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Good morning. The update is flavored with Minor League news this morning. What else are we going to talk about? The Rangers? Gross.
I guess we should get this over with. As T.R. Sullivan was forced to write about, the Rangers were swept in Cleveland thanks to a David Murphy game-tying two-run home run off of Neftali Feliz in the 9th inning after Yu Darvish had pitched a fine game. The Indians won the game in the 12th inning on a Michael Brantley solo dong.
Jeff Wilson's game story is about Feliz pumping in 2012-level Colby Lewis 88 MPH fastballs in the doomed 9th inning even though he was coming in on three days of rest.
Evan Grant writes that the Rangers are a loss tonight against the White Sox away from being on pace to become only the third team in history to win at least 90 games one year and then lose at least 100 games the next. So, we have that going for us.
Anthony Andro writes that the cavalry is coming in the form of Mike Carp who was acquired off of waivers from Boston yesterday.
On the farm, MILB.com's Kelsie Heneghan writes that newly acquired prospect Jake Thompson was excellent in his second start for Frisco last night. Thompson went 6 2/3 innings allowing zero runs on four hits with nine strikeouts in the RoughRiders' win. This was only the fourth career start for 20-year-old Thompson at the Double-A level.
Our pal Scott Lucas shot some video of Thompson looking filthy:
At ESPN Dallas, Calvin Watkins provides a recap of the week on the farm for the Rangers' minor league system.
Late last night, our own Tepid broke the news that Jorge Alfaro has been promoted to Double-A Frisco:
Jorge Alfaro has been promoted to Frisco. According to sources. Whom I know. The sources. I know them. We play badminton together.
— Tepid Participation (@TepidP) August 4, 2014
The Legend is closer than ever before.
In possible future Rangers farmhand news, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo profiles Daz Cameron who is being hyped as a potential first overall pick in next year's draft. Of course, this is relevant to the Rangers as they've had the worst record in baseball for like a month now. Should the Rangers end up with one of the top few picks, Cameron is definitely a name to keep an eye on.
T.R. Sullivan's Notebook covers the plan for struggling Shin-Soo Choo down the stretch, Robbie Ross' solid few weeks at Round Rock, and a status update on Geovany Soto and Nick Tepesch.
Wilson has notes on the Rangers being patient with Rougned Odor's aggressive approach, Nick Martinez's 2014 learning experiences, and the addition of Carp.
Lastly, Grace Raynor previews tonight's series opener in Chicago between the White Sox and Rangers with Hector Noesi facing Nick Martinez in what has to be the worst match-up of the 2014 baseball season.
