10 years $250 million.

This is terrible news for the Rangers. I can see Pujols dominating us similar to how Vlad did for what seemed like an eternity. Apparently the Angels have more money than they let on. I assume that C.J. won't be signing w/ them though because of payroll constraints but who knows. I'm not looking forward to having to face this monster for the next 10 years. Ugh not good.

I'd like to hear what your opinions are of the bullpen. Specifically, what would you do once Dustin Nippert, Willie Eyre, and FX2 return.

Currently the bullpen consists of:

Wilson
Guardado
O'Day
Grilli
Jennings
Mathis
Moscoso

Optioning Moscoso to AAA for FX2 is a given. It gets more tricky once Eyre and Nippert are ready. I think that Guardado's time is up. He has no value to this team considering he can't go multiple innings and is not effective enough to be thrown out there in meaningful games. Lastly, I think a decision must be made between Grilli, Mathis, and Nippert. I think most would say rid ourselves of Grilli. Tough call in my mind. Another longshot possibility would be to move Jennings to the rotation (which has been recently discussed) and option Holland to AAA or put him back in the pen. I don't really want Jennings put in the rotation because of his terrific pitching out of the pen and I worry he would not stay healthy starting. I'm not sure if Eyre has options remaining, but if so, optioning him and giving us more of a look at Grilli, Mathis, and Nippert would be nice.  I think this would be ideal:

FX2
Wilson
O'Day
Jennings
Eyre
Mathis
Nippert/Grilli (Can't make up my mind on this one)

and a rotation of:

Millwood
Feldman
Padilla
Harrisson
Holland

What do yall think is the best way to go?

On the team site there is an article saying the Rangers are considering a move to middle relief for Jennings. The pen seems to be set with CJ, Eddy, FX2, Mad dog, and Eyre manning 5 spots.

Lets say Nippert starts on the DL, and we go with an 8 man pen to start the season. I think that I would rather keep Turnbow, Donnely, and Rupe (who is out of options) around as opposed to experimenting with Jennings (who has only 1 career relief appearance). Once Nippert is back, get rid of whoever has been the least effective between Donnely and Turnbow. I'd rather Jennings and Benson play in AAA, and whoever performs best get the callup once the first injury goes down. What do yall think?

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/25801

Apparently the Braves, who are looking for starting pitching and very weill might get outbid for the services of guys like Burnett and Lowe and/or not be willing to give up the pieces to land Peavy, have interest in both Millwood and Padilla. Other teams are metioned as well.

Personally I would be heavily in favor of dumping Millwood or Padilla if we don't have to eat salay. I would preter to get rid of Millwood, but I find it hard to believe we could get anything decent for him without having to eat part of his salary. Also, I wonder how realistic it would be to dump one of the two and go hard after Sheets with a 3 year, 48 million deal?

Thoughts?

Sorry guys this probably doesn't merit its own fanpost but I really want to know the CORRECT answer to this question about Brandon McCarthy... If he is activated and then immediately optioned to AAA for the rest of the year does that guarantee that the team will control him for an additional 3 years after this season allowing him not to hit free agency until after the 2011 season? I'd appreciate it if someone who knows the intricacies of how that works sheds light on the issue. If this is true, I don't see why we would not take this path, considering he has not performed well in the rehab assignments coupled with the fact that we don't need a #5 starter for a while. By the way, does anyone see Evan Grants prediction at getting sheets at 4 years, 64 million at all possible. I highly doubt you could sign him for that price. With this market a guy with his potential (even with the injury history), I bet it costs the winning bidder upwards of 5 years, 75-80 million. Thoughts?

Throughout the season I've been puzzled as to the many different opinions regarding Brandon McCarthy's potential. It seemed to me that when he was with the White Sox, most people pegged him as a top of the rotation guy. Since the trade went down, it seemed like many people started to call him nothing more than a #3 or #4 type guy, even prior to the season starting. After watching him really rebound nicely from his awful start of the season, I really think he has what it takes to be a #1 or #2 type pitcher. Im getting tired of talking about the same tex trades for days now, so i figured it would be interesting to see the overall opinions of everyone here. Cast your vote as to how you view McCarthy's ability...