Wednesday morning things

by Adam J. Morris on Jun 13, 2007 9:06 AM CDT in News

I don't get what is going on with Kevin Millwood.

Vicente Padilla is a different story...given the forearm pain, the lack of command, and the fact he can't throw his slider, I'll be surprised if he doesn't go under the knife for Tommy John surgery sometime this summer.

But Millwood...I don't get it.

Millwood doesn't get it, either:

"I don't know what I need to do," Millwood said. "I'm kind of lost right now. I don't know. I'm trying everything I can to figure it out and make things turn in a good direction, and it's just not working."

After Tuesday's loss, he said nothing in his 302-game major league career has compared to this trying time.

"Nope, I haven't seen anything close to this," Millwood said. "It's pretty frustrating right now."

Something I never thought I'd see this season...Gil LeBreton has praise for Brandon McCarthy, and suggests that maybe the Rangers didn't get hosed on that deal.

Evan Grant gets Gerald Laird's take on the reported rift between him and his manager:

"We have a good relationship," Laird said. "We addressed some things that we needed to address, but I don't think [Washington] has any problem with me. I think he wanted to get things going with our pitch and maybe things initially got addressed the wrong way. He has expectations on how he wants us to play.

"I think there was some frustration on everybody's part that we have not been playing the kind of baseball which we are capable of playing. But he's been cool with me."

Adam Melhuse is going to catch Robinson Tejeda today, and is going to start on Sunday, but all indications are that he's the backup, and hasn't been brought in to take over the starting role.

Evan Grant has a new newsletter up, saying, among other things, that he thinks Jason Botts will be up by the end of the month, and who the Rangers will be looking to move this summer...

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Comments

Botts

While I'm looking forward to Botts coming up and at least seeing some utility in the season watching young players develop, I'm also weary of watching him hit .195 and strike out 2x a game. I know though, that's what developing players do.

Every day is game day...except for off days

by rangerdanger on Jun 13, 2007 9:09 AM CDT reply actions

VP's always had forearm problems

even last year.

I though elbow problems leads to TJ...?

by Longhorn on Jun 13, 2007 9:13 AM CDT reply actions

I think forearm soreness...

...is often a symptom of something wrong in the elbow.

I think if you go back and look at pitchers that undergo TJ, often the first reports indicate some form of "forearm soreness".

As a recent example, I think Chris Carpenter was initially skipped in the rotation because of complaints of tightness in his forearm.

by tricer on Jun 13, 2007 9:42 AM CDT up reply actions

forearm?

When did he have forearm problems? I don't remember it mentioned last year, where have you seen that?

As I recall, his injury issue last year was right ankle tendinitis.

His problems in 2005 were actually neck and back problems (but could have been related to the elbow problems as his back muscles tried to compensate following rehab from the injuries below).

His injury issues in 2004 were called elbow tendinitis. (he missed just over two months from the end of May to the beginning of August).

by Brandon Wilson on Jun 13, 2007 10:09 AM CDT up reply actions

the thing that worries me

is the roster move that will be made to activate wright.... i fear the same awful roster management that happened when he was activated to the roster at the start of the year

"Pimps be damned, it's harder out here for a Rangers fan!" "If you don't throw strikes first, you're last."

by rentz on Jun 13, 2007 9:23 AM CDT reply actions

I'm scared too...

...I know Loe wasn't setting the world on fire, but somebody losing a roster spot to clear space for Jamey Wright (6 ER in 6 IP in his last OKC start) just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

I read some people speculating that Freddy Guzman might be the one to get the axe.

Look on the bright side, we will get another peak at Conner's definition of "electric stuff". Whenever I think of Jamey Wright, I think of electric stuff. And vice versa.

by tricer on Jun 13, 2007 9:47 AM CDT up reply actions

Laird

I think it is just a matter of time that Melhuse will be moved into the starting position.

yo soy Horsedooty!

by horsedooty on Jun 13, 2007 9:31 AM CDT reply actions

problem solved

shut down Millwood and Padilla for the rest of the year, have Rheinecker and Koronka come stink up the joint in their place or prove that they have some kind of a future with us, and see if Vinny needs some surgery. save Millwood for a year we need him in, don't keep pouring on the insults. we're through - begin the reconstruction project. Botts. Gold. Byrd. Diaz. Quiroz. run Wilkerson into the ground. play Drew Meyer at 3rd. and play some of the players we get in return for Tex, Sosa (if anything), Lofton, Gagne and Cat (if anything). Decide if we want to keep Otsuka longer term or not - if not, trade him and begin grooming our next closer - CJ, Frankie Fran, who?

hell, throw CJ Wilson into the starting mix if we don't decide to go closer with him, if that's what he wants and everybody else keeps calling for

"No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

by Walter Sobchak on Jun 13, 2007 10:11 AM CDT reply actions

Rheino

Reheiecker got shelled in his first start after being sent down. I doubt we see him again, he can't get right-handed hitters out - at any level.

by Randy Richardson on Jun 13, 2007 5:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Mark Connor

Why do we have a pitching coach? Is he even talking to Millwood? For crying out loud, when our "ace" pitcher is saying that he "doesn't know what" he needs to do, then I have to question what the hell the pitching coach is doing with his time. There must be something mechanically different that he can find compared to when Millwood has been successful that he can share with Millwood.

McCarthy mentions going back to study film of himself... himself! Which could be inferred to mean that Connor wasn't telling him what was wrong either... good grief!

by Brandon Wilson on Jun 13, 2007 10:24 AM CDT reply actions

well

I must admit I've hated Mark Connor since he was hired - but I think I just knew he wouldn't do shit for our starters, regardless of how hard he tried, so that's probably why he just sits on his ass, he knows it's useless to resist.

plus he replaced Orel.

"No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

by Walter Sobchak on Jun 13, 2007 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions

if i remember correctly,

when McCarthy was having problems in April, Connor reviewed the film and found that there was nothing mechanically wrong with McCarthy. Then, McCarthy went out to pitch again and had terrible results. But when McCarthy goes back to look at the film (presumably without Connor talking in his ear), he finds that he's rushing his delivery, fixes it, and then becomes an above-average starter. The fact that Connor couldn't ID the problem tells me that we need a new pitching coach.

by chrispi on Jun 13, 2007 10:50 AM CDT up reply actions

If that is how it went down,

then connors should have been fired yesterday. I'm not exactly convinced it is because I can't imagine a young pitcher changing mechanics without the approval of the pitching coach.

Forget Johnny Bench, we got Gerry "the Jet" Laird

by ab03 on Jun 13, 2007 11:18 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't remember it being pitched

that way by the media. Then again they aren't exactly straight shooters. Connors should be fired today based on results and only on results. This team started the year with arguably 2 maybe 3 question marks in the rotation. Now it has 5 and they don't even know from week to week who is that number 5 guy. Right or wrong you've got to be judged by results. His results just aren't there.

by gp on Jun 13, 2007 5:14 PM CDT up reply actions

my thoughts

as well

buffering....

by SteveP on Jun 13, 2007 11:39 AM CDT up reply actions

I read in the DMN that McCarthy opened up

the blister again yesterday in a bullpen session and they're already worried that he'll miss his next start. They even went as far to say that he might go on the DL.

Anyone else heard more on this?????

If you don't have fun it's your own damn fault.

by cgolden on Jun 13, 2007 12:23 PM CDT reply actions

McCarthy

yeah, read that this morning, but thats all i've heard. My guess is he hits the dl by the weekend. I mean what harm will it do at this point to let him get 15days to heal the blister

"Pimps be damned, it's harder out here for a Rangers fan!" "If you don't throw strikes first, you're last."

by rentz on Jun 13, 2007 12:30 PM CDT up reply actions

McCarthy's replacement

At what point do you base your choice of call-up on hitting ability rather than pitching ability given the current string of NL opponents and the pitching ineptitude of any likely candidates?

Rangers Farm Probables

by shroomer on Jun 13, 2007 1:08 PM CDT up reply actions