Wednesday a.m. stuff

by Adam J. Morris on May 7, 2008 9:59 AM CDT Comment 24 comments

Sidney Ponson was pretty good last night. He even has a better ERA than Armando Galarraga...can you believe that?

Ponson is the focus of Evan Grant's game story, although he does end up reminding us of how the Rangers were going to give Ponson (and Rich Aurilia) big bucks when it looked like the Rangers were going to trade ARod to the BoSox after the 2003 season. Bleah.

Grant also indicates Ben Broussard's days may be numbered, with even Ron Washington, Broussard's biggest fan, hedging on his future here. Jeff Wilson says Frank Catalanotto is going to get the bulk of the starts at first base against righties, with Chris Shelton playing against lefties.

If you aren't going to play Broussard at first base against RHPs, and you aren't going to use him to pinch hit for someone like Gerald Laird against a RHP late in a game where you are down a run or two, then there's no point in having Broussard on the roster.

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Adios Bennie Brouhaha

There is no such thing as global warming. David Murphy was cold, so he turned the sun up.

by SarasotaRanger on May 7, 2008 10:19 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Does anyone have a link to Hamilton's homer?

I couldn’t stick with the game with Batista’s “pace” and the late Stars games earlier this week, and missed it.

by jwiscarson on May 7, 2008 10:19 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Link

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200805062653924

It's baseball. You don't always get what you want, and you don't always want what you get. --Ed Coffin

by txranger7 on May 7, 2008 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

What a beast!!

by jwiscarson on May 7, 2008 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Toodles!

"I hope it's a special dumb person hell so that I don’t have to meet up with you after I die."

- The D-tron

by Chase Irwin on May 7, 2008 10:23 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Grant

I did not understand his comment on CJ Wilson. When discussing “core” players, Grant says that he is not sure that Wilson’s role on the team will be “as a closer or another reliever.”

What about CJ’s performance as closer late last year and this year makes Grant unaware of his future role?

by Houston27 on May 7, 2008 10:24 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Becase he was good but not superman

Last year he basically took over ass closer on July 31, the day Gagne was traded. Here’s his line for the rest of the season:

0/0 22 games, 12/13 saves/opps 22.1 innings, 19 hits, 11 runs(10 earned) 10 walks, 19 strikeouts. an ERA of 4.03. Now, he did only give up 1 homer, but the walks are a bit too high. This year, so far, he’s 0-1 with 7 saves in 8 chancess and a nice era, but has only struck out 5 (to go along with 5 walks) in 13 innings.

I know that sample sizes are huge, but we’re not exactly talking Trevor Hoffman dominance here. My suggestion, enjoy the show and if he’s a problem in the future, then trade him.

by iblum on May 7, 2008 10:36 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, he has the stuff to give it a try as a SP.

I haven’t read the article, though, so I don’t know the context.

by rooster on May 7, 2008 10:45 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It is actually from Grant's newsletter

I should have posted this in Adam’s newest post. Basically, it was a question about who the core players are for the Rangers future. Grant mentions Wilson, but says that he may not be the closer. Does not mention him as a potential starter.

by Houston27 on May 7, 2008 11:04 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Wash said he would give Hamilton a day off during this series.

Must be today.

OF: Murphy (CF), Boggs (LF), Bradley (RF), I guess
DH: Atlas? (Salty to everyone else)
C: Laird
1B: Shelton

by rooster on May 7, 2008 10:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Salty

is catching Padilla tonight.

by 525DP on May 7, 2008 11:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is that the plan?

I thought Laird for Millwood, Salty for Ponson and that’s it? With Salty catching last night, I would think Laird gets the start tonight?

Don’t get me wrong, I want to see Salty…

by cmkelly29 on May 7, 2008 11:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought it was supposed to be two days on, two days off for each catcher

with exceptions made for day games after night games and for when the Laird/Millwood and the Salty/Ponson thing would disrupt that.

by Inkara1 on May 7, 2008 12:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

As I understand the plan ...

Laird will catch 2 games in a row, then Salty will do the same, but Laird will always catch Millwood and Salty will always catch Ponson. When that interferes with the 2 on 2 off scheme, they’ll make adjustments.

by Athos on May 7, 2008 12:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They recently

were put on 2 day rotations. On 2, off 2. Wash supposedly wanted to get them both back-to-back days playing. Personally I think thats a bad idea, however….....
I want to see what happens when for example Salty is set to start but Millwood is throwing and (he requested) Laird as his personal backstop. Does Laird then catch 2 more back-to-back games or do they adjust somehow. Either way I can see them both getting 3 days off due to team off days and that cannot be good for a players rhythm.

by 525DP on May 7, 2008 12:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

rotating catchers

makes as much sense as rotating QB’s… very little.

There is no such thing as global warming. David Murphy was cold, so he turned the sun up.

by SarasotaRanger on May 7, 2008 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't see the correlation

I recall seeing multiple catchers on a team since back in the days of Ray Fosse/Gene Tenace for the A’s.

Its what you do when your incumbent isn’t all that great, and you have a hot young prospect. It’d be nice if they could actually move Laird to address another pitching or positional need, but I don’t think he’ll bring a starting player in return.

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on May 7, 2008 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Laird's return

I really think he’s going to bring something back. I’m not one to believe in GMs’ gullibility, but it can’t hurt that Laird’s playing sparingly and putting up decent numbers (the Showalter model).

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on May 7, 2008 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Laird seems to hit the worst when he's comfortable.

When he was competing with Barajas for the starting job, he was hitting a ton. He’s also been a pretty strong hitter in ST when he has been competing for playing time. Last year, when he was assured of being the starter, he hit like crap. Maybe a little healthy competition with Salty will be good for his performance and good for his trade value.

by Athos on May 7, 2008 2:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I want to see this lineup...

when Hank is back.

1) Kinsler
2) MY
3) Hamslam
4) Board Game
5) Blalock
6) Salty
7) Murphy
8) Boggs
9) Cat

I don’t think that’s a bad lineup at all. Alternate LH/RH with pretty good #’s up and down the lineup. I was surprised to see the Rangers are 4th in the AL in BA. I don’t think they have hit that well yet and I think we will see that improve.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on May 7, 2008 5:35 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That would be a good lineup

The Rangers have hit fairly well, though. Their problem last month was leaving people on base, but they really didn’t have too much of a problem getting them there.

A Lonestar in California - 2.0

by lonestarJon on May 7, 2008 7:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs