Oh fantastic. 6 run lead in the ninth and now Dyson is pitching.

Sure hate to have to use Dyson here.

Wonder if Leclerc gets a call-up soon.

At some point they're going to have to throw Tolleson back out there in a competitive situation. We have to start preserving Dyson's arm.

I really love that Fielder and Moreland are finally getting it back together this offense looks nasty!

This team is so freaking deep if Moreland stays hot and fielder comes around.

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The only pitcher that didn't suck was Ken Hill.

I want to say the rotation was Hill, Witt, Pavlik, Burkett, and Oliver.

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With some help from Kevin Gross

Ken Hill: 35 GS \ 3.63 ERA
Pavlik: 34 GS \ 5.19 ERA
Witt: 32 GS \ 5.41 ERA
Oliver: 30 GS \ 4.66 ERA
Gross: 19 GS (28G) \ 5.22 ERA
Burkett: 10 GS \ 4.06 ERA

Henneman was the closer - 5.79 ERA \ 31 Saves.

They did have:
Juan-Do: .314 \ 47 HR
Palmer: .280 \ 38 HR
Pudge: .300 \ 19 HR
Greer: .332 \ 18 HR
Elster (SS): .252 \ 24 HR

Went to a bunch of those games and don't remember a one...

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I distinctly remember one game from that season that I was at. April 19, 1996 - Rangers beat Orioles 26-10 behind a 16 run 8th inning that included a Kevin Elster grand slam off of a utility infielder who was brought in to pitch by the O's at some point in that inning. There may have been a second position player who pitched that inning after the first guy was a disaster. 11 yr old Squirrel Master had a great day.

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The only pitcher that didn't suck was Ken Hill.

I want to say the rotation was Hill, Witt, Pavlik, Burkett, and Oliver.

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With some help from Kevin Gross

Ken Hill: 35 GS \ 3.63 ERA
Pavlik: 34 GS \ 5.19 ERA
Witt: 32 GS \ 5.41 ERA
Oliver: 30 GS \ 4.66 ERA
Gross: 19 GS (28G) \ 5.22 ERA
Burkett: 10 GS \ 4.06 ERA

Henneman was the closer - 5.79 ERA \ 31 Saves.

They did have:
Juan-Do: .314 \ 47 HR
Palmer: .280 \ 38 HR
Pudge: .300 \ 19 HR
Greer: .332 \ 18 HR
Elster (SS): .252 \ 24 HR

Went to a bunch of those games and don't remember a one...

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I distinctly remember one game from that season that I was at. April 19, 1996 - Rangers beat Orioles 26-10 behind a 16 run 8th inning that included a Kevin Elster grand slam off of a utility infielder who was brought in to pitch by the O's at some point in that inning. There may have been a second position player who pitched that inning after the first guy was a disaster. 11 yr old Squirrel Master had a great day.

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I watched that game on a date with the woman whom I'd marry 3 years later. My first wife.

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At some point they're going to have to throw Tolleson back out there in a competitive situation. We have to start preserving Dyson's arm.

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I don't disagree.

Having said that, one of the things they say is misleading about Dyson's workload is his efficiency. He has been very efficient.

2015: 75 / 1106 PC = 14.7 P/GS
2016: 34 / 427 PC = 12.6 P/GS

By comparisons for the AL appearance leaders in 2015:

Jepsen: 75 / 1164 = 15.52
Shaw: 74 / 1044 = 14.1
Wilson: 74 / 1048 = 14.16
Betances: 74 / 1370 = 18.5
Tolleson: 73 / 1169 = 16.0

The Rangers have played 75 games, with Dyson in 34. He projects to pitch in 73 games, and 920 Pitches.

Don't forget that while we found Diekman and Dyson for almost nothing, we gave up Leonys Martin (.248 \ 10HR \ 9 SB in 2016) for Wilhelmson (3.19 ERA \ 1.37 WHIP in 2015). So not every RP move has worked as planned.

Having said that... we do need some arms.

Dyson, Diekman and Bush have been good.
Claudio and Barnett had been serviceable but show signs of falling apart. They need to adjust as teams learn their pitching.

I think the simple fix is for our Starters to go a little deeper. Ramos is at 5.0 IP / GS. Holland is at 5 1/3 IP /GS. I don't know that Nick Martinez will improve that much, but having Martinez with Ramos, we should hope to get 7-8 IP. Darvish and AJ Griffin will hopefully make it back, but neither of them will go deeper than 6IP. Most like around 5 IP.

Lots of quality arms being shopped around, but I think the prices are too high, right now.

The Yankees could make Betances (31 App- 3.23/0.98), Chapman (15 App- 1.93/1.00) and Andrew Miller (27 App- 1.30/0.69) available. The Braves appear to be considering Arodys Vizcaino (27 App- 2.33/1.26) and they have Alexi Ogando (31 App- 3.77/ 1.64).

While it would be nice to add one of those, I think the price will remain too high. The White Sox or someone else will pay too much.

There could be some internal options to try, in the mean time. Throwing out some ideas;
AA: Adam Parks (RP) and Yohander Mendez (SP)
A: Dillon Tate (RP)

I think Tolleson will come around. I don't think he'll ever make it back to a closer, or even set-up role, but I think he can do a decent job either coming in for 2-3 innings of mop-up duty, or bridging the gap to the 7th in games where the starter can't get it done.

I've ragged on Tolleson as much as anyone. I don't like him as a closer. I do like him as a piece in the bullpen to come in during lower to mid leverage (I hate that word) situations.

If he can fine his changeup, he can be a service middle reliever. Maybe he's finally finding it.

It will be interesting to see what they can do and it's nice that Tolle seems to be finding it. He was kind of a victim of his own success that he went all the way to closer's role. He is much more suited as a 6th or 7th inning guy

Tom W has been a big disappointment considering his proven track record, but I still think he can come good

I don't understand your comment.

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This billboard is on I-10 in Houston... obsession noted.

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That's Deep Ellum Brewery...a Dallas based brewer. They are using H-Town's all-encompassing hate of Dallas to sell their beer. Kudos to them for backhanding Houston at the same time they are getting paid. Excellent!

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Yeah, that was my take on it as well. Noticed the sign the other day and laughed.

The vitriol headed North up 45 is so much greater than what floats down the Trinity towards Houston.

I am glad that Deep Ellum has made it to Houston for wider distribution. I wish we'd get more Lakewood.

I'm implying that the fact that Houston's obsession with Dallas runs so deep that it's used for a beer marketing campaign is remarkable.

I have faith JD will make some trades to get some good relievers in here and they will probably have years left on contract so it's not one and done.

I'm from Lubbock too, and other than my 4.5 years at A&M I've never lived anywhere else, but I never understood the hate for Dallas. I met a lot of friends from the Houston area and they could never explain it. It was the same story for hating the Rangers. You got a lot of **** the Rangers but no explanation. I went to Houston a few times during my time down there and I hated it each time. Houston is the only place my wife and I both agree on that we would never live regardless of the opportunity.

I was born and raised in San Antonio, and I could probably count the times I was in Houston before going to A&M on one hand, and that was all driving through to get to Galveston. I grew up a fan of the Cowboys, Rangers and Stars (and Spurs, obviously) because my parents were both form around DFW and raised me as a fan. I understood the hatred people have for the Cowboys, but I had no idea that people from Houston so deeply hated EVERYTHING to do with Dallas until I went to A&M and met people from Houston. Now I live in Houston (I work in O&G) and hear it constantly. I hate this place so much.

As someone vested in the fate of the Rangers, and not the Houston/Dallas "rivalry", the turn this thread is taking is just dumb.

On a baseball note, we will likely get to face Mengden on the mound tomorrow, and Wacha on Friday. Here's to no decision losses for both the Ags.

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As someone vested in the fate of the Rangers, and not the Houston/Dallas "rivalry", the turn this thread is taking is just dumb.

On a baseball note, we will likely get to face Mengden on the mound tomorrow, and Wacha on Friday. Here's to no decision losses for both the Ags.

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Back to baseball...

The MLB trade deadline is Aug.1.

I don't think this team can wait until a week before the deadline to make a move, they need relievers right now.

The good relievers we do have are getting worn out working so much and that will end up costing us in the home stretch/postseason.

I'm hoping JD makes a move soon, I know timing is a big thing as is desperation (cost goes up), but bullpen needs the help now.

Okay, back to baseball. Lineup tonight:

Choo 9
Desmond 8
Mazara 7
Fielder DH
Profar 5
Odor 4
Andrus 6
Moreland 3
Chirinos 2

Here's hoping we can win big tonight. It is a bit strange that we DON'T want to use our top three relievers, not because they've been terrible, but because they've been good.

Will be some interesting decisions for JD.

You hopefully have Kela and Scheppers coming back after the ASB but I haven't heard anything about their progress lately.

Griffin should be back in a couple weeks so I don't know what the plan is there (those things tend to work themselves out though--like going from wondering where is Profar going to get at-bats then Beltre gets hurt).

Who knows what Matt Bush's stamina will be late in the year. Dude hasn't pitched in 5 years.

I do wonder if a kid like Leclerc gets the call from AA to see what he can do. I don't like pushing young starters too soon but don't really worry about it with relievers. Seems like he is destined to be in the pen.

I will be happy when this set of West Coast games are over. 9:00 start times are awful.

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I will be happy when this set of West Coast games are over. 9:00 start times are awful.

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Yea, these are definitely the set of games I watch the least of.

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Will be some interesting decisions for JD.

You hopefully have Kela and Scheppers coming back after the ASB but I haven't heard anything about their progress lately.

Griffin should be back in a couple weeks so I don't know what the plan is there (those things tend to work themselves out though--like going from wondering where is Profar going to get at-bats then Beltre gets hurt).

Who knows what Matt Bush's stamina will be late in the year. Dude hasn't pitched in 5 years.

I do wonder if a kid like Leclerc gets the call from AA to see what he can do. I don't like pushing young starters too soon but don't really worry about it with relievers. Seems like he is destined to be in the pen.

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Very true. Kela would be a great addition if healthy, I think Grant tweeted it would be after the All Star break if he comes back.

Scheppers I'm not to high on, he reminds me of Tolleson, can be decent but melts down a lot.

I would hope JD adds 2 good relievers during trade deadline.

And yea these 9pm starts suck ass. Would hate to be in the Pac12 conference, might happen to a few teams we know.

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Will be some interesting decisions for JD.

You hopefully have Kela and Scheppers coming back after the ASB but I haven't heard anything about their progress lately.

Griffin should be back in a couple weeks so I don't know what the plan is there (those things tend to work themselves out though--like going from wondering where is Profar going to get at-bats then Beltre gets hurt).

Who knows what Matt Bush's stamina will be late in the year. Dude hasn't pitched in 5 years.

I do wonder if a kid like Leclerc gets the call from AA to see what he can do. I don't like pushing young starters too soon but don't really worry about it with relievers. Seems like he is destined to be in the pen.

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I saw some DL updates recently, I'll dig them up:

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A.J. Griffin (shoulder) allowed two runs over three innings Tuesday in his second minor league rehab start.

Griffin gave up five hits and two walks while striking out three. He got stretched out to 63 pitches. It's unclear what the next step will be, but the Rangers could have him make another rehab start. Griffin has been sidelined for a little over a month with right shoulder stiffness. Jun 14 - 1:43 PM

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For a SP, I think they are looking for about 600 IP, before they are ready. What I've seen is, they will ease many of them into the Majors by bringing them up as a RP so they can control things.

For RP, it runs the gamut. I think if you are a young guy, your best hope is to make it out of ST, or impress enough you are on the radar, otherwise you get lost. Guys like Joe Ortiz, Robbie Ross, and Keone Kela were young (22-23) and made it out of ST. Other than that... it is out of necessity\DL\Injury\suckage for young guys. That is why you get the incessant retreads like Scheppers, Luke Jackson, etc.

With Bush, don't forget he got 12 G \ 17 IP in AA, this year. I have no idea how they are going to handle him. I could see them sending him down for a two week rest. Much of that depends on how many times he gets up to warm-up. That is an unseen piece of RP. And he was originally a SS.

Interesting lineup tonight