Friday morning things
by Adam J. Morris on Jan 23, 2009 9:33 AM CST
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PrintSeveral Rangers things out there this morning, believe it or not...
Richard Durrett has a lengthy Q&A up with Jon Daniels, talking about the team's prospects for 2009, the Michael Young situation, and working with Nolan Ryan, among many other things...
Jean-Jacques Taylor has a column up about the Rangers being on the right path...
Gil LeBreton has a column up about the cold market for free agents this offseason, and talks at the end about the report that Ben Sheets wants 2 years at $9 million per to sign...if that's the case, that would seem to be a slam-dunk for the Rangers.
The Boston Herald has a story up about the BoSox interest in trading for a catcher, focusing on Miguel Montero, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Taylor Teagarden. They say Teagarden would be the most costly of the three for Boston to acquire.
T.R. Sullivan has his Friday morning blog notes up, which focus primarily on the unsigned free agents still out there.
Sullivan also, earlier this week, linked Dan Szymborski's ZiPS projections for the Rangers, expressed bafflement about it, and set off a firestorm in the comments section, with various folks insulting Szymborski, then setting off a flamewar with a couple of BTF folks. Read the comments...they are amusing...
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The best line in that Boston Herald story
" three weeks from today" ( spring training )
SWEET!
How can JJT....
Get away with calling Neftali Feliz “Neftali Perez” and Chris Davis “Chris Young”? Doesn’t he have an editor who goes thru all of that?
And we have to give up Grant and Durett for THIS?
The Poster Formally Known As: UrbanDad
"Listen to Ted. Trust him. If he cuts you off, switch gears and go with it." -- Shroomer
Seal of approval from JJT
= kiss of death from Michael Corleone?
Freddie King rules faces.
by Cecilio's Guante on Jan 23, 2009 9:53 AM CST up reply actions 3 recs
2 years
18 million? Just Do It!!!
It would be a big signing, Even with the probably offensive downgrade, maybe they could get Runs Allowed down into the lower 800s with some of the defensive changes and finally a legitimite pitching upgrade.
Get off my lawn.
+1
"No... JD has been exposed as a kid who trades his remote-controlled helicopters for paper airplanes, then fails to consider the feelings of the paper airplane when he refolded it into a hat." -Telegraph.
by Kinslerhomer on Jan 23, 2009 9:49 AM CST up reply actions
At that level
I just can’t imagine they would pass that kind of bargain up. An ace for $9 million when you have 3rd starters making more than that on the team? I’m starting to feel like it’s a real possibility.
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I'd go 2/25 without blinking.
Despite the reports I have hard time believing his stock has dropped that much.
"Come on man you have to admit the average guy in a baseball clubhouse...... is relatively a douchebag." BGL.
Yes
Why not? Maybe because Sheets feels like if he’s pitched well enough for the Rangers to want to pick it up, he could get more guaranteed on the open market. Mutual option maybe?
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jan 23, 2009 10:01 AM CST up reply actions
That's a nice Q & A from Durrett
Nothing really new in there, but those were good questions about the overall direction of the team that average fans need to read for the big picture.
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I swear some of those quotes were almost verbatim
to some of the stuff JD said last week about the MY stuff. I wonder if he just reused some of them.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jan 23, 2009 9:56 AM CST up reply actions
Slightly OT: Hicks selling Liverpool team?
the DMN blog posted a link to a London Telegraph story about Hicks meeting with a Kuwait interest about the team. Link here:
http://tinyurl.com/cf57xh
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That would be nice, theres no need for him to waste money on that boring sport.
"No... JD has been exposed as a kid who trades his remote-controlled helicopters for paper airplanes, then fails to consider the feelings of the paper airplane when he refolded it into a hat." -Telegraph.
by Kinslerhomer on Jan 23, 2009 10:00 AM CST up reply actions
So, he's selling the Rangers?
I keed, I keed.
Blue is the colour!
by GhettoBear04 on Jan 23, 2009 10:12 AM CST up reply actions
Liverpool
My hope is that Hicks (and George Gillette) sell Liverpool to the Kuwaitis, then Hicks takes his half of the profits and puts them into seriously improving the Rangers and Stars.
Liverpool, the Rangers, and the Stars would all be better off, and as a fan of all three, I’d be ecstatic.
"I dont care to debate with a troll." - Sharky
Well
When an mlb.com writer links to the projections and says he doesn’t understand where they came from, and then a bunch of people basically say it was made up by someone with too much time on his hands without any real methodology, I can understand why there’d be some responses.
by Adam J. Morris on Jan 23, 2009 10:05 AM CST up reply actions
I found the comments pretty funny, actually. I was actually quite surprised how pissed off a few people got.
You really have to develop a tough skin when you write things that a lot of people are going to read. The more people reading you, the more likely that any position will have some very vocal person with a lot of time on their hands getting angry with you. I wrote a column for the Oakland Tribune a few years ago stating that Bonds hitting 35 home runs in 2006 was unlikely, hardly some off-the-wall argument considering he was injured and hit only 5 home runs in 2005 and I still got about 50 nasty e-mails.
--
Dan Szymborski
dan@baseballprimer.com
by D.Szymborski on Jan 23, 2009 10:55 AM CST up reply actions
exactly
if you are a writer, you are always going to have naysayers, especially if your writing involves projections of players that people overvalue because they are emotionally involved in their team and that specific player. it just comes with the territory.
Although I may disagree with some of the ZIPs projections, or all of them for that matter because nobody can predict the future, I do read them and take them into consideration.
Next Year! We Swear!
I'm not saying there wasn't an argument
but why even respond when people are saying ridiculous things.
You aren’t going to change their minds. It’s like listening to the DFW media report on the rangers when they know nothing about the rangers. It irks me about their influence on the weak minded, but I had to learn to shrug it off.
Next Year! We Swear!
riffing on LeBreton's angle ...
Back when the policies were put in place that led to today’s economic woes, journalistic efforts appeared nationally which warned of disastrous results. If the journalists at the time understood the harm in the policies, then surely the Ivy League-level economic elite did as well. Rich guys who own baseball teams employ these types of people [elite economists] to keep them rich and get them richer. As efforts to reform the disastrous policies were successfully rebuffed during the succeeding years the chronological starting gun for the inevitable recession would have grown clearer and clearer to these economic elites. I would find it fascinating to learn how pro sports franchises nurtured this knowledge and impemented their plans to deal with it.
Basically put: did brainiacs like JD and Thad understand where the financial future was headed and use it to help convince Hicks the time couldn’t be better for switching to total rebuild mode? Could blabber-mouth Hicks keep that competitive strategy to himself?
hmmmm …
The moves being made are too extra for my taste.
Nah
I think the total failure of the 73 other strategies Hicks tried played a much bigger part. Daniels’ message of building from within may have fallen on deaf ears if he had been the GM when Hicks first bought the team, and it seems like Daniels needed a little convincing himself after he first got the job.
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Hicks is definitely the weak point of my theory
but JD and Thad weren’t the only ones, I assume, who had economic gurus. Surely [stop calling me Shirley] Hicks had independent sources of economic gurudom on the business side of his portfolio against which he could compare and contrast the views of his horsehide wizkids.
The moves being made are too extra for my taste.
If that were the case, though
I’d expect at least some of those gurus would have been baseball savvy and maybe guessed at the depressed FA market and they would have been prepared to wait it out…which might be happening with Sheets, we can hope.
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Not sure I understand you ...
but I don’t think the vast majority of FA’s and their agents would have had the same elite economic forecasting as the guys on the ownership side.
The moves being made are too extra for my taste.
I think it's likely
that JD, Hicks, etc. are at least a little surprised by the severity of the recession, and at least a little surprised by the turn the free agent market has taken. I’m sure they have good advisers, but some of the brightest minds in finance created this colossal mess, so I’m not certain they would have foreseen all the trouble.
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I think it's fair to say
most people, including people whose basic job function is to make money financially didn’t see the severity of this coming.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jan 23, 2009 11:01 AM CST up reply actions
Efforts at reform began in the early noughts, IIRC.
The moves being made are too extra for my taste.
And, unfortunately
were rebuffed aggressively by the very people that should be sounding warning bells in many cases.
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The American people stood to gain a tremendous amount should effective reform be enacted early. Unfortunately, the American people really don’t have a dog in the fight anymore when it comes to Washington.
The moves being made are too extra for my taste.
Damn liberal!
;)
"...my balls are really like a veiny flesh color" blueballlefty on Jun 4, 2008 7:44 PM EDT
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
If Sheets...
only wants 2/18 and JD doesn’t offer that I will be very upset.
I’d offer him 2/20 with a 15 mil option for the 3rd year to slam dunk the deal and get it done now. Are you kidding me, 2 years of Sheets for 20 mil? What did we all think he was going to get 2 months ago? At least 15 mil per and at least 3 or 4 years. This is an absolute steal.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Unless.....
he’s so damanged that’s it’s a steal for Sheets and not the Rangers
That's a risk I'm willing to take. I think the Rangers aren't in a position to tell the fanbase that we passed on a legit ace becuase of a 2 year contract and injury concerns.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jan 23, 2009 10:52 AM CST up reply actions
I couldn't agree more.
You do it and never look back even if he gets hurt and only pitches one full year out of the three. Sheets needs the Rangers just as the Rangers and their fans need Sheets.
Miami bound...
Regarding catcher to Boston...
I know TT impressed in his brief call up last year, but doesn’t he project as something of a Brad Ausmus/Mike Matheny type? In other words, providing great defense but annually posting around a .250 average?
I’m sorry, but if that’s the case I’ll take my chances on Salty improving his defense because that guy projects as an offensive force behind the plate. With TT being regarded as the most expensive to acquire, maybe we could possibly then squeeze Bucholz out of the Sox.
"Congrats Rangers fans, you just found your replacement for Mark Teixeira. Just a crazy, crazy steal." -Goldstein
x
doesn’t he project as something of a Brad Ausmus/Mike Matheny type? In other words, providing great defense but annually posting around a .250 average?
Except a .250 average with lots of walks and homers. Ausmus/Matheny level defense with an 800 OPS.
by Adam J. Morris on Jan 23, 2009 10:56 AM CST up reply actions
Thought this would be interesting considering the Rangers catching depth:
Sickels: the recent history of catching prospects;part one
"No... JD has been exposed as a kid who trades his remote-controlled helicopters for paper airplanes, then fails to consider the feelings of the paper airplane when he refolded it into a hat." -Telegraph.
How is Saltalamacchia not in there? Career catcher and a BA #1 prospect coming up (iirc)…
Go Strangers.
by hightowersmith on Jan 23, 2009 11:13 AM CST up reply actions
I don't know... He might be in part 2...
"No... JD has been exposed as a kid who trades his remote-controlled helicopters for paper airplanes, then fails to consider the feelings of the paper airplane when he refolded it into a hat." -Telegraph.
by Kinslerhomer on Jan 23, 2009 11:28 AM CST up reply actions
Except that he’s got a list of catching prospects up to the present day. My guess is that he didn’t give Salty a top grade when he was a prospect, and the next year he ended up losing his prospect status.
Or it’s just an oversight.
"I'd like to f*ck Sandra Bullock." - Pedro Martinez, explaining his secret ambition to Sports Illustrated for Kids.
"No... JD has been exposed as a kid who trades his remote-controlled helicopters for paper airplanes, then fails to consider the feelings of the paper airplane when he refolded it into a hat." -Telegraph.
by Kinslerhomer on Jan 23, 2009 5:51 PM CST up reply actions
Interesting article
I am no soccer buff, but I found this article interesting as it deals with building a team and using outside the box thinking to overcome odds.
the sign of the apocalypse
JJT is actually making some sense in something other than football
In reference to how good the Steelers have been in their history: "No one is even close to them."- Steal Home
notice i said "some"
giving JD some credit is counted as making sense
In reference to how good the Steelers have been in their history: "No one is even close to them."- Steal Home
Murphy
David Murphy was on 105.3 The Fan a few minutes ago. He said that he probably has healed slower than the doctors and team trainers expected. He had a partially torn PCL and severe bone bruise. He started working out in Nov despite still having some pain. He continued in Dec and is now about 95%.
Should there be some concern?
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Not really
If he needs 30 day DL time, Byrd/Boggs can handle LF and CF filler if Josh needs a day. I only worry if HE worries that he’s not OK and not gaining on it.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
by Ed Coffin on Jan 23, 2009 9:46 PM CST up reply actions
You forgot Marlon Byrd
Without Murphy, your starting OF is Byrd/Ham/Cruz. Which, if Byrd gets on another hot streak, is acually better than Murphy/Ham/Cruz.
That Gold Glove for Young was the worst thing that could have happened to Texas - now the guy really believes he's good at short. - Keith Law
Oh, nevermind
For some reason I only read Boggs when I read Byrd/Boggs. Sorry Ed.
That Gold Glove for Young was the worst thing that could have happened to Texas - now the guy really believes he's good at short. - Keith Law
Murphy wasn't going to be the starter anyway
I fully expect Byrd to get a vast majority of playing time this year. Almost to the point where Murphy and Cruz are in a platoon situation. When Hamilton is playing CF Cruz will play RF. And when Hamilton needs to play RF, about 40-60 times during the season, Murphy will play LF with Byrd sliding to CF. Of course there will be scattered games here and there but I think Byrd and Hamilton are the two most likely “locks” for everyday playing time in the OF.
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.
Actually
I think the team is pretty set on going with Murphy as the “starter” and Byrd as the “4th OF”. I believe everyone will get plenty of playing time this year, but I think the Rangers are going to want to at least call Murphy the actual starting LF.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
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