After throwing 50 pitches yesterday in 3 innings, Matt Harrison went out to the bullpen and threw about 20 more. Harrison is experimenting with a cut fastball, which may replace the slider in his arsenal, along with working on the back-door curve that it seems most lefties of his type utilize.
Derek Holland pitched yesterday, and over at the Inside Corner, there's double-barrelled Holland action, with Evan Grant having an article up on Holland's impressive spring, and Mike Hindman writing about Holland's ascension to top prospectdom.
Thomas Diamond, Doug Mathis, and Willie Eyre all got work in during an intrasquad game, with all three pitchers apparently acquitting themselves well.
Evan Grant says the Rangers aren't likely to stick Elvis Andrus down in AAA for a few weeks just to save on service time, for a variety of reasons, not least because they are dealing with a 20 year old who they feel is going to be a leader on the team going forward, and they don't want to alienate him over an issue like that out of the box.
Josh Hamilton is re-working his swing this spring. That's...a bit...I don't know. Worrisome, I guess? My first reaction is the whole "if it ain't broke" thing, but the goal is apparently to smooth out his swing to make him less prone to slumps.
Gil LeBreton writes about Milton Bradley, who seems to be a bit put out that the Rangers weren't willing to go three years on a deal for him. LeBreton suggests that Bradley's absences from the lineup, at the same time Michael Young was playing with broken fingers, didn't go over well with his teammates, and provides this explanation from Bradley about the games he missed last year:
"If I’m being paid, and I’ve got the commitment to me that I give to them, you make more of an effort to be out there every day," he said.
"When you’re on one-year deals constantly, you’ve got to put up as good numbers as you can. When you have days where you’re not feeling like you can contribute, you’re not going to go out there, because you’re not going to want your numbers to suck.
"So, if you’re in a situation like I am now, if they want me to go out there when I’m feeling a little banged up, I’ve got no problem doing that because they’ve made the commitment to me."