to argue my case for Kenny and the stats say your right, although if I needed a starter in game 7 I would probably take Kenny at the top of his game, b/c I really dont remember Kevin ever making players look as silly as Kenny did when he was on top of it!

drafted by the royals and played there for 6 years then played for oakland 1 year

j.dye not drafted by the a’s and played for kc for a while then went to oakland for a couple of years

... that Chris Davis is better than Tex! There I said it and everyone will hate me for it, but I think the dude is just as good at defense, I like his swing better, and I think the guy is all about this team. It does worry me that the freaking DOUCHE bag Scott Boras is his agent, but hopefully we will win some games and Chris will want to stay at home, HOPEFULLY!

as a rebuttal to anyone who blindly criticizes JD and the Rangers.

Well thanks for the input. Actually, I only posted due to the comments about what a good job JD is doing, not because I hate him. My hope would be that our Rangers are in the play-offs every year and I’ll be on here saying how great JD is. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt in your comments as you badly misanalyzed and misrepresented what I have said in a couple of posts. I think your comments fall far short if they are an attempt to prop up JD.

You give a summary of my points:
1. JD is bad because….Well, actually the point I was making is that he came to the job with very limited baseball background and I do believe that was the foundation of his poor trades. I think his staffing has improved, particularly if you include Nolan as part of the staff. So….you’re pretty close on this one.
2. Hicks won’t spend. Well that’s not exactly what I said even though he is clearly a little gunshy after the CHoP disaster. I was saying that teams like the Angels, and the Red Sox (not to mention a few others) will spend what it takes. The Torii Hunters of the world will be heading elsewhere even when targeted by the Rangers as the first priority in free agent acquisitions. Hicks won’t spend is a gross oversimplification.
3. We cannot develop prospects….Not what I was saying at all. Actually I think we’ve done as well as others in developing position players. But we have not developed pitching prospects as well as the A’s or most other teams. It’s a comparison. Many of our player prospects have panned out and even a pitcher or two. The truth is, as I stated, the vast majority of prospects for all teams never pan out. Prospects are a gamble at best. Even first rounders- I know you know that.
4. You repeat #3 again. What you have to consider is how will our quality prospects (if they develop) prove to be better than the A’s and Angels. All three teams are about even on the farm. However, the difference in the past has been the Angels effectively add with free agents and the A’s with uncanny pitching development and trades. That’s the question you have to answer.
5. JD is bad – a writer said so. Is your comment really that weak. My position on JD is based on the points I made. Simply citing someone (it wasn’t even Galloway) is just additional support for my point.
6. We are not winning now. I don’t now if Tex and Mahay would have given us another 4 or 5 games or not. But both would have helped I’m sure if your goal every year is to make the play-offs you want your best team on the field

Next. You say my arguments are based on two assumption. First, the lack of baseball knowledge on JD’s part is not an assumption, it’s a fact when you compare him to his peers. Doesn’t mean he isn’t smart, or know a lot about baseball now, but he is still below others in his skill/expertise. It’s a simple fact. I think his staff has improved, but if he is to be the GM he is the one who makes the final decisions.
You say my position is that we cannot develop prospects – not at all what I said. See above. We have a long sad history of failing to develop pitching prospects here.

So, I’ll answer some of your addtional points, but it’s a little tricky when you miss the point at the outset on your summary of most of my points and your alleged assumptions.

The logical problem issue (I think you meant to say logical inconsistency). Your point seems to be that you can’t criticize relying on prospects and then be unhappy when the prospects are traded for established players. If only thing were that black and white. You shouldn’t trade quality prospects for vets that aren’t that good. Every trade situation is different and must be evaluated on it’s own merits. You can’t lump it all together and say its always good or bad to put a priority on your prospects vs. vets. That’s not the standard. Every good GM must do three things well (doing it well is the standard). they must make good trades, they must make good free agent signings, and they must develop home grown talent. You seem to agree with this in your next paragraph. The problem for Ranger fans is that JD has not done well in two of these three areas based on the merits of the specific actions he has taken. He has restored the farm system. Good for him. It won’t get us to the play-offs. Actually I wasn’t much of a Tex fan for other reasons and think the deal may prove to be a good one. But it doesn’t stand as right now as proof that JD “fleeced” the Braves. Hope it turns out that way and we see some starts emerge from that group.

As to your comments on rebuilding I mostly agree. This is the most agressive rebuilding plan we’ve seen. But the problem is, as I have stated, you won’t rebuild yourself past the A’s and Angels unless you get really really lucky. The GM must be able to do his other job functions better than other GMs to get to play-off land. I just don’t think JD has what it takes and based on his current body of work. Hope I’m wrong, don’t think I am…we’ll know in a couple of years.

As to your point onTex, I think we agree the team is stronger with no deal, at least for this year. And I think at some point it has to be about the team you put on the field for the fans. If you increase our chances of getting the WC spot by 17% I’d like to have that chance. We are losing fans, attendance, and credibility in the eyes of potential free agents. When Tex walks you get the draft choices or sign him. Sometimes you have to pay for a top talent. Again, I think this may prove to be a decent trade….my point is that is wasn’t proof of JD’s ability to fleece a more experienced GM.

As to your comments on the “facts”. Well I really didn’t think my opionions on a blog post were elevated to level of alleged facts. I am glad to support my own positions, and think I have. I was merely adding some additional information on my side of the ledger. I know a lot of writers are sold on the “plan” and think JD is doing a good job. We know that JD’s background in baseball is very limited, I think that’s a fact even if you think he has improved a lot and has a better staff – points I would agree with. Do you really think that Salty will be our front line catcher in 2010? I’m pretty sure you know the difference between a fact and an opinion and all the variations thereof.

On your fourth para: I’m sorry my opinions are being characterized simply as JD is bad. I like him, he’s smart. I think he’s moved up a little on the GM scale in the last year. He lacks baseball experience and that is a fact. You misquote again…I never said our prospects never amount to anything. On the DVD, as I said in my post, I wouldn’t undo the HamiltonVolquez trade. As to McCarthy…bad trade. As to TD…I don’t know that we’ll ever see him in Arlington now…neither do you.

Finally, I don’t dislike JD. Maybe he should head up the farm system. I don’t know. I certainly don’t “hate his guts” as you say you did. I’m afraid I can’t agree with your young developing baseball player analogy. First, even young struggling baseball players have many years of a baseball foundation under their belts upon which to build. And, more, importantly, many struggling young players never become the real deal…most of them. A smart organization knows when to fish and when to cut bait on them. I agree that’s its pointless to dwell on the past trades and mistakes but in the real world if you screw up enough it costs you your job. I think he is better, but nothing he has done in the last year or so has won me over. We were told his choice of manager would have to be a big win….don’t think it has been. Same with the Danks/McCarthy trade. What do you think has been his best deal? Trade? or something that would give me more hope. And finally, you missed my point that JD got his job by promising Hicks he would develop the team around pitching and defense and that’s not what has happened. Now I wouldn’t have expected him to turn it around overnight but here we are mid 2008 with the worst rotation in the AL. Yes, I know…wait for those wonderful pitching prospects to be developed by the Rangers and we’ll have the pitching in a year, or two, or three. How long do you give JD to deliver on his promise?