For me, the idea of Montgomery stems from the confidence gained having him perform the way he did. I'm jaded and biased. It is why my opinion is I only want us to sign a SP if it is him. I'm warming to Yamamoto.

I know cherry-picking ... sample size... I know Maddux is just a normal average Pitching Coach. But it is worth noting:
W/Out Maddux:
'22NYY - 21GS, 3.77
'23STL - 21GS, 4.02
W Maddux:
'22STL - 11GS, 3.39
'23TEX - 11GS, 2.79

But, then if you look at Post-Season.
2.63 ERA - Career

Is that just because of pitching to Houston in Houston?
8.2 IP, 0 ER => 0.00 in Houston
22.1 IP, 10 ER => 4.03

If you didn't see the video linked a few days ago, it was really good. He comes across as anything but a successful MLB SP who just won the WS. I was waiting for him to say, "Pull my finger."

Is Hyun-Jin Ryu a name that interests anyone else if we don't spend on one of the bigger SP names? He's spent plenty of time hurt the past couple years and obviously getting up there in age, but he's a lefty that has been really solid his whole career. If the unthinkable happens and we do end up with Ohtani, Ryu is pretty high on my wish list of budget SP.

Wow... Cards just signed Lance Lynn for 2024 @ $10M with a $1M buyout for 2025. Total Max could be as high as $24M/ 2yrs.

Lynn went: 32 GS, 5.73 in 2023.

Heaney has to be busting himself.

Based on my post above,

Ryu (35) 2022: 6GS, 5.67
Ryu (36) 2023: 11GS, 3.46

Both are 36. How much are you willing to spend on a "flyer" for Ryu?

Someone is going to give him $10M plus IP incentives.

N/m - parade site.

Nm

Has anyone seen a state or analysis of SP in MLB? It's hard to do, now, because players like deGrom and Kershaw are on the 40 and don't show up on a 60IL anymore.

Several teams are empty on pitching.

I'm curious what the market is for guys like Ryu mentioned above and Martin Perez. At least in the AL... I wonder how many teams feel good about their 1-2-3. Seattle. Cleveland. Texas.

The Atlantic looks to have a high-level list:

O's: Front-End + Back-End
BoSox: Front-End + Back-End
Royals: Front-End + Back-End
Tigers: Front-End + Back-End

A's: Front-End + Back-End

Angels: Front-End
Twins: Front-End
Yanks: Front-End
Rays: Front-End
Rangers: Front-End

CWS: Back-end
Astros: Back-end

Jays: Neither
Guardians: Neither
Mariners: Neither

I think the bolded 4 are the only ones who could spend on the higher end players. The others have other more pressing needs and may go with a mid-tier innings guy. BTW, saw a blurb that the Mariners were basically out of the Ohtani sweepstakes.

Flounder Dorfman said:

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Just saw the email that 20 game plans go on sale today. I bought those for several years in a row and didn't do it last year, mainly because my twin boys high school ball and select and I wasn't going to as many games.

I think I want to do it again this year though. So Mr. Gigem, do I need to purchase through you?

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Paging Mr Gigem. I am going to buy two of these also. Does it benefit you if I buy them through you?

Yeah feel free to email me

jchance@texasrangers.com

Mr Gigem, do you know if the team store has medium Seager powder blue jerseys? If not, any idea on restock date?

Got my commemorative ticket (game 1) and pretty disappointed with it overall. It also has eastern time on it

That's disappointing. I'm still waiting on mine because they don't have the acrylic cases in.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Cardinals know what's up.

They just locked up Gibson and Lance Lynn on $10M contracts.

Both are horses you can ride through the season and get you TO the playoffs.

Modern P structure has changed with the 2-3-2 and WC.

Used to be you'd want a 1-2-3-4-5. Now? You want a 1-1-4-4-5. If you can get those lower cost guys who are going to get you 150+ IP and keep you in ballgames, you'll need 4 to 5 of them and they don't have to be great. Add them to your ToTR kinda guys and you have the P to get you to the Playoffs and then tighten up the rotation for the Post-Season.

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I liked Lynn when he was pitching for the Rangers, competitive guy who kept you in games. But hasn't he been getting torched with the long ball the last couple of years? I know he was in 2023. It's only a one year deal for reasonable money, so maybe not a bad deal for the Cards. If his problem is going through the lineup a second/third time, they could use him as a multiple inning guy out of the pen. I think he still had pretty good velo going last time I watched him in a game.

To the tune of 44 last season.

That is not what I wanted to hear. I am still waiting on my game one ticket and I was pretty excited about it. Too bad it doesn't live up to expectations. Still can't get over how amazing that game was and that I was present for the most legendary homeruns in Rangers history.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Cardinals know what's up.

They just locked up Gibson and Lance Lynn on $10M contracts.

Both are horses you can ride through the season and get you TO the playoffs.

Modern P structure has changed with the 2-3-2 and WC.

Used to be you'd want a 1-2-3-4-5. Now? You want a 1-1-4-4-5. If you can get those lower cost guys who are going to get you 150+ IP and keep you in ballgames, you'll need 4 to 5 of them and they don't have to be great. Add them to your ToTR kinda guys and you have the P to get you to the Playoffs and then tighten up the rotation for the Post-Season.

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Never thought about the 1-1-4-4-5 deal but obviously worked out great for us. You think other teams will start to implement it? Seems that now has you aiming for a 88-92 win season with a better chance at going to deep in the playoffs

Got a full house and all the kids engaged. So fun to watch.

I started this earlier this week. I had some PTO to use-or-lose, and finished all my chores. Some of this isn't relevant until teams finish FA signings, but thought I'd start it. If anyone has any thoughts that I may need to change anything, let me know (Astros fans included). Starting with the AL West, I'll do each AL Division. I'm not wasting time on Oakland.

Just a reminder where we stand for 2024 Rotation:

Texas:
Scherzer (38): 8GS, 3.20, 45.0 IP, 53 SO \ $23M
Eovaldi (33): 24GS, 3.63, 144.0 IP, 132 SO \ $17M
Dunning (28): 26GS, 3.70, 172.2 IP, 140 SO \ A1 ~ $3.2M
Jo Gray (31): 29GS, 4.12, 157.1 IP, 142 SO \ $13M, $13M
Heaney ( 32): 28GS, 4.15, 147.1 IP, 151 SO \ $13M

Bradford (25): 8GS, 20G, 5.30, 56.0 IP, 51 SO \ Serf
deGrom (36): $40M

Seattle:
Castillo (31-R): 33GS, 3.34, 197.0 IP, 219 SO \ $24M
Gilbert ( 27-R): 32GS, 3.73, 190.2 IP, 189 SO \ $4.2M
Kirby ( 26-R ) : 31GS, 3.35, 190.2 IP, 172 SO \ Serf
Miller ( 25-R ): 25GS, 4.32, 131.1 IP, 119 SO \ Serf
Gonzales (32-L): 10GS, 5.22, 50.0 IP, 34 SO \ $12.2M <_ Could be Bryan Woo?

Robbie Ray (32) went TJ after 1GS in 2023 ($23M)

Houston:
Verland (41-R): 11GS, 3.31, 68.0 IP, 63 SO \ $18.3
Valdez ( 30-L): 31GS, 3.45, 198.0 IP, 200 SO \ 12.5
Javier ( 27-R): 31GS, 4.56, 162.0 IP, 159 SO \ 7.4
Brown ( 25-R ): 29GS, 5.09, 155.2 IP, 178 SO \ Serf
France ( 29-R): 23GS, 3.83, 136.1 IP, 101 SO \ Serf

McCullers of note.

Anaheim:
Detmers ( 25-L): 28GS, 4.48, 148.2, 168 \ Serf
Canning ( 28-R): 22GS, 4.32, 127.0, 139 \ $2.7M
Sandoval (27-L): 28GS, 4.11, 144.2, 128 \ $4.2M
Anderson (34-L): 25GS, 5.43, 141.0, 119 \ $13.0M
Silseth ( 24-R): 8GS, 3.96, 52.1, 56 \ Serf

deGrom won't be able to pitch until August, and then likely in relief. So I wouldn't count him as a rotation piece...that's just me. Assuming he's healthy, he'll be back in the rotation in '25, maybe the playoffs next season for 4-5 innings.

Then he probably won't pitch next season. Because he won't be cleared to pitch until August, and he's not going to come in and start after a 1 1/2 year recovery from TJ surgery.

I agree. That's why I didn't put his stats. However, I did want to capture the Cost of him as money spent on the rotation.

I don't know if McCullers or Ray contribute anything either, but wanted to note them, as well.

rbtexan said:

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Then he probably won't pitch next season. Because he won't be cleared to pitch until August, and he's not going to come in and start after a 1 1/2 year recovery from TJ surgery.

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I think it is way early to really factor in deGrom.

If we're at the end of the season and Eovaldi and Scherzer are both healthy, they're our 1-2.

I could see deGrom being an opener for Dunning or Heaney, BUT... if Dunning is doing in 2024 what he did in the 1H23, is Bochy willing to start deGrom and bring in either (Heaney or Dunning) of them behind him?!

I could see Heaney or Dunning saying "I don't think so" if they want them to come out of the BP... but I could also see them say, "deGrom will give us 2-3 IP of no-hit baseball, hell yes."

Yeah I could definitely see DeGrom as an opener as he's building back up from surgery. I really don't see him sitting in the outfield bullpen waiting to maybe or maybe not come in though. Just can't visualize that.

I think we'll really know some of deGrom's future around June or July. He should be throwing a lot by then and getting ready for a rehab stent of some kind. If he's back hitting high 90's consistently, then I think you could expect him to be back to himself to some degree. But if he's not throwing with velo by then, I would start to get worried.

I sure hope deGrom comes back. On Opening Day last year, his stuff was just electric.

Mr Gigem said:

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Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Well done sir. Mine still has about 1.5 hrs left.