Jean-Jacques Taylor did a chat session at the DMN today, and fielded, among other things, a few Ranger questions...
The Rangers highlights...
Jean-Jacques Taylor: The baseball season is way too long to get excited about a couple of wins or losses. Don't worry, for now, about wins and losses. Worry about whether they're playing the game the right way. Do that and the wins and losses will take care of themselves.
Apparently, the Rangers haven't been playing the game the right way since 1999.
Jean-Jacques Taylor: 1. I sign Teixeira to a long-term deal in the 7-year, $150 million range. Next, I trade every good player I have with no long-term future - guys like Kenny Lofton, Eric Gagne and Frank Cattolanatto - for any quality pitching prospect I can get, and I let those guys develop in the minor leagues until they can help me. Finally, I work out deals for Tejeda and McCarthy that ensure they're here at a bargain for the next several years
Can someone tell me why you'd trade all your veteran position players for pitching prospects, when you have four starting pitchers locked into place for the next three years and several nice pitching prospects coming up, but very little in the way of positional prospects?
Much like there seems to be a knee-jerk reaction where folks blame a lack of "timely hitting" or "clutch hitting" when a team is going well, for whatever reason, there seems to be a knee-jerk reaction that the Rangers always need to trade for pitching prospects.
Jean-Jacques Taylor: That's a good question and it might be part of the Rangers' problem. For years, we heard about DVD and how that trio of pitchers would turn the organization around. Now, we'll fortunate if any of them ever pitches in the big leagues. That's a long way of saying I don't know what young stars are in the Rangers' system.
I forgot to add that I must admit I have little interest in minor league baseball and don't follow it. And so few baseball players rise through the system of the team that drafts them, that I don't personally find much use in following the minor league teams. I also don't follow the Stars' minor league teams.
Two of the DVD trio have pitched in the big leagues already.
Jean-Jacques Taylor: We'll see. I need a bigger sample than one week. As I said earlier, it's not about wins and losses, it's about playing the game correctly. Do that, and the wins will come. That said, they're definitely working the count better and getting better pitches to hit.
I see a theme emerging here.
Jean-Jacques Taylor: I don't know where Grady Fuson is. Outside of the Rangers, I don't follow baseball that closely. I don't think he'll be back as long as Tom Hicks owns the team.
Geez, JJT, you could have at least Googled Fuson's name and answered the first part of the question.
So, to summarize...
- JJT doesn't follow baseball (outside of the Rangers) that closely
- JJT doesn't follow the Ranger minor league system
- If the Rangers play the game the right way, they will win