From a Victor Rojas' tweet:

Saunders plus 3 to #dbacks for Dan Haren. #angels

The Angels seem to think they can still get this thing.

Update: The package is Joe Saunders, Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez and a player to be named.

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The PTBNL better be Trout.

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To the person holding the sign that said "Ranger Fans Against the Wave" in the corner box seats on the first base side at tonights game - I applaud you.  People who start the wave should immediately be escorted from the stadium.

That is a genius sign and the Rangers should distribute them throughout the stadium.  Have ushers and fans hold up the signs when people try to start the wave and hopefully the d-bags who start the wave will stop.

So, Sheldon Souray of the Oil has asked for a trade, basically burned all bridges up in Oil land according to SBN sister site, Copper & Blue.

Anyway, he's due 4.5m for 10-11 and 11-12 and I doubt the Stars would be able to find a better defenseman.  The money works because I think that they trade Riberio for something so they stay within their ~45m budget.  I also don't think he'll cost anything significant in terms of prospects.  Maybe you can get them to take Brunstrom in a swap of disappointing players or something along those lines.

Upgrading the d corp is the first, second and third priorities of the offseason.  Souray seems like he could be someone who could help.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=5047618

"Texas claimed infielder Ryan Garko off waivers from the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, completing the Rangers' 40-man roster.

The 29-year-old Garko, who will make $550,000, hit .268 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs last season. He would likely fill out the team's 25-man roster as a backup corner infielder Chris Daviis, a spot that Matt Brown and Max Ramirez had been competing for."

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Probably better than Brown or MaxRam.

Per SI

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/03/17/washington/index.html?eref=sihp

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season, SI.com has learned.

Washington, 57, has been subject to increased drug testing since his failed test, which was administered by Major League Baseball last July, and he has passed all of his subsequent tests. In deciding to support Washington and retain him as manager, the Rangers accepted his apology as heartfelt and also his explanation that this was a one-time transgression.

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So Sturm writes a blog for the Stars' website.  In his latest blog post he wrote, "But, I think keep Turco means that they will be judicious with Lehtonen's starts and set him up for a successful 4 or 5 starts in the final 20 games."

  http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=520132

Excuse me?  Four or five starts?  What the hell.  Lethonen should be getting about 15 starts.  How can any competent executive go into the next season with his starting goalie only have played five games the previous season?  A goaltending duo of Lethonen and Krahn (or some other similarily situated spare) would be such a disaster.  I can't comprehend such a situaion.  This thing is not going in a good way.  No money to upgrade the D, an extremely poor goaltending situation is not a formula for success.

Kari Lehtonen mention with the Stars.  Nothing concrete, but interesting nonetheless.  From an article talking about Kovalchuk being traded we have this:

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Along with the Kovy bomb Kincade dropped on us yesterday, he also indicated the he has been led to believe Kari Lehtonen has played his last game as a Thrasher and he will be moved potentially to Dallas or St. Louis.

http://blogs.ajc.com/iceman-thrashers-blog/2010/02/03/ilya-has-left-the-building/?cxntfid=blogs_iceman_thrashers_blog

So, it is what it is, a name, a rumor - yay for trade rumors.

Have fun with that Chicago....

 http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4785125

 What a terrible signing.

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The Chicago Cubs made their first major addition of the offseason, signing former Texas Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd to a three-year, $15 million deal on Thursday.

 The Cubs hope Byrd can fill their center field void. Byrd is a disciple of hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who also will be starting his first season on the north side after coming over from the Rangers.

The 32-year-old Byrd had a career year in 2009, hitting .283 with 20 home runs and 89 RBIs. It was his first major league season with more than 500 at-bats; putting up career highs in games played (146), home runs, doubles (43) and RBIs.

From Poochie over at the ESPNDFW:

Greenberg will be involved in the day-to-day operations, but Ryan runs the team on the field. "Nolan is going to have complete authority on the baseball side," Greenberg said. "I have the utmost confidence in him." That's pretty clear. Greenberg later said that Ryan would be the first guy on a Rangers Mount Rushmore and that he knows all the nice things fans are saying about him are because Ryan is in his group and fans are saying "if Nolan thinks he's a good guy, maybe he's a good guy."

 

Greenberg was asked if he would share his opinion at a baseball operations meeting. He said that wasn't his role. "My role is to have great people in positions of authority and create an environment that encourages them to be their best and let them do their job," Greenberg said. "Fortunately, when it comes to the baseball side, the Rangers are in a tremendous position. To have the judgment, wisdom and personal touch of Nolan Ryan and the tremendous group JD [Jon Daniels] has assembled, the Rangers on the baseball side are the envy of every franchise in baseball in terms of talent. It's not broke, so I won't try to fix it. I'm not going to inject myself in a way that it interferes with outstanding people doing their job."

 

Link

If Ryan is going to have complete authority on the baseball side, doesn't that supplant JD as GM? 

http://stars.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=424434&contactID=62385477

Dallas Stars Owner Thomas O. Hicks announced today that he has restructured the NHL club’s hockey management staff, naming Joe Nieuwendyk as the team’s new General Manager. As part of the reorganization, Co-General Managers Brett Hull and Les Jackson have been reassigned within the organization into positions that focus on their respective strengths. Hull will serve as Executive Vice President and Alternate Governor while Les Jackson will return to his long-time role as Director of Scouting and Player Development.

WTF?

According to the WSJ:

SEC charges Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading related to sales of Mamma.com. (no link as of yet - just a ticker; follow on http://online.wsj.com/public/us)

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An even more interesting Mavs season, just got more interesting.  If he is convicted, I wonder if Stern will make Cuban sell the team.  This probably is the reason that MLB said that they wouldn't let him buy the Cubs.                                                                                                                                                                          

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/7/13/570357/prospect-update-julio-borb

Sickels' conclusion:

I gave Borbon a Grade C+ in the book this year. Some people see him as a future regular, maybe even a star. But I'm concerned that might still develop into more of a fourth outfielder, speed/defense type guy, if he can't develop even a little more patience. Grade-wise I have no problem rating him a Grade B- based on what he's done this year, but I won't go higher than that until we get a full set of second half Double-A numbers.

Since this diary has gone to the second page, I am making a new one.  First off, I know nothing about racketeering and am only going off what I am reading in the judges order.  The gist is basically, the government did not charge them with murder, rather, the government charged them with racketeering.  It was the government's claim that the murders happened in furtherence of the conspiracy and that even once they retired from the NYPD and moved to Las Vegas, the conspiracy continued in their other enterprises.  Now, I don't know why the government took this route.  The statute of limitation tolls at the time the conspiracy ends.  The government contended that the conspiracy ended in 2005.  The court concluded otherwise and said that the conspiracy could have ended as late as 1996 and thus, the SOL had tolled for the racketeering charge.  Even though there is no SOL for murder, since they weren't charged with murder, that is irrelevant.

http://howappealing.law.com/USAvsEppolito.pdf

Read pages 7-8, and 61-77

How much longer do you keep them in A ball?  I can understand Mahar because this is his first professional season.  Lets look at Metcalf.  In his first professional season last year in A ball he hit .269/.351/.503 in 290 ABs and this season he is hitting .298/.375/.512 in 295 ABs and this is coming off two very nice seasons in college.  He has shown all he can show in A ball and it is time for him to show what he can do in Frisco.

BA has the rosters up for the Futures game (subscription req) and Thomas Diamond and Volquez are going to be representing the Rangers.  This gives me a reason to watch the game.  Other playeres worth watching from our AL West bunk mates are Daric Barton, Brandon Wood, Kendry Morales, Yuniesky Bentancourt, and Shin-soo Choo.

WTF is going on?  The Rangers say he has had pain in the elbow or something else wrong with him.  But the keep running him out and he keeps giving up runs.  WTG Buck, use JuanDom and Wasdin every games since they have come up it seems and we are stuck using Shouse and Brocail in critical situations and they are killing the team.

I am about ready to say good bye to the Astacio experiment and get Hudgins up here.  On that note, keeping a spot on the forty man for Tejera has worked out real well.  So here is my plan.

1. DFA Sandra Alomar and call up Laird to be the starting catcher
2. DFA Tejera and call up JuanDom for relief work
3. DFA Pedro Astacio and call up Hudgins

I really don't get this pick.  He just seems like a Sinisi or Botts clone.  When you have Ellsbury who put up better numbers in the same conference and plays a premium defensive position this pick is confusing.  There were also a couple of pitchers who fell who seem like better picks there than Mayberry.