Grapesoda2525 said:

---

Man……. I can't believe how far both Duran and Taveras have fallen. They both were hitting over their heads for a while there, but the drop-off shouldn't have been this steep. We're lucky if we get 1 hit per night between the 2 of them.

They're doing so poorly that Bochy put a kid who's making his major league debut batting #6. Notably the only hitters Martinez hit in front of were Leody, Duran, and smith.

Thank god we have Langford and Carter waiting in the wings.

---

You should really cut back on your smoking.

Leody is currently ranked #22 in the AL in BA. If Duran were "qualified" he'd be 14th.

As excited as I am about Carter and Langford... we have a ways to go. Carter is in AA batting .277.

Carter and Langford are clearly the future in the outfield, but you're spot on...like Mr. GigEm's brisket, they need the proper time & seasoning before they're ready for consumption.

Carter is still really young, and absolutely needs the rest of this season in the minors - likely part of next season as well. Langford is probably a candidate in '25, unless he really tears it up the rest of this season and next.

IMO the best plan for Carter would be to let him finish this season in AA, then move him up to AAA next season. If he's hitting well there and we have a need at the ML level, call him up sometime during the season. Langford is currently at high A, and it wouldn't surprise me if he gets a late promotion to AA. Next season I'd like to see him split time between AA and AAA and be ready to compete for a job in '25 (assuming he continues to hit like he has so far).

DallasAg 94 said:

---

Grapesoda2525 said:

---

Man……. I can't believe how far both Duran and Taveras have fallen. They both were hitting over their heads for a while there, but the drop-off shouldn't have been this steep. We're lucky if we get 1 hit per night between the 2 of them.

They're doing so poorly that Bochy put a kid who's making his major league debut batting #6. Notably the only hitters Martinez hit in front of were Leody, Duran, and smith.

Thank god we have Langford and Carter waiting in the wings.

---

You should really cut back on your smoking.

Leody is currently ranked #22 in the AL in BA. If Duran were "qualified" he'd be 14th.

As excited as I am about Carter and Langford... we have a ways to go. Carter is in AA batting .277.

---

You can be a homer and support all the guys in a rangers uniform if you want, but I was just pointing out a big reason why we're struggling to put up runs lately. Early in the season, our bottom 3 of the lineup was lethal. They carried us to a lot of victories. Leody used to have a .301 average and now it's down to about .270

Leody has fallen off a cliff Dallas. I'm not one of agree with Grape, but it's been a precipitous drop. His slash line (avg/OBP/Slug/OPS/OPS+:

.266/.307/.429/.736/99

He's also sporting a pretty insane 85 K's to 22 walks. He's now a below average hitter on the year and it's been trending this way for well over a month. Zeke doesn't bother me as much because he still puts the ball in play hard enough to warrant being in the lineup, but Leody isn't doing that enough rn. He could probably use a day off here and there to reset, maybe.

This is what has me concerned and thinking he could use a few days off. I never believed he was going to be a .300 hitter, but I did think he maybe could stabilize at .270 and play plus defense, but we've blown past that and now he's playing suspect defense. If he's going to strikeout like he is and not get on base, he needs to be a ++ CF.

Tksymm7 said:

---

Leody has fallen off a cliff Dallas. I'm not one of agree with Grape, but it's been a precipitous drop. His slash line (avg/OBP/Slug/OPS/OPS+:

.266/.307/.429/.736/99

He's also sporting a pretty insane 85 K's to 22 walks. He's now a below average hitter on the year and it's been trending this way for well over a month. Zeke doesn't bother me as much because he still puts the ball in play hard enough to warrant being in the lineup, but Leody isn't going that enough rn.

---

Who are you going to bat for Leody? The team is what it is. With injuries right now and the trade deadline passed, Leody is what we have. Not saying he hasn't regressed but he's a young player and he'll either figure it out or he won't.

His OPS is up 61 points over last season with 2 more games played that last year. Additionally, He has 14 more XBH over last season and a similar BA. There is a reason he bats 9th in the lineup but really, he's a top 6 or 7 hitter on the team.

I don't know if your going to get more production from Tavares than he is giving you. He is top 100 (97) in OPS for qualified batters in MLB which means he's probably top 50 - 60 in the AL.

ETA: He is 38 in AL for OPS.

I don't disagree that we should disown him or take him out of the lineup permanently. We really don't have any other options as you have pointed out. I'm just pointing out that he's been trending downward for well over a month and maybe we should mix up CF every once in a while or when he's really in the gutter slump wise.

Also, is Leody young? Sure he's 24, but he's got 1000 big league at-bats, 235 hits and sporting a .241 avg. He's got 23 career homers and strikes out a ton. I think that's plenty of time to figure out what a guy is going to be for most of his career. Sure he can get better here and there, but his numbers spell out what he's largely going to be for his career.

Smith August OPS .614
Duran August OPS .513
Taveras August OPS .533

Smith kind of gets a pass because he's a super sub who can play nearly every position defensively at a high level. They aren't really keeping or using him for his bat.

Duran is showing some signs, but we've been pointing to signs for a long time now. With the injury situation as it is, we need production.

Taveras doesn't even look competitive in a lot of his AB's.

These slumps have been going on since the all star break. I'm just giving you guys a sample of how bad they've been in august while the team has been winning nearly every game.

With Seagers banged up thumb, helms messed up wrist, and Jung's broken finger, we're going to need 1 or 2 of the guys above to get out of their slump or hope Martinez / Jankowski gets going. Jankowski has had a great year, but even he has almost no hits in his last 30 at bats.

The Arizona #Dbacks’ woes continue. They lose their 9th consecutive game, and have now lost 25 of their last 32 games.
They were 16 games over .500 on July 1 and on pace for a 96-win season, but now are 2 games under .500 (57-59), just a game ahead of the 4th-place #Padres.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 12, 2023

You'd almost think Jeff Banister has been managing them the last week or so.

wow

The @Braves take Game 1 of the doubleheader at Citi Field. 😳 pic.twitter.com/nGNoV9Wag9

— MLB (@MLB) August 12, 2023

Semien 2B
Seager SS
Lowe 1B
Garcia RF
Garver C
Martinez LF
Duran DH
Smith 3B
Taveras CF

And just like that the Mariners hold a WC spot. They are on the hunt with that starting pitching.

Tksymm7 said:

---

And just like that the Mariners hold a WC spot. They are on the hunt with that starting pitching.

---

I would kill to be able to develop pitching like them.

It's our biggest weakness. Every time we get a pitcher to AA or AAA they seem to fall off. I have no clue what it is, but we need to get it fixed because it's been another year of disappointing pitching on the farm.

rbtexan said:

---

Not that anyone asked, but if I was running the Rangers' minor league system I know exactly what I'd do re: pitching.

Step one for every pitcher, no exceptions - command your fastball. If you can't throw strikes with the fastball consistently, you don't get moved up, regardless of your stats. Fastball command is the most overlooked tool in the Rangers system IMO. Doesn't matter how good your changeup is, or your slider, curve, splitter, whatever. If the batters don't think you can throw a fastball for a strike, they're going to sit on the breaking stuff. Everything works off the fastball, and why we have so many pitchers who can't throw one for strikes is a mystery to me (Leiter being the posterchild).

---

rbtexan said:

---

Not that anyone asked, but if I was running the Rangers' minor league system I know exactly what I'd do re: pitching.

Step one for every pitcher, no exceptions - command your fastball. If you can't throw strikes with the fastball consistently, you don't get moved up, regardless of your stats. Fastball command is the most overlooked tool in the Rangers system IMO. Doesn't matter how good your changeup is, or your slider, curve, splitter, whatever. If the batters don't think you can throw a fastball for a strike, they're going to sit on the breaking stuff. Everything works off the fastball, and why we have so many pitchers who can't throw one for strikes is a mystery to me (Leiter being the posterchild).

---

Preach brother. It's the single most reason Leiter has fallen off a cliff.

gigem1223 said:

---

Tksymm7 said:

---

And just like that the Mariners hold a WC spot. They are on the hunt with that starting pitching.

---

Dangerous team right now. And we play them 6x in the last 9 games.

---

.

And LAA couldn't be any colder. Catching them at a good time.

PatriotAg02 said:

---

gigem1223 said:

---

Tksymm7 said:

---

And just like that the Mariners hold a WC spot. They are on the hunt with that starting pitching.

---

Dangerous team right now. And we play them 6x in the last 9 games.

---

.

And LAA couldn't be any colder. Catching them at a good time.

---

Why let that guy pitch to Tucker again?

No broadcast tonight?

ClassOf17 said:

---

No broadcast tonight?

---

Bally

Seager bomb!!

There is no video feed available from the MLB app… Is the game broadcast on Bally? I've been able to watch every other Bally broadcast all yea

Yes it's on Bally

So weird. I can watch every other game going on right now, but I can't watch the Rangers.

Guy should have been nailed there at home.

Gotta field that Garver. Great throw by Martinez.

Beasley does not send that runner in 100 of 100 tries.

Garver has butterfingers for a catcher.