So it's obvious this year is going to suck. What is one somewhat realistic thing that would get you (relatively) pumped? Gallo hitting like an MVP again? Odor starts off super hot and then gets traded for a decent prospect? Rocker and Leiter both pitching like obvious perennial Cy Young candidates? Other?

Draft Lawlor the SS at #2. Forget trying to draft and develop a SP right now.... this crew just doesnt seem to have it.

I would usually be one to agree with you (position player over pitcher), but we need an ace and I'm not seeing one in our minor league system. If Rocker and Leiter are both tearing it up with no red flags, I think we should take one of them. That is unless Lawler looks like the second coming of Honus Wagner...

This is the least motivated I have been for a season in forever. But The thing I will watch for is if the team plays sound baseball. If they lose but they are not beating themselves with errors and stupid stuff I will consider that a step in the right direction.

I think Nate Lowe has passed Guzman in the hopes of 1B of the present (and future).

Somewhat of a sidebar conversation, but...

I subscribed to a podcast called "Locked On Rangers", hosted by Brice Paterik. Wow. I sure hope none of you are related to him, because it's bad....really bad.

I could live with a lot of the minor annoyances, such as saying "like" repeatedly or stumbling on words, misreading copy, etc. But if you're going to host a team-specific podcast, you really owe it to the listeners to actually, oh I don't know, maybe do some in-depth research first?

The two most recent episodes are projecting the starting lineup. In the one about the infield, he's projecting Lowe at 3B (???) and Guzman at 1st. The latter part of that may happen, but Lowe @ 3rd? I've read nothing suggesting that was going to happen. But the most egregious was in discussing the move of IKF to SS. He expressed concern that he had only played 17 games at that position. Hey Brice...he's played 17 games of SS in the majors. I guess the 142 games he played at SS in the minors - the most he played at any position - don't count.

You'd think with a market the size of the Rangers, there would be a better podcast available. Oh well. Rant over.

I read an article where it alluded to Lowe playing some 3b, but to pencil him in there is ridiculous given that he's played 11 games (2 starts) at the position as a professional.

We look forward to hearing - anything.

Management is obviously hoping people are distracted by the shiny new stadium for a few years while the product on the field is god awful.

wbt5845 said:

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Some of you seem confused about what a rebuild is.

$10 MM saved this year on starting pitching is $10 MM more available in 2023. Why spend that money now to get from 55 wins to 60 wins?

And if you only get excited following a winning team, you may want to find a different hobby this summer.

What to get excited about for this summer:

- Is Gallo the cornerstone of a championship contender?

- Is Solak/IKF a middle infield we can move forward with?

- Is Guzman our 1B of the future?

- Is Taveras going to become a perennial All Star?

- Of our young SPs, who is going to step forward and become a regular in our rotation for years to come?

- The arrivals of Sam Huff and Josh Jung.

These are the things you look to follow and enjoy. If you're just a band wagon fan who likes to follow a winning team, come back in 2023 and ask "wow where'd these guys come from?" and we'll just chuckle.

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Don't fall off your high horse there.

I'll make statements similar to what DallasAg made.

Money not spent in 2021 is not going to correlate to money spent in 22, 23, 24, etc. It just isn't. I think ownership has shown us what they are about. Brand new stadium, very little talent.

I want Gallo to be a cornerstone but I don't think he ever will be. He's cut down on his strikeouts and is more disciplined but until he can make teams pay for the overshift, he's a .220/30/85 RBI guy. The 30/85 is good. The .220 is not.

I love Solak's bat. He's the kind of hitter we need in Arlington with the set up of the new ballpark. How will he do at 2B? That remains to be seen. I don't think he'll be worse than Odor defensively and offensively he'll get on base. I'm excited to see what we have there.

Condor or Lowe, who cares. We don't have a 1B bat. Condor is great on defense but, like Gallo, he needs to be better at the plate. I could probably live with .220 if he was hitting 40-50 HRs and getting 100+ Rbis.

I don't know if Tavares will be an All-Star but I think he will be a very good ball player. I'm looking forward to seeing him patrol CF this year.

Our young SPs give me hope. Burke, Allard, and Palumbo look to be pretty good, especially given their age. I don't know ow if any of them will ever be a FotR type pitcher but I sure hope at least one makes it while they're still Rangers.

I hope Huff and Jung continue to progress and become All-Stars.

I've been a season ticket holder for quite a few years. I have grown tired of people dumping on this club's management when they were willing to write checks for whatever it takes for the better part of a decade to stay competitive.

When people look at this team and throw their hands up and say "God management sucks and I'm not watching them" my thought is "well... bye". A lot of us were here long before 2010 and we'll be here long after 2021 because we aren't just bandwagon fans.

Mr Gigem said:

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I think you will like the option we are leaning towards

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Do tell!

DallasAg 94 said:

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wbt5845 said:

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I've been a season ticket holder for quite a few years. I have grown tired of people dumping on this club's management when they were willing to write checks for whatever it takes for the better part of a decade to stay competitive.

When people look at this team and throw their hands up and say "God management sucks and I'm not watching them" my thought is "well... bye". A lot of us were here long before 2010 and we'll be here long after 2021 because we aren't just bandwagon fans.

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Technically speaking... no... you weren't... at least not under this username:

Quote:

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Username: wbt3845
Joined: Jan 2, 2011
Posts: 22,291

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I have been posting on TexAgs about the Rangers since before there was a MLB board. I think that came in like 2005? With almost 14K posts... that is over 2% of ALL the posts on this forum.

Having said that...according to COTS... the Rangers haven't been writing that many big of checks:

2020: $65M (14)
2019: $118M (20) <- 18th in Attendance
2018: $133M (16) <- 19th in Attendance
2017: $165M (8) <- 12th in Attendance
------ Arlington passes new stadium ------
2016: $159M (8) <- 10th in Attendance
2015: $142M (8) <- 16th in Attendance
2014: $134M (10) <- 9th in Attendance
2013: $125M (9) <- 5th in Attendance
2012: $121M (7) <- 3rd in Attendance
2011: $92M (13) <- 10th in Attendance
2010: $65M (26) <- 14th in Attendance
------ Current Ownership buys team ------
2009: $68M (19)
2008: $68M (19)
2007: $68M (19)
2006: $68M (18)


Added the Rangers rank in MLB Attendance. The fans have far outpaced the owners in support. There are a couple outliers (2015 and 2017), but for the most part... the Rangers fans deserve better. It looks "almost" as i the Owners spent a little extra leading up to the Stadium vote, then abandoned the spending once it was past.

There is reason for fans to be fickle. Tom Hicks once said if the fans would come out, he'd spend. Fool me once, shame on... the point is not to be fooled.

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I can't believe we were ever top 5 in attendance with that sweaty old ballpark we used to have.

DallasAg 94 said:

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wbt5845 said:

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I've been a season ticket holder for quite a few years. I have grown tired of people dumping on this club's management when they were willing to write checks for whatever it takes for the better part of a decade to stay competitive.

When people look at this team and throw their hands up and say "God management sucks and I'm not watching them" my thought is "well... bye". A lot of us were here long before 2010 and we'll be here long after 2021 because we aren't just bandwagon fans.

---

Technically speaking... no... you weren't... at least not under this username:

Quote:

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Username: wbt3845
Joined: Jan 2, 2011
Posts: 22,291

---

I have been posting on TexAgs about the Rangers since before there was a MLB board. I think that came in like 2005? With almost 14K posts... that is over 2% of ALL the posts on this forum.

Having said that...according to COTS... the Rangers haven't been writing that many big of checks:

2020: $65M (14)
2019: $118M (20) <- 18th in Attendance
2018: $133M (16) <- 19th in Attendance
2017: $165M (8) <- 12th in Attendance
------ Arlington passes new stadium ------
2016: $159M (8) <- 10th in Attendance
2015: $142M (8) <- 16th in Attendance
2014: $134M (10) <- 9th in Attendance
2013: $125M (9) <- 5th in Attendance
2012: $121M (7) <- 3rd in Attendance
2011: $92M (13) <- 10th in Attendance
2010: $65M (26) <- 14th in Attendance
------ Current Ownership buys team ------
2009: $68M (19)
2008: $68M (19)
2007: $68M (19)
2006: $68M (18)


Added the Rangers rank in MLB Attendance. The fans have far outpaced the owners in support. There are a couple outliers (2015 and 2017), but for the most part... the Rangers fans deserve better. It looks "almost" as i the Owners spent a little extra leading up to the Stadium vote, then abandoned the spending once it was past.

There is reason for fans to be fickle. Tom Hicks once said if the fans would come out, he'd spend. Fool me once, shame on... the point is not to be fooled.

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I didn't mean "here" on TexAgs - I meant "here" as a fan and season ticket holder.

And in case you hadn't heard - Tom Hicks doesn't own the team anymore.

Quote:

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That's projected to be 21st... right there with Oakland, who is ranked 22nd.

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And Oakland will be in the playoff mix again this year. Of course, if they make it, they'll only have a Wild Card loss to show for it and no fans in the stands to see it.

This

Quote:

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Or... Amazing that the owners told you it would be $100M more than what is projected?

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Top 5 market tho!

Fool me once shame on you...

The Astros set the precedent. There is zero incentive to have a "maybe we'll be competitive but we'll have to see" team.

You either are a World Series contender or you suck as much as possible.

wbt5845 said:

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Some of you seem confused about what a rebuild is.

$10 MM saved this year on starting pitching is $10 MM more available in 2023. Why spend that money now to get from 55 wins to 60 wins?

And if you only get excited following a winning team, you may want to find a different hobby this summer.

What to get excited about for this summer:

- Is Gallo the cornerstone of a championship contender? Maybe

- Is Solak/IKF a middle infield we can move forward with? No

- Is Guzman our 1B of the future? No

- Is Taveras going to become a perennial All Star? No

- Of our young SPs, who is going to step forward and become a regular in our rotation for years to come? none

- The arrivals of Sam Huff and Josh Jung.

These are the things you look to follow and enjoy. If you're just a band wagon fan who likes to follow a winning team, come back in 2023 and ask "wow where'd these guys come from?" and we'll just chuckle.

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Gallo will not be a cornerstone here. They are just praying he has a rebound year to improve his trade value. If he does, he'll be gone

DallasAg 94 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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The Astros set the precedent. There is zero incentive to have a "maybe we'll be competitive but we'll have to see" team.

You either are a World Series contender or you suck as much as possible.

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I don't think it will stay that way long. It is the same process Miami and Tampa have used, but they do it out of necessity.

It is very short-sighted and only 1 team will win it all.

I've talked about what Tampa does. They can afford to suck for 3-4 years because they don't really have a fan base and having long-term players to build STH doesn't work.

Tampa traded us Nick Solak for Pete Fairbanks.

Fairbanks went 27G, 2.70 ERA, 39 SO in 26.2 IP for the AL Pennant winning team, last year. He'll be a FA in 2026. Tampa will trade him in 3 years (2024) for 2-3 minor league guys who will become future rotation pitchers.

Nick Solak? DH hopeful. A guy we pickup and discard repeatedly every offseason. I'd be surprised if the Rangers don't release him after 2021, opting to keep Calhoun and Lowe at DH, instead of Solak.

Many of you think Nate Lowe will push out Guzman. And he might. If only so the Rangers can convince themselves it was a good trade. Nate Lowe couldn't earn the starting role in Tampa. He has the potential to be marginally better than Guzman. We'll see in 2021 who the Rangers keep and where they end up.

Tampa gave us Nate Lowe, Jake Guenther (23-LF-Rk), and Carl Chester (25-CF-AA) for: Osleivis Basabe (20-MIF-Rk), Heriberto Hernandez (21-1B-Rk), and Alexander Ovalles (21-OF-"A-").

So, Tampa traded us two guys who are Rule V after 2021, which means they are either on the 40-Man... or we expose them. We gave up 3 guys who are all young LATAM players. None of the 3 guys we got from Tampa will be much. Tampa has 2-3 years on these guys to hit and they only need 1 of the 3 guys they got. The other 2 they will trade off like Solak and Lowe.

But that's what Tampa does. They surplus young guys. They keep the successful ones and trade off the others just before they lose all value, to the next sucker GM willing to give up young prospects.

They do that in waves. Stock players for a 2024-2026 run... have a great young, cheap team. Sign a big name FA if you need it, or trade for a player to fill a hole. Then, in 2026, 2027, when some of those cheap players get near FA... trade them off for the next wave of young future superstars. Backfill holes with the glut of surplus players you accumulate.

Time it well enough and you minimize the down years.

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It's remarkable that Tampa Bay has been able to keep it up despite losing executives to the dodgers, Red Sox, and Astros.

We all remember 10 years ago that this rangers team was the talk of baseball and we had the deepest farm system to boot. It looks like Levine and / or preller had a lot more to do with that success than we hoped.

I would also argue that we've been one of the most unlucky franchises in baseball since that time as well. We lost Matt Harrison, Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis, Martin Perez, and Neftali Feliz to injury within a couple years of each other. Jurickson Profar missed two years right as his development was starting to get major league ready. Prince Fielder had missed one game the previous five seasons before a trade that gave us one year of production on a franchise crippling contract. Within the minor leagues, we've endured UCL injuries to promising prospects Yerry Rodriguez, Cole Ragans, Owen White, Kyle Cody, Ricky Vanasco, Mason Englert, Alex Speas, Joe Palumbo, Yohander Mendez, Connor Sadzeck, and Chi Chi Gonzalez. Injuries also ended the season for prospects Brock Burke and Hans Crouse.

That doesn't seem unlucky to me. Sounds like a development issue. Do other teams have that many significant injuries to young players?