So, yeah, Andruw Jones is on the team. Yippee.
Evan Grant has a writeup on the Opening Day roster, with this curious comment:
Between March 15 and March 20, the Rangers told Jones he was unlikely to make the clubWithin 72 hours of that conversation, though, the Rangers changed their minds. Jones started to show signs he was making progressing in fine-tuning his swing by working with hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo. And management made it clear that the team needed a right-handed hitting power threat for the middle of the lineup against left-handed pitching.
Here's what I don't get...when Grant says "management" made it clear, who is he talking about? Nolan? Hicks? I have to wonder if this is a matter of Daniels and Nolan convincing Hicks of the wisdom of releasing Cat (since Hicks supposedly didn't want to just cut him), or if this is Nolan and Hicks overruling Daniels on whether to keep Jones.
Jeff Wilson has a similar rundown of the roster, along with a tepid quote from Daniels about the roster composition. Wilson also has some notes up.
Mike Hindman runs down the projected rotations for the minor league clubs, and suggests that Brandon McCarthy could be bounced from the rotation by mid-May.
Jim Reeves discusses the possibility of a Tom Hicks/David McDavid partnership.
Kevin Sherrington talks about the job Mike Maddux is taking on.