I think Bochy likes the flexibility of not having a declared Closer.

When we got Chapman, part of it was "I'm willing to play any role." Last year with Kirby, Robertson, and Leclerc... Kirby emerged as the Closer, but we went in kinda playing the field. And then Sborz was left in during the playoffs in a surprise move.

Personally, I like the roles... Closer... 8th I guy... etc. But having egos that are willing to float has value.

Yeah, don't want a Pressly getting butt hurt about adding Hader

Vlad is an attractive addition in the offseason, but I think he'll end up being an albatross contract.

He is likely looking for $40M+ and 10-12 years. At 26... he probably has 4-5 years of good play, but at 6'2" and *cough* 245... his body is likely to slow down. He is likely closer to 265-270.

He reminds me of Prince Fielder and when his body starts to break down... it will be quick. Think Anthony Rendon.

Personally, I've never liked the idea of a named closer. Heading to the final three outs with a three run lead and showing the closer coming out of the bullpen while the announcer is yelling out "It's ____ Time!" does nothing for me. He would have stayed in the bullpen with a four run lead but is only coming in for a "save situation".

I would like to see bullpens run more on high leverage situations instead of the actual inning. And I think we are seeing a shift towards that. The guy that came in with bases loaded, one out and a two run lead in the seventh and induced an inning ending double play was a lot more valuable than the dude that "shut it down" in the ninth when he started with the bases empty.

But closers have been measured by the number of saves in the past. It's an important stat, but not worth what teams have paid these guys for saves over the years. My opinion though. I know people have hot takes on closers.

My dark horse for the bullpen is Marc Church, and I think he could very well wind up being the closer (albeit later in the season).

It's easy to forget that he really should have made the opening day roster last season, but got sent down and then wound up injured. If he's healthy, he could climb quickly.

Agreed.

Bases loaded, 0 outs in the 6th up by 1 R with the middle of the lineup gets no Love.

Bases empty, 2 outs in the 9th up by 1 R with the #9 hitter who has gone 0-3 with 3Ks gets a Save.

Agreed.

BP is so unpredictable. I think the strategy going in is to hope someone emerges as the guy. No one expected Yates to have the year he had last year. Maybe we can get lucky and someone can give us some above average production.

I agree that there's no rush to move Leody. MLB ready CFs are valuable.

Still on the market as a FA - the best CF is Michael A Taylor. His 2024 numbers show he'd be a significant downgrade from Leody for a whole lot more money and no extra years of control.

WAR 0.9
HR 5
BA .193
R 35
RBI 21
SB 12
OBP .253
SLG .290
OPS .543
OPS+ 52

For Leody

WAR 0.5
HR 12
BA .229
R 59
RBI 44
SB 23
OBP .289
SLG .352
OPS .641
OPS+ 84

No rush - wait until mid March and see how the outfield health is working out.

Why does Leody have half the WAR but significantly better stats? Interesting thing I noticed.

Water Boy said:

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Why does Leody have half the WAR but significantly better stats? Interesting thing I noticed.

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That jumped out to me as well. It must be defense-related.

Interesting question. Would you rather have a player with significantly better stats or a player with significantly more WAR? Assume everything else is equal.

I like stats myself. A lot.

Ditto. I think WAR is somewhat of an overrated / overemphasized analytic.

rbtexan said:

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Ditto. I think WAR is somewhat of an overrated / overemphasized analytic.

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I think it is overrated in that it is too subjective. A BA is a BA. RBIs are RBIs. OPS is OPS. But, when different websites create their own "stat" and none of them are the same, it is subjective.

Leody 1.5 owar -.6 dwar
Taylor -.3 owar 1.4 dwar

War isn't everything and Dwar in particular is a little subjective, but Leody needs to be a plus defender with his offensive profile.

As to which one you'd prefer, it kind of depends on the construction of the rest of the roster. If 23 Leody comes back, I'll take that.

Personally, I think analytics can be taken too far. And the more people rely on them, the more analytics are created. At some point, you can take away the overcomplication of this stuff and simplify it pretty easily.

For instance, on base percentage is a really straightforward stat for me. How many times do you come up to the plate and not make an out? That's really important since it's the essence of baseball for me, but I value things that aren't valued as much in today's game.

I prefer pure traditional stats, but one that I'm warming to is OPS+

WAR 0.9
OPS+ 52

For Leody
WAR 0.5
OPS+ 84

An OPS+ of 100 is league average.

I think in 2024, it was evident Taveras lost focus on D too often. He can make the spectacular play... but he can also break wrong on the ball and lose it out of his glove. It shouldn't take much to get his dwar up. There is no reason Janko should have been a defensive replacement for him.

Appropriate rant, imo.

I've never listened, but I've never listened to any podcasts for some reason. I listen to lots of audiobooks, so maybe that's why. Regardless, when I saw the words "John Rhadigan" I would immediately be out. Seems like a really nice guy, but he has somehow latched on to Texas Rangers baseball without knowing anything about the game. I had never seen an announcer be demoted less than a third of the way into his first season for not knowing what he's talking about until it happened to him.

As for the Mavericks, I haven't watched a minute of the NBA this year. That trade still absolutely pisses me off because a combination of arrogance and incompetence is my kryptonite, but I really don't need to hear anymore about it. Pitchers and catchers report in a few days. Everyone needs to turn their attention to America's Pastime, like God intended.

I endure Rhadigan in order to be able to access Jeff Wilson's content. I think he does a really good job, especially on the minor leagues.

IMO, it's no different than logging on to TexAgs, and reading a bunch of articles about the San Antonio Spurs or Austin FC. There's probably Ags who care about those teams & sports, but there's other places to get that information.

rbtexan said:

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Bit of a rant here, so forgive me in advance. Not sure if any of you subscribe to the DLLS-Rangers podcast or website, but I do. I normally get a great dose of Rangers and baseball-centric news, insight, opinions, etc.

But lately I'm pulling what's left of my hair out because in every 1 hour show since the Luca trade, there's a good 5-10 minutes of conversation about the Mavericks. Yes I'm looking at you, John Rhadigan.

I grew up in TX but have lived in TN since the early 80s. I give zero sh*ts about the Mavericks...or Stars...or Cowboys. No offense to those teams, just don't care. But if I did, there's a dedicated page and podcast on their service for each of those teams and I could find those discussions there. I get mentioning it in passing to make a point, but not going off on a 5 minute tangent about a sport you're technically not even covering.

It's hard enough to to get in depth coverage of the Rangers without that crap. Rant over, sorry

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Had a long response typed, but instead I'll just go with: Username does not check out.

rbtexan said:

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I endure Rhadigan in order to be able to access Jeff Wilson's content. I think he does a really good job, especially on the minor leagues.

IMO, it's no different than logging on to TexAgs, and reading a bunch of articles about the San Antonio Spurs or Austin FC. There's probably Ags who care about those teams & sports, but there's other places to get that information.

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Come on, that is not what is happening. It's actually more like tuning in to TexAgs Live and they spend a few minutes talking about the Luka trade because it's one of the craziest sports stories ever.

No, it's not.

DLLS has Mavericks content, including a podcast. They offer the same for the Cowboys and the Stars. I click on their website to read their Rangers content. The number of times I've looked at the other team's content is exactly zero. But if I wanted to, it's there. I listen to the Rangers podcast and read the articles about the Rangers because ...duh...I'm interested in the Rangers. Options for other teams & sports are right there at my fingertips.
We can agree to disagree, I could not possibly care less about the Luca trade - or the NBA in general.

That's fine that you don't care, but I don't think the Rangers guys talking about it is taking away from any Rangers content. What is there to report on and dive deep on right now? Pitchers and catchers report in like 10 days. There have not been any significant team moves that need to be discussed for an hour. They just did a whole long interview with CY. It would definitely be more annoying if it were the middle of the season and there was a lot going.

You're one of very few Rangers fans who doesn't have even the smallest rooting interest in the Mavs, so I can understand why it would bother you. But you have to at least understand why it would be discussed. It's one of the craziest sports stories of all time and it's in-market, during the Rangers offseason. I think it would be weirder not to mention it lol.

A couple of podcasts back, they did a teaser early on saying that in the last segment, they would be discussing possible players the Rangers might trade, or trade for. Then they went off on a tangent about the Luca trade (even brought up Herschel Walker ffs) and then completely forgot or ran out of time

So yeah, it is taking away time from Rangers content. Agree to disagree, we can move on.

I feel you.

I get the Luka rant, though. I grew up in LA and was a Lakers fan until HS when we lived in Texas. I was at A&M during the Kermit Davis and Tony Barone eras and then lived in Dallas during the Perot Mav years. Luka is an Internationally known and liked player.

Having said that... local radio is non-stop Cowboys... all. the. time. The whole cowboys coach think. The radio heads: "Jerry Jones does these things to get the media to focus their story on the Cowboys and does it to take the attention away from other teams and focuses it on the Cowboys." So, they spend 30 mins talking about how Jerry manipulates them to talk about the Cowboys... then spend the next 30 mins talking about the Cowboys.

With the radio, IMO, most of the problem is that so many of them just don't know baseball. They will talk months of off-season about which CB tin the league he Cowboys should acquire... but they probably couldn't even give you the starting rotation or lineup for the Rangers.

Mike Bascik the exception.

Rhadigan followed by Barnett.

I think Rhadigan was a panic hire. Broadcasting baseball is such a different animal than other sports.

There is just so much improv and air to fill. And then you are asking them to spend 81 days away from home, not counting travel time. You have an audience to entertain for 162 games without boring them. Tom Grieve.

Jared Sandler is the future.

Just something to get back to Rangers talk. Who will be the most improved this year from last year? I'll go with Garcia!

And I appreciate that Texags has threads for all different sports and topics. If it wasn't for this thread I would hardly spend any time on here.

Carter
Langford
Heim