Okay, an 82-67 record.
The Rangers need to go 8-5 the rest of the way to win 90. They need to go 7-6 to tie their 2004 mark of 89-73. And they need to win their final 13 games to match 1999's franchise-best 95 wins.
If the Rangers won their final 13 games, Anaheim would have to go 5-3 in their remaining games against teams other than Texas to win 95 games.
The $12 million is the focus of Jeff Wilson's game story this morning. Millwood looked sharper, be it because of his work on his mechanics, the extra rest, or just getting back on track.
Kevin Millwood and Scott Feldman are the only guarantees for the rotation next year, according to Ron Washington. Tommy Hunter, Derek Holland, Brandon McCarthy, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Eric Hurley, and Dustin Nippert are slated to compete for the final three spots, per Washington.
Personally, I'm not sure what else Hunter needs to do to go into 2010 with a rotation spot. And of course, given what happened this past spring, I imagine Feldman is only "guaranteed" a spot until Bruce Chen or Jimmy Haynes or Brett Tomko or someone comes in and throws a few nice innings in early March, resulting in Feldman heading back to the bullpen.
(I know, I know, I need to let that go. But that really bothers with me still. I have a hard time having a ton of faith in the decision-making in this organization when I consider that the powers that be felt the team would be better off with Kris Benson in the rotation than with Scott Feldman.)
Former super-agent Dennis Gilbert is heading one of the groups that is interested in the Rangers, although he's reportedly not a front-runner.
Jennifer Floyd Engel has a bit this morning about calling MLB and asking for the person who is running the Rangers, while re-hashing the Galloway and Reeves columns from earlier.
The Cubs have designated Thomas Diamond for assignment, and presumably will put him on waivers. Given that the season is almost over, I wonder if the Rangers wouldn't consider dropping Kevin Richardson from the 40 man roster and claiming Diamond. I suspect that the Rangers have pretty much cut ties with Diamond, and aren't likely to put in a claim, but I've been surprised before.
Jeff Wilson has a bunch of injury updates, including on Michael Young, Matt Harrison, Josh Hamilton, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who underwent TOS surgery yesterday). I'm starting to think Harrison might have a better chance of coming back this season than Young.
Ron Washington says he "wouldn't hesitate" to bring Milton Bradley back to the Rangers, although Evan Grant says letting Marlon Byrd walk and bringing Bradley back would lead to a clubhouse revolt. I'll have some more thoughts on this later today.