You've gotta be kidding me. Not our night

The lineup tonight was the worst in a while. Results show.

9 LOB…yuck

And Garver pops up a hanger to end the game

Old fashioned pitchers duel. Took the series and start with the Rays on Friday.

Bummer, I know guys gotta get nights off…. but it kinda feels like we just gave up.

Well damn. Semien streak ends, Gray pitches a great game and takes the L, and we fail to put distance between us and Houston.

Sheesh, rough night. Oh well, time to rest up for Tampa.

Sucks, but s*** happens.

Of course, it's been an epically bad day for me, so it tracks that the Rangers would lose a game like this.

Yeah the day off tomorrow thing is really a head scratcher…can't be too often a pitcher goes the distance and gets the L

I saw how bad the lineup tonight was coming in, but I was open minded because we still had some good hitters and we were at home.

The cards pitcher was good, but I think our approach was horrible when matched up against his approach. Flaherty pretty much never threw a pitch in the strike zone when our hitters had 2 strikes on them except against guys like smith or Leon who aren't a threat. Flaherty threw dog **** pitches that were out of the zone and we should have just taken our walks and got to him by loading up the bases.

We did that in the first inning, but couldn't do it after that. The broadcast even say Flaherty struggles with walks. We needed to be patient, get walks, drive up flaherty's pitch count and get him out of the game because he had so much trouble throwing strikes. In a way our aggressive approach hurt us by getting ourselves out swinging at crap pitches all game.

Oh well…… at least the Astros lost. The offense was kind of disappointing the whole cardinals series to be honest but you can't expect to blow teams out every single game. I was hoping this extremely neutered lineup could put up 2 or 3 runs and they couldn't even do that. Smith kinda sucks.

Went back and looked at our strike outs on offense. The only ones in the strike zone were thrown to Leon or smith. The rest were all chasing balls out of the zone.

Back to the prospect list... Owen White is the only Top5 prospect I'd be ok losing, right now.

Evan Carter (20-AA-OF) - He reminds me of Odubel Herrera.

Owen White (23-AA-RHP)

Acuna (21-AA-MIF) - Despite what his brother says, I don't expect Luisangel to be better. But, a 20-20 guy at MIF is a luxury. Blocked by Seager and Semien, he likely gets traded at some point. I just don't think we have enough need to return value for him. In a fantasy world, we trade Seager or Semien... but that would be crazy stupid.

Leiter (23-AA-RHP) - I think he'll be the home-grown SP that will define the Rangers future.

Brock Porter (20-A-RHP) - I think he'll add to Leiter and be the SP that makes Texas look like the AL version of the Dodgers and Braves. I'm thinking Smoltz-Maddux-Glavine.

IMO, we are not in need enough to move one of the Top5.

Everything can change, but right now... if Owners are willing to take on some salary, we can get some RP on a salary dump.

I see a couple RPs as a need... anything else is a want.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Back to the prospect list... Owen White is the only Top5 prospect I'd be ok losing, right now.

Evan Carter (20-AA-OF) - He reminds me of Odubel Herrera.

Owen White (23-AA-RHP)

Acuna (21-AA-MIF) - Despite what his brother says, I don't expect Luisangel to be better. But, a 20-20 guy at MIF is a luxury. Blocked by Seager and Semien, he likely gets traded at some point. I just don't think we have enough need to return value for him. In a fantasy world, we trade Seager or Semien... but that would be crazy stupid.

Leiter (23-AA-RHP) - I think he'll be the home-grown SP that will define the Rangers future.

Brock Porter (20-A-RHP) - I think he'll add to Leiter and be the SP that makes Texas look like the AL version of the Dodgers and Braves. I'm thinking Smoltz-Maddux-Glavine.

IMO, we are not in need enough to move one of the Top5.

Everything can change, but right now... if Owners are willing to take on some salary, we can get some RP on a salary dump.

I see a couple RPs as a need... anything else is a want.

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We might need a back of rotation starter in case someone else goes down. If an injury happens, we would have what Bradford and Ragans?

Was a very old school manager "i'm gonna rest my players" move where seemingly they don't always grasp that 1 game in June is worth the same as 1 game in August.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/37807272/mlb-2023-texas-rangers-dominant-offense-rebuild-depth

Pretty cool ESPN Article on how we turned it around so quick

Look at it this way; in the spring our 1-5 was deGrom, Eovaldi, Gray, Perez, and Heaney, followed by Odorizzi, Dunning and maybe Ragans as your 6/7/8. DeGrom and Odorizzi are done for the year, so you've lost your 1 and 6 starters, and your 7 starter has been moved up into the rotation. So yes, Bradford might actually be the number 6 starter right now (which isn't ideal), but I don't think Ragans is a starter option unless they sent him back to AAA to stretch him out. He hasn't pitched more than an inning or two in a WHILE.

Tksymm7 said:

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Look at it this way; in the spring our 1-5 was deGrom, Eovaldi, Gray, Perez, and Heaney, followed by Odorizzi, Dunning and maybe Ragans as your 6/7/8. DeGrom and Odorizzi are done for the year, so you've lost your 1 and 6 starters, and your 7 starter has been moved up into the rotation. So yes, Bradford might actually be the number 6 starter right now (which isn't ideal), but I don't think Ragans is a starter option unless they sent him back to AAA to stretch him out. He hasn't pitched more than an inning or two in a WHILE.

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Yeah……if we want to compete for the division or win 100 games, I'm not so sure Bradford at #6 and ???? At #7 is going to cut it. At least, One more guy will probably have some kind of problem within the next 100 games. Hopefully we have good luck until the all star break on this front. More teams should be open for business in the 2nd half.

Tksymm7 said:

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followed by Odorizzi, Dunning and maybe Ragans as your 6/7/8. DeGrom and Odorizzi are done for the year, so you've lost your 1 and 6 starters, and your 7 starter has been moved up into the rotation. So yes, Bradford might actually be the number 6 starter right now (which isn't ideal), but I don't think Ragans is a starter option unless they sent him back to AAA to stretch him out. He hasn't pitched more than an inning or two in a WHILE.

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You could add Otto and Howard in the conversation of who was expected to be in the 6-10. I think both are expected back in late June?!

Ragans was a SP in 2022 and got 134 IP. He has actually gone 4, 3, 2.1, 2.0, and 1.2 IP this season. I think he is more a trade candidate. But, his Game Log doesn't look nearly as terrible as his overall stats. 5ERs in 0.2 IP against Cincy is hard to hide in relief pitching.

Good points with Otto and Howard, as I think both could be net positives coming out of the pen, but I think that's where I'd keep them.

bmac_aggie18 said:

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https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/37807272/mlb-2023-texas-rangers-dominant-offense-rebuild-depth

Pretty cool ESPN Article on how we turned it around so quick

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Got as far as "Free" would get me.

AggieEP said:

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I haven't seen this specifically written anywhere on here, but with the way Jung is raking, he's in good position at this point to be the AL rookie of the year. His primary competition is Yoshida from Boston and possibly Brown in Houston if Brown can right the ship and get enough innings to put up some counting stats.

If Jung and Yoshida's stats are similar, I bet they give it to Jung because he more closely fits the definition of a Rookie than Yoshida who has played pro ball for years in Japan already.

Why does it matter, because Jung was on preseason top 100 prospect lists, if he wins ROY, the Rangers get a pick at the end of the 1st round. (basically replacing the pick we gave up to sign DeGrom) If he gets at least 2nd or 3rd (seems to be a guarantee) then the Rangers get an extra pick in the international draft.

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This has been briefly discussed. Some of us recognize that having "Boston Red Sox" after his name gives him some advantage. I'm hoping Jung @ 3B vs Yoshida in LF gives Jung an advantage.

I agree those are probably your Top3 right now, with the edge to Jung. I had forgotten the incentive added.

I saw it brought up in regards to Elly De La Cruz, with some thinking that even though he seems ready to play at the big league level, the Reds might have been tempted to keep him in the minors until August like what the Diamondbacks did with Corbin Carroll last year in order to keep him eligible to be ROY next year.

One of the weird parts of the rule is that in order to get the draft pick you have to be on the MLB roster for 172 days, thus incentivizing clubs to call up prospects early in the season (i.e. not manipulating their service time). So even if Elly goes bonkers and wins ROY, the Reds wouldn't get a compensation pick because he won't be up for the minimum amount of days this year. And if he wins ROY, he also gets credit for one full year of service time as a reward and not the partial year, so it's a bit of a gamble for the Reds to call him up now because they aren't really in contention, and if he lights it up, they might lose a year of control.

It's one (tiny) reason why I think the Rangers might be keeping Foscue on the farm. He'd be a clear upgrade to Grossman or Brad Miller's bat and could at the bare minimum DH, but maybe the Rangers want to wait until August since things are good now anyway just to keep his rookie eligibility open for next year. He's on the back half of some top 100 lists and is showing well this year in AAA. He could be a candidate to full time DH next year while spelling Semien and Jung and put up some good counting numbers that would give him a chance at winning ROY. No reason not to try and win that draft compensation if it's out there.

AggieEP said:

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It's one (tiny) reason why I think the Rangers might be keeping Foscue on the farm. He'd be a clear upgrade to Grossman or Brad Miller's bat and could at the bare minimum DH, but maybe the Rangers want to wait until August since things are good now anyway just to keep his rookie eligibility open for next year. He's on the back half of some top 100 lists and is showing well this year in AAA. He could be a candidate to full time DH next year while spelling Semien and Jung and put up some good counting numbers that would give him a chance at winning ROY. No reason not to try and win that draft compensation if it's out there.

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Some good comments. Regarding Foscue... he has played predominately at 2B and 3B this season, so I don't consider him an alternative to Grossman/Miller, even at DH.

I think he is more a trade piece and his value at 2B is likely where we will get the most return.

I think Grossman and Miller show how easy it is to fill lF with JAG.

It's not just giving guys a night off, it's giving 3-4 guys the night off on the same night. Rolling out Grossman/Smith/Leon as 7-8-9 is not going to put you in a great position against a decent pitcher.

Obviously Bochy knows more than any of us ever will, that doesn't mean he doesn't make plenty of errors or in hindsight might have done something different.

Maybe it keeps a guy fresh for the stretch run. Definitely cost us a good chance at a W last night though.