Season winding down, day after an off day, not a lot out there...
Evan Grant says that strikeouts are an issue for the Rangers -- particularly for their young players, Nelson Cruz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Jason Botts -- and says that the Rangers have to figure out if that's part of the learning curve for these guys as they develop into quality hitters, or if they are just going to be big K guys who don't ever hit.
Grant suggests that the K-rate of the guys already in place might mitigate against going after a high-K free agent like Mike Cameron, and that a potential additions strikeout rate might be as important as his other numbers in the Rangers' decision-making process.
I think that would be a mistake...I wouldn't get too bogged down in the strikeouts, if you have guys who otherwise produce. If they could add a player like Cameron, who is productive and plays good defense but who strikes out a lot, I wouldn't want them to steer away from him and get a lesser play just because of the Ks.
Sammy Sosa wants to play again next year. That's fine, but it shouldn't be with the Rangers.
Jim Reeves actually has a fairly favorable column up on the Rangers, and even comes out against signing Torii Hunter to a long-term deal. I was beginning to think that there was no one in the D/FW media who didn't want the Rangers to give Hunter a 5 year, $80 million deal this offseason...
And Anthony Andro has a piece on the early returns from the trade deadline deals, looking at what every player who came and went in the Boston and Atlanta trades has done since the deal...