Robinson Tejeda had a little bump on the road to garnering a spot in the 2007 rotation yesterday, with command problems keeping him in trouble all game...he got saddled with some unearned runs, but the reality is, he was somewhat lucky to have escaped having allowed as few runs as he did.
Still, that's part of the growing process with a young pitcher, and I still want to see him slotted in the #4 spot in the rotation for next year.
Evan Grant points out that Tejeda has had significant problems pitching at home, although Buck doesn't think it is an issue, pointing out the small sample size.
Grant also looks at the 2007 Ranger schedule, and believes that it is more favorable than the 2006 schedule was.
Jennifer Floyd Engel really hates ARod. Or A-Fraud, as she so cleverly refers to him.
Jan Hubbard reports that Edinson Volquez is staying in the rotation, despite being knocked around in his last start, but that Akinori Otsuka may not go in save situations the rest of the way, due to his workload this season and in the WBC. Apparently, C.J. Wilson or Wes Littleton may get those opportunities.
And Ken Daley has a piece on Brad Wilkerson's struggles this year and his current rehabilitation. It sounds like Wilkerson thinks he'll be back next year:
"I'm not worried about whether I'll have a job or not," Wilkerson said. "I'm just worried about getting healthy. I feel confident from what [Rangers management] said that I'm for sure going to be here. And my goal is to be a big part of this team next year."
My guess is that Daniels looks for someone like Sheffield or Bonds to come in on a one year deal to play some outfield and DH, and splits the other two spots for the corner outfield and DH between Wilkerson, Nelson Cruz, and Jason Botts next year.