3rd 2-run bomb given up tonight....

Goodness gracious……

Ahh hell. Looks like we gotta win the last two

Without even watching….Evo's stuff is high

Smith gets hit. We haven't paid Baltimore back for nailing Seager. We are 5 games under .500. We need to Dickie Thon somebody.

This was not the way to start after the asb. Must win next two, and have to be winning series from here on out.

I just took a massive giant dump.

That's way more relevant than tonight's joke of a baseball game.

Here's an interesting question; what on Gods green Earth do you do with lineup right now, and then in the offseason? The bottom of the lineup is an atrocity, led by Garcia, followed Jankowski, Taveras, and then Heim.

I don't know what to do with the lineup, but if you have Jankowski at DH then your lineup has a massive problem.

Garcia is the strongest guy in the stadium and swings out of his shoes for no good reason. No one has changed his approach at the plate. Either they are fine with it or he refuses to change it.

Heim is being run into the ground. The guy absolutely gutted through a tough injury for the last month of the regular season and throughout the playoffs, reports to ST four months later and your plan is to have Adam Knizner give him some rest for the next two years? You can't sit Heim because the guy you decided to back him up with absolutely sucks.

Taveras has a lot of talent, but is stuck where he is. No improvement at all. Much like anyone this year not named Josh Smith.

And to keep going, the development in the farm system blows. For every player that is changed out in the offseason, I would match that with two people from the front office, coaching staff throughout the system or scouting department.

Tksymm7 said:

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Here's an interesting question; what on Gods green Earth do you do with lineup right now, and then in the offseason? The bottom of the lineup is an atrocity, led by Garcia, followed Jankowski, Taveras, and then Heim.

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And as a follow up to your question, what if our fears were correct that a number of the starters had career best years last season (Garcia, Heim, Tavares, Janko, etc)?

I personally have more confidence in Heim & Tavares figuring some stuff out than Garcia and Janko. I'm truly worried that Garcia's best may be behind him. Hope I'm completely wrong.

Jankowski is not a starter. He's a very good fourth outfielder to have on the team, but has absolutely no business ever being in the lineup at DH.

The front office made a huge mistake with the roster construction by not signing a 1B/DH and signing a catcher that can't hit. Especially when they passed on re-signing a catcher that everyone loved who can't hit.

The Opening Day 1B was Duran. That's how much effort was put into the roster in the offseason.

Flounder Dorfman said:

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Jankowski is not a starter. He's a very good fourth outfielder to have on the team, but has absolutely no business ever being in the lineup at DH.

The front office made a huge mistake with the roster construction by not signing a 1B/DH and signing a catcher that can't hit. Especially when they passed on re-signing a catcher that everyone loved who can't hit.

The Opening Day 1B was Duran. That's how much effort was put into the roster in the offseason.

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The problem is, as others have said, you have a World Series Champion roster that all had career-esque years. There wasn't a ton of roster management to be made.

C - Heim
2B - Semien
SS - Seager
3B - Jung
OF - Garcia
OF - Carter
OF - Taveras

None of those guys were losing their starting spot.

So the only positions possible to really shore up were 1B and backup catcher.

What free agent 1st baseman were you going to go after that would have been an obvious upgrade over Lowe?

As for backup catcher -- if we all got what we wanted it would have been Mitch Garver. Who is currently sporting a 640 OPS for Seattle.

And the one SP that we realistically missed signing out on was Jordan Montgomery. Who is currently sporting a 6.44 ERA and getting booed in Arizona.


Ultimately there were some tweaks that could have been made but nothing that significantly would have changed the look of this roster. And hell, many could have revolved around deciding we needed an upgrade over Josh Smith - the guy carrying this offense.

Proposition Joe said:

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Flounder Dorfman said:

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Jankowski is not a starter. He's a very good fourth outfielder to have on the team, but has absolutely no business ever being in the lineup at DH.

The front office made a huge mistake with the roster construction by not signing a 1B/DH and signing a catcher that can't hit. Especially when they passed on re-signing a catcher that everyone loved who can't hit.

The Opening Day 1B was Duran. That's how much effort was put into the roster in the offseason.

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The problem is, as others have said, you have a World Series Champion roster that all had career-esque years. There wasn't a ton of roster management to be made.

C - Heim
2B - Semien
SS - Seager
3B - Jung
OF - Garcia
OF - Carter
OF - Taveras

None of those guys were losing their starting spot.

So the only positions possible to really shore up were 1B and backup catcher.

What free agent 1st baseman were you going to go after that would have been an obvious upgrade over Lowe?

As for backup catcher -- if we all got what we wanted it would have been Mitch Garver. Who is currently sporting a 640 OPS for Seattle.

And the one SP that we realistically missed signing out on was Jordan Montgomery. Who is currently sporting a 6.44 ERA and getting booed in Arizona.


Ultimately there were some tweaks that could have been made but nothing that significantly would have changed the look of this roster. And hell, many could have revolved around deciding we needed an upgrade over Josh Smith - the guy carrying this offense.

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Don't get me wrong. I have been beating that drum since early in the season. No one was losing their starting spot after winning the World Series.

My problem was at DH and catcher. Re-signing Garver would not have worked out in hindsight, but they instead chose to sign no one. The guy they signed in place of Garver didn't work out because they did not sign a replacement.

That guy that could have been signed could have also played first base. Instead, they decided to try to teach Duran how to play first to rest Lowe. Unless we want to count Jared Walsh as a signing, but hard to do that when he was DFA'd once Lowe came back.

Knizner made no sense to me on the day he was announced. The backup catcher needs to be able to DH with the way this roster is constructed. They went the opposite direction and if they were to do that, I don't know why you would let Hedges walk.

What they have done with the pitching staff is fantastic. Easily top third in MLB right now and top five when healthy.

I agree we definitely missed on backup catcher and it's not really fair to play the hindsight game with Garver.

I just think in the grand scheme of things there simply wasn't much roster management that could be done.

We're 90+ games into the season and we are getting a combined 1.4 WAR out of Garcia/Taveras/Heim -- three guys that were no-doubt starters coming into this season.

Toss in Jung and Carter being on the shelf (whether Carter winds up being a flash in the pan or not), and you've got your results.

Roster management can't really fix starter underproduction.

I was looking at the roster in AAA and AA, and I thought I'd throw out my "All-Bust" team - players who just aren't looking like elite prospects despite how they're ranked.

Blaine Crim - 27 year old first basemen who is hitting .241 with a .376 slug
Justin Foscue - my favorite whipping boy; 25 yrs old, also hitting .241/.405 slug. He does have a .405 obp
Sam Huff - 26, hitting .247 with a .442 slug.
Owen White - still only 24, but has a 5.52 ERA and 1.55 whip; he's regressed
Aaron Zavala - what a stiff. 24, and hitting .216 with a .305 slug at AA. Waste of a draft pick

Leiter's numbers aren't stellar, but they've improved dramatically since the start of the season. He's currently 4-4 with a 3.88 ERA in a hitter's league. Not quite ready to write him off, but he needs to take a big step next season.

As always, this is all JMO

I agree with that. The guys in the lineup have to produce. I give Heim a pass because I think getting offensive production from the starting catcher is a luxury. Taveras would got a lot more leash by being elite defensively, which isn't exactly happening.

Garcia is the biggest problem. Bochy said it himself weeks ago. For this offense to work, Garcia has to produce. The Rangers' record throughout the season has cycled up and down with Garcia's performance at the plate. He heats up, the record reflects it. If he is slumping, which he has the majority of the season, the record reflects that as well.

This is where the loss of Jung is massive. I think Jung makes Garcia a better hitter because he alters the approach a pitching staff takes on a lineup. Smith has done great filling in for Jung, but he doesn't have that type of effect.

Langford was the projected replacement for Garver.

CYoung... former P... has done well with the P.

With the emergence of Josh Smith... had Duran continued to perform at a serviceable clip, we'd be absolutely fine if Jung did not get hurt.

We get Jung back and some of our problems are fixed.

We rattle off a couple Ws and trade for a RH DH.

Getting Jung back is mandatory to have a shot at making the playoffs.

Getting Carter back would also be a great addition, but I am guessing that's a 2025 goal. I haven't seen his name mentioned anywhere in regards to coming back.

Agreed.

As someone who has had back issues, I'm guessing he is on a strengthening plan for his core to see if they can keep it from being a career-long problem.

Yeah, our training staff is having a hard time with a wrist injury. No way they can figure out Carter's back issues for this season. It's probably smart to expect to see him next year and be really pleasantly surprised if he's back this year.

From Scott Lucas:

Rehab
In Arizona, Cody Bradford threw a spotless inning with one strikeout. Kumar Rocker followed with two innings, two hits, a run, a walk, and three strikeouts. Unfortunately, Rocker followed that with an additional inning of five runs and five hits. I wouldn't worry. One, it's just AZ, and he's just getting in the work. Two, four of the hits were grounders, and his control was fine. Some folks in attendance say he touched 100. Two days ago, Brock Porter lasted 2.2 innings while allowing a hit, walking three, and hitting two more. He's walked or hit 30% of opposing batters in four outings. That's a much greater concern than Rocker giving up a string of singles. Tyler Mahle and Dane Dunning are expected to pitch in Round Rock tonight.

So in regards to minor league pitching development, the Rangers changed their approach a few years ago, correct?

I'm sure someone here can give some background on that. I vaguely remember the changes being made but do not remember any sort of detail.

Which sounds like I dreamed this somewhere and now believe it as fact, which I tend to do.

And I ask this because I am trying to avoid my assumption that the Rangers will screw Brock Porter up and it will take him needing to one day develop in another organization to ever have a shot at MLB success. That is the level of bad attitude I have towards the Rangers' development program.

They decided to be terrible at it, instead of just bad at it.

I don't really think the Rangers have screwed up Brock Porter, I just think he's be awful. I'm sure they've tweaked some stuff here or there, but the kid literally can't hit the broad side of a barn right now, and that's on him.

On the other hand, I am all here for a "The Rangers don't know how to evaluate pitchers for ****" conversation.

Tksymm7 said:

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I don't really think the Rangers have screwed up Brock Porter, I just think he's be awful. I'm sure they've tweaked some stuff here or there, but the kid literally can't hit the broad side of a barn right now, and that's on him.

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Why is it that the top arms in our system that too arms can't find the zone? I legitimately do not know, but when a pattern emerges, you have to find the constant to figure out what the problem is.

Because we draft guys who can't find the zone. If you go back and look at some draft grades, guys like Leiter and Porter have always had issues or were projected to have issues finding the zone.

The Rangers have changed their minor league pitching approach every few years for the last 3 decades.

Though I'm sure that's pretty standard across all clubs that don't have elite production from their farms.

How much stock are we putting in the rehabs this weekend?

Mahle is supposed to get the GS for RR
Dunning is expected to picky-back him.

Garabito is still listed as the SP, so, I'm not sure if that is the plan.

Bradford had a rehab last night in ACL (Az Complex League). 1.0 IP, 1 SO, 1 FO, 1 GO; 3 batters faced.

Dunning had right shoulder discomfort. I wonder how much that was the result of his new pitch. Bradford had a fractured rib, IIRC.

Exactly.