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 2.10.2010 at 6:24 AM CST)

Lenny Dykstra has a new pay website

For $89 per month, or $899 for a year, you can get Lenny Dykstra's hot stock tips.

about 12 hours ago Adam J. Morris 63 comments 0 recs

John Sickels' Prospect Retro on Josh Johnson

I know some folks here are fans of Johnson, and there was some talk about the Rangers potentially being interested in him this winter.

about 18 hours ago Adam J. Morris 13 comments 0 recs

Jim Reeves on the Jon Daniels/Nolan Ryan dynamic

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 9, 2010 9:32 AM CST Comment 367 comments

Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan talks with reporters in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010. Ryan will be part owner when Major League Baseball approves the sale of the team from Tom Hicks. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

More photos » Mike Fuentes - AP

14 days ago: Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan talks with reporters in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010. Ryan will be part owner when Major League Baseball approves the sale of the team from Tom Hicks. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

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Jim Reeves has a column up at ESPN Dallas about the Jon Daniels/Nolan Ryan dynamic, and how the relationship between the two has improved of late.

Reeves has praise for both parties, and suggests that a lot of the tension that existed between them the first 12-18 months Ryan was with the Rangers was a result of Tom Hicks having Daniels report directly to Hicks, rather than Ryan.

Chain of command issues were a Hicks bugaboo throughout his tenure as a sports team owner, so this is no particular surprise. Reeves says, though, that since Daniels started reporting to Ryan earlier this offseason, things have improved dramatically and the two have developed a very solid working relationship.

An interesting piece, worth checking out...

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Tuesday a.m. Rangers stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 9, 2010 8:59 AM CST Comment 261 comments

Texas Rangers Ian Kinsler, left, waves and is met at the dugout by teammate Elvis Andrus, center, and manager Ron Washington after Kinsler's triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Kinsler hit for the cycle. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

More photos » LM Otero - AP

10 months ago: Texas Rangers Ian Kinsler, left, waves and is met at the dugout by teammate Elvis Andrus, center, and manager Ron Washington after Kinsler's triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Kinsler hit for the cycle. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

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Richard Durrett continues his review of each position on the Rangers with a look at second base and Ian Kinsler. I think my opinion about Kinsler is well known...his OBP struggles last season were disappointing, but he was still one of the best second basemen in baseball last year, and if the Rangers can that sort of performance from him -- offensively and defensively -- year-in and year-out, they'll be in great shape at second. The extent to which Kinsler became the whipping boy for the team's offensive struggles in the second half of the season continues to amaze me.

Over at BBTiA, David Brown takes a look at the bullpens across the A.L. West. The A's project to have the strongest pen in the West by a comfortable margin, and there's a significant gap between the Rangers at #2 and Seattle and Anaheim.

T.R. Sullivan talks about the Rangers' need to perform better against lefthanded pitching this season, particularly with a lot of quality lefties in the division, and focuses on the last bench spot as being key in that regard, as whoever is the 25th man -- Rocco Baldelli apparently being the main outside target for that role -- is someone they want to be able to spell Chris Davis and/or Julio Borbon.

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

Yuck.

1 day ago Adam J. Morris 221 comments 0 recs

Evan Grant on David Murphy

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 8, 2010 2:21 PM CST Comment 123 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)

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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.

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Monday a.m. Rangers stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 8, 2010 8:53 AM CST Comment 466 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.

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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.

2 days ago Adam J. Morris 45 comments 0 recs