (8-for-18, 3 HR vs. Saunders)

Michael Young, 3b (8-for-22)

Marlon Byrd, cf (2-for-14)

Andruw Jones, dh (1-for-5, HR)

Nelson Cruz, rf (3-for-15)

David Murphy, lf (0-for-0)

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, c (1-for-9)

Chris Davis, 1b (1-for-8)

Elvis Andrus, ss (1-for-2)

http://startelegramsports.typepad.com/foul_territory/

SP a priority?

RangerMad — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:57:15 -0000

The Ranger's current historic hitting slump overshadows their thin SP depth. With BMac and Harrison on the DL, might JD be looking for starting pitching?

"It might," Daniels said Sunday. "We probably have more internal options in the bullpen than in the rotation. [Starting pitching] is something we're looking at but there are not that many starting pitchers available and I don't expect that to change. Not many starters get moved before the [July 31 Trade] Deadline. We may need to deal with that from within."

After Tommy Hunter, the depth chart is Moscoso, Nippert, Jennings or Mathis. JD has said he sees El Duque as a reliever. Feliz is in the OKC bullpen. You can never have enough pitching.

Inside The Front Office: Traveling Secretary

RangerMad — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:41:03 -0000

Inside The Front Office: Traveling Secretary

This is from Inside the Majors.A website authored by Bart Given, former Assistant GM for the Blue Jays.

Minors 6/27

RangerMad — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:05:41 -0000

Pitching probables and boxscore links can be found here thanks to Shroomer. Weiland starts for Hickory and the others are kind of meh.

Tonight's item of discussion: Which position player(s) do you look to first when checking out the minor league boxscores? I assume everyone checks out the pitchers. My choices:

OKC: Max, Borbon, Golson

Frisco: Smoak, Moreland, Smith

Bak: Beltre (Is there anyone else their worth watching?)

Hickory: Bianucci, Morrison

Spokane:

AZL:

The Curious Case of Darren O'Day

RangerMad — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:46:15 -0000

The Curious Case of Darren O'Day

Good article by Jeff Miller over at InsideCorner.

Rangers are penniless, but they do have prospects

RangerMad — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:53:07 -0000

Rangers are penniless, but they do have prospects

From Heyman

The Rangers are looking at starting and relief options. They have looked into Brad Penny, though one person familiar with their thinking calls a deal for Brad Penny "unlikely.'' Huston Street and other relievers are among the targets.

Although, Texas' quest for pitching help may be hindered by its inability to take any extra salary. For them to take a high-salaried veteran, they will have to get the trading team to pay the salary or take back a big salary.

The way to accomplish that would be to give up a top prospect or prospects. The Dodgers managed to do that last year, acquiring Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez without adding to their payroll. In the case of Blake, they surrendered top catching prospect Carlos Santana. Texas does have excellent prospects, so this isn't impossible.

The reason Texas can't increase its payroll is related to owner Tom Hicks' current financial travails. He took on a lot of debt, according to people familiar with the situation, and also took a bath on his purchase of the Liverpool soccer team. These are the reasons Hicks has the team up for sale.

minors 6/14

RangerMad — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:35:44 -0000

Some games already underway...

Wieland vs West Virginia

Hickory is 4th in the league in era and surprisingly 6th in ops.

Phillips vs Rancho Cucamonga

Bakersfield is 13-18 at home and 16-15 on the road.

Tanner Roark vs San Antonio

Friso is 1-9 in thier last 10 games. But things are looking up for the 2nd half.

Lizard vs New Orleans

The OKC hitters continue thier quest to make the PCL a pitchers league.

Shoomer's page

Goldstein Q&A over at Inside Corner

RangerMad — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:03:34 -0000

Goldstein Q&A over at Inside Corner

Evan Grant breaks out his rolodex and gives us a Q&A with Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein.

The tease...

Was Scheppers at #44 the best value pick, vis-a-vis talent level, in this draft for the Rangers?

No. Matthew Purke was. He was the fifth or sixth best talent in the draft and to get a guy like that at 14, one year after getting the third or fourth best talent in the draft at 11, is robbery. Again. He’s going to sign. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. They had him in for a workout before the draft, they talked to his reps before the draft. They obviously knew what it was going to take to sign him before they took him. There won’t be any surprises there for either side. But it’s going to be way above slot and so they can’t do it until near the deadline.