Lone Star Ball - Fans now freed from the clutches of Tom Hicks

AL West Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Los Angeles Halos Heaven	97	65	.598	0	Lost 1
Texas Lone Star Ball	87	75	.537	10	Lost 2
Seattle Lookout Landing	85	77	.524	12	Won 2
Oakland Athletics Nation	75	87	.462	22	Lost 7

(updated 2.8.2010 at 6:21 PM CST)

Richard Justice: Bud Selig is MLB's "greatest commissioner"

Yuck.

about 7 hours ago Adam J. Morris 176 comments 0 recs

Evan Grant on David Murphy

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 8, 2010 2:21 PM CST Comment 88 comments

Texas Rangers right fielder David Murphy makes a running catch against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second inning during a baseball game on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

More photos » Rick Scuteri - AP

7 months ago: Texas Rangers right fielder David Murphy makes a running catch against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second inning during a baseball game on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Browse more photos »

Evan Grant has a blog post up regarding how the Rangers are going to find playing time for David Murphy...

The reality is that if the Rangers are struggling to find a way to get Murphy ABs, that's a good thing. That means that Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero are healthy and productive, and Nelson Cruz and Julio Borbon are playing well.

Grant suggests that Murphy could get some playing time at first base against lefties, but that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, since Murphy doesn't hit lefties any better than Chris Davis does. Getting Murphy playing time at first base makes some sense if Davis falls on his face again and Justin Smoak isn't ready, but sitting Davis lefties so Murphy can start there is problematic.

At the end of the day, I suspect that finding playing time for Murphy won't be an issue. I don't think Vlad is going to start 150 games at DH, I imagine Josh Hamilton is going to have to sit from time to time, and and the end of the year, Murphy will probably have 300-400 PAs.

88 comments | 0 recs | Share

Monday a.m. Rangers stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 8, 2010 8:53 AM CST Comment 416 comments

T.R. Sullivan has some good news on the 40 man roster front...Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando, having been on the restricted list the last several years, do not count towards the 40 man roster until the end of spring training. That means that, rather than having to make a couple of moves now to make room for Beltre and Ogando, as we had initially believed, the Rangers don't have to make a move until late March. That gives Joaquin Arias and Luis Mendoza (most likely) some more breathing room before a move has to be made.

Richard Durrett takes a look at the Rangers' first base situation for 2010. First base was a disaster last year, and the lack of production from the position was a significant part of why the Rangers weren't a playoff team. Chris Davis will start the season at first base again in 2010, and there seems to be optimism that he's fixed the issues that plagued him early last year and is poised for a bounceback year. The Rangers need him to be a lot closer to the guy we saw in 2008 than the guy we saw in 2009.

416 comments | 0 recs | Share

7. Adam Dunn. I know he was a quarterback in his younger days, but at 6-6 and 240 pounds, he would be a pretty good left tackle.

Buster Olney, listing MLB players he think could handle the NFL. This jumped out at me, since he's underestimating the weigh of a good left tackle by anywhere from 50-100 pounds.

1 day ago Adam J. Morris 45 comments 0 recs

Sunday a.m. Rangers things

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 7, 2010 10:34 AM CST Comment 166 comments

Another very quiet day out there for Rangers news...maybe there's something else sports-related that is distracting everyone...

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer has a story about Kasey Kiker, and the strides he made last year.

That's it, it appears.

In the meantime, I know it is slow and boring, but can we try to avoid having a bunch of insults and namecalling in the comments today?

166 comments | 0 recs | Share

Saturday afternoon Rangers trivia

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 6, 2010 1:39 PM CST Comment 53 comments

More photos » Mike Fuentes - AP

Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan was not one of the players lost by the Rangers in an expansion draft. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

Browse more photos »

Slow day, not much to talk about, so I decided to throw a particularly difficult trivia question out there...

Since the Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers, there have been three rounds of expansion in MLB, with each round adding two teams.

As a result, there have been three expansion drafts -- one in 1976, one in 1992, and one in 1997.

The Rangers lost a total of 9 players in the expansion draft -- 5 in 1976, 2 in 1992, and 2 in 1997.

Name those 9 players.

As always, no Googling, no Wikipediaing, no Baseball Referencing...just brain power.

Answers later tonight

Continue reading this post »

53 comments | 0 recs | Share

Saturday a.m. Rangers stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 6, 2010 12:01 PM CST Comment 162 comments

The calm before the storm that is spring training...

Jeff Wilson has a blog post running down the various notes from this past week...

Richard Durrett has a video up with a Q&A with Jon Daniels...

T.R. Sullivan has a story about the Rangers equipment being shipped out to Arizona.

162 comments | 0 recs | Share

John Sickels with an "All Questions Answered" Thread

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 5, 2010 12:50 PM CST Comment 58 comments

John Sickels over at Minor League Ball as an "All Questions Answered" thread open until 4 p.m. Central today.

You only get one question per person, but if folks want to go over there and ask a Ranger prospect question, as long as you do it by 4 p.m., you'll get an answer.

Let me also suggest that you read through the previous inquiries so you don't burn your one question on something someone already asked.

58 comments | 0 recs