quote:
A team that needs everything being committed to $50-60 mill/year on andrus, choo, and fielder thru 2020 or so seems reasonable to at least debate. There were plenty of questions at the outset on all 3 deals, and finding their way out if the darkness is going to involve those players in some way - whether its they start producing more, find a way to dump them, or some combination. But i apologize for being midget minded.
Again, they chose this path prior to 2014 and I was (and am) fine for seeing what 2015 holds vs conducting a firesale during last season. But those 3 are a big part if why they are where they are now, and will be a big part of the future direction - For better or worse.
My point is none of those 3 players on their own affect this team in a great way.
Let's pretend we don't make the Fielder v Kinz trade. Moreland likely plays first and Odor is in the minors. Kinz is on the hook for $16M.
Let's pretend we don't sign Andrus to 8yrs/$118m ($14.74M/yr), but 8yrs/$80M ($10M/yr).
Let's pretend we don't sign Choo to 7yr/$130M. He gets $14M for 2015.
So we get $8M for Fielder + $4.75M for Andrus and $14M for Choo = $26.75M
We need an OF for Choo and a 1B. And we need a LF, 3 SPs and a handful of RPs. $30M isn't enough to fill the holes we have via FA.
I think Odor (21). I like Rua (25). I like Nick Martinez and Nick Tepesch. I think I've been following Mendez since 2011, when he was with Hickory. I'm excited about a lot of the young guys, I'm just not ready to declare them as MLB players.
SO many things have not gone the Rangers way... but that is the case with most teams. Every team loses players to injury. Many people here (myself included) were looking for the Rangers to trade Profar to St. Louis. The OF most of us wanted ended up being killed in a car accident.
Our OF needs help because Hamilton left. That worked out regardless of how much we could have signed him. Cliff Lee is another bullet dodged. I don't think Chris Davis was a huge loss. Nobody knew he'd be approved for an exemption by MLB for a banned substance.
AFAIK, none of the minor leaguers we traded have done much. I think many are on opening day rosters.
For example the Cubs: Grimm (RP), Ramirez (RP) and Olt (3B).
Losing Darvish was huge. A 2015 team with a healthy Darvish, Harrison and Profar is much different. But, there isn't any guarantee we could align replacements easily. We were concerned about losing Darvish because of Cy Young voting. Everyone loses players, and we just have to grind out this year with hopes we find out about players. Players like Nick Martinez, Rua, Odor, Chi-Chi. We have Gallo, Alfaro and Jackson who can help in 2016.
Choo, Fielder and Andrus can still have a successful 2015, so we could still be in the mix if everything aligns best case. If not, I'd like to see them unload.
One more point... I think JD has this year to get the Rangers on the right trajectory or he'll be gone.
He has had to rebuilt almost the entire organization - Front office, scouting, minors... That happens when you have a successful organization. It is what makes it so hard to sustain... people come and take your talent on and off the field.
