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AL West Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Los Angeles Halos Heaven	97	65	.598	0	Lost 1
Texas Lone Star Ball	87	75	.537	10	Lost 2
Seattle Lookout Landing	85	77	.524	12	Won 2
Oakland Athletics Nation	75	87	.462	22	Lost 7

(updated 11.24.2009 at 5:03 PM CST)

Angels axe Rex Hudler

about 6 hours ago Kinslerhomer 31 comments 0 recs

Happy birthday, Tommy Dunbar

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 24, 2009 2:30 PM CST Comment 4 comments

Happy birthday to Tommy Dunbar, who turns 50 today.

Dunbar was a first round draft pick of the Rangers in the January, 1980 secondary draft, an outfielder who could hit for average but didn't do a whole lot else. He put up an impressive .323/.419/.540 line as a 22 year old in the Texas League, and won the American Association batting title while with Oklahoma City in 1984 with a .337 average.

However, Dunbar never hit in the majors...in 91 games with the Rangers spread over the 1983-85 seasons, Dunbar put up a .231/.305/.298 line. Dunbar bounced around in the minors through the 1991 season, but never made it back to the majors after 1985.

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Albert Pujols wins the N.L. MVP Award

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 24, 2009 1:07 PM CST Comment 62 comments

Albert Pujols has been announced as the winner of the 2009 N.L. MVP Award.

Pujols was the first place choice on every ballot, and this is his third MVP Award. Only Barry Bonds has won more MVPs than Pujols.

UPDATE -- Full results here. Jeremy Affeldt, Miguel Tejada, and Yadier Molina are among the odder "others receiving votes" recipients.

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LSB Pick 'em Update

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 24, 2009 12:29 PM CST Comment 3 comments

After the jump...

Continue reading this post »

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Potential Player of Interest -- Jonny Gomes

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 24, 2009 10:30 AM CST Comment 94 comments

The Rangers need a reasonably priced righthanded bat with pop that can DH and maybe fill in at a COF or CIF spot.

And I stumbled last night on an item by Ken Rosenthal that discussed a guy who could be a fit -- Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jonny Gomes.

Gomes is a guy I have always found to be intriguing, but who I finally gave up on last season and ignored...and he went on to have a pretty good season for Cincy:

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Jonny Gomes	98	281	39	75	17	0	20	51	26	85	3	1	.267	.338	.541

Gomes is a lousy defender, and he didn't hit the previous couple of years with Tampa, but he's a righty bat with pop who will draw some walks. And he has a career .274/.369/.517 line against LHPs.

Gomes just turned 29, and he's arbitration-eligible this offseason, so he's not a long-term solution. But as a one year guy who ideally would get 250 PAs, mostly at DH against LHPs, but who you might want 400-500 PAs from if need be, he could be a good fit.

There's apparently talk that Gomes could be non-tendered, which would make him a free agent, but I wonder if it wouldn't be worth the Rangers while to offer some of the team's minor league depth to deal a fringe guy -- a Brennan Garr or Evan Reed or Tim Murphy -- to get Gomes, if they think he's looking at $1.5-2 million in arbitration. And of course, if he were to be non-tendered, I'd hope the Rangers would be interested in him on a cheap one year deal.

Gomes is the type of role player who could be a perfect fit for the Rangers' needs, and I think he's someone who is worth keeping an eye on this offseason.

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Tuesday a.m. Rangers stuff

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 24, 2009 10:19 AM CST Comment 7 comments

Not much out there today.

Evan Grant has a poll up at the DMN Rangers blog, asking who should be the Rangers' starting centerfielder in 2010.

That's about it.

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Other teams interested in Nelson Cruz

by Adam J. Morris on Nov 23, 2009 7:35 PM CST Comment 177 comments

Texas Ranges Nelson Cruz hits a home run in the second inning of the baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

More photos » by LM Otero - AP

7 months ago: Texas Ranges Nelson Cruz hits a home run in the second inning of the baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Browse more photos »

According to Ken Rosenthal, "a number of teams" have called the Rangers inquiring about Nelson Cruz, but the Rangers aren't motivated to move him.

Last offseason, I identified Cruz as a guy I would try to use as part of a package to land a top-flight starting pitcher in the 09-10 offseason, figuring that a year of productiveness would get him to the point where it made sense to convert him into something else.

But that was before Josh Hamilton and Chris Davis nose-dived, leaving Cruz as one of the few quality bats in place right now. Last year, I thought a David Murphy/Brandon Boggs platoon in left field, Julio Borbon in center field, and Josh Hamilton in right field would be good, with Justin Smoak and Chris Davis holding down the first base and DH spots. Now, every one of those guys is a question mark, meaning that if you move Cruz, you had better do it intending to bring in at least one more quality bat.

But I do think it is revealing that Cruz is drawing interest from around the league...

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