Maybe I've gotten spoiled, but I'm very disgusted with the Mavs right now.
Anyway...
Richard Durrett reports that Michael Young is out for about a week, after a beanball resulted in him having surgery on his ear. It doesn't sound like there should be any long-term impact, though.
Durrett also says that Ron Washington and Mark Connor will be at the "B" game today, rather than travelling to Surprise for the "A" game, so that they can watch Eric Gagne and C.J. Wilson pitch. Art Howe will manage the Rangers in the "A" game, which features Robinson Tejeda making the start...
Jan Hubbard says Robinson Tejeda's job is still secure, and handicaps the 6 contenders for the #5 starter spot, with Jamey Wright, Kam Loe, and Bruce Chen running 1-2-3 right now.
Today is the day that the Rangers have to add Sammy Sosa to the 40 man roster, or else he can request his release, although if he were to do that, the Rangers would still have 72 hours to either add him to the roster or release him.
Jim Reeves has a column up on the situation, with Jon Daniels being rather vague on whether anything will happen today, although Reeves already has his mind made up:
"Maybe more," Sosa said with a wink.
He's right. Maybe more. I don't know if Sosa is the same hitter he was when he was hitting 40 or more homers for six straight years between 1998-2003 (I doubt he has the same chemical composition or cork in his bat, at least), but I've seen enough -- and the Rangers obviously have, too, Daniels' waffling not withstanding -- to know that, at this point, they need to junk thoughts of him being a platoon player and plan on him being their everyday designated hitter.
That should make Frank Catalanotto the everyday left fielder and leave Brad Wilkerson and Nelson Cruz fighting for playing time in right and occasionally center when Kenny Lofton needs a day off.
I'm guessing I don't have to tell you folks what I think of Reeves' proposal there...although remember, this is the guy who was most loudly agitating for the Rangers to plug John Danks in the Opening Day rotation last spring...
Evan Grant's chat session is up, where he talks about the backup catcher situation (he thinks Rick Bauer will get moved for a catcher at the end of the spring, or else some vet will get plucked off the waiver wire) and the outfield situation, among other things...
Dave Session has a piece on Ian Kinsler, who spent some time in college in Tucson, although not with real happy memories, it seems...
And Larry Stone of the Seattle Times has a piece on Ron Washington replacing the "officious" Buck Showalter as the Ranger manager, and how it has changed the atmosphere around the team. Nothing you guys haven't read before, most likely, but interesting from the standpoint of getting an outsider's viewpoint...