Solid, encouraging outing by Matt Harrison yesterday. Having Harrison establish himself this season as a nice back of the rotation guy would be a very good thing, and Richard Durrett talks about the progress Harrison is making at the DMN blog.
Jason Jennings was underwhelming yesterday, but Jeff Wilson writes that Jennings expects to be back in the majors in a starting rotation this year, if not in Texas then with another team. He can opt out of his deal on April 25, so if Jennings pitches well in the minors the first few weeks but there's no opening in the Ranger rotation, I expect he'll end up bailing and signing elsewhere.
Wilson also has some notes on some other Rangers, with Chris Davis saying he feels like he's getting more comfortable at the plate after his early slump, Kris Benson feeling good about how he's pitching, and Guillermo Moscoso being slated to pitch out of the bullpen to start the season.
Jim Reeves is advocating the Rangers signing Pedro Martinez and Pudge Rodriguez, with the Pedro signing allowing Scott Feldman or Brandon McCarthy to move into a setup role, and Pudge pushing Taylor Teagarden to AAA to catch everyday (which then, of course, would raise the question of what you'd do with Max Ramirez, who at this point is slated to go to AAA to catch every day).
Personally, I'd pass on both of those guys...and since Reeves says the Rangers have orders to cut payroll, not add it, it seems unlikely either of them are in the picture anyway. Plus, Pedro has been pretty clear that he wants to pitch for an N.L. team, which would take him out of the mix as well.
Mike Hindman runs down the Rangers outfielders over at Inside Corner.
In case you missed it, the U.S. had the mercy rule called in its WBC game with Puerto Rico last night, losing 11-1 after 7 innings.