From a starters perspective there's nothing Maddux really did that made you step back and say "wow, that guy is a wizard". Holland is as inconsistent as ever and Perez doesn't look significantly better than when he was dealing in the minors (before Maddux).

The horrenous yet similar way both Ron Washington and Jeff Bannister managed the bullpens makes you wonder if Maddux wasn't the decision maker there.

But ultimately it sounds like Maddux wanted to get paid like a manager and knew that there was a market out there for him, and Texas decided it wasn't worth paying him that kind of money for questionable results and it also wasn't worth making him a good offer (in their eyes) and having to sit in limbo for 2 months while he entertained other offers.

Both Maddux guys seemed to have served the Rangers well, but time to move on.

I liked what MMaddux had done and I think he has a good public following in Texas.

The rub for me here is, similar to your take.

First injuries.
Holland, Harrison, TJ for Perez, TJ for Darvish, TJ for Feliz. That isn't to say he was responsible... It just seemed like we got more than our fair share of injuries.

Second development
To your point Holland is as easily distracted as ever. I was hoping Nick Tepesch/Martinez would emerge. Tep was injured. Scheppers, et al, in the BP. Our BP emerged by bringing in guys mostly - Deikman & Dyson.

We had some success. Both Deikman and Dyson were projects when they came in. Neither was a lock to do what they did. Kela and Tolleson both did well.

All-in-all... I like Maddux, but wonder if he has either lost his mojo with Rangers pitchers and needs a change because they won't listen to him, or had doesn't provide the insight/benefit anymore because the pitchers are too familiar with him and he is now passive towards them.

Either way, I think he'll have success wherever he goes. He has served the Rangers well and I will always view the growth and outstanding pitching results as products of him. Our greatest pitching was during his tenure.

I'm very appreciative of how long he stayed and the decisions he made to stay, when he could have pursued the Cubs job, et al. Maybe he ends up in LAD. That'd be sick.

Bizarre that Mattingly left the LADodgers organization for the Florida Marlins.

During one of the games about a month ago, Tom House was in the booth and he was talking about his current gig.

He was working with QBs to improve their throwing. He talked about rpms on the throws and things that affected mechanics. Search this board, I posted on it at the time.

He was critical of James Shields about his lack of follow-through and indicated he was getting paid a lot to do what he was doing, but that he could actually be better.

During the playoffs, I heard something that indicated the reason they pull Gallardo from the games at about 90 PC is because they determined the rpms on his throws started to drop at about that pitch count, and thus affected the velocity... and movement on the ball. They felt that was an indicator of trouble ahead as an increase in hittability. So, they pulled him more for that, even if he wasn't pitching into trouble.

I wonder how that developed regarding Greg and Mike. Whether they were opposed to using something like that or they actually helped bring it to the table. It'd be interesting to know if it created friction in the clubhouse.

Doug Brocail expected to be named pitching coach; Brad Holman bullpen coach

It's nice to have Aybar out of the division. I'm curious to see if the 2013 season of Andrelton Simmons was an outlier.

I can't imagine a better job in sports. Angels bench coach or Angel's GM (spend spend spend)

Leonys Martin & P Anthony Bass traded to Seattle for reliever Tom Wilhelmsen, OF James Jones & PTBNL

Sounds like a good upgrade for the bullpen and a downgrade in the outfield. Although, it seemed like Matin was never going to be back next year.

Martin checked out when he didn't make the playoff roster. It was time to move on. The bullpen is night and day vs where it was this time last year. Looking like a great starting staff followed by a salty bullpen.

https://instagr.am/p/tgxOzWJlvu

I'm ok with this guy on the team

The Rangers picked up a decent middle reliever in exchange for a guy that really didn't fit in well here anymore and had a bad attitude. Not bad.

I like the trade. I don't think Martin was ever going to hit

Banny with Manager of the Year!

Keep it going Banny!!

I'm indifferent about the trade.

When DeShields made himself known as a legit OF, you knew some decisions were going to be made. With all the LHBs, it seemed obvious Martin was going to be gone.

There are many things I liked about Leonys and will miss him in the OF. Unfortunate for us that he'll be in Seattle.

We'll save a few Million ($5M, maybe in Arb?!).

Also, I've been following Brinson, in the AFL. He is 21 and B\T R\R.

.300 \ .408 OBP \ .983 OPS \ 11 G \ 40 AB \ 2 Doubles \ 3 Triples \ 1 HR \ 5 SB \ 2 CS

It could be an OF of:
Brinson \ DD \ Choo

Now let's use that $$$ on a SP.

Also - Banister: AL MotY.

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.300 \ .408 OBP \ .983 OPS \ 11 G \ 40 AB \ 2 Doubles \ 3 Triples \ 1 HR \ 5 SB \ 2 CS

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For fun.

He has 12 H.
3 Triples
2 Doubles
7 Singles + 5 SB - 2 CS = 5 Doubles and 2 Outs

3 Triples and 7 Doubles in 40 ABs.

Well deserved award

Congrats, Banny! He deserved it, glad to see him bring it home.

Optimistic about 2016!

Well deserved. And he beat out disAstros' Hinch

Rangers shopping Mitch the to Bucs?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/rangers-pirates-mitch-moreland-trade.html

Looks like they're also shopping Tolly

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/rangers-shawn-tolleson-trades.html

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Looks like they're also shopping Tolly

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/rangers-shawn-tolleson-trades.html

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I think it would be a mistake to deal Kela, Dyson, Diekman, or Wilhelmson.

However, Tolleson is interesting because has definitely had some value added to his stock. He was very solid for us last year. Dyson or Diekman could fill the void at closer, but we would need another reliever to maintain depth.

Not sure I like the idea of shopping Tolleson. Bullpens/relievers can be touchy year to year, and I'm also not sure what Kela will give them next year. He took a huge jump in innings and his arm health was somewhat questionable at the end. I tend to like the idea of keeping a quantity of relievers around until the spring, and after seeing how its shaping up early in the year, then consider trading one to fill a hole. I'd just be surprised to get so much for Tolleson to make it worth it.

Agreed, Danny.

Moreland staying or going I'm indifferent. He has value and if they can convert it into something tangible for other talent... cool.

Tolleson is a curious thing. Unless they expect Diekman or Dyson to be the better option. If that is the case, Tolleson's value will be diminished if not the Closer. Without the big arm strikout, I'm not sure Tolleson is a guy you can have close year-after-year.

Having said that... Marlins are at least listening on Jose Hernandez. Dodgers' losing the Greinke sweepstakes has put them in the market. The rumored cost are Uriah (19-AA-SP-#2 Prospect)... Seager (21-AA-SS-#1 Prospect) and possibly Scott Van Slyke.

That's a haul. From what I understand Hernandez had TJ surgery in maybe 2014?

In terms of Rangers' prospects?! I don't know that we have an equivalent to Uriah. Maybe Martin Perez when he was 19?! Our Top 4 prospects from MLB are (in order) Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Dillon Tate & Lewis Brinson.

I don't know that I'd give up Mazara & Tate.

Rumor on Dallas radio is that Rangers are very interested in Fernandez.

Fernandez
Hamels
Darvish
Perez
Holland / Lewis/ Martinez

That's a ridiculous rotation and would immediately make us the favorites.

I'd imagine atleast 3 of Mazara, Brinson, Tate, Gallo would be packaged....and I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Carlos Carrasco now being rumored. I love this time of year.

Somewhat of a shakeup of the broadcast team.

1) Mark Mclemore is being booted out of the booth and will only do pre and post game work.
2) Tom Grieve will continue to skip even more road games (40-50), so Dave Raymond has been hired to do play-by-play in those games while Busby moves over to the analyst chair.
3) Eric Nadel is going to start skipping some games too (12), and Raymond will be his fill-in as well.

It also sounds like Busby is looking to start taking a little time off, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some games that are a Raymond-Grieve combo even though they didn't specify a number that Busby would skip.

Grieve was already skipping a lot of games prior to this year, so the bigger change is really the Raymond-for-Mclemore swap. In the big picture, it doesn't really make that old-timer booth significantly younger than it was last year.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rangers Communications Tuesday, December 15, 2015 817.273.5203



ARLINGTON CITY COUNCIL APPROVES MAJOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR 10 A.M. ON WEDNESDAY AT

GLOBE LIFE PARK IN ARLINGTON

Arlington, Texas--Arlington continues to build on its economic momentum and world-class entertainment district with the City Council on Tuesday evening approving a major economic development project that will include a 100,000 square foot world-class dining and entertainment district, adjacent to Globe Life Park in Arlington.

The $200 million project is a public-private partnership between the City of Arlington and the Texas Rangers with the City investing $50 million and $150 million of private sector investment. The agreement also includes plans to develop an upscale, full-service convention hotel with a minimum of 300 rooms and 35,000 square feet of meeting and convention facility. Should the hotel/convention facility proceed by the end of 2016, the City would provide the Rangers performance based incentives that include retaining income from the following sources: hotel occupancy tax, property tax, sales tax and mixed beverage tax for 30 years from the City and hotel occupancy tax and sales tax from the state for 10 years.

The facility will be constructed on what is currently the A parking lot at the corner of Randol Mill Road and Nolan Ryan Expressway.



"The Rangers are proud to be joining with Arlington on this very significant project," commented Rangers Co-Chairman Ray Davis. "Commercial development around Globe Life Park in Arlington has been a vision of the Rangers for a number of years. This first-class entertainment complex will be a tremendous addition to the area."

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Colbra back at 1 year for $6MM.

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Colbra back at 1 year for $6MM.

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Colbra back at 1 year for $6MM.

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WHOOP!

Great to hear about Colby.

Regarding the booth... it adds perspective to Vin Scully, a guy I listened to growing up in LA.

At 88, he will start his 67th season in 2016, as broadcaster of the Dodgers. If you just count the home games of a 154 game season, that's 77games/yr. That is over 5,000 Baseball games. He recently dropped down to doing only like 100 games. 81 home games and then additional road games (San Diego, Anaheim, SF & Az, I presume).

TAG is 67 and I don't fault him for taking games off. He has completed 21 years as a Rangers broadcaster, IIRC. Scully at 3X the number of years.

And I'd rather listen to Lewin than them both.

Well, that's an exaggeration. I get that Scully is a legend, but the games I've tuned into the last few years have been an absolute bore. He starts stories, pauses for game analysis, then picks up the story 30 minutes later on the exact word he left off... That's not good for any commentary, but definitely not for commentary that isn't 30 years ago where a broadcast was a significant event that you hung on every word.

Grieve I like, but I liked him much more when he was countered with Lewin. I understand that maybe they didn't have any kind of real relationship outside the booth, but I felt like Lewin really carried the broadcast in some of those underwhelming seasons. He was annoying at first ("Hey it's Milton Bradley -- hey that's the name of a board game company!"), but he refined his craft, and balanced knowing the history of the game with sabermetrics, pop-culture references and "social media-like" knowledge of the players before that became a really big thing in sports... Grieve would be talking about Carl Everett and Lewin would drop a comment about dinosaurs and only the people who really follow the sport would understand the reference... hell I don't think Tom knew the reference most of the time, as he was more concerned with Cookie Talk and his golf game than he was knowing the "modern" game.