It is why I hate this new idea of conceiding a season.

They are 9-7, and could easily be 12-4.
Lost to Astros: 2-1
Zona: 5-4 - Up 4-2 after 8.5.
Oakland 8-6- Up 6-1 after 5.

Granted they could have a far worse record, as well.

Statistically on paper, they'll probably tank at some point... but this is baseball.

From a hitting perspective, other than Andrus and Choo, they aren't really off the charts from what you'd expect. It was a young team, last year which was expected to improve.

Pence is 3rd on team in BA @ .276. Career .280.
Gallo (25): .245. Career .205. But we expected him to find his avg, right?!
Mazara (23): .245. Career .258.
Guzman (24): .231. Career .235
DeShields (26): .209. Career .243

We have Odor and Guzman, both out. We lost our #4 SP.

Crazy we have another day off, tomorrow.

And then there's this.

Met's have 3 lower guys in Keith Law's top 100 (Alonso, SS, SS)
Phillies have 4 guys all in the 35-70 range (RHP, RHP, LHP, SS)

Lucky #007 said:

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And then there's this.

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Rangers would be crazy to trade minor unless they receive an offer that literally blows them away.

Why?

This is exactly what we want. A couple high-ceiling prospects.

It isn't a question of if, but when... and how much we will get.

Could haul better than Teixeira... $9.5M for next year?

I really like Minor, and while I'd love to have him, parlaying this stretch into a foundation for the next 5-10 years would be huge. This is pretty much exactly what you're looking for by signing these injury recovery pitchers to reasonable multi-year deals.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Why?

This is exactly what we want. A couple high-ceiling prospects.

It isn't a question of if, but when... and how much we will get.

Could haul better than Teixeira... $9.5M for next year?

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This is what upsets me about rebuilding. It's a brutal process in so many ways.

If we bring in players who fit and do a good job for us, those are going to be the same guys other teams want.
You're right that minor probably needs to be traded. I'm just skeptical about what we can get because unless AJ Alexy pans out, the Darvish trade was horrible.

We should extend Cabrera at 3rd base for 2 or 3 years tho. We have nothing in the immediate pipeline who can come in and play the position at a major league level.

The biggest issue with the Darvish trade was market timing that season. They held their cards a long time, and there just weren't the buyers out there. Races were settled early. Ended up just being a really bad year to be looking to sell, maybe the worst I've ever seen. Having some interested parties in Minor this early though could be a big win.

Good reminder last week when a retired Tex was pulling down the ballpark countdown banner with his son and Elvis was belting a 3 run HR.

On Minor, I guess it just depends on the package someone is willing to offer. You have to at least listen, but as a fan you want to keep someone like him that is doing well.

Looked it up and he is 31 years old. Career record of 58-51, 3.93 ERA, 1.21 WHIP. He is signed through 2020 to a team friendly deal. Note that he did miss 2015-2016 due to injury/surgery.

Schall 02 said:

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Apparently best part about trading Darvish was we didn't overpay to resign him. He has been terrible.

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Agreed on this. And I have to admit I was wanting to keep him (if we could get him for a reasonable amount), so I was wrong on that one. Still think he can get back to where he was with the Rangers when he was a top pitcher, but maybe he has lost some of his motivation with the big money. He did always seem to tinker with too many different pitches. But he was dominant good when he was on. And he seemed to enjoy his time in Texas.

Schall 02 said:

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Apparently best part about trading Darvish was we didn't overpay to resign him. He has been terrible.

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Did anyone happen to see the Darvish pitch that injured 3 people at once? The batter, catcher, and umpire. He's really in a bad way right now. With that said, I don't like Willie Calhoun and his LA diva attitude. I think he will bolt the first chance he gets for some big market team.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Schall 02 said:

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Apparently best part about trading Darvish was we didn't overpay to resign him. He has been terrible.

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Did anyone happen to see the Darvish pitch that injured 3 people at once? The batter, catcher, and umpire. He's really in a bad way right now. With that said, I don't like Willie Calhoun and his LA diva attitude. I think he will bolt the first chance he gets for some big market team.

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I linked the Darvish pitch a few posts back.

Darvish hits three:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/yu-darvish-hit-three-guys-with-one-pitch/ar-BBVZO8D?ocid=se

Choo!

15 G, .327, 1 HR, 0.426 OBP

Has Santana made more solid contact in the last four games than Odor did all of last year? It seems that way.

Philly has been looking at Minor, since the off-season.

What do the Rangers look to add?

The following presumably are filled:
SS (Andrus), 2B (Odor), 1B (Guzman: Serf), LF (Gallo: A1), DH/RF (Mazara: A2).

C we have Mathis and IKF (Serf).

CF (DeShields: A2)
IF (Santana: A2) 3B? Trade target?

3B Cabrera (FA)
OF Pence (FA)

3B, SP, CF in order of importance? Best available? Could re-sign Cabrera?!

Top 3B
Philly: Alex Bohm (A) is #1 Philly prospect and 6th overall 3B prospect. 2021 ETA
NYM: Mark Vientos (A) is the NYMets' #4 prospect. 2021 ETA

Doorbell said:

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Has Santana made more solid contact in the last four games than Odor did all of last year? It seems that way.

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I'm sure you can find exit velocity.

Odor had 18 HRs, last year.

Santana has 0 HRs, this year. In fact, Santana has a total of 4 Hits, all season.

Odor has 7 Hs this season.

According to this, Odor has an exit velocity of 88.8 mph, in 2019. 21.9 Launch angle.

MLB avg is 89.0 mph.

Santana is 91.2, with a launch angle of 30.0.

And there goes the Richelson Pena train.

AAA: Pena - 5.1 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
AA: Hernandez - 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
A+: Latz - 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
A: Crouse - 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO

Rangers signed SP Jen-Ho Tseng (24-R) from Cubs. Could get sent to Nashville, after going to extended ST. I'd assume the Rangers look to promote a SP from Nashville, to replace Volq and Tseng backfills the spot at AAA, so they don't have to promote someone from AA.

Leveler Chaz made it tough but this is a great sweep.

First sweep of angels since 2013

What happened to Cabrera?

Didn't see the game. Last thing we need is more injuries..... already.

Jammed his finger going back to first. Those over mitts obviously are needed.

Strong work by Leclerc. When you give up a lead double, a walk, and an HBP, it's hard to pull it back together. Probably the best move of the inning was plunking Trout.

Cmon Oakland.


I don't want those pesky Astros bringing an 11 game win streak to town.

Crouse is flat out dealing in Hickory so far. I expect him to make a cameo in Frisco by the end of the year and be a pitcher us Rangers fans are salivating over for an MLB debut late next summer. So far in 14.1 IP he has a 19/0 K/BB and has only allowed 5 hits. The only blemish has been 3 HBP but he has been very efficient in his last two outings needing only 146 pitches to get through 11.2 innings (under 13 pitches per inning). He should make it to the Wood Ducks by Memorial Day and will be fun to watch all year.

As far as a Mike Minor trade goes, if they send him to the Mets, I would hope to get Mark Vientos as part of the return. That kid can rake and would be a great RH bat to have in the system with the potential to stick at 3B.

Looking forward to seeing Crouse in Arlington some day.

Rangers beat writer Jeff Wilson with writeup on extending Minor rather than trading him:

https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article229395559.html

I like the sentiment of the article, but I think it is fantasy to expect the Rangers to keep Minor. Which means they are negotiating and likely to extend in the next couple days.

Should we trade Santana to the Red Sox?

The case:
The Red Sox are 6-13. They have a payroll of $236M for 2019.

They need a 2B.
Pedroia (35) - IL. Knee issue which I believe is what limited him to 3G, in 2018. He is owed $13M ('20) and $12M ('21)
Eduardo Nunez (31) - IL. He gets $5M in '19. FA for '20.
Brock Holt (30) - IL. Scratched cornea. FA in '20.

They have called up: Tzu-Wei Lin (25) and Michael Chavis (23. debut to MLB. Traditionally a 3B).

If this is it, for Pedroia and they need a low cost 2B for the season, Santana could provide them such a role.

Could net us some prospects.

They've lost 4 of their last 5 and play 6 of their next 10 against Tampa. If they fall too far behind, and still have questions at 2B, it won't bode well for the season.

Keep Santana and trade Odor!

DallasAg 94 said:

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Should we trade Santana to the Red Sox?

The case:
The Red Sox are 6-13. They have a payroll of $236M for 2019.

They need a 2B.
Pedroia (35) - IL. Knee issue which I believe is what limited him to 3G, in 2018. He is owed $13M ('20) and $12M ('21)
Eduardo Nunez (31) - IL. He gets $5M in '19. FA for '20.
Brock Holt (30) - IL. Scratched cornea. FA in '20.

They have called up: Tzu-Wei Lin (25) and Michael Chavis (23. debut to MLB. Traditionally a 3B).

If this is it, for Pedroia and they need a low cost 2B for the season, Santana could provide them such a role.

Could net us some prospects.

They've lost 4 of their last 5 and play 6 of their next 10 against Tampa. If they fall too far behind, and still have questions at 2B, it won't bode well for the season.

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A lot of people would rather see us trade odor to them.

Odor is streaky as all get out, he gets hurt easily, and he has a very low baseball IQ. He makes a lot of boneheaded plays at the plate, on the base path, and in the field.

It's tricky tho, because Santana is out of options. I'd be disappointed if we let him go for nothing when Odor gets back. The guy should at least be kept in some kind of utility role.

The point of Santana over Odor was that Odor carries more $$$ and at $236M for 2019, the BoSox are probably not interested in putting more money on the IF, when their SP has been terrible.

Odor is streaky, but nobody I've heard who has met him, has ever claimed he had a low Baseball-IQ. Quite the contrary. Everything I've heard is that he take in everything he can. Sure, he has a lapse, loses focus... but he is 25.

Which leads to another myth. Odor is often injured.

He has the following GP: 114, 120, 150, 162, 129, 12.

He averaged 147 GP the past 3 seasons, missing 15 games/season.

In his 1st season (114 GP), he was called up (at age 20) and made his debut on May 8. That was game #35 of the season, so he missed 34. That means he missed 14 Games after making his debut.

So, since being called up... in his 5 seasons, he has missed an average of just a little over 20 Games (14, 42, 12, 0, 33). That's 1 DL15/yr. And we know of those 5 seasons, he didn't miss enough games in 3 of those, to be on the DL, at all.