Tuesday a.m. stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Jun 17, 2008 9:19 AM CDT

Off day yesterday means not a ton of Ranger news today.

Evan Grant talks about David Murphy as a candidate for Rookie of the Year. Murphy faces stiff competition for A.L. ROY, and right now, he's 7th among A.L. rookies in VORP. Jacoby Ellsbury seems, right now, to be the clear-cut best choice for ROY, but obviously, there's a lot that can change between now and the end of the year.

With Mark Teixeira returning to Texas today, Jeff Wilson takes a look at the players the Rangers got in exchange for Teixeira and Ron Mahay.

Randy Galloway has a rambling column up about Mark Teixeira and the Rangers' lack of direction in the 21st century.

And Thomas Diamond has been activated from the 60 day d.l., and optioned to Frisco.

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Diamond

So that brings us to what 38 n the 40 man roster?

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 9:30 AM CDT 0 recs

That's my count

Here’s a good resource: http://rangers.scottlucas.com/site/40man.htm

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on Jun 17, 2008 10:19 AM CDT up 0 recs

yeah

well last time I checked that site it had metcalf off the 40 man

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 10:24 AM CDT up 0 recs

Question:

How common is it for a major league team to have less than 40 on the 40, during the regular season? Any idea the lowest any team has gone?

Go Vote for Kinsler, Young, Hamilton, Bradley and write in Murphy. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/ballot_reg.html - Vote up to 25 times on as many email accounts as you can think of!

by tdi1985 on Jun 17, 2008 10:32 AM CDT up 0 recs

Evan Grant's peice on Murphy

Him referring to a JoeChat for evidence that Murphy isn’t drawing consideration for ROY makes my head hurt.

Not that the idea is incorrect – Murphy is probably a very dark horse in the ROY race. But nobody should ever refer to a JoeChat as evidence for anything – especially anything regarding young players. Joe Morgan wouldn’t know who David Murphy was if he got stuck in an elevator with him for 5 hours.

A Lonestar in California

by lonestarJon on Jun 17, 2008 9:31 AM CDT 0 recs

Please Evan

Never reference anything from a JoeChat.

Joe Morgan: (On Jay Bruce) I think he will. He brings energy to the team, and besides that, he is a pretty good hitter.
Ken Tremendous: I like that the #1 reason he will help his team is: "energy," and the distant #2 reason is: "ability to hit baseballs."

by TheBZA on Jun 17, 2008 9:38 AM CDT up 0 recs

"Joe Morgan wouldn’t know who David Murphy was if he got stuck in an elevator with him for 5 hours."

And even then he would just know Murph as “that one guy from the elevator who looked really bored as I kept talking to no one in particular for 5 hours about how awesome Gary Sheffield is.”

"Does this effectively hide my thunder?"

by Bob Loblaw on Jun 17, 2008 11:20 AM CDT up 0 recs

Galloway

It’s always open season for Jon Daniels bashing when it comes to his deals, but Daniels may be trending a tick upward lately, although Chris Young, John Danks and Edinson Volquez are young pitchers who will always be held against him.

It’s hard to believe that Galloway said something almost complementary about Daniels.

by Excel Hearts Choi on Jun 17, 2008 9:42 AM CDT 0 recs

If JD's Deals Are...

...only a “tick” upward from the Chris Young deal, JD would have been fired long ago.

by FuturePants on Jun 17, 2008 9:53 AM CDT up 0 recs

He sure did try hard to hide faint praise between the same damn insult twice

by Inkara1 on Jun 17, 2008 10:06 AM CDT up 0 recs

That happens when

you trade AGonzales,CYoung, Danks, Tex, Soriano and Cordero and the only thing on your major league roster you have to show for it is somebody forced to platoon with Gerald Laird.

There is a reason Nolan Ryan was hired.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 12:10 PM CDT up 0 recs

I notice that you conveniently left out "Eric Gagne" from that list...

by Inkara1 on Jun 17, 2008 12:17 PM CDT up 0 recs

C'mon, outlaw

even Galloway acknowledges the quality of return Daniels got for Teixeira, and even you can’t deny the greatness of the Gagne and Lofton trades. Hamilton and Bradley were outstanding acquisitions, and Guardado is looking good as well.

Ryan was hired to take the heat off of Hicks and give the casual fans hope, and to sell sausages.

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 17, 2008 12:24 PM CDT up 0 recs

Now cue

The all-too-telling lack of response from Josey.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 12:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

Murphy was a nice

acquisition and JD played the Gagne card very well.

Still, he traded CYoung, Gonzales, Danks, Tex, Soriano & Cordero and the only major league player received has to split time with Gerald Laird.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 2:27 PM CDT up 0 recs

Are you really

saying Saltalamacchia was not a good acquisition? He’s splitting time with Laird because they have to play both of them. They can’t sit one of them 5 days a week, they lose trade value. They’re trying to keep their options open, and it seems to be working. Both have decent numbers offensively, and Salty’s lack of throwing prowess is not really a big issue yet because of his age. Laird’s value is much higher than last summer, and Salty’s value remains very high.

I also don’t see how you can’t be excited about Feliz, Andrus, Harrison and Jones from that trade. And Ramirez for Lofton? Looks pretty good right now, too. Too early to call the Danks trade, but Soriano for Whifferson ended up sucking, and we all know how bad the SD trade was.

I caught Josey Wales on tv this weekend, still a great movie. I’d forgotten about that little speech your sig is from.

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 17, 2008 4:36 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yes, t ball

The Outlaw Josey Wales is one of my favorite movies of all time and I also caught it on HDTV this past week. The movie is timeless to me and it along with “Unforgiven” are two of my favorite Westerns.

I’m more and more leery of Salty because of his throwing problems. I like what I see of him as a hitter and wish he was in the line-up more but he’s not a major league catcher.

We’ll see about the rest of that package. I need to see success in The Show before I call the trade a success.

Per the Danks trade…A colossal failure. The Rangers traded an excellent young lefthanded pitcher for the garbage in somebody else’s front yard.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 4:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

Danks

He is not an excellent lefty he is a good lefty. And if you think McCarthy is “garbage in somebody else’s front yard” then you know nothing about baseball and thus makes any and all arguments you make irrelevant

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 5:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

How has McCarthy done

since Texas traded for him?

He’s the garbage from somebody else’s front yard and it was a bonehead trade made by a GM that doesn’t know what the hell he is doing.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 5:19 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well

When he was healthy last year he was arguably our best pitcher who had a sub 4 ERA and was very good. Not only that but he was the better minor leaguer and a more highly rated prospect. But go ahead and just focus on his injuries and blame all that on the GM. Just makes you sound like a bigger idiot.

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 5:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

He could only make

22 starts last year and his arm was a mess a couple of weeks after spring training this year.

It was a horrible, horrible trade on so many levels.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 5:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

cant we call the danks/Bmac trade a loss up to this point?

"There is no reason for me to move to third base," Young said.
-FOTF 5/20/2008

"Well, we are one of the cheapest teams in Major League Baseball"
-Tom Hicks 4/8/2008

by Jayslick on Jun 17, 2008 5:33 PM CDT up 0 recs

yeah we can

But to call it a disaster just because BMac got injured when he was not injured before coming here does not make the trade a disaster. Thats bad luck. You can’t judge a trade based on factors you have no control over. And a pitcher who had never been injured but who gets injured after the trade is a factor you can’t control. Theres no doubt it has been disappointing but when he was pitching last year he was pretty damn good.

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 6:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

Is Danks a better pitcher

in his second year than McCarthy has ever been and don’t lefthanded pitchers tend to be more successful in Arlington than righthanders?

If McCarthy is healthy after the AS Break and makes 14 starts do you think he can do what Danks has done in his first 14 starts this year (2.90 ERA)?

The trade was a disaster.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 6:17 PM CDT up 0 recs

yeah I do

He was a sub 4 ERA pitcher last year when healthy so a roughly 3 ERA pitcher this year isn’t out of the question.

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 6:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

McCarthy was a

4.87 ERA pitcher last year and you’re asking him to lop off almost 2 earned runs nevermind the fact that he was a 4.03 & 4.68 pitcher in his first two years (when healthy and pitching at US Cellular like Danks did).

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 6:25 PM CDT up 0 recs

yeah I am

Thats what 18ER in 6 IP will do to an ERA. Thats what he gave up in his unbelievably horrific 3 start stretch in April. Take away that and he was a sub 4 ERA pitcher when healthy.

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 6:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

Unforgiven

Your taste in movies is better than your thinking about trades.

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 17, 2008 10:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

Let me indulge with others...

It’s a Wonderful Life (“Help me Clarence”)
Pride of the Yankees
Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum wrote on island of Coronado at turn of century)
Stalag 17
Cool Hand Luke (a little heavy handed)
The Godfather I
The Godfather II (possibly better)
North Dallas Forty
Manhattan
Nightshift
The Verdict (Newman checking morning mail with Budweiser balanced between neck & chest was classic)
Field of Dreams (last movie that made me cry)
Goodfellas
JFK
Nixon
Platoon
Wall Street (“Greed…is good. Greed works.”)

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 11:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

Add

Hud.

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

by Ed Coffin on Jun 18, 2008 12:58 AM CDT up 0 recs

and

Quiet Man
The Seekers
Vertigo
Rear Window
North by Northwest, and several others by Hitchcock
Casablanca
Seven Samurai
Citizen Kane
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Clockwork Orange
The Great Escape
Bridge on the River Kwai

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 18, 2008 7:31 AM CDT up 0 recs

Wait

I think I get it now.

1. Mention good players who were traded

2. Emphasize the bad trades to the point of nausea.

3. Gloss over any and all trades which damage your argument.

By the way, I’m not even sure what your argument is. Is it that we never get ML players when we trade? If so, it’s clearly untrue—Gabbard, Murphy, Shelton, Saltalamacchia come to mind pretty quickly.

My best guess, though, is that you willfully refuse to accept the realities of baseball—chief among which is that prospects can be just as valuable as vets as far as the baseball currency market goes. Just dismissing anyone not on the 25 as a “magic bean” is a clever way to make and sustain a dumb argument, but it’s no way to convince anybody.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 4:52 PM CDT up 0 recs

Prospects can

be valuable but look who has been evaluating talent and making deals before Nolan Ryan arrived.

To not have anything on your major league roster other than Salty after trading Tex, Cordero, CYoung, Gonzales, Danks and Soriano is inexcusable on every level.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 4:58 PM CDT up 0 recs

You leave out

Oddly, that we did have Wilkerson, McCarthy, Eaton and Lee on the ML roster.

How far back can you go in your this little logic-defying scenario you have set up? There’s nobody left on the ML roster from the Julio Franco trade either. Obviously Tom Grieve is a shitty GM.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 5:27 PM CDT up 0 recs

And Aki too, now that I think about it.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 5:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

JD made his trades

beginning in late July ‘06 and 23 months later the only player on the major league roster he has to show for giving up CYoung, AG, Soriano,Cordero, Tex and Danks is somebody who splits time with Gerald Laird.

Just go back 23 months if you need a timeline.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 5:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

So your contention

Is that any trade ever made must include at least one player on the ML roster?

Nevermind that the fruit of another shitty JD trade—the Lofton for Ramirez one—is about ready to come up.

Nevermind that McCarthy is injured. (I guess your theory only applies to whatever random moment in time you select.)

Nevermind that Salty is here (Your splitting time bit rings so incredibly hollow to anybody who even casually follows the team. Seriously, of all your bits, this is the dumbest).

Nevermind that Harrison is at the doorstep.

Wilkerson was here for two years. Just because he’s not here on June 17, 2008 doesn’t mean that we didn’t get a ML player back.

Murphy.

Gabbard.

Hamilton.

Plus a pretty shitty signing in Bradley.

If you can’t make a better argument than this, you need to seriously work on your analytical skills, or else just admit what we already know—you’re doing a tired old bit.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 6:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

Gagne situation

was played well but that has nothing to do with the six players I referenced.

Stay with those six players.

To trade those six players and have nothing but a nice hitting part-time catcher who can’t throw anybody out is inexcusable on every level.

Trading for a pitcher who becomes injured is not an excuse and Danks is much, much better in his second year than McCarthy ever was.

"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."

by Josey Wales on Jun 17, 2008 6:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

Staying with those six players

Your argument still is not well thought-out, to say the least.

I don’t think many people here still defend the Chris Young trade. You win.

Ditto with Soriano, but that one’s a little stickier.

Cordero 1. wasn’t playing well and 2. got us a piece to win, which didn’t work but did give us a pick (somebody help me out with who). No problem at all there.

Danks got us an almost universally better-thought-of prospect. Just because he’s been injured in his extremely limited time doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to show for the deal.

But your Tex argument is perhaps the worst of all. For one thing, Tex was obviously the final piece, or so the Braves thought. Tell me why they would make that trade if they had to give up key pieces of their ML roster.

You can’t just dismiss the return they got because it doesn’t fit your argument. It’s only been a year since that deal. Tex has been meh and the Rangers are better RIGHT NOW (with a shitty part-time player they got back) and have several key pieces moving up quickly because of that deal.

You’d be best served to just say that JD’s had some bad moves and some good ones, and leave it at that. Anything else just discredits you.

by brettgardner on Jun 17, 2008 6:18 PM CDT up 0 recs

Don't waste your breath brett

His logic is obviously flawed considering Soriano and Cordero would be gone too. Not to mention Tex would be gone at years end.

Josey is a broken record.

by TheBZA on Jun 17, 2008 7:45 PM CDT up 0 recs

Soriano

Was traded before the 06 season so you need to either modify your timeline or drop his name

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Jun 17, 2008 6:18 PM CDT up 0 recs

Selective Reasoning

2007 opening day lineup:
C: Laird
1B: Teixeira
2B: Kinsler
3B: Blalock
SS: Young
LF: Wilkerson
CF: Lofton
RF: Sosa
DH: Catalanotto
P: Millwood

Game 1 Sunday Lineup:
C: Laird (Salty caught game 2)
1B: Shelton
2B: Kinsler
3B: Vazquez
SS: Young
LF: Murphy
CF: Hamilton
RF: Bradley
P: Millwood

the only holdovers there are Laird, Kinsler, Young, and Millwood.

so, lets go over who was lost:
1B: Teixeira. Traded, got Salty, Elvis, Neftali Perez, Matt Harrison, and Beau Jones for him and Ron Mahay. Likely that by November Atlanta will be looking at 2 draft picks as the only compensation for this trade (unless they got draft picks from losing Mahay over the winter).
3B: Blalock: Hurt, much like he was in 2007, working on coming back as a 3rd baseman.
LF: Wilkerson: Not offered a contract, so, basically released. He caught on with Seattle and was released again.
CF: Lofton: traded for some guy named Max Ramirez who is just killing poor pitchers in AA. his 1.106 OPS is second in the organization behind Nelson Cruz.
RF: Sosa: nothing. he was basically released at the end o the season. He’s now gone from baseball.
DH: Catalanotto: He’s still here, but missed that game.

Other trades since opening day 2007, Gagne for Kason Gabbard (starter of game 2), David Murphy (the guy who played LF) and Engel Beltre (outfielder who’s hitting ok, but not walking enough while playing at Clinton at age 18).

by iblum on Jun 17, 2008 1:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

that is a really ugly run on sentence

Go Vote for Kinsler, Young, Hamilton, Bradley and write in Murphy. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/ballot_reg.html - Vote up to 25 times on as many email accounts as you can think of!

by tdi1985 on Jun 17, 2008 10:35 AM CDT up 0 recs

Murphy

is having an ok year, but I don’t see anything to get real excited about. He’ll need a pretty good uptick to get serious consideration for ROY. He’s a valuable asset, but not an award winner.

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 17, 2008 9:44 AM CDT 0 recs

I'd like to see him get it

mostly because the rangers haven’t had a ROY since Mike Hargrove in, what, 1975? (I’m going off memory)

I think Murphy has been a very nice surprise for Texas so far this year, and he’s the first Ranger since Rusty Greer to put up numbers to even contend for the ROY (anyone remember who he lost to?). It’ll take better numbers than he’s putting up to get past Ellsbury and the Boston Bias (heck, the guy was a World Series star…)

Maybe if he starts sitting against 50% of the lefties out there his numbers will begin to inflate such that he’ll be considered. Of course, you don’t want to be considered a platoon player…

by JBImaknee on Jun 17, 2008 10:00 AM CDT up 0 recs

Link broke..

Galloway and Diamond off the 60-day are the same link in the post.

by mattrpav on Jun 17, 2008 9:51 AM CDT 0 recs

Sorry

Fixed.

by Adam J. Morris on Jun 17, 2008 10:21 AM CDT up 0 recs

SS Elvis Andrus
Perhaps the most hyped player in the system, Andrus is only 19. The Venezuelan is a slick fielder and can fly on the base paths, and he wants to be in the majors before he turns 20 on Aug. 26. He gets to plenty of balls defensively but has committed 17 errors. Some of the mistakes will be eliminated with experience. A broken finger has limited him to being a designated hitter, but he has resumed taking grounders.

2008 team: Frisco (Double A)

2008 stats: .268 average, 0 HR, 22 RBI, 23 SB, 17 errors

I like the fact he’s thinking he wants to be in the bigs by 20 but he’s got quite a bit of work to do.

by corbsclinton on Jun 17, 2008 10:53 AM CDT 0 recs