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Summary
The Rangers had Cruz, Andrus, Borbon, Strop, and Feliz speak to some of the Dominican academy kids this off-season, talking about their experiences and giving advice on what to expect coming up through the system.
Wash pulled Cruz aside after the meeting, and said he wants him to step up and be one of the team leaders this season- apparently he’s been a good bridge between the Latin and American players in the clubhouse due to his positive attitude and work ethic, and they think he can really mentor the young Latin players on the team.
There’s also a good quote from JD:
“Ron is always encouraging players to take more active leadership roles, take accountability for themselves and their teammates,” Daniels said. “He reinforced that message with Nellie. Here’s a guy who’s overcome a lot. Not many players can deal with failure, then bounce back and succeed at the major league level, much less become All-Stars. It takes a lot of mental strength and Nellie demonstrated that. Ron challenged him to take the next step, be consistent and challenge others to do the same. It’s because he believes in him.”
"Jesus, Spanish- our jobs aren't enough, now you want our words?"
-- Sterling Archer
Wow, that's incredible
On about 10 different levels, and not in a bad way.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"When you have a weapon on your shoulder like he has, you can be cool." RW on Perez
And the little bastard threw it for a swinging strike three in a 3-2 count. He’s blessed. And ballsy.
Does this mean Wash will stop trying to bury him in the lineup?
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
Exactly...
I want to see Cruz force Wash to put him in the middle of the order.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
You mean like he did in April/May and July/August last year, when Jones and latery Byrd where batting cleanup?
Yeah, he needs to do that.
Again.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
So?
He still out wOBA’d everyone else on the team, save for MY.
He’s a bit streaky, but there’s a lot of good players who are streaky. I’d like to think that a decent manager would know how to take advantage of that.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
He was 2nd in wOBA because of where he hit in the lineup.
Argue that…
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"When you have a weapon on your shoulder like he has, you can be cool." RW on Perez
And the little bastard threw it for a swinging strike three in a 3-2 count. He’s blessed. And ballsy.
Hmn?
I don’t think where you hit in the lineup has any tangible affect on your wOBA…
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
Well, he performed the "worst" in the #4 spot (where he still had an 821 OPS)
Maybe that’s what Rodney’s getting at, but (1, SSS warning, and (2, he had a .917 OPS in the #5 slot, where he made the most appearances. So if he’s trying to argue that hitting one spot higher would’ve significantly degraded Nellie’s overall numbers, I think that’s pretty freaking silly.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
*second most appearances (at #5)
Stupid typos.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
Not really
But it runs counter to your entire “Wash hates him and was totally misusing him” credo. To counter your argument, I would say he was used perfectly, and slotted in the lineup exactly where the mgr knew he would perform best.
Opinions are neato, but that does not make them facts.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"When you have a weapon on your shoulder like he has, you can be cool." RW on Perez
And the little bastard threw it for a swinging strike three in a 3-2 count. He’s blessed. And ballsy.
I don't think you can cherry-pick his 124 PA's at cleanup and try to say they mean he shouldn't have been hitting there.
All it is is a SSS of a split that isn’t terribly glaring anyway. He had his lowest BA in the cleanup position, but he also had his lowest BABIP in the cleanup spot and his OBP and power #‘s where fine. Had he received more PA’s at cleanup I have no doubt his BA would’ve averaged out to where it was in the rest of his lineup slots.
The bottom line was he was the second-best offensive player on the team in 2009, yet Wash had Andruw fucking Jones batting cleanup the majority of the time. There’s no excuses for that.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
And he was a failed bit, and freely available talent twice
Talk about SSS, don’t act like he’s fucking Pooholes based on a decent 648 PAs spread over 2 years.
I love the guy, and clearly see his immense talent, but…he doesn’t exactly have a track record that screams “trust me”.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"When you have a weapon on your shoulder like he has, you can be cool." RW on Perez
And the little bastard threw it for a swinging strike three in a 3-2 count. He’s blessed. And ballsy.
But a broken down Andruw Jones coming off a historically bad season apparently did?
Please.
Again, from the top: Cruz was the second-best offensive player on the team last year. If we actually had guys who where more deserving of hitting in front of him, Wash’s shuffling him down in the lineup might’ve been understandable, but we didn’t. We had Andruw Jones, Marlon Byrd, Hank Blalock and David Murphy hitting ahead of him on a regular basis. While that isn’t the end of the world, that also isn’t particularly smart, especially not when we could’ve used every ounce of value possible squeezed out of the lineup.
I know you like Wash and you buy into his leadership and all that stuff, and that’s fine. But Ron’s player evaluations are clearly not based on much in the way of facts, or at the least not very many good facts. And his handling of Cruz is evidence of this.
Morality you can fake. Fun you either have or you don't.
Maybe the stupid fucking manager is smarter than you at baseball
And knew that batting Cruz where he did would get the most out of 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.
RBI's
The kind of crappy thing is – he’s not going to get respect from his manager and apparently Nolan unless he starts putting up big RBI numbers. That’s another part of the reason Hamilton is so important to the offense (and Cruz). If he’s getting on base in the 3-hole, and Vlad is healthy, it sets up the bottom of the order mashers in the 5 and 6 spots.
Yeah I'm def completely behind this team right now.
I’m even more on board with the front office and management. To think 2 years ago everyone pretty much wanted Wash gone. And now he is really becoming what this team and everyone of its fans hoped for.
Im even more excited that they are asking Nellie to become a leader for the team as well as the Latin players. We all know how Nellie got here and the potential he showed in the minors. So what he struggled at first, but a repeat year or better and I am very happy with the Cordero trade.
So at this point I couldn’t say it any better than IM REALLY FUCKING EXCITED ABOUT THIS FUCKING YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ
I think it's pretty clear that this is Chris John's fault.
The 40 Trumps All!!!
Evan Grant would like to thank mirrors, without which he wouldn't have been able to see his penis since 1989.
Nope.
Ryan Sweeney
"grilled cheese punches like a bitch" -Gdawg
"i feel like k-rod after a save." -by reagan on Jan 23, 2010, that glorious day Hicks was out of our lives.
So Steve Nash and Adam?
"grilled cheese punches like a bitch" -Gdawg
"i feel like k-rod after a save." -by reagan on Jan 23, 2010, that glorious day Hicks was out of our lives.
I blame that asshole Bob Costas.
I am Jurickson Profar son of judeska and chesmond.. And I was born ready! ready to play baseball!!- Jurickson Profar 2/15/2010
Always so damn smug.
"grilled cheese punches like a bitch" -Gdawg
"i feel like k-rod after a save." -by reagan on Jan 23, 2010, that glorious day Hicks was out of our lives.
I wonder if he talks to you the way he talks to the camera.
"Sometimes you just want to sit back and watch somebody throw 100." - Jeff Passan on Neftali Feliz
"Baseball's all that's real" - JB
He probably invites you over and then pretends he "had no idea this was about to happen" as his old pal Buzz tells you "Fuck you, and everything you stand for" with a real sex criminal-y glint in his eyes.
The 40 Trumps All!!!
Evan Grant would like to thank mirrors, without which he wouldn't have been able to see his penis since 1989.
by thedirkatron on Feb 20, 2010 3:29 AM CST up reply actions
I approve of this statement.
"grilled cheese punches like a bitch" -Gdawg
"i feel like k-rod after a save." -by reagan on Jan 23, 2010, that glorious day Hicks was out of our lives.
Reading that I get the impression that Cruz is kinda mentally fragile.
"Sometimes you just want to sit back and watch somebody throw 100." - Jeff Passan on Neftali Feliz
"Baseball's all that's real" - JB
nice cards, ha!
"Sometimes you just want to sit back and watch somebody throw 100." - Jeff Passan on Neftali Feliz
"Baseball's all that's real" - JB
ha ha ha... Yah, the BMac one is pretty awesome.
Made me laugh, anyhow.
The 40 Trumps All!!!
by thedirkatron on Feb 20, 2010 3:23 PM CST up reply actions
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