New Rangers Podcast in Arlington up
by Adam J. Morris on May 19, 2009 3:05 PM CDT
Email
PrintThe latest edition of the Rangers Podcast in Arlington is now up, and it includes a visit with special guest Evan Grant...
You can download it here, or get the iTunes version here...
32 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Talking about
Marlon Byrd on a long-term deal is way too premature. Especially since he’s still a part of the hacktastic Bs.
Bring on Julio Borbon.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Byrd
Actually, I think signing him long term would make a lot of sense. It would free the club to deal Murphy or any other OF and it keeps one of the key leaders on the club. Also, it keeps around an OF with very good position flexibility. I like Byrd and wouldn’t mind keeping him. It’s not like the club will have a budget crunch next year with Blalock and Padilla coming off the books. Even if they sign Sheets they should still be able to afford Byrd. I say keep him. BTW I haven’t listened to the podcast yet so I am unsure of the context.
Position flexibility
is extremely overrated. It’s not like he’s a guy that plays IF positions and catch as well. He plays the three OF positions, great.
Greg Golson, Brandon Boggs and Julio Borbon can play all 3 positions. So can David Murphy, probably. The difference is that these four guys are cheap. You save money where you can, and spending money on Byrd is not an effective use of resources.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Golson and Borbon
I don’t know that either of those guys can play RF. I don’t think position flexibility is overrated at all when you have a brittle CF. And I can add one thing BYRD IS A MUCH BETTER PLAYER THAN ALL THOSE GUYS!
Bullshit
Golson is play RF in AAA right now, and Marlon’s arm isn’t any better than Boggs-Golson-Murphy-et al.
The ability to play 3 OF positions is hugely overrated, and while Byrd is a better bat right now, his 3.9 BB% and his currently below-average performance in the OF make him an inferior option going forward than any of our prospects.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
No need to swear
You can have a dialogue without being coarse. Also, RangerMad makes the point. Golson is likely AAAA, Boggs isn’t even slugging .400 in AAA and Borbon is far from polished. Byrd is a solid, major league OF with off the charts intangibles who could likely be resigned for a very reasonable amount through his next 2-3 years. This isn’t the early part of the decade where some team is going to lavish him with a 5/50 deal.
Also, I don’t know what the point is of saving money just to be saving money. The team’s payroll will be very low next year even if they resign Byrd so I am not sure what the point of citing finances are at this point. The team is in a healthy payroll position.
Even if
you spend 0 of the money saved, it’s still idiotic to sign someone when there’s equal level players looking to replace them. Intangibles are overrated – they certainly didn’t keep this team from falling out of it during the years of DeRosa or last year with Byrd. Nor did the presence of guys like Bradley seem to destroy this club’s performance. It’s not something you pay money for, especially when you have 3 players who would likely give you same level, if not better performance.
Borbon was the 2nd best defensive CF prospect last year, second to only Hernandez from the Braves organization. He still gets decent reads, and despite the fact that he’s young, he’s still a very good CF. Byrd has never been a great CF, and this year, he’s been a below average LF. Why on Earth would you pay money for that? That’s just unnecessary attachment to a player who’s average to slightly above average.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Pretty much
you dad joke-making asshat.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Marlon Byrd has proven
that he can play in the MLs. Boggs, Golson and Borbon are still trying to prove they can handle AAA. If they don’t do so by Sept. the Rangers may feel that they need to resign Byrd.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
That's even more overrated
than positional flexibility. If every part of a player’s performance suggest that you have a reasonable expectation of what he is, why does playing in “The Show” matter at all?
This line of reasoning is heavily flawed, when you’re faced with two comparative players, you go with the cheaper, younger one.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
I'm not following you
Are you saying Borbon = Byrd right now, Sept or next spring? Defensively or overall game?
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
I'm with Firebat here...
although Byrd has been great for this team. He can play plus defense in all 3 outfield spots and seems to be a great clubhouse guy. However the Rangers just have too much OF depth to give him any long term deal. Borbon’s time is next year. If he doesn’t work out then Boggs could do pretty much what Byrd can. He may not hit quite as well as Byrd has the last couple years (he’s much more patient at the plate though), but I see no reason to give Byrd a 4/20 or so which is what i think he will end up getting after this season.
Besides, I too am tired of seeing the guy swing at every damn pitch thrown his way.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Also
Why can’t Hamilton play LF? Is there a directive that says Josh has to play RF?
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
You got me
I keep hearing it, and I don’t get it.
"I'd praised catcher Max Ramirez two weeks ago, but after his continued struggles I'm increasingly convinced he's not going to pan out." - crops.mlblogs.com
Also
why does anyone think Chris Volstad is an ace? Where does this nonsense come from?
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Seriously, Jamey
I want a freaking answer for this. In which world is Chris Volstad and his career 14% K an ace?
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
and that's minor league K%.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
But I'm curious
as to why Volstad is even in the conversation at all. Josh Johnson, I can see. A guy like Brett Cecil, I can see. But why Volstad of all folks?
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
I like Brett Cecil
but I’ve read nothing about him projecting to ace-level.
That guy was a bullpen pitcher in college.
"[Font} doesn't turn 19 until the end of May and his heater can already hit 99 on the gun. That's baseball porn." - Jason Parks
by hightowersmith on May 19, 2009 4:59 PM CDT up reply actions
The guy also strikes out a ton of guns, gets a lot of groundballs
and has decent walk rates. And he throws lefty
I think his stamina questions is the only reason he’d be available. Seriously, he was pretty sick last year
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Groundballs
G/F over 2.00 in the minors, over 1.50 in the bigs. ERA around 3.00 in 22 big league starts, still just 22 years ago.
by Jamey Newberg on May 19, 2009 5:04 PM CDT up reply actions
Right
but plenty of players get GBs. You need the other two aspects as well.
To point, Volstad’s K% are so low that they’re actually below that of Blake Beavan. So essentially, what are we trading for? Blake in 2, 3 year’s time? You can’t limit yourself to one peripheral when determining who’s an ace and who’s not.
"Hustle doesn't cost a dime and it looks good." - Pete Rose as Channeled by Marcus Lemon
Yah
I know the stat profile. I’m talking about everything else I’ve read.
"[Font} doesn't turn 19 until the end of May and his heater can already hit 99 on the gun. That's baseball porn." - Jason Parks
by hightowersmith on May 20, 2009 9:13 AM CDT up reply actions
Groundballs
G/F over 2.00 in the minors, over 1.50 in the bigs. ERA around 3.00 in 22 big league starts, still just 22 years ago.
by Jamey Newberg on May 19, 2009 5:05 PM CDT up reply actions
Lively discussion
Enjoyed it. And I think about half of it is conjectural on this podcast. That does make for interesting POV and preference discussion though!
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912) also -
"Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance."
~Ambrose Bierce
by Ed Coffin on May 19, 2009 4:28 PM CDT reply actions
Good stuff
I especially enjoyed the stuff towards the end that had the three guests going back and forth. I’ve said before that I’d prefer more back and forth discussion rather than individual Q/A from the host to the guest.
Evan is a good guest because he’ll jump in and debate a point rather than wait to be asked a question.
Podcast Talk
Always informative and entertaining. Hopefully we see these every two weeks thru the end of the season.
A few things…
Busted out laughing when EG pulled out his machine gun and shot down any further talk this year about Ben Sheets. Thank you.
Jamey sounded like his heart was breaking when AJM told him the Rangers weren’t going to be able to afford Byrd next year and how it didn’t make sense to pay him. I agree with this. It’s great that he’s a nice clubhouse influence but he’s also going to be 32 two years old on a small market payroll team with more than adequate (possibly better) younger replacements on the way.
I thought EG threw a gratuitous cheap shot at CJ by claiming fans don’t like him because of the ball-flip, the refusal to pitch when hurt and the fact that he didn’t seem to be supportive of Frank in the spring. That’s complete bullshit, Evan.
Fans were upset with CJ because he lost several leads last year and had a couple of tough outings (some of it his fault, some of it not) early in this year. If CJ had pitched better, fans wouldn’t have cared about any of that stuff (and most of the fans don’t even know about the things you brought up). Thought it was a real cheap shot.
Adam, let’s talk Chris Young. He struggled in the first two months of 2008 and then proceeded to get skull-fucked by a Pujols line drive that broke his nose and fractured his skull.
Since the Pujols line drive, Young has 12 of 17 Game Scores of 50+ (including 6 of 9 this year). Go thru what he’s done this year. 6 of 9 Game Scores of 50+. The inflated ERA is a product of him getting bombed in the hitter-friendly parks of Coors Field, Wrigley Field and whatever the Phillies place is called. Other than those three starts this year, he’s been pretty good, a helluva lot better than Brandon McCarthy and the Rangers could still use him.
Upon further review, the CYoung/AG trade still sucks. I know you guys made it clear that what’s done is done but to say that Chris Young hasn’t been a good pitcher for the last two years is simply wrong and it seemed like a not so subtle attempt to defend JD from people such as myself.
All in all, a good listen and I look forward to many more.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
by Josey Wales on May 20, 2009 12:50 PM CDT up reply actions
Few things.
1. Not surprising that you busted out, either missing the same point Evan missed, or conveniently overlooking it in hopes that others here didn’t here it at all.
2. I sounded like my heart was breaking? Really?
3. So glad you enjoyed it and look forward to more. I’m gonna suggest to Ted that you come on as a guest sometime. Seriously.
by Jamey Newberg on May 20, 2009 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions
No, I caught your point (had to go back and listen)
but was thinking more about all the other posters, both here and at NMLR who think Sheets is coming here this year.
You sound like you have a strong personal affinity for Marlon Byrd. You were trying to make your case for him but a lot of it had to with his influence in the room and what a good guy he was. I’ve never been in the Ranger clubhouse but those guys genuinely seem to like one another – that’s an observation from watching them over the last couple of years and more specifically at spring training on the back fields in the morning and on the field before games. I like Marlon Byrd but we have a lot of good guys in the room and dissension doesn’t seem to be a problem. He’s 32 years old and an expense this team won’t pay for when they have younger, less expensive options. Murphy & Boggs both seem to be very good guys as well.
Your heartbreak wasn’t obvious but came across that way to me because of how you obviously feel about the player.
I’m also serious when I say it’s a good listen. To say anything else would be dishonest but I’m also going to let you boys know when I disagree.
Giving Josey Wales a verbal podium to talk all things Great Game with yourself, Ted and Adam?
Interested.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
