Nice outing for Juan Dominguez last night. Very rough night for Adrian Gonzalez, who is now 0 for his last 19, and has just 2 hits in his last 27 ABs. Also a rough night for LSB fave Gerald Laird, although it is odd that he once again seemed to draw the toughest pitcher in the series...
T.R. Sullivan has a piece today about the Mark Teixeira contract situation, with the Albert Pujols contract -- 7 years, $100 million -- being used as a benchmark for long-term discussions. Most interesting is Sullivan's remarks that the team's priority in doing a deal is to get Teixeira locked up past 2008, when he's free agent eligible, and that Teixeira is no longer willing to switch from first base.
That would seem to suggest that Adrian Gonzalez isn't going to be a Ranger much longer, and Sullivan has a surprisingly blunt comment on the matter, saying point-blank that the Rangers have benched Nevin and are playing Gonzalez to trade to build Gonzalez's trade value.
If, in fact, that's the case, and the Rangers are wanting to move Gonzalez this winter, that raises other questions. What sort of trade? Are they willing to package him with another prospect or two to land a big-time starting pitcher or stud outfielder, or are they wanting to flip him for a pitching prospect?
And if Gonzalez is gone next year, does that mean Phil Nevin is back? Given that Jason Botts has been pretty well buried, he seems likely to end up back in AAA in 2006, even though he hammered AAA pitching this season and seems ready to move to the majors. Is the plan for 2006 to go with a Dellucci/Nevin platoon at DH? And if so, why? What reason is there to believe that that is the best solution for 2006?
A potentially problematic set of circumstances, that probably won't be answered until the spring...
Also per T.R. Sullivan, R.A. Dickey's much-awaited meeting with Charlie Hough took place yesterday...
Evan Grant, meanwhile, has his weekly newsletter out, and indicates that next week's will be the last one for the season. So if there are any good questions you have, please, please, please send them in...I don't want the last newsletter of the season to be on the status of Jeff Zimmerman's comeback and what Rusty Greer is doing now that he's retired...
Finally, as a lot of you folks know, I live in Houston, and like the vast majority of Houstonians, I'm getting the hell out of the city pretty soon (probably tomorrow). I anticipate having internet access where I'm going, and I expect to be back in Houston and in my routine by Monday, but between now and then, updates may not be as frequent as they usually are.