Anyone watching the MLB awards? Absolutely terrible production. Seems like a high school AV project. Very few people in the audience and the hosts (I enjoy watching Harold, Greg, and DeRo) are wooden and horrible. Waiting for Rangers selections/highlights.

Quincey P. Morris said:

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At the end of the day, basement level bowl games outdraw the MLB awards. I didn't even know they were one.

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I didn't either until I turned on the TV and started flipping channels.

Fuzzy Dunlop said:

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Semien and Seager with 1st team All MLB. I think the "best duo" question has been answered.

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I caught a ban yesterday, apparently because I mentioned that on the Astros' thread.

One of their posters posted a Fangraph tweet with the T10 projected for 2024, and the Rangers didn't make the T10. The O's were 10th, with 83.8 Ws projected. The quote in the post was: "A billion dollars only gets you third place projection." Which I agreed with and found it amusing.

I said something like "Apparently returning almost the entire team after winning the World Series doesn't even get you T10. In fact, having the AL MVP #2 & #3 won't even get you T4 for "Best Duo."

I'm not arguing if it was ban-worthy or not. The intent was to illustrate the media bias. We all know that with the NYY not in the playoffs and with the early exit by LAD and ATL, many in the media turned off the MLB Playoffs and missed some great baseball. And so, for all of these Click-Bait Tweeters, it shows they are trading more on Brand than success.

The Rangers didn't make the T4 list for "Best Duo" that was supposed to showcase Soto going to the Yankees.

So, not to be outdone or humiliated, MLB decided they needed the "Best Trio" and the Rangers were 5th on the "Best

The best trios around the league. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TU394qvfPK

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 12, 2023

So, let's look at just the "All-MLB Team"
https://www.mlb.com/news/2023-all-mlb-teams-unveiled

All MLB Teams:
1. LAA: Betts (1-OF), Ohtani (1-DH), Freeman (1-1B)
2. ATL: Riley (1-3B), Acuna (1-OF), Olson (2-1B)
3. HOU: Tucker (2-OF), Alvarez (2-DH), Altuve (X)
4. NYY: Soto (X), Judge (2-OF), Torres (X)
5. TEX: Seager (1-SS), Semien (1-2B), Garcia (2-OF)

Silly Tweets like above don't bother me, but they are fun to laugh at. If Judge wasn't a Yankee, he'd be off the All MLB list and they'd be promoting a Trio of guys considered no better than 3rd at their position over 2 guys that were selected as #1 at their position, and we're not talking DH... but the 2 hardest positions to play.

We got the WS Trophy, that is all that matters. Oh, and we got SS, MVP, and ALL-MLB selections. OH... and 2023 was the 1st time one team had SIX (6) All Stars on the field at one time. And they ALL Six return to the Rangers.

DallasAg,

Out of curiosity, if you had the All-MLB Lineup for 162 Games 1-9 spots, what would the expected number of wins be?

Maybe the Rangers will see in 2024?! jk

Depends on the Pitching. Rangers Were 30 of 63 in Save attempts with RP giving up 299 ER (316 R) which adds 1.85 ER per game.

In theory, if you have the best 1-9, one would think you'd win 162 G, but then, the other side of that is some believe most teams will lose 54G (1/3) in any given season. So, 108Ws. Baseball is a game of streaks and it is very rare for a team to lose like the Rangers did late in the season, but you will have bad games and streaks of losses.

Personally, 125-130Ws seems like a ceiling. Mentally and Physically, slumps... that's a ton of winning.

Rangers converted 47% of Saves in 2023 and I think league average was about 60%. That improvement alone with the team the Rangers had, would have given the 90W Rangers 98Ws.

If the Rangers added Ohtani, Hader (RP), and kept Monty for 2024... Would 110-115 Ws be too high expectation?

Too early to get excited about the 2024 schedule?

Rangers should have a pretty good start.


Texas gets:
v Cubs (3) <- Mediocre team
@ Tampa (3) <- Without Glasnow, they'll be weak early. Pepiot will get better.
v Houston (4) <- Will it be a Houston homecoming or a beat down?
v Oakland (3) <- Might struggle against AA teams.
@ Houston (3) <- Will it be an Adolis and a Rangers homecoming or a beat down?
@ Detroit (4) <- Bottom feeder?

Without judgement on Houston's team, That's 13G against a beatable schedule. 15-5 too optimistic?


The Astros 2024 season starts like this:

Houston gets:
v NYYY (4) <- Hello Soto
v Toro (3) <- They haven't done much so far, but appear to be trying.
@ Texas (4) <- Astros could feast. OR... not. We'll see.
@ KC (3) <- Probably the most improved ALCentral team for '24.
v Texas (3) <- Astros should have the home hitting figured out by now, right?
v Atl (3) <- Maybe the #2 team in MLB?

That's 20G against some of the best teams in MLB to start the season. 9-11 too pessimistic? 10-10?

I don't think predicting Oak, Sea, and LAAA has any merit.

Mr. Gigem,

Can you please post your email address again? No way will I be able to find it on here again. I'll write it down this time. Thank you sir.

Mr Gigem said:

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Yeah feel free to email me

jchance@texasrangers.com

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Here you go.

Disappointing.

I wonder if Nadel will return in 2024? After the WS call and finish, I could see him riding off into the sunset.

Jared Sandler is the guy to keep an eye on. I could see him joining the TV booth for the Rangers. He does some radio stuff with Nadel and Hicks. He is on The Fan often, and has a great relationship with them. He has some charity stuff he does in Dallas.

He also does some TV broadcast, I believe, for the RoughRiders.

He has been with the Rangers for 9 years. I remember when he 1st joined. My boys were in a sports activity that had me in the car carpooling for 2hrs every evening, so I was listening to the games. Had to be his 1st or 2nd season?! They would hand it over to him for an IP to call and you could tell he was just getting his legs under himself and Nadel and Hicks were bringing him along. He'd later go on to say how much he appreciated such accomplished broadcasters not only take him in, but mentor him and trust him along the way.

Now, you can noticeably see how good he is and brings a ton to the table. I think he'll get promoted to either the TV booth, or replace Nadel (who was gone most of the 2023 season).

Proposition Joe said:

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Sign Josh Lewin, Torii Hunter and Clayton Kershaw.

Get it done!

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I have this vision from the AllStar game, where they had the pitchers mic'ed up. Imagine Kershaw doing some radio or TV 1H of the season... signs to P for the Rangers and continues broadcasting while pitching?!

Amazon in talks over streaming partnership with bankrupt Diamond Sports Group: Report

Well that would be interesting.

I don't think Diamond owns the Rangers streaming rights (unless you login with TV provider) but maybe they'd give them to Diamond if Diamond paid the contract amount.

I don't remember what the weird deal is with the streaming rights, but if they get some financial backing that keeps them afloat maybe they'll work something out on that.

I believe the Bally's issue was that they have the rights to distribute the content but not broadcast it. So, they can sell the content to a provider like Spectrum Cable or DISH to broadcast. However, they can't broadcast them directly. Their intent was to deliver a Streaming App which would allow them to sell direct to the public. MLB balked at that and requires them to go through a broadcaster.

If they partner with Amazon, Apple, or YouTube TV, I believe they (Amazon, Apple, YouTube TV) can broadcast the game through the Bally's agreement.

Our company requires a 2-Tier distribution. We sell our products to a Distributor and they sell them to a "retailer" if you will... who sells them to the end customer. In our case, it is about hardware being distributed and maintained. It is about customer collections and risk.

You see the same with most products like Auto manufacturers who sell to dealers who sell to the public. Tesla had a problem in Texas about trying to sell Auto's to the public directly without dealers.

The Internet and OnLine has muddled this. We have a SW version that I can generate a License and deliver in seconds to customers, however, we still require a Channel Partner to deliver the license.

Star Wars is seen in theaters who are distributing content, but don't really make it. NetFlix is another blurring of lines.

Martin Perez to Pittsburgh. No details. Guesses?

I'd say, 2yr / $13Mper year plus IP incentives.

My guess is 3/36

Martin Perez : $8M, 1 year #pirates

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 18, 2023

We seriously couldn't match that deal? Seems pretty fair and reasonable since we need the pitching depth bad. Must put us over the tax. Good luck to Perez and glad he was able to win a ring with us.

Interesting thanks.

I'm really surprised at 1yr/$8M. Thought he'd get more. Much more. Gibson, Lance Lynn... jeez...

Good for him. If he pitches really well, the Pirates might make the playoffs. If he pitches pretty good, he likely gets traded to a contender and remains a SP. Unless he pitches poorly he will get another year in 2025.

I wonder if him getting moved tot he BP and limited chances in the playoffs, if it impacted his worth?! OR, he might have chosen a low stress place he thinks he can perform well.

I think for the Rangers, it would have been spreading money in an unnecessary place.

We know 4 SPs: Eovaldi, Heaney, Gray, & Dunning.
We have 3 60IL: Scherzer, deGrom, Mahle
We have 4 hopes: Bradford, White, Leiter, Porter

Best case for Perez would be to beat our Bradford in ST for #5 and then get traded at the deadline when one of the 3 return... or get moved to the BP.