AL West on MLB Hot Stove

Kinz and Feldy pack up the moving vans for AZ
pitchers and catchers in 8 daze

doesn’t turn 19 until April. Hart said Marteen pitched last season as a 19 year old, which is incorrect.

hates the Texas Rangers and is in love with the moves the Mariners made this offseason. I agree they got better but seriously:

1.) We were better.
2.) We fixed our problems (offense, I know – who would have thought)
3.) We fixed our problems (Kevin Millwood: love the guy but I’ll take that finance relief for the way we spent it)
4.) Wildcard: Colby Lewis
5.) Shouldn’t be a wildcard: Vlad
6.) Seattle has pitching… Our pitching DEPTH – young as we are.

I’m so super sad (kenny powers) that I don’t get MLB network but ESPN is praising the mariners.

The Rangers are under the radar and you know what? We are damn good.

Every team is real good this year. Every player is real good. Every pitching staff is awesome.

This was never more apparent then when he talked about the Brewers rich history and how many great players that have played for them.

every year since 1992 I’ve bought the Sporting News Baseball Preview magazine. Through the early-mid 1990s it was practically my only source of baseball predictions/team outlooks as the year rounded up to spring. It was exciting to get my hands on a magazine devoted to the upcoming year and dissecting the moves of the winter, pouring over the Rangers schedule, and learning new names of prospects that might be on the way. This has been a tradition that I looked forward to as a springboard to start thinking about baseball again. Through the late 1990s-2000s, where every sports site on the web has team previews and such for free, it has become more of a force of habit and honoring the tradition.

However, since the price has gone up from about $4 to $8 over the years, and having a wealth of baseball information at various corners of the Internet just a click away, my interest had waned and I decided to see what the book offered this year before I just bought it.

I was in the book store today perusing the baseball preview magazines and I read a little of the Rangers preview—after noting they predict the team to finish 3rd behind LAA and Seattle—and saw the heading: “Like so many seasons before, the always offensively potent Rangers are in desperate need of a few good arms.” The decision was made right then that an 18 year long tradition would finally be broken.

I don’t know what I was expecting, these magazines haven’t been worth it, really, for the length of time that information online as been freely available, and frankly, the Sporting News is terrible anyhow. However, I feel insulted as a fan that tries to inform himself, and has supported the yearly baseball preview for years, when the best they come up with for the team I follow is trite bits like “A familiar refrain echoes around Rangers Ballpark: Does this team have enough pitching to go along with its high-octane offense?” or “The Rangers were in the bottom half of the league in ERA in ‘09, and the defense—manager Ron Washington’s major emphasis—was subpar, as Texas had a .982 fielding percentage.”

Then I saw something about the defense hopefully improving after young shortstop Elvis Andrus getting his feet wet last year despite his 22 errors. Blerg.

Granted, I’m not saying a magazine that has to cover all 30 teams at limited resources should be a homer for the one I happen to like, as I said, I’ve bought the magazine for 18 straight years, I’ve come to expect a less than glowing review/preview, but goodness, couldn’t they at least try to examine the real causes of a team’s success or lack thereof instead of going with the long held stereotypes? I’ve probably answered my own question, but reading just that tiny bit of a lazy assessment totally put me off continuing to support the magazine.

I guess now I have $8 dollars that can go towards seeing the Rangers play this year. That’s a better use of my funds, I’d say.