cmiller00 said:

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I'm really excited about Langford but the constant hype is going to make it seem like a disappointment if he doesn't make the opening day roster and rake. Dude was playing college baseball this time last year. If the Rangers think he needs more time then it's not a failure.

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He's going to be a star. Just maybe not this year. Would love to see him win rookie of the year tho.

rbtexan said:

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FWIW, Jeff Wilson just sent out his updated opening day roster predictions.

SP - Eovaldi, Dunning, Gray, Heaney & Bradford
BP - LeClerc, Robinson, Yates, Sborz, J Hernandez, Burke, Latz & Duffy. Dark horses for the last 2 spots are Church, White, Leiter, Winn, and Kent (because the Rangers need multiple innings guys)
C - Heim, Knizner and Huff
IF - Lowe, Semien, Jung, Duran, & Smith (Huff would be the odd man out if Seager is ready opening day)
OF - Carter, Taveras, Garcia, Jankowski and Langford.

Yep, he thinks Langford breaks camp on the big league club.

All subject to change of course, it's really early.

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I think it is Robertson not Robinson.

He put zero risk into that. Granted 21 of 26 spots are set barring injury.

I think Hernandez & Smith likely have to work themselves out of a spot.

He hedges 7 guys for the last 2 P spots.

Personally, I'm going with someone like Elier or Harris as your 5th OF over Langford, if you go that route. Langford won't get enough ABs, IMO. Garcia would then have to be your DH, which I think will be Seager to start the season.

The only argument for Langford is if you are committed to him being ROY and Bochy commits to him like he did Jung and says, "You're going to have ups and downs, but we're committed to you being here." And don't look back.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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cmiller00 said:

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I'm really excited about Langford but the constant hype is going to make it seem like a disappointment if he doesn't make the opening day roster and rake. Dude was playing college baseball this time last year. If the Rangers think he needs more time then it's not a failure.

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He's going to be a star. Just maybe not this year. Would love to see him win rookie of the year tho.

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I'll save this for the first "Langford sucks why does Boch keeping putting him out there" post.

I assume in his roster Langford is the main DH. Foscue/Crim would also be replacements. Also remember this time last year Langford hadn't exploded his testicle.

alvtimes said:

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2024 ROY is Evan Carter, then In 25 we double back and Langford makes 2 in a row.

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I've been thinking about this scenario the last couple of days. I think there's a solid chance of them going in that direction, as long as they OFs(Bombi, Leo, Carter, and Jank) are being productive. But I feel like if there's a massive hole in the offense, they'll try to have Langford up.

alvtimes said:

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2024 ROY is Evan Carter, then In 25 we double back and Langford makes 2 in a row.

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Oddly enough…
Draftkings ALROY odds:
Jackson Holliday +250
Evan Carter +300
Wyatt Langford +600

Hector Ortiz, long-time coach in Rangers system & mentor to a generation of catchers, passed away today at age 54 after a fight with cancer. He was a very nice man, a gentle communicator and fought a brave fight. May his memory be a blessing. https://t.co/fizPvBLPby

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) February 29, 2024

MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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alvtimes said:

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2024 ROY is Evan Carter, then In 25 we double back and Langford makes 2 in a row.

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I've been thinking about this scenario the last couple of days. I think there's a solid chance of them going in that direction, as long as they OFs(Bombi, Leo, Carter, and Jank) are being productive. But I feel like if there's a massive hole in the offense, they'll try to have Langford up.

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I think there is almost zero chance Langford is rookie eligible in 2025, even if he starts the year in RR.

CowtownAg06 said:

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MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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alvtimes said:

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2024 ROY is Evan Carter, then In 25 we double back and Langford makes 2 in a row.

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I've been thinking about this scenario the last couple of days. I think there's a solid chance of them going in that direction, as long as they OFs(Bombi, Leo, Carter, and Jank) are being productive. But I feel like if there's a massive hole in the offense, they'll try to have Langford up.

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I think there is almost zero chance Langford is rookie eligible in 2025, even if he starts the year in RR.

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Yeah, unless I'm mistaken he'd practically have to be a September call up this season

I think it's 130 ABs or more than 45 days on the roster. You are correct it's not much more than September. I don't see him staying down that long.

CowtownAg06 said:

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I think it's 130 ABs or more than 45 days on the roster. You are correct it's not much more than September. I don't see him staying down that long.

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I believe September doesn't count. It was part of the change in the last CBA. We only get 2 Sept call-ups and their time during that month won't count against RoY.

DallasAg 94 said:

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CowtownAg06 said:

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I think it's 130 ABs or more than 45 days on the roster. You are correct it's not much more than September. I don't see him staying down that long.

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I believe September doesn't count. It was part of the change in the last CBA. We only get 2 Sept call-ups and their time during that month won't count against RoY.

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That's a nice change!

I might have gotten that wrong...


https://www.mlb.com/news/what-to-expect-with-september-expanded-rosters

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Rookie eligibility

One of the other changes from previous years is that any service time, at-bats or innings pitched accrued in September do count toward rookie eligibility. In other words, there will be prospect graduations coming in the weeks ahead.

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Oh, looks like mods did some cleaning up this morning

A good read about Bradford.
https://www.mlb.com/news/cody-bradford-bidding-for-rangers-2024-starting-rotation

Nothing earth shattering, but dives into his repertoire and why ST often times is more about working on improving weak areas than what you get from a statistical boxscore.

Quote:

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Bradford's main emphasis this offseason was re-introducing the curveball to his arsenal. He threw the pitch in college at Baylor, but scrapped it after undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2019. At that time, he added the slider to go with his fastball and changeup.

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Personally, I think adding that back as a quality pitch makes him a better SP.

Dunning was working with Eovaldi on a new pitch:
https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/news/dane-dunning-throwing-new-splitter-in-buildup-to-starting-job?tpcc=nlbroadsheet

I would agree. When you already throw 89-91, I believe pitches that move up and down rather than side to side (like a slider) are more effective. Sliders are better and get better with velocity and RPMs, as do most pitches generally, but if you only throw 89-91, theirs more of a chance your will slider will back up and not have a great shape as to get guys to swing and miss. A curveball can do the same thing no doubt, but at least you are more guaranteed vertical break with a curveball at a lower velocity.

Eovaldi cruising today: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

Gave up a single and a double back-to-back in the 3rd and that is about it.

OWhite in to pitch the 4th.

BTW... I didn't realize it was announced that Mike Bascik would be doing some Color for the TV broadcast.

For those unfamiliar, he is on The Fan (105.3 FM) in DFW.

He has always had great insight.

Today, he was going over some of the stuff with Dunning. Bascik's comment was "The hitter will give you instant feedback on your pitch." He was talking about analytics and P hitting spin rates, etc. He was like, "spin rate doesn't matter. You'll know from the hitter if it was good or not."

He is from Duncanville, so a Metroplex product, but not afraid to tell it as he sees it.

He said his dad (also pitched for Texas) wouldn't let him throw breaking pitches until 15/HS.

OWhite went 1.0. Gave up 2ER on 4H but no BBs. He got 1 K.

My lowbar says... it's a good outing if he comes in healthy tomorrow. We don't need him to make the rotation coming out of ST. We just need there to be enough that when he gets the call, he is ready. No Walks is good.

ETA: He got a 2nd IP and went 3-up 3-down.

It's so incredibly hard to get a clear idea about how players are doing from ST games. So much of what the coaches see and work on happens on the back fields. We just won't know who is going to make the team until later in March.

Ive always felt like watching spring training is a waste of time, but thats every sports preseason

DallasAg 94 said:

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He said his dad (also pitched for Texas) wouldn't let him throw breaking pitches until 15/HS.

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I know Mike Bacsik Sr. as we went to the same high school. He's 10 years older than me but played baseball with my older brother. Great guy.

Really fun to talk baseball with.

PatAg said:

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Ive always felt like watching spring training is a waste of time, but thats every sports preseason

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Preseason is fake and nobody is trying to win. It's a largely unwatchable product like the nba all star game.

Maybe the wrong thread for this, but does anyone know if the Rangers pro shop will be open during the games at GLF this weekend? Taking my boys to the game tonight and would love to snag some more WS gear while in the house.

Probably but give them a ring. Those ladies are sweet.

This just pisses me off...

Title: "How concerned should each contender be about its starting rotation?"
https://www.mlb.com/news/concern-level-for-each-projected-mlb-playoff-team-s-rotation

Ok... not really. Typical.

12 "Contender" Teams:
AL East: Yankees + O's (WC) + Rays (WC)
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Astros + Mariners (WC)

NL East: Braves + Phillies (WC)
NL Central: Cardinals + Cubs (WC)
NL West: Dodgers + D'Backs (WC)

There is some good information in the article, but I just don't get the disregard towards the Rangers.

Quote:

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Fourteen of the previous 16 pennant winners have ranked eighth or better in starter ERA. (The two outliers are the 2023 D-backs and the '22 Phillies.) So if your team is going to make a deep October run, it better have the horses to get there.

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I get it. We're not on the East coast. Not on the West coast... We're not even on the Gulf coast.

We were 1 game from winning the Division. We won the WS. Miracle team, for sure.

But, we're returning almost the entire team of contributors, except Garver and Monty. We had MVP-2 and MVP-3. We had 6 All-Stars, we had what 3 GGs and 3 SSs?!

Semien & Jankowski are our oldest position players. Both are 32 and still in "their prime."
We return one of the top RoY candidates (Carter (20).
Some of our players are entering their prime (Lowe-27, Heim-28)
Most are years away from entering their prime (Jung-25, Taveras-24)

We have 2 HoF SPs that will join the club mid-season.
We return 4 of our 5 rotation (Eovaldi, Gray, Dunning, Heaney) that gave us the #7 ERA (3.96) in MLB.

I guess we'll see?!

The Mariners have turned into one of those teams that the baseball media seems to be willing toward a title. For a franchise that hasn't done dick in its entire history, other than choke, it's amazing the free passes they get. Now it's just assumed they'll make the playoff this year.

It's be awesome if he kept it. I remember when odor was wearing something like 73 and mashing. Then switched to 12 and went to poop.

They have anything good in there?