This is a link to an interview with the Rangers' minor league hitting coordinator, Mike Boulanger.  He discusses the hitting strengths and weaknesses of just about every Ranger AA prospect including Davis, Mayberry, Duran, Teagarden, Murphy and Boggs.  I am not selling subscriptions, but it is a Ranger web site that is well worth the price.  Reading Boulanger's detailed analysis of each hitter, one wonders why he is still a minor league instructor.  Very good stuff.  

http://rangers.scout.com/2/698172.html

   

http://rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061014&content_id=1713505&vkey=news _tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

I'd say he has been planning for this opportunity for some time. "I have a sense of the Texas Rangers lineup and know what the status of their rotation is," Hillman said. "I know about their up-and-coming young pitching. I have a pretty good sense of what their needs are for next year. I do know the 40-man rosters of the American League West teams. I've done a little homework.

"I know Andy Pettitte is available [as a free agent], and I had him for two years [in the Yankees organization] and he'd like to stay in Texas. I keep up. But my primary focus is here right now."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007_mlb_free_agent_starting_pitchers/index.html

Pretty good analysis, though he left out Adam Eaton.  Summation: there isn't much out there. Padilla may be the best major league free agent out there, though it sounds as though Kerry Wood might be worth a gamble.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
 

To quote the old Beatle song.  Great playoff series for former Rangers  First Justin Duchscherer is nearly perfect in relief for the A's; Pudge gets a key hit against the Yankees and Rogers shuts them out.  To add insult to injury, Leyland explains Rogers resurgence because he's not pitching in the Texas heat.  What next?  Young will pitch a no-no and Gonzalez will hit a grand slam and go 4-4.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

From TR Sullivan:

Whoever it is, the Rangers will look for someone who has strong communication skills with players. In the end, Showalter lost his job because, Hicks said, the players had stopped listening to his message and had tuned him out.

"It was just our belief that Buck was unable to be as effective with the players as he had been a few years ago and needed to be in order to win," Hicks said. "The thing about sports is, in the end, the win-loss record is staring at you every day.

"In the end, J.D. was very persuasive that with the nucleus of players, if we were going to win, we needed a fresh approach. Most managers or coaches, whatever the sport, there is a period of time where your message is effective."

I believe Daniels stated in his press conference he didn't talk with the players.  So how did he arrive at the conclusion the players "had tuned Showalter out?"  Showalter's departure by itself is not of great concern, except for the fact the Rangers are going to spend $6 million over the next three years to pay off his contract.   The standard excuse for not expanding payroll is the Rangers cannot afford it.  

Showalter stated in Sullivan's article the only player to complain to him was Blalock who didn't like being benched against left handers, (even though he was awful against them.)  Daniels stated his expectation was the team was capable of winning 85 to 90 games.  So Showalter is being fired because the Rangers lost five games more than they should have?

Daniels  acknowledged Oakland was a better team than Texas, so is Ken Macha the reason Oakland is better or could it be that Billy Beane is a better general manager?  Like other Daniels decisions, firing Showalter was a kneejerk reaction to a disappointing finish and a waste of money.  There may be better managers out there than Showalter, but finding him isn't going to significantly close the gap between Oakland and the Rangers.            

TR Sullivan has his breakdown of the offseason on the Rangers site and says offhandedly that Padilla will likely be gone, "With Eaton and Padilla likely gone, the Rangers are left with Kevin Millwood and most likely Robinson Tejeda." Richard Durrett is saying the same thing, "Vicente Padilla will probably get too much money from someone else to stay in Texas. So Daniels will have to find some more one-year wonder guys to fill the rotation. But high on that list needs to be Mark DeRosa and Gary Matthews Jr. Both handle critical spots for the Rangers." This is somewhat puzzling because he also quotes Daniels as saying it is ludicrous to believe the Rangers will tear down the corp of the team and start over. "I've read some national publications where they say we are going to tear this thing down and start over," Daniels said. "That's ludicrous. I believe in this core, and I believe in the guys working around them in the organization. If that is true, one would think GMJ and Padilla would be priorities one and two.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

First we learn that Brad Wilkerson has a bad shoulder, then Carlos Lee is too rotund to play the outfield and now we know Akinori Otsuka has migraine headaches and can't pitch the rest of the season, a condition which he has had since he was 20.

Never mind the Rangers got screwed player wise in letting go Chris Young, Soriano, Adrian Gonzalez, but shouln't the Rangers and John Daniels have been aware of these obvious medical and playing problems BEFORE the trades were made?

Otsuka's condition doesn't matter this season, but if the Rangers were in a middle of the playoffs, losing a closer to headaches might be a trifle more significant.  Trading a player of the quality of Soriano for a player whose shoulder barely allows him to swing a bad is inexcusable.  Lee's ponderous play in left field should have made it apparent when the Rangers scouted him.  

If I am Tom Hicks, I am not sure I want Daniels trading my players or spending my money on free agents.  If there were a minor league for general managers, one might conclude that Daniels needs to return there for more seasoning.  He has displayed some talent but is  overly aggressive at the plate and gets suckered by off speed pitches out of the strike zone.                  

"Back in July, Gillick was being realistic. The team hadn't done anything but disappoint. Why not junk it?

The wonder is that the message didn't get through to the team. Instead of giving the remaining core of young stars a reason to give up, it inspired them to show their own general manager that he was wrong about what they could do."    

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15007048/                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

This quote from the director of personnel development from a story on the Rangers official web site about various farm prospects:

"Gold (.291, 34 HR, 103 RBIs). A 10th round pick in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Gold had the biggest breakout season in the Rangers' farm system. He'll likely play at Triple-A Oklahoma next year, but he'll get some Major League playing time in Spring Training. The question is if he'll go on the 40-man roster this winter."

Exactly how many guys do the Rangers have in their farm system capable of hitting 34 home runs, hitting .291 and driving in 103 rbis?  Why wouldn't they put him on their major league roster?  It's stupid to even ask the question.      
 

Padilla and his agent may not want to negotiate now, but it wouldn't hurt to try. He has the best stuff on the Rangers' staff. Don't believe me? Watch the movement on his fastball against the White Sox on the official site highlights.   It was low in the strike zone yesterday and particularly nasty. It would be ridiculous for management to let him get away.  Acquiring him for Rodriquez may be the pitching equivalent of getting Michael Young from the Blue Jays.    

Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .294 with 18 homers and 49 RBIs in what is generally regarded as a pitchers' park, (numbers which would surely suffice for the Rangers DH.)  I was listening to a San Diego writer comment on a radio show that Adrian was also "the best first baseman in baseball."  I don't know whether that's accurate, but the trade with San Diego, though not awful (at least the Rangers got a closer they didn't know they needed), appears more and more questionable in view of the Rangers' needs for a bat and a starting pitcher. Chris Young is 8-4 with a 3.59 ERA, which would rank him first among Ranger starters.        
 

From the Ranger's official site, a recitation of the stats of Rangers playing winter ball in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other places. Among the highlights, are the stats of Newberg's favorite minor leaguer:

Caguas teammate John Lujan went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 19 2/3 innings. He struck out 14 batters and walked four. He allowed only eight hits and one unearned run.

http://rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060106&content_id=1291941&vkey=news _tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

From ESPN article on finalization of the Padres/Rangers trade:

"The acquisition potentially that I think a lot of people aren't spending enough time on is Otsuka," manager Buck Showalter said. "That was something that we didn't have as much as a starter."

Evidently, Buck regards the setup man as the key to the deal.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2280664

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/13505806.htm

"But Millwood led the American League with a 2.86 ERA for the Indians last season. It would appear a lot of pitcher-hungry clubs, including the Rangers, were so blinded by the ERA they overlooked the 9-11 record that left Millwood at a so-so 32-29 since leaving the Braves."

The article raises interesting questions about whether Millwood can deliver the value of his contract.   He was, afterall, 3-9, as late as July of 2005.  

Dear John,

I realize there are a variety of demands on your time.  Between having to deal with other general managers, the media, agents and the personnel under your supervision, you no doubt are feeling wound up like the battery bunny 24/7.

You probably have found you don't always have control over your schedule, like many busy executives.  However, there is one ancient and wise piece of advice to observe when spending your most valuable commodity, your time in being general manager:  "First things first."  

Yes, it's fun to pull off trades and talk to agents, but apparently the players you wish to trade don't have the type of value needed to pull in a big-time starting pitcher or even a semi big-time pitcher.  Nor is there a long line at your door of free agent starting pitchers wanting to play for the Rangers.  

OK, so here is what you do.  Why not spend the next several weeks (or however long it takes) evaluating the Ranger minor league system? I mean from top to bottom.  Yes, you probably know a lot about it already, but this is the first year you've been in charge.  I would suggest there are several questions you might want to ask:

 1)Is the organization spending enough on coaches so that its players are receiving the best instuction available in both the high and low minors?

2. What has been the drafting philosophy of the organization and is it likely to produce sufficient talent to make and keep the major league team competitive?  
3. Is the organization sufficiently represented in Latin and Central America to allow it to secure the best available talent?  Are there areas of the world, Japan and Korea for example, where the organization has no presence and should be represented?

That's not a complete list.  I am sure there are other and better questions to address. But given the Rangers'general bad luck with free agents and the fact that all general managers are trying to steal good players from each other in exchange for bad or mediocre ones, wouldn't starting with the minor league system make more sense for the long term benefit of the organization than attempting to spend $millions for slightly better than .500 pitchers?