Five solid innings for Luis Mendoza yesterday, and that's apparently allowed him to pretty well lock down the 5th starter job, at least until Brandon McCarthy returns (although that also assumes everyone else stays healthy).

Mendoza is what he is, a relatively low-ceiling guy who may have a future as a back of the rotation starter or middle reliever.  I'm fine with sticking him in there as a placeholder for now.

Evan Grant says C.J. Wilson and Joaquin Benoit each pitched an inning yesterday, and should be good to go to start the season.

Grant also has a new newsletter up, that addresses the catching situation, among other things, and speculates that Jason Botts is going to end up winning the battle for a roster spot that is going on between him, Nelson Cruz, and Kevin Mench.

Grant also says, as part of an essay explaining why he thinks Gerald Laird starting the year in the majors and Jarrod Saltalamacchia starting in the minors makes sense, that he thinks Salty is the long-term catching answer, and as part of that explanation, says that "Taylor Teagarden may be too fragile to stay behind the plate."

If that's the case, that's troubling, because if Teagarden can't stay behind the plate, he really doesn't have a major league future.  

And T.R. Sullivan talks about the inherent tension between Ron Washington's goals and Jon Daniels' goals, with Washington wanting to win now and Daniels looking more long-term.  Sullivan also explains why a rebuilding team has added guys like Ben Broussard and Sidney Ponson on short-term deals...

Okay, folks, time for another round of community projections...

Tell us what you think Josh Hamilton will do this year -- average/OBP/slugging and plate appearances...

THT's Five Questions on the Texas Rangers is up...

Some good news for the rotation this morning...Evan Grant says Jason Jennings 4 inning outing yesterday saw improved velocity from Jennings.  There has been concern about Jennings' fastball, but Jennings said yesterday that he's now around where he was in 2006, when he had his best season, and it looks like the concerns that he might have to start the season on the d.l. have been put to rest.

Grant also says that Eric Hurley is probably 3rd in the race for the 5th starter slot (a job that is, hopefully, just temporary anyway), behind Luis Mendoza and Sidney Ponson.

Gil LeBreton is on the David Murphy bandwagon, and doesn't understand why Murphy hasn't won a starting job.

Ron Washington thinks that, despite their slow starts, Marlon Byrd and Ben Broussard will hit once the season starts.

Of course, neither of them have a real extensive track record of hitting well, so...

Today's lineup is up.

Okay, what do we have out there today...

Josh Hamilton is impressing folks.  And Hamilton is impressed by his teammates:

Evan Grant also says that the Rangers have released R.J. Anderson, a 9th round pick from 2005 who got an above-slot bonus to forego a college scholarship.

Tim Cowlishaw has a column up on the impact the loss of Mark Teixeira will have on the team.

Jeff Wilson says yesterday's performance didn't help Sidney Ponson's bid to make the rotation...I still think Luis Mendoza gets called up for the April 12 start, and then the Rangers re-evaluate from there.  

On the injury front, Mark Connor was happy with Vicente Padilla's performance yesterday, but Milton Bradley is still sore, and it is looking less and less likely he'll be playing right field to start the season.  Kevin Millwood is going to start again Thursday, and C.J. Wilson and Joaquin Benoit will pitch on Tuesday.

Jim Hendry says the Cubs still need a righty outfield bat:

So there you go...

Jeff Conine is signing a one day contract with the Marlins.  This is so he can retire a Marlin.

I think that's really dumb.

Now, is it as dumb as the amount of attention that has been generated by Hank Steinbrenner running his mouth, or Billy Crystal suiting up with the Yanks for spring training, or Dave Duncan whining that his wittle boy is being unfairly cwiticized for taking out a middle infielder, or Joe Girardi's tantrum over his catcher getting hurt while blocking the plate?

Probably not.  But that stuff is all Yankees-related, and much of the Yankees-related furor is inherently dumb.  I don't really count that.

People signing one day contracts so they can "retire a fill-in-the-blank" is stupid, to me.  I thought so when Eugene Lockhart did it back in the day with the Cowboys, and I still think so now.

Today's lineup is up...