DannyDuberstein said:

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I just don't have a problem to the approach for this season. Wanna sign another Shin Soo Choo, Kevin Millwood, or the like and hook this team up with some albatross contracts when moving into the new stadium? This is a sell season, not a buy. It's ok. They are actually overdue for doing something like this.

It's not like they've gone all Tom Hicks and decided they're just gonna run this thing on the cheap for good. They surveyed the talent on hand (holes everywhere), surveyed the division right now (strong), and decided that not hooking themselves up to deals that are probably bad deals in 3 years wasn't a good idea. They're right.

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Agree completely. If this team isn't within 5-7 games of the wild card by the All Star Break I'd say ship Hamels and maybe even Beltre. I love the guy and want him to retire as a Ranger, but he deserves a ring and that's definitely not gonna happen here in the next three years. IMO Elvis is the new Michael Young and hopefully we'll keep him well into his 30s.

That all being said, it's only been one series against a damn good Houston Astros team and I saw some flashes of good play. I think the Angels and Mariners are gonna do what they do and somehow miss the playoffs despite the talent and payroll. What concerns me this year is the A's made smart moves and as we saw in 2012 they can come out of nowhere and steal a division. Weird things happen at the Coliseum. How we play against Seattle, Anaheim, and Oakland will determine if we can compete for the wild card and I'm still cautiously optimistic (we'll see after April lol).

Yeah IMO the only pieces I wouldn't want to give up would be Elvis, Mazara and probably Gallo along with our top prospects. It would suck a lot to lose Beltre, but if the team is just bad this season he deserves to go elsewhere.

That being said, the Astros are until further notice the best team in baseball. That's a tough series to start the year with. I'm not ready to stick a fork in the Rangers yet, but the outlook doesn't look that great at the moment.

Texas wasn't really in the market for any position players as there really wasn't any place to play them and/or none that were going to take reasonable 1-year deals.

The only pitchers I see that ended up on 1-year deals that would have been definite upgrades to our rotation were Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn -- and both went to teams that are playoff contenders... Meaning just because we might have wanted them doesn't mean they wanted to come here.

Really not much about this off-season is that surprising. When you've got a team in the division that lost 400+ games over 4 seasons and has young, controllable studs you aren't going to win the division (and with unbalanced schedules, will have a tougher time winning the wild card).

Once the Ohtani wildcard sweepstakes ended, it was clear what direction this team should and would go for 2018.

Rest better knowing that this team will not put out a dud next year when trying to sell that new stadium.

Stadium opens in 2020, right?

Yes, but they will want to put a competitive team out there for 2019 (off-season spending) to generate season ticket sales for 2020.

_lefraud_ said:

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Yes, but they will want to put a competitive team out there for 2019 (off-season spending) to generate season ticket sales for 2020.

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I think that will be easier said than done. Any hope to be competitive in 2020 started this past off-season. We will be a young 2021 team with hopes for 2022.

There are a ton of high value assets available after the 2018 season. But, the teams for those players can still sign an extension and the teams with those players will now want to replace those holes. Because Texas will have SO many pieces, they will be competing in a super hot environment where prices will likely be high.

Take Kershaw and Andrus for example. Kershaw makes about $35M in '19 (age 31) & '20 (age 32). If he opts out, he'll go for MORE than $35M. Andrus opts out of the next 5yrs @$15M per... he'll get more money. Texas will likely make a run to extend him before the season is done, but I'm sure he'll test FA if only to get more from Texas. So, JD will spend most of 2018 and the Off-Seaon trying to figure out how to address 3B, 2B and two ToTR SPs. Hamels and Perez are our only real veteran hopes for the 2019 rotation.

Sadly... 2018 is a tearing down season. We will be tearing down the team to stock the minors and 2019 will be a transition year from which to build on. I hope we get some really, really good minor league players in trades.

They don't have to be competitive for the 2019 season, it just has to appear that way (by spending money later this Fall), which is why they didn't spend money this past offseason after Ohtani didn't happen.

94chem said:

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PatAg said:

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This info about Bregman's number choosing makes him seem like a child.

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Sometimes when you have a chip on your shoulder, you should just keep it to yourself.

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CJ, et al, are a little late coming up with this one. The "real, official baseball media" in NY already got it out there a year ago that Bregman chose his number because of Jeter.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/houston-astros-alex-bregman-wears-no-2-honor-idol-jeter-article-1.3157581

Who's staying up late to watch big sexy?

Huell Babineaux said:

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Who's staying up late to watch big sexy?

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Of course! But my kid has practice and we won't be home until ~9:30, so we will see if he is still in there. (game doesn't start until 9pm due to being in Oakland).

If I recall, his last couple of spring training outings were pretty good. We will see if he can continue with that.

Other than seeing development and progress from some of the young guys on the roster like Gallo and Odor, the most important part of this season is getting healthy production from Cole Hamels, Beltre, and maybe a surprise season out of one of these reclamation projects that they could flip for some young talent at the trade deadline.

I plan to watch the Hefty Lefty for as long as I can stay awake.

I'll be watching.

Am I to assume this is a one-and-done, barring some great spectacular performance?

I didn't quite follow the transactions. Originally signed to a minor league deal, I think with the idea he could make the club, but that was for a set amount of $$$. Because Perez wasn't quite ready, they needed someone to pitch this game, knowing Perez would take the spot the next time through the rotation.

So, rather than pay him the $1.75M for making the 40, they released him and then signed him likely to a lower amount based on them needing him for this 1 game.

From what I see, Colon is 5Ws away from tying Dennis Martinez in Ws by a Latin-born player. Having him face Oakland... in Oakland, gives him a chance to get a W. I think for a guy who has made over $100M, the money isn't that big of a deal.

The Rangers are likely a team that can give him 10 +/- GS during the season. Maybe even a long-reliever role...

The Rangers would, I'm sure, like to give Perez as much time as possible to heal. He's a part of the puzzle for 2019 and on, so no sense risking further injury for a meaningless set of game in 2018.

Not ignored at all. But as mhayden mentioned, many of these shorter term guys that might add real value/production also want to sign with a legit contender. The organization was up against it this offseason. Could they have scraped out more quality than they did? Maybe. Enough to make a difference in how the season ends? IMO highly doubtful.

wbt5845 said:

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The Rangers would, I'm sure, like to give Perez as much time as possible to heal. He's a part of the puzzle for 2019 and on, so no sense risking further injury for a meaningless set of game in 2018.

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Perez is 27 for the 2018 season and is owed $7.5M (2019) and $9M (2020). The only part of the future puzzle he plays relates to prospects we get in return. He doesn't seem like the leadership type (I could be wrong).

You don't need him to be a leader -- he's a part of the future as a middle/back-end rotation piece at $8-9M/year.

free_mhayden said:

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You don't need him to be a leader -- he's a part of the future as a middle/back-end rotation piece at $8-9M/year.

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The middle/back-end of the rotation eventually gets too full that it starts being the front-end.

As you'd expect... I'll be promoting the Rangers' minor league rotations.

Tentative for now...
Round Rock (AAA)
David Ledbetter (26-R): Not on 40
YoMen (23-L) : on 40, with final option. #7 prospect. ETA 2018.
Connor Sadzeck (26-R) : on 40, with final option. Was converted to RP late 2017

Frisco (AA)
Ariel Jurado (22-R): : on 40, with 3 options. #19 prospect. ETA 2019
Collin Wiles (23-R)
Brett Martin (22-L) - #15 prospect. ETA 2019
Pedro Payano (23-R)

Down East (A+)
Kyle Cody (23-R). #9 prospect. ETA 2019
Joe Palumbo (23-L). #13 prospect. ETA 2020
Jonathan Hernandez (21-R). #14 prospect. ETA 2019

For 2019, you'll have YoMen, Jurado, Martin, Cody and Hernandez are looking to make the roster.

You've got Minor $9.8M and Perez @$7.5M in your rotation. YoMen (SP) and Sadzeck (RP) are both on the roster, so you have 3 guy. I don't see Hamels on the roster. He'll either pitch well enough to be worth $20M and thus be traded... or he won't be worth picking up the option. Options for Moore ($10M) and Fister ($4.5M). If either Moore or Fister are pitching well... will they be shopped?

If Martin Perez is a 1.5-2 win player then he is part of the future of this rotation going forward in '19 and '20. Whether that future is as the #3 guy or #5 guy will TBD, but he's affordable and good enough to make a rotation so, yeah, he's part of the future.

DallasAg 94 said:

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free_mhayden said:

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You don't need him to be a leader -- he's a part of the future as a middle/back-end rotation piece at $8-9M/year.

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The middle/back-end of the rotation eventually gets too full that it starts being the front-end.

As you'd expect... I'll be promoting the Rangers' minor league rotations.

Tentative for now...
Round Rock (AAA)
David Ledbetter (26-R): Not on 40
YoMen (23-L) : on 40, with final option. #7 prospect. ETA 2018.
Connor Sadzeck (26-R) : on 40, with final option. Was converted to RP late 2017

Frisco (AA)
Ariel Jurado (22-R): : on 40, with 3 options. #19 prospect. ETA 2019
Collin Wiles (23-R)
Brett Martin (22-L) - #15 prospect. ETA 2019
Pedro Payano (23-R)

Down East (A+)
Kyle Cody (23-R). #9 prospect. ETA 2019
Joe Palumbo (23-L). #13 prospect. ETA 2020
Jonathan Hernandez (21-R). #14 prospect. ETA 2019

For 2019, you'll have YoMen, Jurado, Martin, Cody and Hernandez are looking to make the roster.

You've got Minor $9.8M and Perez @$7.5M in your rotation. YoMen (SP) and Sadzeck (RP) are both on the roster, so you have 3 guy. I don't see Hamels on the roster. He'll either pitch well enough to be worth $20M and thus be traded... or he won't be worth picking up the option. Options for Moore ($10M) and Fister ($4.5M). If either Moore or Fister are pitching well... will they be shopped?

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I concur that I'd rather see these young arms in 2019. Hell, I'd rather see YoMen this year than Doug Fister.

Not sure Kyle Cody will be able to make enough progress this year due to elbow issues to be ready in 2019.

wbt5845 said:

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I concur that I'd rather see these young arms in 2019. Hell, I'd rather see YoMen this year than Doug Fister.

Not sure Kyle Cody will be able to make enough progress this year due to elbow issues to be ready in 2019.

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Once the "time-served" required to retain one more year has passed, I'd like to see YoMen.

I kept Kyle Cody on that list, but as you know... looks like he will be shelved several month, and I think right now the concern is TJ surgery. I would expect him to be pushed WAY out, even though the ETA is listed as 2019.

Yohander had an ERA pushing 4 last year in AAA.

He's a guy that you may give a look to when rosters expand or if you are in dire need of an arm, but at this point he's not a guy that it would be smart to toss into the deep-end.

Huell Babineaux said:

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Idiots
https://instagr.am/p/BhFjkyDF0ut

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Since we don't have any big things, it's the little things like this that give me joy.

When Texas plays at Oakland, I always wonder wtf goes to A's games?

1-3 with the hoops championship being played. Yet here I am...

****ing hate basketball.

More punchable face - Michigan's Wagner or Colon?

So the 2nd inning?

Calling Colon's stuff pedestrian is being kind. If we had a + defensive team we might do OK, but I feel like any scoreless inning we get out of Colon will be a anomaly.

Fat **** is efficienct if nothing else.

2nd time through will be interesting.

Chirinos is batting 6th in this lineup right now.

He's batting .000 so far this year and I'm honestly not sure I've seen him put the ball in play. At all.

He has an RBI, so there is that.

6K in 11 AB for 4 Games.

0-1; K, so far tonight.
0.000 BA
0.000 OBP

Bottom of the lineup is brutal.