Monday, October 23, 2006

jeez.....

wow, you gotta read this! what an article.

Smudgegate?! this guy is a tool. He personally blasts Rogers and Leyland for no other reason than he is a bitter ass. It is somewhat evident that this guy is a homer for LaRussa and the Cards and just pissed off that they lost. How the hell can you say that Rogers does not have a history of putting scoreless streaks together when the guy has a PERFECT GAME....?

Hey look, Rogers may be shady, maybe even a moral trash can...but this tool Jim Litke for the AP in my mind is much worse. Sorry about the Cardinals Jim, this one's for you:

Monday, October 16, 2006

Ranger's management at it's finest....

this just in....Ranger's front office has just indicated that they will not pursue ANY big name former managers.....the quote from FOX SPORTS is this:

"The club will not pursue Lou Piniella or another "big-name" former manager. The club also checked in with former Minnesota manager Tom Kelly, but he declined to interview."

This tells me two things and it is what agitates me as a fan....The Texas Ranger's front office is SO BAD that any manager with half a sack, won't even consider Arlington even in the short term AND the front office (Hicks with a Daniels puppet) won't even consider someone with any MLB experience should they even find such a person.

ya know....for many years Doug Melvin and his totally ridiculous trades and waffling about represented all that was wrong with the Rangers in my mind. Now, after further investigation, I am realizing the problem may not have been at all with his inability to GM his way out of the bathroom. In fact, the only problem with him and his successors, is their inability to say no to an ineffective and greedy owner. Hicks, I hope that this somehow finds you....please leave. You need to take your suitcases full of cash and get the hell out of Arlington. Sell this team to an owner that gives a damn or at least make an attempt to win.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Off-Season Preview

Posted By Dan in Texas

Those of you who haven’t all but abandon Ranger baseball in its current form, here is a list of the free agents for 2007 from the American League West.

## Denotes a club option


Texas
Barajas, Rod
De Rosa, Mark
Eaton, Adam
Hairston Jr, Jerry
Lee, Carlos
Matthews Jr., Gary
Padilla, Vicente
Wells, Kip
Young, Eric


Oakland
Payton, Jason L.
Sauerbeck, Scott W.
Thomas, Frank
Zito, Barry


Seattle
Meche, Gil
Perez, Eduardo A. ##


Los Angeles Angels
Erstad, Darin
Kennedy, Adam
Romero, J.C.
Salmon, Tim


If you really want to depress yourself Adam Rubin has a list for the entire league here.


After you take a look at either the West or the entire league and see all the players the Rangers don’t plan on getting off their rears to pursue- let alone sign lets pretend a real owner runs the club and the Rangers will actually be a player in the 2006 off season.


Kiss ‘em goodbye


Mark Eaton- Mark isn’t staying. He didn’t want to come to Arlington to begin with and I wouldn’t doubt he benefited from his injury as it clouds his true value. Pitching will be in demand this off-season (it’s kind of like predicting the post office will be busy on April 15th) so the Rangers would end up overpaying him to stay in Texas.


Carlos Lee- Gone with the wind. If Lee hasn’t packed his bags yet he may just Cowboy football. Lee hired Scott Boras to represent him during his contract season. We all know Boras doesn’t give hometown discounts, let alone discounts for teams that picked up free agents to be. The Mets may be interested depending on Floyd’s health and Lastings Milledge’s maturation. The Angel’s are hurting for offense and would love to put Lee on the same lineup card with Vlad. If Peter Angelos doesn’t sell he may try to mend some fences in Baltimore. The Cubs are as stupid with money as the Orioles. And who knows what Georgie S. in the Bronx. It should be obvious to Cashman that the Yankees problems are with the pitching staff but never count on Steinbrenner to let logic get in the way of running his ball club.


Pony up some dough and we’ll talk


Gary Mathews Jr.- 2006 was a career year for GMJ. He had an top defensive play in all of the Majors along with an All-Star appearance and finished strong with a .313 average .371 OBP and slugged .495. GMJ will cost more than he ever has at his career and likely more than he is worth. Mathew’s had as good if not better a year than last year’s batting champion Michael Young. If GMJ likes the confidence his manager placed in him by starting him in Center he may stay. Oh wait- sorry nevermind. The Rangers should have had an idea what Mathews would fetch on the free agent market and dealt GMJ at the deadline in return for some prospects.


Mark DeRosa- DeRosa like Mathews had a break out year after spending his major league career riding the pine in Atlanta. DeRosa (.357/.456/.296 OBP/SLG/AVG) is valuable to any team with his versatility in the field. DeRosa is used to playing in the first round of the playoffs at least and may be eager to move to a team with playoff aspirations. Like Mathews, DeRosa will cost more than ever and likely more than he is worth his off-season.


Vincente Padilla- Padilla was at times the best arm in the starting rotation. Pitching as always is valuable on the free agent market. Padilla is something of a wildcard in regard to his mental state. Who knows what this guy brings.

Likely free agent Acquisitions


I can’t go on, it’s too depressing. Who am I kidding? No one in their right mind is coming.


Barajas, Hairston and Young will likely stick around with deals slightly above the minimum. With what will likely be a vanilla manager selection (looks like the front runner will be Buck’s Bench coach), Texas wont be at the top of any one’s destination of choice list even if Tom Hicks wasn’t a cheap skate owner.


Get your season tickets and mini plans while they are hot, the line forms to the left.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Buck is out....Season is over...Players are pissed...

Holy crap.

The Ranger's number one yes-man is gone. What a fine way of doing so....leave it to Hicks to try and weasel out of paying for the only manager in recent history to catagorically accept every front office decision ever sent to him. This will do wonders for getting the big name manager in Arlington to skipper the way to the post season.

Overall, the decision to can Buck was a good one I believe. Showalter was a good disciplinarian siting the issues with temper tantrums from people like Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano and more... but there can be no excuses made for some of the bone headed decisions made by Buck.

Well.....left to languish in a post season hell with of all teams to watch the Yankees.....

Could there be any news\sports reporting organization that is not prepared to immediately fall to their knees and without hesitation, sloppily service Derek Jeter and company? I will leave it at this... I am sick of how effective the Yankees consistantly perform. I am jealous. There is no player that would not(or hasn't) jump(ed) at the chance to be a part of this organization. There are too many reasons to list as to why this occurs, but it boils down to a front office that wants to profit by winning.

I will wait for another misguided appointee to drive the already tainted image of the Rangers to another lackluster ending of a regular season. Who wants to bet Lou Pannella for manager in 2007? Guess we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I can like so many other Rangers fans hope that Mr. Daniels stays focused and attentive to the goals of the club and stay suportive of the great guys we have playing for this team. We will miss you Rangers it will be a lonely post season without you. It is times like these that I miss the unwavering guidance of Johnny Oates.