Saturday a.m. stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Mar 1, 2008 9:20 AM CST in News

Nolan Ryan's deal with the Rangers got finished yesterday, so that's the big story in the papers this morning...

Evan Grant says selling more tickets is one of the big things on Ryan's plate, with the Rangers seeing a precipitous drop in attendance since 2005. Of course, 2005 was the year after the Rangers' surprising playoff push, and winning generally drives an attendance increase the following year...and as Ryan acknowledges, putting a competitive club on the field does more than anything else to get fans in.

Anthony Andro also talks about Ryan's taking the reins, with Ryan wanting to get up to speed on the on-field personnel...

Randy Galloway doesn't understand why Ryan would want the job.

And JJ-T says Ryan has to show he isn't a figurehead...

The S-T's spring notes this morning include Kam Loe talking about snake ownership...

And Brandon McCarthy and Kevin Millwood threw with no problems yesterday...

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Moratorium

I would not mind having a moratorium on all Nolan Ryan related stories until after the non-waiver deadline. Outside of the fact that Ryan is now employed by Hicks, he has not done or said anything that merits an article that can be called "newsworthy". Instead, people are just projecting their opinions onto what little Ryan has said. This can be broken down into three camps: "Activists For Change", "Stay the Course", and "It's All About the Mother *!#%^&@ Pitching!".

"Activists For Change" - These people, like Taylor, are not happy with the way Daniels has run this team. In their opinion, Ryan was brought in to be the real GM, though Daniels has the title, and does all the work. As Taylor stated in his article, Ryan is saying all the right things while he assesses the problem, and then makes his move.
"Stay The Course" - These people are excited by the newly renovated farm system and the talent already on the 25-man roster (Wilson, Kinsler, Saltalamacchia, etc.). They see Ryan's comments as representative of his tenure; seeing to the business aspects of this franchise, supportive of Daniels, and not involved with on the field decisions.
"It's All About the Mother *!#%^&@ Pitching!" - People of this mentality have been screaming their mantra for the past few years to no avail. When is Hicks going to realize that pitching wins ballgames? And by pitching, they don't mean retired Hall of Fame players; they prefer the active Hall of Fame pitchers (Santana) or those who could be future Hall of Fame material (Bedard).

Enough with the Ryan stories; there is nothing to be said of any value whatsoever. After the trade deadline, write away my friends.

by Excel Hearts Choi on Mar 1, 2008 10:58 AM CST reply actions

No Doubt

I think EHC summed up the situation pretty well.

Two out of three persons see Ryan brought here to change things, some massively. Is that their vision? Is that what they want? It is all extremely baseless conjecture at this point.

In fact, you could more credibly argue the other side of the idea. Has Ryan spoke of any changes? No. Has Hicks? No. To the contrary, Hicks extended JD in tune with Ryan's contract.

Lockstep indeed.

~So anyway, when are we gonna' spend some money and get some pitchin'?~

Eli Manning barebacks Ruddy Yan

by Rodney on Mar 1, 2008 12:05 PM CST up reply actions