Hello to all of you in the LSB community!  Last summer I posted a diary regarding the possibility that my family might be moving from Orange County to the Metroplex sometime in 2008 and many of you were gracious enough to offer suggestions on where to live, etc.  Now, the possibility appears as though it's becoming more of a reality and we're headed out there on Friday to spend the weekend looking around at housing, etc.  We've narrowed our neighborhood search down to a lot of the usual suspects (Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Southlake, etc.), but I wanted to see if any of you had suggestions for good grocery stores, restaurants and other "family" activities.

If you're familiar with the California store, Trader Joe's, we're hoping there is something similar out there.  (Small market, kind of health food oriented, but really just a cool market to run in and grab a tasty, pre-packaged meal.)  We also want to track down some good restaurants for lunch and dinner...  These don't count, but we're planning on hitting up Whataburger and Cracker Barrel for sure (we Californians envy the states that have Cracker Barrel!!), but it would be great to know of some of the hidden restaurant treasures out there...  Also, are there places out there geared toward families with newborn babies (our little girl is just shy of five months old)?

Any and all advice is appreciated...  I'm beyond excited to hopefully be able to call Texas my home later this year, and as soon as we're settled, I'll start seeing all of you at Rangers games!

My wife and I are giving serious consideration to moving to the Metroplex sometime within the next year, as we've grown tired of the rat race that is Orange County, CA (not to mention the fact that we don't want to raise our soon-to-be born baby in such a materialistic environment).

I personally lived in Arlington for about seven months back in 1993 and I'm very familiar with that area.  However, after taking the wife to her first Rangers games late last season, she wasn't sure if that was a community she'd want to live in.  Can those of you that live in the Metroplex give me some of the more desirable places if you fall into the middle to upper-middle class definition?  I've heard awesome things about Frisco and some of the other cities in that vicinity, but I'm not sure how the job market there compares to other communities in the DFW area...

Also, for any of you that have lived both in and out of the Metroplex, can you help me describe the annual climate to my wife?  I've told her that the summer months are somewhat brutal, but you get used to it...  When we were there in late September, the temperature hovered in the low 90's, which was bearable, but she thought it was WAY too hot for that time of year.  Again, I told her it's something you get used to, and humidity-wise I never felt like the weather was that horrible (it certainly isn't Florida!).  How do some of you deal with the climate out there?  Is your air-conditioner on 24/7?  Do you have to have a swimming pool?  Etc...

Any help, suggestions, etc. that the LSB community can provide are greatly appreciated... Someday, if we ever do move, I'll buy you all a beer at a Rangers or RoughRiders game!

Let me start by saying that I have absolutely no stats to back this up, but it seems like the Rangers have a long standing history of sucking when it comes to facing a pitcher for the first time.  Last night was a perfect example of this...  Hughes got lit up in his first start (against the Blue Jays, I think), but when he rolled into Arlington, he was suddenly a Cy Young caliber pitcher.  If my memory serves me, this seems to happen to us A LOT.

Shouldn't our scouting department be telling us what to expect from guys we haven't faced before?  It's easy to point the finger at Rudy or the players, but the primary function of scouts is to tell the players what to expect, but I believe history shows that the scouts just aren't getting the job done.  (One of the only other alternatives would be that our players just don't look at the scouting reports, which is unfathomable to me...)

Any thoughts?  Any stats to back up my comments?  Maybe it's just me, but I think I'm on to something here...

Hopefully I didn't miss this elsewhere...

So, are they going to accuse all of the Juniors in the game?  First, it was Gary Matthews, Jr., now it's JHJ, who's next Ken Griffey, Jr.?  Hairston denied everything, of course...  I wonder how much this will impact his chances on making the opening day roster?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/02/steroid.raid/index.html?eref=si_topstories

With today's ongoing debate about the Michael Young contract situation, I'm curious what everybody believes to be a fair salary range for the team as a whole?  If I'm not mistaken, I think our 2007 payroll will be around $70 million, which seems pretty low to me, based on the new economics of baseball.  If we extend Young into the $13 million range, we're around $80 million, and we'd possibly push up near $90 million if Teixeira signed for somewhere around $17-$20 million/year after 2007.  With a few players coming "off the books" after this season, I still think we'd have enough flexibility to sign someone like Torii Hunter (and possibly another starting pitcher) next off season without breaking the bank.  Am I out of my mind to think the Rangers should have a payroll in the $90-$100 million range, or is the consensus that we should remain more fiscally conservative?  If we go the cheaper route, can the Rangers win before 2010?

In addition to your thoughts, please vote in the poll to the right...  

Since Gerald Ford was buried this week, and in keeping with the slow news day, it seemed appropriate to put up a poll that encompasses two of our other favorite topics, politics and women...

From the options shown to the right, pick YOUR choice for the hottest living First Lady.  How you come to your decision is totally up to you.  You can rank them on current "hotness," or past "hotness," I don't care...

Use this link for further research:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/

And use the comments section below to make a case for your particular lady...  Maybe we can send the winner of this poll a nice letter of congratulations...

Reading through several of the diaries over the past few weeks, a consistent theme keeps being brought up by many posters, which is that we need to add a "big bat" to the lineup if we really want to have a chance at competing in 2007.

I read those posts and think back to Ron Washington's introductory press conference.  At that time, he mentioned that he's more of a "small ball" guy when it comes to his philosophy, although he said he could work with a team made up of guys that rely on the three-run homer.  Since the time of Washington's hiring, JD appears to have set out to bring more of a small ball approach to the Rangers by signing consistent high-OBP guys that have some speed, rather than the "big bat" guys, thus giving Washington the foundation to implement his preferred philosophy.

With this change, it's possible that the 2007 Rangers will be unlike most of the incarnations of our team from the last couple of decades.  I see us bunting when the situation calls for it (unlike Buck, who almost never had our guys bunt), a major increase in stolen bases, and running more frequently in general.  Thus, I question the need for the big bat that so many other LSBers are clamoring for, assuming we can manufacture the runs that used to be generated by the three-run bomb.

My question to those of you that are bigger stat-heads than me is this:  Can we still score more than five runs a game we've typically averaged with this change in philosophy?  I'm interested in any type of stats that show projected run production, but I don't know of (or subscribe to) any sites that offer such stats.  Personally, I think Washington's philosophy can make up for the lack of a big bat, and I can see the 2007 Rangers looking unlike almost any Rangers team most of us can remember, while still scoring enough runs to win more consistently...

Please share your thoughts, as I'm interested to see what the consensus opinion will be...  (As an aside, I'm not stating that I believe "small ball" WILL work for us -- I'm just curious what others think of this possible philosophy change and whether it will, in fact, lead to a better team in 2007.)

...from the White Sox official website.  Interestingly enough, it was posted online about an hour and a half before the trade was announced.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061220&content_id=1765276& vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws

I'm not sure what to think of the trade, as I really like Danks and Masset, but this article will give everybody some insight into who McCarthy is...

I just found this article from everybody's favorite reporter, Ken Rosenthal, regarding the Barry Zito situation.  It says that the Mets also had a meeting with Jeff Suppan and his agent while they were in California...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6292230?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49

One can't help but wonder if the Mets are thinking about dropping out of the Zito sweepstakes if they're already publicly looking at other options.  Maybe Minaya and company have some tricks up their sleeve by allowing this to go public, but it could also be interpreted as good news for the Rangers...  Of course, we'll have to wait and see.  Personally, this suspense is worse than the anticipation I had as a child for Christmas morning...

I will openly admit that this isn't really worthy of a diary entry, but Rangers news has been kind of slow over the last couple of days, so I figured everyone might enjoy some additional information on everybody's new MySpace buddy...

Anyway, here's a link to C.J. Wilson's biography from his days back at Loyola Marymount (my alma mater):

http://lmulions.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/bbc/bios/cjwilson.html

As an aside, if you dig around on the site a bit, you'll find that his offensive numbers were actually better than his pitching stats, which I found somewhat surprising...

I was sitting here thinking that we, as fans of the Texas Rangers, needed to establish a set of truths about our team that we can all agree to as our own "Declaration of Independence" from the rest of the baseball world. With that being said, we hold THESE truths to be self evident:

1. Nolan Ryan is/was a God.
   
2. Gaylord Perry "never" cheated as a Ranger.
   
3. Fergie Jenkins was a stud.
   
4. Buddy Bell, Toby Harrah, Jim Sundberg, Al Oliver, Larry Parrish, Jeff Burroughs, Charlie Hough and several other early Rangers have never received enough respect for their contributions to the game.
   
5. Johnny Oates is a legend.
   
6. Making the playoffs in 1996, 1998 and 1999 was great, but the best is yet to come.
   
7. Michael Young should be a Ranger for life.
   
8. Ivan Rodriguez is a surefire Hall of Famer that better go in as a Ranger.
   
9. Buck Showalter was a pox on the Rangers and we're better off without him.
   
10. The national media will never give us any respect, and they think Tom Hicks is ruining baseball.
    
11. Without Tom Vandergriff none of this would have been possible.
    
12. George W. Bush was a better owner than he is a President.

(Yes, this is kind of senseless, but I wanted to start a dialogue that will hopefully give all of us further reason to spend time on the LSB website.)

Am I the only one that isn't intrigued by the "juicy sex" that has been offered up in the new ad on the left hand side of the LSB website?

"Big egos, big money, big love triangles, all fueled by big oil."  What no big hair?  Come on, I want it all!!!

I think I'll have to pass on this one...
                                                                                                   

I just found this on the Rangers website regarding Zito...  I haven't had time to read it, as I'm too excited, but here you go:

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061130&content_id=1748414&vke y=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

At Matthews introductory press conference he had a lot to say about the Rangers, most of it pretty unnecessary considering he just cashed in after his only good season...

Example: "I wouldn't say a new manager alone is going to make a huge difference over there."

Click the link to read more:
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9837123

How quickly he forgets that we gave him a chance when almost nobody else wanted him.  Let's see how he does without Rudy tutoring him...

On the left hand side of the LSB page, right under the logo there is a link were sponsors can advertise their business, etc. in support/sponsorship of LSB.  As I sit here at work goofing off, when I really should be doing other things that I'm paid for, I've become curious as to who would benefit from the advertisements.  If Adam gets the money, I'm giving serious thought to throwing something up there as a way of saying thank you for all of the hard work he puts into this for all of us...  Of course, if it goes to some corporation that doesn't need the money, then screw it, I'll spend the money on some DVD's (and no, I don't mean our pitching prospects)...

Does anybody really care that the Red Sox invited Matsuzaka over for dinner?  The fact that MLB.com considered this newsworthy enough to post is mind boggling to me.  I'm looking forward to a follow-up article that discusses what the menu was...  Let's start a rumor that we won over Catalanotto with chili fries at Sonic...  Stupid media!

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061121&content_id=1744629&vke y=hotstove2006&fext=.jsp

Surprisingly, to me at least, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins took home the AL MVP award today.  Count me amongst the many that is glad that Derek Jeter didn't win...

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061121&content_id=1744779&vke y=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

I don't know how many of you have seen this article on today's Star-Telegram website, but it's nice to see some of the Rangers giving something back...

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/mlb/texas_rangers/16036665.htm

As an aside, it's also amusing to see the look on C.J. Wilson's face -- I think he might be a bit frightened.  Ahh, the life of someone from Orange County -- we're not used to seeing the homeless...

Citing Hillman's contractual obligations to his Japanese club that require him to give notice either way, the Athletics have announced that Hillman will no longer be a candidate for their managerial opening.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-athletics-managersearch&prov=ap&type=lgns

It looks like it's down to Bob Geren, Jamie Quirk or Orel Hershisher...  Uninspired choices all around from what I can gather...  

According to mlb.com:

"On tap on Monday is an expected 8 p.m. ET announcement out of Japan whether the Seibu Lions have accepted the bid of a Major League club to sign top pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. MLB accepted bids last week that could be in anywhere from the $20 million to $50 million range. If Seibu turns down the bid, Matsuzaka must return to Japan next season. If they accept it, an MLB team must negotiate a contract with the pitcher in the next 30 days."

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061113&content_id=1739677&vkey=hotstove 2006&fext=.jsp

Hopefully the rumors about the Red Sox bidding $38-$45 million will prove to be wrong and he'll be joining the Rangers for '07 and beyond...

Continue reading this post »

DMN writer Brad Townsend has a great article about Ron Washington posted on the DMN website:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/baseball/rangers/stories/111206spowashington.2eefe30 .html

It helps explain some of the reasons players like Torii Hunter have so much respect for Washington.

Just found this story regarding Showalter possibly going to the Indians in an advisory role...  It says that he's serve as an advisor to the GM and Manager with the specific agreement that he wouldn't be brought in to be a manager-in-waiting...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6154030?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49

Poor Indians, they don't know what they're doing...