…but I would be very concerned moving Byrd before spring training ends in favor of Jones, and some kind of Murphy/Jones/Hamilton CF platoon. The thought of that makes me uneasy.

release frankie c?

obviously this team is going to win 86 games…

Lesson of the day: All pitchers ended their throwing sessions with two pitchouts. Said Washington, "A lot of times in games you ask pitchers to throw pitchouts and they’re all over the place. We want to get them to zero in on doing that. We want them practicing everything they are called upon to do do

What about the previous night? Did you check to see how many Angels were hit by Detroit pitching the night before prior to trying to out Ryan for mis-remembering?

The Rangers have expressed an interest to Hamilton’s agent Michael Moye and got a positive response in return. No offers have been exchanged on either side.

Padilla in the photo from the first linked article?

Reading that first article really gets me believing in winning the division again this year. I do this to myself every year and think the Rangers can contend, only to get brutally reminded of their sucktitude. Once again though, I’m having to talk mayself into lowering my expectations. I don’t think I’ll ever learn.

Brendan Donnelly brings a veteran’s crusty edge to the bullpen that the Rangers definitely need.

   While most everyone who watched him throw batting practice Saturday came away impressed — including club president Nolan Ryan — Donnelly says he didn’t think he was all that sharp.

   He also said this is the first time he’s ever thrown live batting practice on the first day of spring training and that he didn’t realize that Ryan was behind the cage, watching him throw, so he obviously wasn’t humping it up there just to impress the Hall of Fame club president.

   Interesting.

   — Jim Reeves

link

Manager Ron Washington has targeted the five pitchers he expects to be in the Rangers’ rotation on Opening Day: Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Scott Feldman, Matt Harrison and Brandon McCarthy.

Team president Nolan Ryan seemed to agree with Washington’s assessment, though both admitted it could change based on spring performances. McCarthy could be the pitcher who has to secure his spot, proving he’s healthy and can be reliable.

Millwood is the front-runner to be the starter on Opening Day, though he and pitching coach Mike Maddux haven’t discussed who will get the ball April 6 against Cleveland.

— Jeff Wilson

Goofing around in centerfield during early BP Monday morning, Josh Hamilton laughed as three flyballs came close to hitting him. He wasn’t laughing when the fourth one bounced right off his noggin.

   Hamilton held his glove over his head for a few moments, then collapsed in a heap — jokingly pretending to be seriously hurt. He was back up on his feet, laughing again, within seconds.

   Fortunately, none of the Rangers’ brass was watching at the time or we might have had to do CPR on Nolan Ryan.

   — Jim Reeves

i wonder who/if any cuban players are effected by this:

Marisabel is one of thousands of Cubans who have applied for Spanish passports since Spain enacted a new citizenship law in December. Officially known as the Law of Historic Memory, it grants citizenship to the children and grandchildren of Spaniards who fled the country during the Spanish Civil War or were exiled during the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco.

The Spanish government estimates that more than a million people worldwide will become citizens, including as many as 210,000 Cubans, or 1.9 percent of the population of the island. The Spanish Consulate in Miami is also expecting several thousand applications, mostly from South Floridians of Cuban and Venezuelan descent.

For Cubans still living on the island, the new law offers a legal, safe and not terribly difficult alternative to the way so many have escaped — spending $10,000 to ride a fast boat across the Florida Straits, or marrying a foreigner.

Since the law was passed, the Spanish newspaper El País has called the consulate in Havana the ‘’factory of Spaniards’’ because so many people are eligible and trying to take advantage of it.

His office already has set up appointments to interview 40,000 Cubans and is talking with about 220 a day, he said. He hopes to interview 350 a day once a variety of technical problems with the process are worked out. The problems include misinformation spreading through Havana’s rumor mill and an inability to get more phone lines installed in the consulate to handle the volume of inquiries.

The consular staff in Havana was nearly doubled to handle all the work, and Barrios expects to issue between 50,000 and 70,000 new Spanish passports each year the law is in effect.

wonder how many guys use this to try and get off the island

also, this would allow them to not have to “find” another place of residency on one of the other islands before being declared a FA vs having to go into the draft…

should be interesting!

but it’s great to see this:

“We’re going to win eight more games easy,” second baseman Ian Kinsler said. “Everyone in here expects to win the division. There’s no doubt about that. We want to win as many as it takes to win the division.”

and this:

“That’s on the downside,” Hamilton said. “I’m thinking maybe 12 to 15. We have to consistently hit, consistently play defense and consistently pitch better. If any team does that, they’re going to win ballgames.”

That attitude, if it carries over to the starting pitching staff, is what will drive this team towards success in the long term and potentially even the short term. Consider me revved up.

Did anybody catch the premeire last night?

Danny McBride is fucking hysterical. I’m really rooting for this one.

The Rangers are 197 games under .500

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