Well, yesterday's game could have gone better. Elvis Andrus and Michael Young each had key defensive misplays, and Kevin Millwood did a poor job minimizing the damage, allowing 5 unearned runs. Bah.
On the plus side, Evan Grant notes that Josh Rupe may have helped himself stay on the roster with a solid performance last night, and Chris Davis looks like his early spring struggles are behind him, as he had a three hit night including a homer yesterday.
Rupe's chances of making the pen are also enhanced by Dustin Nippert's injury problems, as Nippert's back stiffened up on him yesterday during a b.p. session which had to be cut short. Given how long it has been since he has pitched, and given that he's going to miss more time, there's no chance he makes the Opening Day roster, and he could, in fact, end up getting put on the 60 day d.l. to make room on the 40 man roster for an NRI.
Jeff Wilson writes about the Kris Benson v. Scott Feldman decision, with some in the organization apparently pushing to have Benson start the season in the rotation, with Feldman in the bullpen. Daniels acknowledges that Benson is in the mix to be on the Rangers staff on Opening Day, although Wilson suggests that Benson's late opt-out date -- he can't opt out until May -- might result in him being sent down to AAA.
Anthony Andro has notes up, which include Daniels saying that teams have been inquiring about Frank Catalanotto.
Ken Rosenthal touches on this topic as well, saying that the Rangers believe they can move Catalanotto if they pay a good chunk of his contract, although Rosenthal questions whether it is worth doing that just to make room for Andruw Jones. He also says that the Rangers thinks Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz could be ready to be in the major league rotation by the All Star Break.
In the same piece, Rosenthal notes that there are some good arms -- Jeff Niemann, Merkin Valdez, Angel Guzman, Juan Morillo, Jason Hammel -- that are out of options and that could either end up on waivers or be dealt prior to Opening Day. Given the problems in the bullpen, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Rangers either put in a claim on one of those guys or work a deal to acquire one of them.
In case you missed it, Justin Duchscherer is having arthroscopic surgery on his elbow, and is expected to miss at least the first month of the season.
Jim Reeves says that Josh Hamilton is awesome and the Rangers need to sign him long-term.