I don’t think it’s a real big deal in the grand scheme of things if Davis and/or Max go down to the minors for a short while. We really need to just wait and see how the trade market plays out this month before we get too anxious about it. Blalock may not even be healthy, someone could get dealt opening up room, etc.

1) why do you think the rangers are doing this? Hank asked to move to 1B, they make it seem like it’s not their idea but they are honoring the request. I think they are allowing it because: A) Vazquez is having an amazing year offensively (for his standards), B) Vazquez has superior defense at 3B vs. Hank, and C) Vazquez seems to be a positive influence in the clubhouse

2) what would YOU do? I would move Hank back to 3B, platoon him with Vazquez, and send Duran down. I would trade Hank if another team is willing to offer young pitching talent or a young 3B prospect if rated highly enough, or a package if no high-ceiling offers are available. If not, I keep Hank and pick up his option for 2009. Vazquez can back up the infield position. The problem with this thinking is that Hank hasn’t proven in 2 years that he can be counted on for even semi-regular starts. So if there’s even a question that he will go back on the DL, they won’t even consider sending Duran down. I would also leave Chris Davis up and play him at 100% of the games at 1B. I would trade Salty, Byrd, Cat and a reliever for whatever young, promising pitching we can get in return right now (is Salty for Snell still interesting to the Pirates? I believe Snell can get back on track) and keep Max up backing Laird up when he returns. We can move Max to DH next year and call up Teagarden to back Laird up or platoon with him. This is assuming Bradley’s healthy enough for full-time outfield duty and we don’t trade him but rather sign him to a 3 year deal.

3) what will the rangers do? I have NO idea – this season has played out completely different than I had imagined, and I love it.

id like to see us stick with laird when he comes back, using max as a backup.
as far as hank goes, he has been a frustrating case. the three straight years of declining OPS before these last two injury years are not encouraging. his potential has always been mouth-watering, but im tempted to say we should trade him.

Now as far as what the Rangers actually do, I think they will keep him and mix him in along with others at first and DH for the rest of the season. I just dont see how we can pick up the option unless he’s willing to play 3B. Id also think hed be more valuable as a free agent at 3B than 1B so i just dont understand how he could stick to this position switch.

first, max ram is not (IMO) ready for major league baseball. his sub .200 average needs a lot more work in the minors, and he would certainly benefit from every day playing time. absent laird, however, i don’t know what option you have. sending him down at the first possible chance would be good.

davis – great start and certainly something positive that he can build on going forward. minors won’t hurt him either. hank gets 1b time over davis. i have no problem with that.

that being said, i would favor keeping blalock at 3b, davis at 1b and sending german duran down to OKC.

anyway – i really wanted to post not to weigh in on this but to reiterate how little fielding positions matter for this team relative to pitching – using this as an example. earlier this season we had NOTHING at 1B. within several weeks/a couple of months we have a few good options including blalock and davis. meanwhile pitching is the biggest problem for this team. i know that everybody gets tired of hearing this, but fielding positions are not the biggest problem on the team. the staff is continually putting this team in a position to lose.

padilla – earlier this season everyone was jumping (back) on the padilla bandwagon. he has shown himself to be nothing more than a below average pitcher that had a few good games this year. some of the few good starts have been timely, but his stock plummeted as quickly as it rose. which pitcher shows up? who knows, but i think he has shown us that he’s never going to be someone that we can count on. millwood. 4 or 5 good starts this year (including 5 innings against an anemic NYY offense earlier this week. that was huge, but as the team’s ace we need at least 2 of 3 starts to be that type of quality instead of 2 in 5. mccarthy? have not heard anything. ponson blew up and was shipped out for nothing in return. jennings. ick. and this is just starting pitchers. what a mess we have in the bullpen.

my point (and it does not warrant a response) is that fielders are dime a dozen relative to good pitching, and i hope that mgt learns this. all these position player all stars from the rangers and we are closer to last than first. pitching is what really matters.

sorry about hijacking your post. i would say that the logjam is a good problem to have. not having a pitcher that can come into the NYY game absolutely costing us a sweep is much bigger IMO.

when Jeff Zimmerman gets healthy.

MaxRam and CD down to AAA by July 20th so I can see them play in person. Then trade Blalock and Laird and call them back up on August 1.

Seriously though, I think MaxRam needs to go down to AAA and get some AB’s down there. He has looked pretty bad in some of his ML AB’s so far and I think he still has some work to do before he will be ready to hit like he can at this level.

Either commit to Ramirez and Davis fulltime or send them down to OKC.

I think it all depends on where we are in the standing when Blalock returns. If we are in contention you go with who the best player is at that very moment. As great as Davis and Ramirez may end up being they are not going to hit (assuming he hits like he was) as well as Blalock. You have to send those guys back down and where they can get some playing time. I think Botts proved that it isn’t good for anyone to have a young unexperienced player coming off the bench.

If we are not in contention when he comes back, you trade Vasquez and Laird, make a place for Blalock, play Davis at first, and split catching time between Salts and Ramirez. I love Laird but there is no place for him on this team. Vasquez has been great this year but he is not going to hit like this every year, sell high. You have to play Blalock somewhere for the sake of locker room harmony going into to next season. Make a decision in the off season, he is untradeable (is that a word) this year. Davis is more of a sure thing and should play just about everyday on a non-contender. Mad Max has a lot to learn before he can be an everyday major league catcher.