And Taveras kinda has that Leonys Martin feel to him. Shows some potential to be good, but never really progresses much and just stays at the same level. I think Martin started for a few years hoping he would continue to progress and reach his potential, but it never really happened and he eventually became a 4th outfielder type guy and bounced around a bit from team to team.

I bet we end up making a few small moves in the off season and ride with what we got. I think our offense will depend a lot on Langford and Jung next season. Langford is playing decent for a rookie but I think we all expect a little more from him. I think we'll be fine if Jung stays healthy and Langford hits at least 20 homers next season.

I could see someone trading one low floor high ceiling prospect for him, with his year of control. Just to see if he can revert back to playoff Garcia.

I think the Rangers need to be active in free agency to go out and get another impact bat or two. They've got enough money coming off the books and hopefully a TV deal solution in the works.

Since the Rangers are out of it this year, who's everyone rooting for in the playoffs this year? I wouldn't mind seeing a Kansas City vs Arizona World Series.

D-Backs because I enjoy my wife's company. They are on a hot streak right now and have a fun young team as we know. Also get to root for Jordan Montgomery. They just acquired Jesuit's own Josh Bell to replace Christian Walker who will be out for a couple months with something similar to what Adolis got in the WS. Should be getting Merrill Kelly back in the rotation soon. Going to give the Dodgers a run for their money in the division.

I'd be fine with the Mariners too, I like the guys on their team and those ocean blue unis are so cool. Luis Castillo and J-Rod are some of my favorites of the past few years at their respective positions. Hell I almost always like their A-list stars; Griffey, Randy, Ichiro, King Felix, all awesome to watch and not a-holes.

"War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one."

Sticking with the Animal House theme here.

Flounder Dorfman said:

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"War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one."

Sticking with the Animal House theme here.

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To further this, they've given us absolutely NOTHING to suggest they are anything but a below .500 team.

I would have more confidence if there was any evidence that this is a good team this year. Since the all star break we are 1-5 in series. The only series that was a win was against the CWS who ended up losing 21 in a row. And 3 of those wins in that series were by 1 run. I'll be happy to be wrong and see this team go 33-14 the rest of the season. We got New York next who is 8-2 in their last 10. Followed by Boston and a 4 game series vs the twins.

I'm not gonna lie, I threw in the towel about three weeks ago haha doesn't help optimum dropped Bally here in CStat, soni can't even watch anymore anyways.

Not like any of us would be mad if they defied history and played their way in to the playoffs or another WSC, but that's not really a reasonable mindset for baseball conversation from here on out.

South Platte said:

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Playoffs or not, it would be really cool to see this team go on a run, just to prove they are still capable of playing great baseball against good teams. Fading in late August and September doesn't help 2025 at all.

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This is where I am at. Ideally we get red hot and sneak into the playoffs. But in any case it would be great to see some of last years contributors return to form and/or the newcomers flash some promise.

Seattle incredibly lucky tonight. Should've lost 3-1 but Detroit's right fielder completely whiffed on a routine mlb play and resulted in a Seattle walk off.

Speaking of Seattle, did anyone notice they already DFA'd Jonathan Henandez? That was a quick little tire kick!

Water Boy said:

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Since the Rangers are out of it this year, who's everyone rooting for in the playoffs this year? I wouldn't mind seeing a Kansas City vs Arizona World Series.

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I'm ok with anyone winning it as long as it's not the Astros. Would hate for them to follow up our championship with a 2nd legitimate one for them.

Maybe see the Phillies finally get one.

I cheer for Hamas before I'd cheer for the Astros.

Proposition Joe said:

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I don't think we're in a good spot and I don't like our chances -- but some of you are acting like 5.5 back the second week of August is insurmountable.

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Those numbers on their face are not insurmountable if you felt like our players coming back from injury were going to take us on a run. But we essentially have all of our bats back that we are going to have, and we are still falling further behind an Astros team that is not even playing well. We are not a good team this year, somehow every single player has regressed massively on offense. Arms coming back won't matter if we can't score more than 3.5 runs per game. I don't know what is going on with our hitting coach, we seem asleep at the wheel.

In 2023:

Semien finished 3rd in AL MVP
Seager finished 2nd in AL MVP
Jung finished 4th in ROY
Career year by Adolis
Career year by Heim

More than half of the lineup outperformed their expectations in 2023. Only Lowe had a "down" year offensively, after having his career year in 2022. Nearly all of these guys are late 20s, early 30s.

My biggest take away is that in 2024, none of these guys seem to be hot, or even warm at the same time. Sure, the injuries haven't helped, but this team just hasn't put together anything conisistently with the bats all season long. This team needs to add a bat for 2025 to keep the window alive and well.

While true, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien (Marcus slightly less so) had historic years. Seager slashed .327/.390.623/1.013 and 174+ with 33 ding dongs, and Marcus Semian Slashed .276/.348/.478/.826 and 126+ with 29 ding dongs. Outside of Marcus' 45 homer season and one year in Oakland where his OPS+ was 139, last year was one of if not the best all-around seasons he's ever had.

You are absolutely right that they are paid to be those dudes, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that they were going to repeat last season, ESPECIALLY Seager who went nuclear.

Making the all star team as a rookie is exceeding expectations, no matter how you try and slice it.

I'm not slicing it any way. He's a top ten pick. And the All-Star game isn't much of a measure of success. It just means you had a really good first half.

Regardless, he has not been in the lineup all season. He hasn't regressed. He has not been on the field.

I don't think they had to repeat that level of performance for this team to have success. They just needed to perform as they are doing this season. The issue is that the dudes elsewhere in the lineup have been awful.

I think the problem this year has been Jung out all year, Garcia and Heim playing poorly (I blame Heim's performance on the front office not getting him any help after playing through his injury) and not having a DH (again, that's on the front office).

I just don't buy the career year arguments. I keep seeing that and I only can apply that to Garcia and Heim. And those are two big ones. But if you win the World Series, several guys have to step up. You want to win it again and the same dudes have to turn around and start doing it again four months after winning it. That is is really tough to do. And it's why it's been a quarter of a century since anyone has pulled it off.

All my opinions. Pretty much worth what you wiped your hiney with this morning.

Tonight's game is postponed. Playing two on Saturday now.

NM