Friday a.m. stuff
by Adam J. Morris on Aug 8, 2008 9:11 AM CDT
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PrintDisappointing couple of games, after the Rangers won two straight against the Yankees. 12 games out of the A.L. West, 6.5 games behind the BoSox, several games behind New York and Minnesota...
Richard Durrett says the Rangers are still in the race, despite not making up any ground during the longest homestand of the season. The Rangers are saying, anyway, that they still believe they can get into the playoffs.
Jason Ellison was called up to replace David Murphy, who was put on the d.l. Ron Washington says Ellison was the choice because of his "experience," whatever that means. My guess is that Ellison was the choice because the Rangers are going to primarily go with a Boggs/Hamilton/Byrd outfield, with Bradley DHing when he's healthy, and thus whomever got called up wasn't going to get a ton of time anyway, making it pointless to call up someone like Julio Borbon or John Mayberry Jr.
A.J. Murray was moved to the 60 day d.l., bringing the roster to 39 players. Brandon McCarthy is going to have to be activated at the beginning of next week, though, and probably will be optioned to AAA, which will fill the final 40 man slot.
McCarthy says that, after a session with Andy Hawkins, Jim Colburn, and Nolan Ryan, he feels he has some mechanical issues worked out and is feeling better than he has in two years. We shall see.
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if we win the wild card
i will get a hideki irabu tattoo on my face
by Smoakin in the Boys Room on Aug 8, 2008 9:35 AM CDT reply actions
that should get your wife all hot and bothered inside...
"I’m sure you’ve seen Kiker before but I’ll just reiterate that the kid is mean on the mound. He is only 5’10’’ but he is an intimidator. He looks like he hates hitters. He has the juice for pressure situations."
-Jason Parks on Jul 22, 2008 10:08 PM
tempting
to do the jack off motion when B Money says that sort of thing. But I remain optimistic.
As for Scott Feldman…really great to see him pitch that way in a close game last night. Of all the Rangers, the gap between my expectations and actual performance is the greatest with him.
Of all the Rangers, the gap between my expectations and actual performance is the greatest with him.
ditto, he has been way above what i thought he was capable of.
"I’m sure you’ve seen Kiker before but I’ll just reiterate that the kid is mean on the mound. He is only 5’10’’ but he is an intimidator. He looks like he hates hitters. He has the juice for pressure situations."
-Jason Parks on Jul 22, 2008 10:08 PM
Hopefully
this will be like the magical Arm Slot change that Volquez had right after he left us. It would be good if our pitching braintrust could come up with the adjustments before they leave town.
"And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago." -John McCain
Disagree
I like seeing pitchers do better after they leave.
Go Strangers.
by hightowersmith on Aug 8, 2008 9:50 AM CDT up reply actions
feldman
""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley
I wonder how far along Feldman would be right now
If the Ranger braintrust hadn’t initially decided to trick up his delivery to that sidearmer thing.
It’s my understanding that Feldman used his current arm slot when he was in college and didn’t convert to that girly throw until the Rangers got their hands on him.
Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.
Let me attempt translation here
So Ron says Ellison was called up for his “experience”.
Basically, once you run that statement through my patent-pending Ronspeakatron 2.0, Ron is saying:
“I was watching Elly in BP the other day, and man you could hang clothes off those line drives. Him, Mench and Fonzie really impressed me back in spring training. Now don’t get me wrong, this Boggs kid has a bright future, but… Ellison, you know he’s got a major league track record. He’s a proffesional ballplayer who knows how to get in there and grind it out. I think I’m gonna start playing him full-time in LF within the next week – and hey, you know what? I’m also gonna start hitting him leadoff, since he knows how to grind out those at-bats at the top of the order.”
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
Dear God I hope you're wrong...
...but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Ellison gets a start or two.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
You're an idiot
That subject line seems to be an appropriate reply to most of your posts. Thanks for being consistent, makes it easier on the rest of us.
by Baider on Aug 8, 2008 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions
Whoakay...
Somebody needs a sarcasm detector installed, ASAP.
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
Sarcasm is really had to display in written form
some kind of sarcasm tag would really be helpful.
Godwin's Law Version 2.0 (Rangers Edition)
"As a Ranger discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Danks, Volquez, or Young approaches one."
by LBBRangerFan on Aug 8, 2008 11:09 AM CDT up reply actions
I understand sarcasm
Your posts are just always the same, very predictable and not very imaginative. You hate Washington, always take shots at what he says and decisions he makes, never give him any credit for the good things that happen on his watch. You approach baseball from a fantasy perspective – never take the human element into consideration. You’re young, you’ve probably never had a real job or managed people, so it’s understandable. But I’d encourgage you to be more open-minded.
by Baider on Aug 8, 2008 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions
Whatever dude
I give Wash credit when I think he’s due, I just don’t think he’s due credit very often. Up there I might have been a little oversarcastic in my statement of things, but it’s an accepted fact that Ron is pretty biased toward certain players, and Ellison looks like he’s just Ron’s type. I’ll bet Ellison gets more playing time than we think he will.
As for the rest of your post… I don’t know how you come off with all that crap, but if you want to join the group that has me pidgeonholed based on their own wild assumptions, fine by me. All I do is stick to my opinions and if that makes me unimaginitive, well, too bad.
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
I said this in an earlier thread...
“We’ll see how much Ellison plays. If he gets off the bench for anything other than pinch-running, replacing an injured player or giving Hamilton an inning or two off at the end of a blowout then he will have been overplayed.”
...and I think it bears repeating here.
Hopefully by the end of Ellison’s brief tenure with the Rangers I still won’t be able to pick him out of a crowd.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
Everybody
Has their biases. I can’t think of many managers or coaches in any sport that aren’t loyal to guys they like. It’s silly to criticize him for that, and even sillier to criticize him before he’s done it.
by brettgardner on Aug 8, 2008 11:37 AM CDT up reply actions
That's true
Except that Ron always seems to pick out pretty crappy players to bestow his graces on (Milton Bradley being the exception). Guys like Matt Kata, Ben Broussard, Adam Melhuse, Frank Catalanotto, Marlon Byrd (who has admittedly been red-hot lately, but still) and Kevin Mench this spring… Sammy Sosa should probably get a mention here too. I wouldn’t really care if Ron picked some good players to mancrush on, but he has a tendency to always pick the spares, and that’s what I have a problem with.
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
Who else is there?
I mean, suppose he’s a big Hamilton fan. How would you know? He’s going to play him every night regardless. The guys you’re talking about are, for the most part, bench guys and role players. Who is Cat really stealing time from? Perhaps the only legitimate criticism is how he constructs the bottom half of the lineup, but even that has worked pretty well at times.
by brettgardner on Aug 8, 2008 11:59 AM CDT up reply actions
Well, before Murphy got hurt, Boggs wasn't getting enough PT
That’s a moot point now, but only because of an injury.
I also wished he could have found more playing time for Max Ramirez, although that was a tough situation. And I could say I’m also upset that you-know-who is sitting on the bench as well, but I don’t want to spark any AJM shock attacks, so I won’t get into that.
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
Byrd and Cat?
Don’t see how they belong on the list. Byrd was actually pretty good last year and is playing pretty well again this year – and he’s nto really stealing time from anybody. Cat, versatile guy who can still hit – except he hardly ever plays anyway. Melhuse was a backup catcher who played about as much as a back up catcher needed to play and the only guy he was blocking was Salty – who everybody seems to agree really did need some time at AAA (still might).
""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley
Byrd was outstanding in June (.398 .438 .582)...
...pretty average in July (.274 .343 .421), pathetic in August (.252 .304 .388 ) and good after Sept. 1 (.313 .352 .490).
He’s not someone who the Rangers should be looking at as any kind of long-term contributor considering his pending arbitration/free agent status.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
Whos he blocking?
Another 4th outfielder in Boggs? I could see an argument against playing Byrd if he was blocking a guy with Chris Davis’ potential but hes not. His defense has been very valuable to this club this year and he has held his own at the plate. While he may not be a guy we need to lock up to a multi year deal we do control him for another year after this so if hes who we think is the best player we should play him.
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.
Next season he will be overpaid...
...either by Texas or someone else. And considering that Washington will overplay him I would just as soon see him overpaid somewhere else.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
How will he be overpaid?
Hes only making 1.8 mil this year and hes under arbitration so I don’t see him getting more than 2.5 or so. While thats more than Boggs will be paid thats nothing in the scheme of things.
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.
Like yesterday this boils down to...
...my opinion vs. yours. Mine is that he could easily be replaced by a cheaper, younger player with some potential and that if he is on the 2009 team he will get more playing time than his talent merits.
Physician: Primum non nocere
Batter: First, make no out
Call em like I see em
Where have you given Washington credit?
But if Jayslick says I’m too harsh, that means something. I will stand down as I respect his opinion.
by Baider on Aug 8, 2008 11:43 AM CDT up reply actions
I gave him some just the other day on my blog
Kudos to Ron Washington for arguing the call after the second balk however – one of my beefs with him is that he doesn’t defend his players enough, but he made his statement yesterday and it may have attributed to what turned out to be the game-changing call the next inning.
And before anyone says anything, yes I do need to update again.
We need to hire Chuck Norris to kick the ass of any Ranger fan caught booing one of our young pitchers at the RBiA.
LSJ
You are young, and you give up the opinion that you won’t be happy until we have Ozzie Guillen as the manager. Showalter was the kind of manager that you want and the players had very little respect for him.
Damn
easy there….
Aikman and Bradshaw?
Please. They are in the same league as Trent Dilfer and Jim McMahon as QBs who were taken to the SB by great Defenses and great Running Games.
-DJCahill
by SarasotaRanger on Aug 8, 2008 11:36 AM CDT up reply actions
panties.
in a wad. un-wad them. or de-wad them. not sure what the correct term is, but whatever it is, make it happen.
"So you have no frame of reference here, Donny. You're like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know... "
by Walter Sobchak on Aug 8, 2008 11:39 AM CDT up reply actions
Ugh.
Your statement would be fine without the penultimate sentence. Can’t you make a point without thumping your chest? I kinda doubt pushing pencils and sending out a few meeting requests on Outlook is going to give anybody a better baseball perspective.
by brettgardner on Aug 8, 2008 11:40 AM CDT up reply actions
But
managing people and being accountable for decisions does. Not “baseball perspective” just “perspective” in general.
by Baider on Aug 8, 2008 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
Well
You could say that being 80 gives you “perspective” in general. It’s useless as advice because it’s obvious that one accumulates “perspective” (if that’s roughly equivalent to wisdom) with age and experience. The fact that you manage people is only one facet of that. Jon has his perspective, which I’m sure is very different from your own. That you flippantly dismiss his and favor yours shows you need to work on your own open-mindedness.
by brettgardner on Aug 8, 2008 11:54 AM CDT up reply actions
Not flippant
Read a lot of his posts before I came to that conclusion.
by Baider on Aug 8, 2008 1:00 PM CDT up reply actions
he's really not that off
there are many times that a very intelligent person comes to the wrong conclusion mainly because he’s still too young to have perspective. it happens a lot on this board.
""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley
But
You’re talking in such amazingly broad terms. I’d counter your point by saying that in many (if not most) cases, there’s no “right” conclusion, just different experiences and perspectives. It’d be one thing if Jon or somebody else talked specifically about working in a management position at the corporate level. Then he could be demonstrably be shown wrong because he hasn’t actually done that. But to say that somebody’s wrong simply because of his age is a little ridiculous.
There’s an innate desire to pass on advice to younger people, or at least to appear wise to younger people. I understand that. It doesn’t, however, make the older person more “correct” necessarily.
A really good
but maybe not so significant point. Two things. Being older is more likely to temper your judgment and prevent immediate reaction, although not all immediate reaction is knee jerk. Yes the experience and possibly learning may be vastly greater, but life is about application, not so much capacity.
It’s also striking that much innovation is from the very young. Sometimes from not knowing old rules, boundaries, and limits and sometimes from advances in the logic associated with technology. I’d think refinements toward practicality and the ability to narrow down large piles of relevant information are easier for the old, if not prejudiced too much by past experience, but create energy is more iikely from the young.
My only qualifications for stating this are age and experience.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
by Ed Coffin on Aug 8, 2008 3:04 PM CDT up reply actions
and the advice would be...
“you don’t understand what’s going on completely (probably because you’re too young to understand something) so don’t just repeatedly parrot the same talking points because you are off base this time”
""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley
I'm going to sound like a pissed off emo kid here
but statements like “probably because you’re too young to understand something” come across as incredibly arrogant. You can critique someone’s thoughts without bringing age into it. Let’s try this, from Baider’s original post:
You approach baseball from a fantasy perspective – never take the human element into consideration. You’re young, you’ve probably never had a real job or managed people, so it’s understandable. But I’d encourgage you to be more open-minded.
How is his argument strengthened by taking a shot at LSJ’s age, or by making assumptions at what he does outside of this board? In my opinion, this makes it sound petty.
But his age does come into play
He is young, and has a lack of experience…in your quote Baider is pointing out that LSJ is looking at baseball in general from a purely Sabrematic, point of view, which allows no room for the human factor.
Which is something that can be pointed out
without making a condescending remark, or (again) making assumptions about someone’s life outside of this website. All I’m saying is that you can criticize someone’s thoughts or opinions without making it age-based.
Boscan
Does anyone else get the feeling we will all look silly for not including him in this latest top 25 prospect project by this time next summer? he looks to be a true strikeout/groundout pitcher who is not only holding his own against mostly college guys as an 18 year old this year, but he is pretty much dominating. much has been made about how Chris Davis never seems to go into extended slumps, and the same can be said for Boscan. Check the stats. He just doesn’t have bad starts.
and for those
too lazy to check them, here’s what you need to know: 48+ innings, 1.81 G/F. K per inning and only 8 walks on the year.
Jenkies!
i voted for the kid the last 4 times.
its not my fault that other posters here are retarded.
heh
"I’m sure you’ve seen Kiker before but I’ll just reiterate that the kid is mean on the mound. He is only 5’10’’ but he is an intimidator. He looks like he hates hitters. He has the juice for pressure situations."
-Jason Parks on Jul 22, 2008 10:08 PM
There were others beside Boscan
that easily could have been included in the top-25. The Rangers have some depth. There will definitely be a couple guys jump up and over some of the top-ranked guys before it’s all said and done.
"We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round." - Tony Romo
yep
it’s going to be fun in a year, to see who’s in the majors from that list, who we’ve traded and for what, and who’s replaced them. Boscan, and many others, can shoot up Holland-style and that would be excellent
"So you have no frame of reference here, Donny. You're like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know... "
by Walter Sobchak on Aug 8, 2008 11:42 AM CDT up reply actions
I voted for him several times
"Would you mind walking a time or two so I could drive in some runs"? Milton Bradley
Got to be bad news for Murray
He may be done if he has to have surgery again. I never understood Connor’s belief that Murray should be made a starter again after his arm imploded twice. Seemed stupid then and esp. now. Hope we see him in the bullpen next year.
i remember McCarthy (blackgloverighty)
coming to this very site and talking about how strong he felt entering the season due to his workouts in the offseason.
I believed him then…I definitely do not now.
Greatest Inventions Ever? 1. TiVO, 2. Boobs, 3. Baseball
Feeling physically strong...
...and mechanically strong are two completely different things
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.
If this
http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/04/what_have_they_done_to_brandon.html (link posted yesterday by NoNameOnCard)
is the sort of adjustments that he is in the process of making and there are positive results, then I don’t think that anyone from here on out can ever question the firing or even the timing of the firing of Connor and Chiti.
If Joe Blogger (no offense mjh) can figure out McCarthy’s problem and the coaching staff cannot, then Connor and Chiti should never be allowed to coach profressional baseball again.
by robert_d_wilfong on Aug 8, 2008 11:05 AM CDT up reply actions
it's not as easy as that
it’s not difficult to figure out that he changed his stride but to assume that they changed his stride for no reason is a bit of a stretch. maybe there was something that led to the change or maybe they remember working with some other tall pitcher where the change paid off.
""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley
I don't recall every specific
But asking him to use a higher release point (in order to increase the downhill plane of the pitch) has been mentioned. And usually, higher release point = limits stride. Someone brought all of this up before.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
by Ed Coffin on Aug 8, 2008 1:44 PM CDT up reply actions
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