Michael Young talked yesterday about the possibility of new ownership, and of course, as the E.F. Hutton of the Rangers, it got a fair amount of attention...

Anthony Andro writes that Michael Young wants to see an owner in the mold of Arte Moreno, who will spend to make the team better.

Calvin Watkins has a blog post up at ESPN Dallas on the topic as well.

Evan Grant says he talked to a Rangers official who says the potential three-way deal involving Kevin Millwood leaving and Milton Bradley coming to Texas is "not happening," and says the only way the Rangers would consider Milton Bradley coming back is if it allowed the Rangers to shed a big contract so they could afford to add more pitching.

However...Kevin Millwood is the only significant contract the Rangers have on their books right now, other than Michael Young (who I assume isn't going anywhere).  So I'm not sure how adding Bradley could accomplish anything, particularly given that you're not going to give up a significant contract without having to pick up a good chunk of Bradley's deal.

Richard Durrett has a short Q&A with Marlon Byrd, who he talks to about his pending free agency.

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6 months ago: Texas Rangers' Brandon McCarthy, right, gets a hug from manager Ron Washington, left, after pitching a complete game shutout against the Houston Astros, Sunday, May 24, 2009, in Houston. McCarthy threw 121 pitches to lead the Rangers to a 5-0 win over the Astros. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

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Richard Durrett has a Q&A up with Brandon McCarthy over at the ESPN Dallas Rangers blog...

It includes some discussion from McCarthy about the mechanical changes and the things being done to try to avoid a repeat of the shoulder blade stress fracture that has interrupted two of his seasons with Texas...

Check it out...

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2 days ago: FILE - Texas Ranger owner Tom Hicks looks at a television screen in his box during the baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Arlington, Texas, in this April 8, 2008 file photo. Hicks said Wednesday Nov. 18, 2009 he is putting together a group of local investors, including Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, for a bid that would enable him to keep majority ownership of the team. Proposals to buy the Rangers are due Friday. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

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So, today, we have the story out that Michael Young has been named Rangers player of the year by the local BBWAA chapter.  No surprise there.

Jayson Stark says that talk between the Marlins and Rangers in regards to Dan Uggla got pretty "hot and heavy" at the GM meetings.  The only thing that is more surprising to me than the Rangers having serious interest in Uggla is the number of Ranger fans who seem to be on board with the idea of bringing Uggla here to be the DH.

Let's be realistic...if the Rangers add Uggla, who will be making $7-8 million in 2010, that's it as far as significant offseason moves go.  They've got no more money of note to spend once Uggla is added.  So unless you are planning on moving C.J. Wilson or Frankie Francisco or Ian Kinsler -- and really, adding Uggla only makes sense to me if you are planning on trading Kinsler -- then Uggla is your big offseason addition.

And Uggla isn't that great an option as a DH.  He's a .281 career EQA guy who had a .280 EQA last season and turns 30 this offseason.  He's valuable as a second baseman, but as a DH, he's just decent.  And he's certainly not worth $7-8 million.

And forget about the idea that the Marlins will just give him away to you for the equivalent of Michael Hernandez or Steve Shoemaker...teams that need a second base are going to value Uggla, and will be willing to give up prospects to get him.  So the price to land Uggla is going to involve names like Kasey Kiker or Robbie Ross or Engel Beltre.

Adding Uggla as a DH doesn't make sense. 

Moving on...Randy Galloway has a column about Tom Hicks' efforts to retain ownership of the Rangers.  Honestly, I can't imagine how any Ranger fan can feel anything but sickened about the idea that Hicks would stay on board as teh owner of the team.  Galloway mentions that Roger Staubach being part of Hicks' group is obviously a p.r. coup, but I don't care if Hicks gets Staubach, or Rupert Murdoch, or if Jesus Christ himself came down from heaven and joined Hicks' group...

Tom Hicks has to go, and after the embarrassment that the last year has been, in terms of ownership, Hicks somehow figuring out a way to keep the team would be a gut punch.

Some quotes from Galloway's column:

Then came the official, yet convoluted, word from Hicks on Wednesday. He wants to remain as majority owner.

At the ballpark, you would have thought a large sewer line just erupted.

Talking to several different employees Thursday, there was heavy depression noted.

"I work for Tom, I wanted Tom to be successful at this, but, frankly, we can’t sell Tom," said one. "Our fans, for the most part, will not buy Tom. And our former season-ticket holders, and we’d lost a lot of those because of Mr. Hicks, will not come back if Tom is still the owner."

That’s not news. Anyone in the media with an e-mail address can tell you that. We’ve heard enough of it over the years.

Hicks, as far as I can tell, is certainly not a hated boss by the baseball people who work for him. He’s just considered hopeless as an owner. Fans normally respond to the product on the field, and attendance did grow last season, but ...

"No one says it publicly, but there was disappointment that we didn’t draw better, based on how well the team played into September," said an employee. "Yes, attendance was up, but it was up from one of our worst years ever at the gate. The perception of the team, unfortunately, still has a lot to do with the perception of Mr. Hicks, including, of late, all the financial difficulty."

After the embarrassment Hicks has been to MLB the past year, and after everything that has gone on during his stewardship the past decade, I can't imagine MLB is going to let Hicks keep the team if there is another viable group out there.

The very idea of him staying on, when his problems have ended up hamstringing this club during the 2009 season and in 2010, when the Rangers should be prepared to make a significant financial commitment to the major league team to get them over the hump, and instead are back to "bottom fishing," as John Hart put it after the 2004 season, nauseates me.

Happy birthday to Steve Dreyer, who turns 40 today...

Dreyer was a righty pitcher who logged 50+ innings for the Rangers in 1993 and 1994, never pitched in the majors again, and has a weird stat line.

In 1993, he was 3-3 with a 5.71 ERA.

In 1994, he was 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA.

So both years he was in the majors, he had the same winning percentage and ERA.

Freaky, huh?

After the jump...

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The big Rangers story this morning is still Tom Hicks attempting to hang onto the Rangers by constructing a new local ownership group. His favorite buzz word here appears to be "local." Evan Grant lays out Hicks' thought process, and one of Hicks' comments here is that he has been working on this for a while:

"I have initiated my own process," Hicks said Wednesday. "I want to have other local prominent families involved in a group that would own the team and sizable commitments have been made. This would allow us to have continuity on the plan that we started five years ago. This process has never been about wanting to sell the Rangers. It has been about finding a way to monetize our assets to retire most, if not all, of the debt."

Richard Durrett considers the question of why Hicks is going through the process of collecting bids if he intends to keep the club after all. I have to think that he'd be doing it for the benefit of MLB owners. 

Gil Lebreton discusses that angle as well and suspects that other owners aren't going to see Hicks as a great candidate moving foward. 

T.R. Sullivan discusses the start of free agency tonight and looks at what the Rangers might do if they lose Marlon Byrd, as well as their approach on the pitching front. 

More photos » by LM Otero - AP

7 months ago: Dallas Cowboys football team owner Jerry Jones chats with Texas Rangers team owner Tom Hicks during the baseball game against the Cleveland Indians in Arlington, Texas, Monday, April 6, 2009. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

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Richard Durrett writes that Tom Hicks is putting together a group in a last-ditch effort to keep from selling the Texas Rangers:

 Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks said Wednesday that he's putting together his own group of mainly local investors, including team president Nolan Ryan and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, in an effort to maintain majority ownership in the club.

Hicks expects at least five groups, including his own, to submit proposals by Friday's deadline. At that point, Hicks and his staff will analyze the proposals and decide which one makes the most sense to pay down or eliminate debt accrued by Hicks Sports Group.

So we have Chuck Greenberg, who is supposedly putting together a local group with Nolan Ryan, and now we have Tom Hicks, who is putting together his own group that includes Ryan (and Roger Staubach).

I get the sense that, after what has gone on here lately, MLB wants to be rid of Hicks, and thus I'd be shocked if Hicks was able to do something that will result in him retaining control.  I also find it bizarre that he's part of a group that is going to submit bids to, in essence, himself.

Durrett's story has a lot of quotes from Staubach, as well. 

This is weird.  But then, everything involving the Rangers always seems to be weird.

Mike Scioscia has been named the A.L. Manager of the Year, finishing with 15 of 28 first place votes.

Ron Gardenhire and Joe Girardi were second and third, respectively, and Don Wakamatsu and Ron Washington tied for fourth place, with Jim Leyland being the only other manager named (getting two third place votes).

Washington and Wakamatsu finishing that far back is a surprise, as the two of them headed up teams that were viewed as the big "surprise" teams for 2009, and the manager of the year award generally seems to be given to the manager of the team that exceeds expectations the most.  Girardi, Scioscia and Gardenhire all made the playoffs with teams that were seen as playoff-caliber teams prior ot the season.

Of course, maybe we should be happy that Washington didn't win.  The last time the Ranger manager won the manager of the year award, the team had a disappointing follow up season that resulted in the g.m. being fired, and then another bad season that resulted in the manager being fired, and then a disastrous season after that. 

So maybe it is better the Ranger manager didn't win it this year.

Jim Tracy won the N.L. Award.

From 1876 until 1980, there was only one major league team that had three outfielders hit at least 30 home runs in the same season.

Name the team, the year, and the three outfielders.

Answer later today...

UPDATE -- Answer after the jump

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