My hope is we replinish our minor league talent again. Seems building from within has always been when We do best.

Did he have you hold a picture of Napoli and Odor out in front of him and punch a hole through said picture? I hope so.

I miss baseball already.

The farm, pitching and cutting down on strikeouts are what will get me excited.

AggieDPT said:

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So we're not supposed to expect a big splash but most of those SPs you mentioned are big splashes?

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That what I got from that as well. Not sure that Cashner is a big splash, but he is a "need" pitcher for us next year. Plus one of the others. Without one or more of those pitchers the rotation will have issues. The young arms from the minors don't seem to be quite ready.

And in case you missed it in free agent news.... Tanaka declined to opt out and is staying with the Yankees. The Pirates exercised their option on McCutchen.

Sounds like we might be selling off some players? Signing Ohtani? Or obtaining some Rule V guys. Aren't those the only ways to stock the farm in the off-season?

I'm ready for the off-season, but I think we are building for 2019 and will be positioning for then.

Makes sense, I suppose, if Verlander is back on the top of his game.

Yeah his big splash comments confused me. When I named those pitchers, that was more me just commenting on who I think we need to go after

Ag2012 said:

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Quote:

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Basically told us that we likely won't be making any splash acquisitions, and will focus on restocking the farm and getting young players some experience in the bigs

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If that's the case, Beltre isn't on our roster in September.

Whatever we do from here I just don't want to see us half-ass it. If we're rebuilding for the new ballpark, trade Beltre, Andrus, Choo, Hamels and anyone with a pulse in the bullpen. If we're trying to make one last run for Beltre, back up the Brinks truck and make this offseason our *****.

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We aren't getting anything of value for Choo. We may even have to eat some contract to move him, but probably in our best interest to do so since we have an abundance of left-handed hitters and we need those DH AB's for younger blood.

Oh yeah we're absolutely eating a chunk of that salary if/when we deal him.

This article is a pretty good overview of the Rangers roster and off-season outlook.

KT 90 said:

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This article is a pretty good overview of the Rangers roster and off-season outlook.

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Nice. Tepid Particpation wrote a solid article on the state of the farm system too. Highly recommend him as a Twitter follow if you want to keep up with Rangers prospects.

https://www.lonestarball.com/2017/10/27/16553030/the-reset-of-the-rangers-farm

Neither article is that inspiring. I wish we would just go with a rebuild and set up for a few years down the road. Beltre deserves to win so either way he's probably gone sometime this year.

The MLBTR article is a good read.

I've liked much of what I read from Tepid and that is a good read, as well.

My main concern right now is on the Rule V draft. That will dictate much of the offseason. I think we have too many players to protect, so I could see us trade some of them for lower level prospects.

Scott Lucas does a great job with Rule V.

For me, 2018 is going to be about following the rotation we put in Hickory and Round Rock.

I expect:
Hickory: Speas, Hans Crouse, Matuella, Ragans
RR: Jurado, YoMen, Wiles (will Sadzeck move back?)


IMO, and I've said this before... I don't see Ohtani helping anyone in 2018.

Places to improve with Net WAR:
Closer: 3-5 Ws.
#4 Starter: 4-6 Ws.
#5 Starter: 4-6 Ws
CF: 4 Ws

Sign Cashner.
Sign Closer.
If we could get Ian Kennedy (3yr/$49M) for Choo (3yr/$62M)... that'd kill 2 birds. Even if we include Profar.

I'm not opposed to bringing Darvish back.

AggieDPT said:

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Neither article is that inspiring. I wish we would just go with a rebuild and set up for a few years down the road. Beltre deserves to win so either way he's probably gone sometime this year.

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I doubt they move him.

Gallo was talking about what he does for the clubhouse.

Apparently Beltre wants to stay... and he is invested in the young guys.

From a rotation perspective... if they sign Darvish, Cashner and a Closer, we could be ok. The loss of Napoli is a plus. The loss of Lucory is a plus. Mazara and Odor need to step up.

Pirates picked up McCutch ($14.75M) option, but that doesn't mean he isn't moving.

Thoughts on Giancarlo Stanton? Floridao owes him like 11 yrs @ $29M per for like $310M.
Owed: $25M (28-2018), $26M (29-2019), $26M (30-2020) the next 3 years, then it gets nasty

Choo has 3 yrs @ $20M, $21M & $21M.

If you get Florida to pickup $7M per year from '21 through '28, does he interest you to dump Choo?

The net for Choo would be $5M per year for the next 3. Move Mazara to LF.

An OF of
Mazara - McCutch - Stanton

You'd have:
1st: Andrus (SS) - .297, 20 HR, 25 SB
2nd: Stanton (RF): .281 BA, 59 HR, 2 SB
3rd: McCutch (CF): .279 BA, 28 HR, 11 SB
4th: Beltre (3B): .312, 17 HR
5th: Odor (2B): .204, 30 HR, 15 SB
6th: Gallo (1B): .209, 41 HR, 7 SB
7th: Mazara (LF): .253 BA, 20 HR
8th: Chirinos (C): .255, 17 HR

Odor and Gallo will hopefully get their BA above .250.

If we are entering a new era of PED hitters, might as well load up on hitting.

The team has apparently decided not to offer Cashner a Qualifying Offer (1 yr, $17MM, which if rejected would net the Rangers a draft pick). Kind of interesting. Perhaps the market for Cashner isn't going to be great.

The MLBTR article has Cashner getting 2yr/ $20M... and I don't think that is per... nut it also has us adding LUV Jon Jay to C.F., which is not much better than Delino Ddshirlds, IMO.

Mazara - a 23 year old OF that I have to pinch run for? No thank you. Can he please learn 1B?

DallasAg 94 said:

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The MLBTR article has Cashner getting 2yr/ $20M... and I don't think that is per... nut it also has us adding LUV Jon Jay to C.F., which is not much better than Delino Ddshirlds, IMO.

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With the overall shortage of starting pitching, and with Cashner coming an overall pretty good season, I think it is going to take more than 2yr/$20m ($10 per) to get him.

If the Rangers believed that were the case, then they'd make him the QO and then collect their draft pick when he turns it down.

Shocked they didn't offer the QO. Curious who will be the rotation next year.

Jurado isn't ready for MLB - Late 2018 addition at best
Mendez - Not an MLB starter. I hope he isn't pitching in the RR rotation - either be training him full time to be a power reliever, or trade him. 2018 will be his last option, and he hasn't come close to looking like a big league player yet.
Sadczek - Already converted to full time reliever. 2018 will also be his last option. Hasn't appeared in Texas yet.
Nick Martinez - Out of options, so will have to stay on roster for TEX if he's staying with the club.

A little bit of a depressing outlook if they don't make some meaningful trades. Not excited if her head into the season with a rotation of:
Hamels
Perez
Griffin
Martinez
Mendez (?)

I think the wealth of LHH corner bats TEX has plus the Profar asset have got to be used to acquire some MLB pitching. The lower levels of the system have some really nice prospects, but the org is woefully thin of guys who can have an impact in 2018.

Saw Colby Lewis was hired as a special assistant to the GM today. Dude was a warrior, hopefully we can find some under the radar workhorses like him this offseason

Lots of analysts predicting Arrieta to the Rangers

AccidentProne said:

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Lots of analysts predicting Arrieta to the Rangers

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He is from Texas, so it would make sense. We need one of those top free agents to sign or the rotation will take a step down next year.

Seven Costanza said:

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If the Rangers believed that were the case, then they'd make him the QO and then collect their draft pick when he turns it down.

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No, I'm thinking he gets more that $10mil per year, but lest than the $17 mil a QO would guarantee him. But he'll get multiple years.

Who knows, I try not to spend too much time on the salary numbers as it gets depressing seeing how much money these cats make in just one season compared to us normal working stiffs

Saw an article today saying the Astros should sign him. That would make just about no sense.

No way they would be able to afford that

here we go

In on the thread. Also think it should be about rebuilding the farm system. Going to be tough to compete with Houston for the next year or two until the have pitching turnover or attrition.

If there is a plan to sign Arrieta (expect 4/$100M per MLBTR), I'm all for it.

So, let's look:

Hamels is signed: $23.5M (2018) and $20M (2019). I think if they pick up Hamels' option (likely), then they are at $73M.

Beltre ($18M) will come off the books after 2018.

They could backload a contract.

After 2018 - Gallo to 3rd, Ron Guzman to 1st.

You've gotta get rid of Choo, before you can move Mazara to DH/1B.