The two biggest news items in Rangerland right now are about current changes taking place at The Ballpark and the possibility of a change taking place with the coaching staff.
T.R. Sullivan has a piece detailing the construction going on at The Ballpark to revamp the Vandergriff Plaza area in center field. The biggest changes will be the installation of a new sports bar, something called the "Batter's Eye Club", no more bleachers & fewer seats overall in center field, and the visitor's bullpen will now run parallel to the outfield wall.
If you're curious to see what all of this will look like, the DMN has a page with construction photos and renditions of what the final design will look like. One of them is this:
There's just so much here.
Richard Durrett writes about Mike Maddux agreeing to meet with the Cubs and Red Sox about their managerial vacancies next week.
With those two clubs battling each other over the same short list of candidates there's a reasonable chance that Maddux won't be the Rangers pitching coach next season. Maddux is seen as one of the premier pitching coaches in the game. And considering the caliber of teams/executives interested in him, his reputation for being well respected around the league is on display.
In the article, Maddux has a ton of nice things to say about working for the Rangers, Ron Washington, and Jackie Moore. But, if Maddux feels like he's ready to take on the challenge of running his own team, I suspect we'll be talking all winter about pitching coach candidates the Rangers might consider along with roster construction options.
Speaking of, MLB Trade Rumors' Ben Nicholson-Smith has written an offseason outlook for the Texas Rangers.
Durrett, in his on-going series of Offseason Questions, asks: Who's on first? And the answer appears to be: Probably Mitch Moreland.
Randy Galloway has a piece up about how the Rangers need C.J. Wilson back but C.J. Wilson ain't comin' back, y'all.
Finally, Scott Feldman was on Ben & Skin and he said what we're all feeling: 1. Beards are totally sweet. 2. Game 6 is still a painful nightmare.