Off day yesterday. Rangers start a three game set in Minnesota today. And then, of course, they are off on Memorial Day, because MLB can't get their stuff together on scheduling.
Jeff Wilson has notes on Nelson Cruz's balky hamstring and the possibility of a Roy Oswalt deal.
Randy Galloway says that the Rangers don't have the pieces to do an Oswalt deal, because the Astros would insist on Elvis Andrus or Neftali Feliz as part of a deal, and wouldn't take Derek Holland and Matt Harrison as the top pieces in a trade for Oswalt.
A week or so ago I said that an Oswalt trade would take at least one of the Rangers' top five "prospects" -- Neftali Feliz, Derek Holland, Justin Smoak, Martin Perez, and Tanner Scheppers. Perez and Scheppers are not mentioned in Galloway's column, and he dismisses Smoak as not having much value because of his major league struggles.
Nevertheless, having thought about it, I'm not so convinced the Astros are going to be able to get a huge package for Oswalt. He's owed a lot of money and has a full no-trade clause. There are other pitchers that are going to be shopped at the deadline, including Cliff Lee, who is probably better than Oswalt.
I don't know that the market is there for the Astros to be able to turn up their nose at, say, a Holland/Harrison/Font plus a couple of live arms deal, although I'm personally not all that keen on dealing Holland for Oswalt anyway.
Galloway says the Astros want major league ready talent, which makes sense, because Houston's history is that they work on a short timeline...but it seems like an offer of Scheppers, Feldman and Hunter, for example, would probably trump anything anyone else would offer.
I'm not saying I'd do that, but something like that would be something that could get a deal done, particularly if you were willing to kick in a couple of your live arms in A ball or lower, guys like Kennil Gomez or Neil Ramirez or Matt Thompson.
Although in any case, it is all moot unless and until the bankruptcy judge approves the sale to new ownership. Until that happens, the Rangers aren't adding payroll.
mlb.com has an update on the bankruptcy court proceedings.
T.R. Sullivan writes that, at age 21, Elvis Andrus is showing that he deserves to be on the All Star team.