Big story, of course, as has been noted in the diaries, is Buck's unhappiness with Juan Dominguez's outing yesterday.
I think I've been clear on my position regarding Dominguez, so I'm not going to belabor it. But I do think this episode exemplifies how things get magnified in spring training. Dominguez has a bad inning in his very first outing, and already the vultures are circling.
One of my other personal favorites, Jesse Carlson, was also awful yesterday,and Thomas Diamond got knocked around as well...it was a rough day for pitchers I'm rooting for, although Joaquin Benoit had a solid outing...
On the positive side, Laynce Nix appeared as the DH in the "B" game yesterday, which I believe was his first game action since his surgery last year, and went 1 for 2. A healthy, productive Nix -- someone along the lines of what the Rangers were expecting him to be a year or two ago -- would be a very good thing...
Galloway has a column that starts off about Roger Clemens, then wanders into the pitching in general and everyone's favorite trade target, Kevin Mench:
It's a given that general manager Jon Daniels is working the phones, still looking for pitchers. One more starter is a target. So might be bullpen help.
But half of baseball has the same list of needs.
Daniels actually had a chance to add a pitcher with a decent Arlington pedigree, but the price was a bit out of his range.
John Thomson proved three seasons ago he had no fear of pitching in the shooting gallery ballpark, but somehow, the Rangers blundered and allowed him to take a free agency walk to Atlanta.
There has been talk of Thomson coming back to the Rangers this season.
But the talk ended, at least for now, when the Braves asked for outfielder Kevin Mench.
When Milwaukee played a Cactus League game here Sunday, Brewers general manager Doug Melvin also mentioned the name of Mench.
"If the Rangers are going to do anything else major [trade wise], then I'd say Mench would have to be included," Melvin said.
I'd be on board with John Thomson coming back to Texas, but not in exchange for Kevin Mench, not given the holes in the Ranger outfield and lineup right now.
Also, I'm ignoring the Roger Clemens talk from now on...I think there's very little chance he comes to Texas...
Kat O'Brien has a piece on Michael Young and Mark Teixeira at the WBC...
And with Young at the WBC, there's more fawning of Joaquin Arias going on, with Evan Grant identifying him as the Rangers' "top prospect among positional players," a classification I'd disagree with.
And finally, the Arizona Daily Star has a feature on Erubiel Durazo's attempt to make the Ranger roster, while Phil Rogers takes a shot at Buck Showalter...