Some interesting opinions out there in the local papers after an off day...
Jim Reeves concludes that, with everything that's wrong with the organization, the best answer is for Hicks to tie himself to Jon Daniels. He also thinks that Daniels needs a guru assistant and to be sure not to tie himself to Ron Washington. I don't know how realistic it is to think that they could bring in a Hunsicker to assist Daniels, but really, I don't have much of a problem with Reeves' central point here. The media outside of DFW seems to be trying pretty hard to paint him as lost, but I think it's foolish to buy into that stuff, really.
Jan Hubbard, meanwhile, claims that the Rangers have a lack of direction and includes some more weird quotes from Hicks, among them questioning the Danks trade and that they "just need to concentrate on what we're doingand make sure we get these young players ready." I'm not really sure what young players he's referring to other than Hurley. Obviously he's not talking about Jason Botts.
Richard Durrett has a feel-good piece on Sammy Sosa with comments from Daniels and Michael Young about what a good job he's doing. Sosa has driven in a lot of runs, and I guess for the traditionalist that means something. But good grief, how sincere can the praise be when your DH is hitting .246/.302/.456 and blocking a young player who is at least that good?
T.R. Sullivan had a mailbag up yesterday afternoon, and among many interesting points raises the Mets as a potential suitor for Sosa. I'm not sure that the Mets really need someone like Sosa, given the configuration of their OF, but still an interesting thought.
And Baseball America included Hurley on another "Hot Sheet," pointing out that he's been striking people out lately (17 in his last 15.2 IP).