Sorry for the delay in posting this morning...I got back home from the game around 2 a.m., and then had internet problems this morning.
If you haven't already, definitely check out this diary entry from zywica on why Buck should be fired. Excellent stuff.
Evan Grant had a chat session from yesterday, and there's a lot of good stuff in there.
Among other things, Grant offers a prediction of the Ranger 2007 rotation: Millwood, Eaton, Lilly or Suppan, Tejeda, and Volquez or Danks. I'd much rather have Jeff Suppan than Ted Lilly.
Scariest thing? Grant saying that Buck Showalter has mentioned R.A. Dickey as a potential September callup. Ugh.
Angel Verdejo has a piece on Adam Eaton, and how he is essentially auditioning for his 2007 free agent contract.
Richard Durrett has some thoughts from Ian Kinsler on his rookie season, and the steps he is taking to try to improve, particularly defensively. Buck is saying that a lot of Kinsler's errors are simply the result of rushing when it wasn't necessary, something that should be fixed with experience. I still see Kinsler's upside as Jeff Kent with quality defense.
Jan Hubbard has some notes on the young arms in the Ranger pen, particularly Josh Rupe and C.J. Wilson, who have impressed down the stretch. I've talked about Rupe as a potential starting candidate next year, but it sounds like the Rangers are sold on using him in the pen in 2007.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing...with Rupe, Wilson, Wes Littleton, and Joaquin Benoit backing up Akinori Otsuka, you've got what can be a pretty solid group of relievers. You can mix in a LOOGY and someone like Scott Feldman, or maybe an Edinson Volquez, and that would look like a pretty good, cheap pen for 2007.
And Evan Grant had a few items yesterday morning from the DMN blog that are worth checking out.