Gotta love my dad!! My dad and I are going to the whole series next week. Our seats arent great but we are going more the experience. Ive been to Wrigley, Fenway and now Yankee Stadium. Is anyone else going? Anyone have any advice on what to do pay particular attention to? Also, my dad and I are staying in northern New Jersey. We will be taking the train into the stadium. I will DEFINITELY have a lot of pictures when I get back. Any advice/input would be awesome!! IM PUMPED!!!

It looks like ESPN is televising almost every super-regional.  All times central.

Coastal Carolina vs. UNC on ESPNU at 11am.  UNC had 6 players selected yesterday.  CC had 5 players selected.  Interesting to note that one of their signees was drafted by the Rangers with their 48th round pick.  "Bowman, an outfielder, is a three-year letterwinner at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater, Va. He hit .491 with eight home runs and 35 runs-batted-in his junior season. He helped the Knights to a second-straight state championship in 2007 while being named to the All-State, All-Region and All-District First Teams. He hit .419 his sophomore season with 26 RBI while being named to the All-Valley District Second Team. Bowman and the Knights have amassed a 52-2 record in the last two seasons. He played his summer baseball with the Mid-Atlantic Rookies and participated in the 2007 Area Code Games. Bowman also is an Honor Roll student at Turner Ashby"

NC State vs. Georgia on ESPN2 at 11am.  Georgia had 6 players picked including two first rounders in Gordon Beckham by the white sox (very solid pick) and Josh Fields by the Mariners (good player, but why do you pick a college reliever when your season is almost over?!?!).  NC State had NINE players taken. 

Texas A&M at Rice ESPNU at 2PM.  The aggies had 8 players taken in the draft.  Including Jose Duran by the brewers (pick 188).  I got a chance to watch the aggies at the regionals.  Pitching was average to me, but their hitting is excellent.  I was very impressed with their big 1B Luke Anders who was drafted in the 16th round by the Yankees.  Rice had ELEVEN players drafted.  Pretty impressive.  As always Red Sox pick (45th overall) Bryan Price will be watched closely not only because of his talent but because Rice pitchers seem to have a penchant for turning up injured.  Local product Aaron Luna of Southlake fame was picked in the 9th round by the Cards.  Solid pick in my estimation. 

UC Irvine at LSU ESPNU at 5PM.  UCI had 6 players drafted.  LSU had 7 players drafted but none on the first day.  The Rangers did draft LSU's 3B Michael Hollander in the 20th round.  Hollander has hit .307 with 5 and 42 on the season with 9 SBs.  He has an OPS of .857.  Gives me a "well im sure he is a nice kid" reaction. 

Arizona at Miami (Fl) ESPN at 630PM.  11 players from Zona' were drafted including the Tigers' first round pick Ryan Perry.  Rumor has it that Perry has touched 100 mph in summer leagues.  Should be a ML reliever and progress quickly.  The D-Backs went into their backyard and drafted Daniel Schlereth 26th overall.  Was picked in the 8th round last yr by the A's.  LOVE IT!! ha!!  Miami had 8 players taken overall including Yonder Alonso by the Reds 7th overall.  Jemile Weeks was drafted 12th overall by the A's after the Rangers collectively kicked Billy Beane in the nuts by taking Smoak.  Moneyball that!!!  Carlos Guiterrez was drafted 27th overall by the Twins.  Seen as ANOTHER high pick reliever.  Seemed kind of high for him.  Also of note I believe that the Mariners got a steal in picking the Canes' RFer Dennis Raben 66th overall.   If you watch any game today, watch this one.

Fresno State at Arizona State ESPNU at 8PM.  Fresno State had 6 players picked including injured ace Tanner Scheppers 48th overall by the Pirates.  Arizona State had an unreal 15 players picked including Brett Wallace 13th overall to the Cards and Ike Davis 18th overall to the Mets.  The Rangers did pick Sun Devil Dustin Brader in the 21st round.  He is 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA in 20 games with the Sun Devils.  Seems like a college reliever the Rangers hope will progress rapidly or be out of baseball in 2 years. 

Wichita State vs. Florida State ESPNU at 2AM (replay).  The Shockers (I love that name) had 10 players taken.  Interesting to note that Kenny Williams, Jr was picked in the 6th round (an incredible reach, but hopefully an easy sign, right? haha) by the White Sox.  Thanks Dad!!!  Shocker signee Charlie Lowell was drafted by the Rangers in the 27th round.  Info on Lowell: "Last spring for Winfield High School, Lowell went 8-2 with a 0.90 ERA, five complete games and 110 strikeouts. He earned first team all-conference honors in 2006 and 2007 and second team all-district honors in 2006. He also played in the Area Code Games this past summer and was selected to the Premier All-Star team to play in the International Games."  Florida State had 6 players picked.  Their starting catcher Buster Posey was selected 5th overall by the Giants.  That may have been the first domino to fall in allowing us to select Smoak.  Noles first baseman Dennis Guinn was picked in the 16th round by the Rangers.  .331 with 18 and 73.  OPS of 1.081.  Did someone say Nate Gold?  Also, tune in to watch former Rangers 5th round pick John Gast. 

Well that is all I have.  Im sorry this is late but I didnt think it would take this long. 

Braun at 8 yrs, 45 mil

Kazmir 3 yrs, 28.5 mil

Longoria roughly 9 yrs, 44 mil

I know that each player has drawbacks.  Where do you play Braun?  Can Kazmir stay healthy?  Has Longoria showed enough in the majors?  But, these deals seem terrific to me.  On this thought, when should the Rangers consider locking Hamilton up to a contract similar to these?  Is it worth waiting to make sure he will be healthy or do wait until he proves his health but his price goes up?  If you did the deal today what would be a fair offer that would be accepted?

I know there has been a lot of talk on here lately about Ron Washington getting fired.  It seems that the consensus is that Matt Walbeck would take over as the interim manager if this happens.  Assuming Walbeck does not get the position on a permanent basis at the end of the year, who should the rangers hire?  Are there any really good internal candidates?  I really have no idea who is out there or would be right for this team.   My prerogative would be a manager who is not too far removed from his playing days and will PLAY younger players of course.  Any ideas?

I know this is premature since Washington is still the manager, I just want to see what the alternatives are. 

 Hey everyone!!

This is my first post here (On this version of the site, sorry :-) and I am a long longtime Rangers fan.  That is why seeing the team THIS bad hurts me so much.  I am 25 so I didnt really see any team prior to the mid 80s but is this the worst rangers team ever?  Perhaps not talent but just the overall inability to win game?  I mean it seems to me there are very few bright spots at the major league level.  

Josh Hamilton's performance is encouraging but we had to give up Volquez to get him.  Doesnt it seem like pitchers always do much better away from here? 

CJ Wilson is what I would call a quality closer.  Ian Kinsler is very solid but not there yet.  We have probably seen the best of Blalock and Young meaning they are players that plateauing.  Gabbard has been solid, but it brittle.  I really like David Murphy but is he really good enough to build around?  The rest of the roster seems like trade fodder to me.  (Sorry if im forgetting someone). 

Yes, the Rangers have a very good farm systen but Im always a bit hesitant to celebrate over any Rangers' prospects.  I guess I have been jaded over the past few years.  If these players develop then we would have an extremely solid team.  Imagine a team in 2-4 yrs with Davis, Salty, Teagarden, Andrus, Main, Beavan, Kiker , Hurley, Beltre, Boggs, Hamilton, Feliz and Borbon.  That is a pretty good start, but those are HUGE ifs.  Not because I dont think any of them will be good, just that I hate relying so heavily on players THAT young 2-4 yrs down the road. 

Is this the worst Rangers team?  Or maybe the most frustrating?

Okay my friend and I were having an argument today and I wanted to get some input from yall.  I maintain that Matt Leinart when you take into account his record as a starter and performance at USC is one of the top 5 QBs in college FB in the last 20 yrs.  Maybe even of all time.  I just wanted to see yalls input on that question and gets some lists of top 5 in the last 20 yrs and top 5 of all time.  

Is it just me or has every single trade this year for the Rangers just tanked?  The Soriano trade flopped fantastically.  I mean honestly who would you rather have in your LF, Lee or Soriano?  I realize that Soriano said he would refuse to move to LF but he said that in Washington too and look what is happening now.  Galarraga flopped in the minors.  Wilkerson was terrible albeit he was injured.  I still dont think he was good compensation for Soriano.

The Padres trade was also a disappointment.  Yes, Eaton was injured too but he has not exactly been as good as anyone was hoping.  While Chris Young has been good for the Padres and oh yeah, he isnt a FA after this year either.  Adrian Gonzalez is doing well with SD, hitting .286 with 21 bombs at a pitcher's park.  Would you like to see those numbers in Rangers lineup?  I sure would.  Now, Otsuka has been good, I will give everyone that.  

The Lee trade has been an extreme disappointment.  Question:  Who would you rather have at 5/70 mil, Soriano or Lee?  If you had to have one of them.  Also, I may be mistaken but wouldnt the Rangers get the same amount of picks for Soriano as they would for Lee?  If the compensation picks are still around.  Seems like the Rangers have a history (this year) of trading for players that are going to become FAs.  Honestly, if Matthews and Derosa dont step up this year, the Rangers are a last place team in the AL West.  So everyone is talking about the Rangers trading this guy or that guy, but realistically have the Rangers showed yall anything that would suggest that they would get fair value for any of these guys?

I state this once again.  The next two years are the most crucial years in the history of this Franchise.  You probably have the most celebrated pitching crop ever coming up.  Desptite the differing opinions on some of these guys but Hurley, Danks, Volquez, and Diamond really will show how good the Rangers will be.  Also, it is very important for the Rangers to sign Wells at the end of next year.  

BUT, the Rangers will probably make dumb moves and never realize that you win with pitching and defense not offense I dont care how much your park favors offense.  

Is it just me or are this year's Rangers the most frustrating team in recent memory?  I mean honestly, they have talent, they look terrific at some points , and they even sometimes have a little passion (though a little less than I would want to see).  I mean it seems like we have all been waiting for it to click all year for an extended period of time and it just hasnt.  They are not the best team in either league but I will submit they are the most talented team in the division.  Just look at the roster.  The players they have are good enough but they are not playing well enough.  I posit that the Rangers just need to have a year where there is a true youth movement.  Obviously, they are not the free spenders that other teams are, but it just seems like the Rangers are mired in mediocrity.  It almost seems they need to take one step back to take two steps forward.   Next year, give the ball to Hurley, Volquez, Danks, Diamond (hopefully in the pen), etc.  Lets see if these young guys can play.  DH Botts, let Arias (if not traded) have some at bats.  I know it is a different situation but it worked for Minnesota, Florida, and Atlanta a long long time ago.  I mean the last time they had a top 5 pick, they took Tex, not bad at all.  I think it is time for the Rangers to just let it ride with the young guys on the hill.

The more I look at it the more I realize that Barry Zito should be this team's TOP offseason priority.  Just look at his numbers.

He has pretty good strikeout numbers.  He will give you at least 200 innings a year.  Prior to this year his ERA was a full run less than the league average.  His WHIP is ninth best among active pitchers.  He is still pretty young and perhaps is just entering his true prime.  Just close your eyes and think of what signing Zito would mean.

Assuming they re-sign, lets say, Eaton and Wells.
Rotation:  
Millwood, Zito, Eaton, Wells, and most likely Volquez

PLUS this move would take away a top pitcher from the A's.  I would sign Zito for up to 5 years and up to 15.5 mil per yr if that is what it takes.