Solid win last night, although it seems to be overshadowed by the Matt Purke fallout.
Purke apparently turned down a $4 million signing bonus to go to TCU. $4 million would have been the 5th highest bonus given to anyone in the first round this year. That's a lot of money for him to walk away from, and for the Rangers to offer.
But that's the risk you run when you take guys like Purke. If it weren't for signability concerns, there's no way he would have been sitting there at #14. The Rangers offered well over-slot to get him to sign, and took him apparently believing that they could get a deal done without going all Porcello on him. It didn't work.
But if you want the Rangers to grab a guy sliding over "signability," you have to be prepared to occasionally lose a guy like this.
Make no mistake, this is a hit to the system. The Rangers will have a compensatory pick at #15 in 2010 (#16, if the Royals don't sign Aaron Crow), but since they don't get a compensatory pick if they don't sign that guy, they aren't likely to go with a risky sign. Whoever they take at #15 isn't going to be as highly regarded as Matt Purke.
Anyway, moving on to the playoff race...Anthony Andro writes that Tommy Hunter was a little shaky, but was bailed out by the offense last night.
We've said all season, just wait until Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler start hitting...well, those guys are hitting, and all of the sudden, this offense looks a lot more formidable than it did a couple of weeks ago. And is about to have Nelson Cruz back...
Josh Hamilton hit third last night, with Ron Washington wanting to break up the string of lefties against Francisco Liriano, but it may be permanent, or it may not. No one seems to know.
Jim Reeves writes that, while we are justifiably excited about the wave of arms coming up, the less-heralded trio of Dustin Nippert, Tommy Hunter, and Scott Feldman are winning games and contributing to the Rangers success now.
Joaquin Benoit threw yesterday for the first time all year, although it doesn't seem like he's going to be an option for anyone before 2010, and he's a free agent after this season.