13 games to go in the season. The final game of the season is in exactly two weeks. As seems to always be the case for me right about now, it still seems strange that the season is almost over.
Over in the New York Post, Joel Sherman says the Mets and Yankees are both staying away from Barry Zito this offseason. Sherman lists the Rangers and Padres as two primary candidates, although his rationale for listing the Rangers is that Texas has signed Boras clients in the past, and they need pitching. Personally, I don't see Zito ending up here...
The New York Daily News says Buck Showalter's job appears safe, although with this caveat:
As for Showalter, Rangers owner Tom Hicks, after proclaiming his dissatisfaction over another season out of the playoffs, said he was disinclined to change managers. GM Jon Daniels was a little less absolute, adding the words "at this time" to his endorsement of Showalter. But you still have to wonder when Hicks and Daniels start asking if it really is nothing more than a lack of pitching that has kept the Rangers mediocre or worse on Showalter's watch or whether there is something to all the recurring innuendo of widescale player resistance to the manager's controlling style.
Meanwhile, in the Baltimore Sun, Dan Connolly says the Rangers have a tough decision to make, given all the "private grousing" by the players about Showalter.
On the Carlos Lee front, Phil Rogers wonders if Lee will get the big payday he is expecting, while the Chicago Daily Herald lists the Cubs as a possible Lee suitor.
Michael Young got his 200th hit yesterday, making him the 4th player since 1940 to do it, with the other three being Kirby Puckett, Wade Boggs, and Ichiro.
Angel Verdejo has a piece on Miguel Ojeda's return to the major leagues.
And one final note...there are comments to this DMN blog entry that caught my eye, in particular suggesting that the Rangers would be better off with Adrian Gonzalez at 1B, Joaquin Arias at SS, and "great pitchers" the team could get for Teixeira and Young.
A team isn't going to get better by trading its two best players. Joaquin Arias was a mediocre AAA player this year, and would be the worst shortstop in the majors right now. And no one is going to give the Rangers "great pitchers" for Teixeira and Young...pitching prospects, maybe, but not major league pitchers, because a team wanting to acquire Teixeira or Young is going to be trying to win now, something that giving up great major league pitchers wouldn't accomplish.
If you want to try to win in 2010, then sure, trade Teixeira and Young, trade Millwood, let all the free agents leave, lose 100 games for the next few years, and hope that your farm system can develop guys good enough that in 4 or 5 years you can be competitive again.
If you are trying to win this year or next year, though, it would be foolishness to trade those guys...