Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Eddie Guardado, Eric Hurley, Gerald Laird, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Michael Young, Milton Bradley, Tommy Hunter, Vicente Padilla
Well, here it is on the eve (okay, early morning) of the trade deadline, and I’m finding myself apologizing again for not posting for several days in a row. A busy schedule, lack of sleep and just plain writers block have all found me unable to sit down and write at length this week (I haven’t even been to see the new X-files movie yet, that’s how busy I’ve been). There’s been plenty of happenings and trade rumors to write about lately though, meaning I’ve got some catching up to do – why don’t we dive in.
Last night’s 4-3 win over the Mariners was pretty nice, overall. Vicente Padilla drummed up whatever last minute trade value he could, with 7 strong innings – he gave up 10 hits, but held the Mariners to 3 runs and even escaped a monumental bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 7th (albeit with a little help from David Murphy, who threw out Willie Bloomquist at home plate that inning). While no Ranger had more than one hit on the night (they where out-hit 11 to 7) they managed to squeeze just enough out of the 7 they did have to make it count – Josh Hamilton and Brandon Boggs homered, and Michael Young drove in the winning run with a pinch-hit sac fly in the bottom of the 8th.
It was Young’s first pinch-hit appearance in 6 years, and it only came on account of his being out of the starting lineup with a broken finger. Young fractured his right ring finger diving back into first base on a pickoff throw in the first inning on Monday, and originally was supposed to be out 5-7 days – but in a tribute to his toughness, he was back in the starting lineup on Tuesday, going 0-5 with a walk. He was too sore to start last night however, leaving him available to pinch-hit and become the hero with a 1-0 fly ball to left-center that was just deep enough to score David Murphy from third – much reminiscent of his game-winning sac fly in the all-star game a couple weeks back.
CJ Wilson managed to nail down his first non-acidic save in recent memory in the 9th, retiring Kenji Johjima, Willie Bloomquist and Jose Vidro around an Ichiro infield single - much more like the type of outing he needs to have on a consistent basis. Before you go and get all encouraged that this was a big step forward for CJ though, remember who he was up against – with the exception of Ichiro (who reached base anyway) those where some pretty sorry hitters the M’s sent up there in the 9th.
The Rangers did get some bad news yesterday however, as it was announced that Eric Hurley will skip his next start - Hurley, who got lit up on Sunday his first start since his DL stint due to a strained hamstring (prolonged by a sore arm) apparently has biceps tendinitis, and will miss his next start on Friday. The Rangers plan on calling up Tommy Hunter from AAA Oklahoma to replace him and make his Major League debut. CJ Wilson had a case of biceps tendinitis in spring training this year that kept him sidelined for almost two weeks, but the Rangers seem to think that if Hurley’s arm “heals as anticipated” he’ll be able to make his next start and not require another trip to DL.
As for Hunter, he will become just the second player from the class of 2007 draft to make it to the Majors (the Washington Nationals Ross Deitwiler got a callup and pitched a single inning last September) after just 161 total minor league innings. Hunter, a 22-year old right-hander who is listed as 6′ 3″ 255 (although most personal accounts believe him to be heavier than that) throws an 89-94 MPH fastball along with a breaking ball that is supposedly his best pitch, and a changeup tossed in for good measure. None of his three pitches are really considered above-average, just solid - it’s probably due to this fact that he’s seen his strikeouts decline as he’s climbed the minor league ladder, which has in turn made his control an increasingly key part of his success.
Hunter started 2008 with high-A Bakersfield, where he logged 58 innings and went 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and an excellent K/9 of 7.71. Promoted to AA Frisco in May, his numbers jumped to a 3.78 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP, as his K/9 was slashed to 4.82 and his BB/9 spiked from just 1.23 in Bakersfield to 2.92 in 52 innings. That’s a notable spike, but Hunter was quick to adjust, rediscovering his control after a promotion to AAA Oklahoma – he has put up a 1.08 BB/9 since the jump, and has subsiquently gone 2-2 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 33 innings despite his K/9 dropping slightly again to 4.59.
Hunter sounds to me like another Joe Blanton, only with better control - a guy who will probably give up his fair share of hits, but will also get enough outs with his stuff to be a solid starter. His swift rise through the system this year has so far concurred with what the Rangers projected him as - a quick-starting back of the rotation innings eater who might provide us with some stability in the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation by 2010 if not 2009. If he performs well, I could conceivably see him knocking Luis Mendoza (who is back to being horrible of late) or Scott Feldman (to limit his innings) to the bullpen for awhile, and sticking in the rotation until the Rangers decide to shut him down for the season – this should be a very interesting debut.
Now we turn our attention to the hotbutton subject of the day: the trade deadline. According to the latest from GM Jon Daniels, the Rangers (who have been featured prominently in rumors this past week, but have yet to even come close to making an actual deal) says the Rangers are looking for pitching, and will likely not be making a deal if they do not get any in return:
“It’s not a well-kept secret we place a priority on pitching, now and the future,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “It’s not the only singular factor or the only thing we’re looking for, but it is a priority going forward.”
“Things can change, but right now we’re prepared to go with the horses we came with,”
I really believe though, that it is necessary for the Rangers to trade either Gerald Laird or Jarrod Saltalamacchia – you cannot have Salty sitting on the bench for the second half and expect him to develop, and yet at the same time, Laird has performed well enough to start. I think Laird probably has just as much, if not more current value on the market than Salty (especially for teams looking for a more experienced catcher) and from a personal standpoint, I’d obviously rather see him dealt, seeing as how I consider him superfluous in the Rangers long-term plans – but at the same time, if the Rangers aren’t going to play Salty I would rather see him dealt to an organization that will.
According to ESPN on Monday, nearly eight teams have been looking at Laird and Salty – the Marlins and Reds have reportedly the most aggressive regarding Laird, but so far have not agreed to give up any pitching prospects for him. The Yankees traded for Pudge Rodriguez yesterday, putting them out of the discussion for now, but the Red Sox are currently interested in a catcher of the future, making them a possible destination for Salty.
Of the Rangers other valuable commodities, Hank Blalock is off the table, as he is on the DL again with a shoulder problem – something the Rangers tried to cover up initially, passing it off as a stomach illness on Monday when they thought it would be a one-day thing. But it wasn’t, and Blalock’s latest DL trip is rumored to have killed a deal involving him and the Twins for Boof Bonser. Which is probably good, because Boof Bonser is nothing more than a younger, fatter version of the pitcher Kevin Millwood currently is.
Milton Bradley was also out of the lineup last night with a strained left quad – the same thing that caused him to miss some extended time back in June. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup today, but this latest nick to Bradley’s health may have sapped some of his last-minute value here at the deadline – that is if the Rangers choose to deal him at all, and from the conservative approach Jon Daniels seems to say he wants to take, a deal involving Bradley or Vicente Padilla probably ins’t likely unless the Rangers get an offer they can’t refuse.
Eddie Guardado’s name has also come up in the rumors, including one about a week ago that had him being dealt to St. Lous for a pitcher Jess Todd. The Marlins have also reportedly had some interest, but so far nothing tangibly concrete has actually come up regarding Eddie – which is unfortunate in my opinion, because I don’t see us bringing him back (at age 38) in 2009.
Bottom line: it kind of sounds like Jon Daniels is planning on standing pat unless he finds a deal out there that blows him away. And in my opinion, that might be a mistake – we’ve got several guys having what will likely be career seasons right now, and even if we don’t get the next Mark Teixeira haul in return for one of them, they could still bring back a very solid and valuable bounty. I wish JD would go for broke on the rebuilding like Billy Beane has done in Oakland this year, but I’m preparing for a relatively quiet (and for me, consequently disappointing) deadline.
Tonight, Matt Harrison opposes former Ranger RA Dickey - if you’ll remember, he gave up many a homer in Texas trying to become Tim Wakefield. He appears to have finally figured out how to lob that knuckleball this year however, so this might be quite the experience for some of the Rangers young players (like Chris Davis) who I doubt have ever seen a knuckleballer. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to this game, because as I’ve mentioned before on here, I hate knuckleballers.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Milton Bradley
The results are in, and the aforementioned four have made it into the 2008 All-Star game. Hamilton will be our lone voted-in starter, but Milton Bradley has been chosento DH in the stead of an injured David Ortiz, so that’s actually two starters for us. As expected, Ian Kinsler got snubbed from getting the start by that little dwarf from Boston – Kinsler lost to him by 34,000 votes, which, in ASG voting terms, is pretty close. So at least we gave Boston a run for their money on that. Michael Young got in as well, as he and Kinsler are both on the bench.
Here are the All-Star rosters - I’ve got to run right now, but I’ll write some more on this later, I promise (really, I do). For now, I just wanted to convey a giant fistpump and a send congrats out to Josh, Milton, Ian and Mike – they all deserved to start, really.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, David Murphy, Michael Young, Ron Washington, Warner Madrigal
Well, at least they didn’t lose to Sidney Ponson. That’s the bright spot I’m taking from the Rangers blowout loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday. What they did suffer however, was a bullpen implosion the likes of which is rarely ever seen, as Ron Washington’s ill-timed choice of debuting Warner Madrigal against the heart of the Yankees order turned a 7-6 comeback into an 18-7 embarrassment.
Looking for their first sweep of the season, the Rangers found themselves leading 7-6 in the 7th inning, thanks in part to the awesomeness of Chris Davis, who had made a diving stop at first base that saved 3 runs in the 5th, and then hammered a 2-run jack to dead center in the 6th to cap a 4 run rally.
The only problem was that the Rangers bullpen, which had been so brilliant in the first two games of the series, was suffering from overwork and an injury - Frankie Francisco, Josh Rupe and Eddie Guardado where all unavailable, leaving the struggling Joaquin Benoit, the rookie Warner Madrigal, and the AL leader in appearances, Jamey Wright as the only middle-relievers available. And with Joaquin Benoit spent after throwing 31 pitches (and only 14 strikes) over 1.1 innings, the choices for the bottom of the 7th inning where narrowed down to Wright and Madrigal.
With the heart of the Yankees order coming up in the 7th (Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi) you would have thought Washington would have gone to Jamey Wright, and either tried to get him through both the 7th and the 8th innings, or at least let Madrigal face the bottom of the Yankee order in the 8th. Nope. That would have made sense, and making sense is not something Ron Washington does. Instead, he brought in the rookie to make his Major League debut in a one run game in Yankee Stadium, against Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi. You had to feel sorry for Madrigal – he just wasn’t ready for the situation he was thrown into.
The inning started with Abreu blooping a double into left field that Brandon Boggs slid for, but came up short. Madrigal, who quite obviously could not find the location on his breaking ball last night, then walked A-Rod and went 3-2 on Giambi, who smashed a 2 run double to give the Yankees the lead back. From there, the 24 year-old just clearly lost whatever confidence and control he had left, and would wind up being charged with 6 runs as the Yankees went on to score 9 times in the inning. Jamey Wright, who came in to play mopup also got hit for 6 runs between the 7th and the 8th, as the Rangers endured their worst pitching meltdown since April 23rd against Detroit.
Just a really frustrating game - I realize Ron Washington was pinched regarding his bullpen last night, but that can’t possibly excuse him sending a rookie out against the heart of one of baseballs best orders in a one run game like that. You might as well have tossed him out of a plane without a parachute – I didn’t have a problem with the idea of bringing him into that game, but that was just the wrong spot to do it. When is Wash going to learn how to manage a bullpen?
In other news, Michael Young left last nights game after 3 innings with a mildy strained left groin muscle. Young seems to have had quite a few different strains and pains this year, and it looks like this is just another one of them at this point – no word yet on whether he’ll start today or not though.
Ron Washington decided to sit David Murphy yesterday, as he’s only hitting .143/.194/.232 in his last 17 games. It appears Ron might be coming around to the fact that Murphy is just no good against left-handed pitching (.222/.243/.343 against LHP this year):
“He might be a little fatigued right now, but he’ll catch his second wind,” Washington said. “He’ll still get some lefties, but if I think our best lineup is all right-handed hitters, then I’m going to go with right-handed hitters.”
That sounds like an important realization by Wash (although the sad part is, it’s taken him this long to arrive at this conclusion) because it should help boost both Murphy’s overall numbers, as well as the rest of the offense quite a bit if he’s not in there creating a vacume against those lefties. Don’t get me wrong, I like Murphy a lot, but his future kind of looks more like a platoon player/4th OF again now that his early-season hot streak is over.
Quick hits: Chris Davis and Nelson Cruz have been named co-minor league players of the month for June, Derek Holland won minor league pitcher of the month… Ian Kinsler and Josh Rupewhere the Rangers player/pitcher of the month, respectively… Chris Shelton has cleared waivers and been assigned to AAA Oklahoma – he has 3 days to accept the assignment or opt for free agency… according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox sports.com, the Rangers are getting inquiries on Vicente Padilla from the “Mets, Yankees and Brewers, among other clubs”. Sounds like trade talk here in Texas could be starting to pick up.
The Rangers have Thursday off before the head into Baltimore for a 3 game set – Vicente Padilla will take on Jeremy Guthrie in a July 4th matchup – the perfect time for Padilla to do a little trade value pumping.
Boy, what a difference one at-bat can make in your standing as a “clutch hitter” or a “run producer”. Michael Young entered the bottom of the 9th yesterday in the midst of a 1-32 funk, the longest cold streak at the plate in his entire career. But he left the 9th inning a hero, after he punched a walk-off single past a diving Mark Teixeira to give the Rangers a hard fought 5-4 victory.
Things started off pretty slow for both teams offensively, as Scott Feldman and Braves rookie Charlie Morton faced off in a pitchers duel for the first 5 innings. The Braves managed to squeeze out a couple runs in the 3rd and 4th innings thanks to a leadoff walk/single combo and a leadoff double that put runners in scoring position with no outs each inning. In those same two innings, the Rangers managed to leave a man at third, as Michael Young and Brandon Boggs each missed a golden 2-out RBI opportunity while the Braves lead 2-0.
But Feldman would shut the Braves down for the next three innings, allowing just one hit after the 4th inning, and the Rangers offense would manage a comeback against Morton, who held them in check for the first 4 frames. And coincidentally, it would be the two guys who had failed with runners on third in the 3rd and 4th innings making good on their second chances to rally the Rangers from behind. Michael Young hit a sac fly in the bottom of the 5th to make it 2-1, but it was Brandon Boggs who struck the big blow in the bottom of the 6th.
With runners on first and second and nobody out in the 6th, Boggs stepped to the plate against lefty reliever Jeff Ridgway with the apparent intention to play a little small ball – he missed two bunt attempts to quickly fall to 0-2. And thank god he missed those bunts, because the 0-2 pitch turned out to be a curveball that tailed too far over the inner half of the plate. Boggs swung and drilled it down the left field line, fair and gone for a 3-run homer. Just like that, it was 4-2 Rangers, and when he left the mound after the 7th inning, Scott Feldman was in position to win his first ballgame since May 9th. But unfortunately for Feldman, who has seen literally just about every one of his strong efforts ruined by bad defense, poor bullpen work, or a lack of offense this year (he has made “quality” starts in 6 out of his 10 outings, but has just one win) something in the bullpen was about to go haywire again.
Eddie Guardado, working for a third consecutive day, battled around a 15-pitch at-bat by Gregor Blanco to toss a perfect frame, K’ing 2. But for the 9th inning, Ron Washington chose to bring on CJ Wilson, who had worked 3 of the previous 4 days and had just thrown 28 pitches and taken the loss just the night before. The results where almost predictable.
CJ walked Mark Teixeira to lead off the inning, struck out Kelly Johnson, and then gave up a double to Greg Norton. Runners where on second and third with one out for Jeff Francouer, who had reached on CJ’s fielding error Wednesday night to spark the Atlanta rally. This time he hit a little roller past the right of the mound… which CJ reached out his glove for and tipped it, stopping it before it could roll to the shortstop Young. Francouer reached on what went as a single and a run scored to make it 4-3 and CJ was in hot water again. This time though, Ron Washington came out to get him before things went any further, presumably because of his pitch count, which was already up 21 - just 7 shy of what he’d thrown the previous night.
Jamey Wright came in to finish the inning, but immediately gave up a sac fly to tie it a 4 before he got a groundout to end things in the top of the 9th. Fortunately for the Rangers and their bullpen, the game would not go to extra innings however, as Ian Kinsler doubled to lead off the bottom of the 9th against the Braves Blaine Boyer. Will Ohman was brought in to replace Boyer, and got pinch-hitter Chris Shelton to pop out bunting. That made it Michael Young’s turn, and the rest, as they say, is history. Young snapped his 1-32 streak with a base hit into right field that scored Kinsler, and the Rangers sent the crowd home happy with some walkoff drama.
Still, all the drama wouldn’t have been necessary had CJ Wilson been able to lock down that save – and his inability to do so has the debate over whether or not he should continue as the closer raging anew. After the game, some of the Rangers officials finally weighed in on situation – although Ron Washington was pretty non-committal in his comments:
“I haven’t thought about that yet,” said Washington, who wants to talk to pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti about it. “We’ll get together and if there needs to be something done about it, we will. If not, you’ll see C.J. take the ball the next time a closing situation comes up.”
Nolan Ryan on the other hand made an excellent point:
“I think if you look at our organization, he’s our closer,” Ryan said. “I think you have to continue to run him out there. C.J. is the one most suited to be our closer at this point in time.”
I myself suggested yesterday that perhaps it was time to look into putting Eddie Guardado at closer if CJ doesn’t improve sooner rather than later. And who knows, at some point, we may still have to wind up doing that. But right now, Nolan’s assessment of the situation is correct - we don’t have any better options. And furthermore, as Adam J. Morris pointed out yesterday over at Lone Star Ball, pulling him from the closers role now would do nothing for his confidence and mentality. Whether CJ is a closer going forward or not (and that seams to be a decreasing likelihood) he is going to likely be a valuable piece of either the rotation or the bullpen’s late relief corps sometime in the future – and as such, it’s important to let him try to work through this just as you would with any other promising, still relatively young player.
So to conclude - I don’t think they need to promote Guardado into CJ’srole, not yet. If we get to the end of the month, and things haven’t improved, then it’ll be time to revisit this – but for now, CJ deserves a few more save opportunities to get his stuff together, even if it does cause ulcers among Ranger fans. That’s my opinion at least… for now.
Quick hits: Milton Bradley was out of the lineup after all yesterday, due to his his injured quad, and he may be out of the lineup today as well… with the Rangers heading to Washington, where the roots of the Ranger franchise began, Richard Durrett has an interesting organizational timeline up… the incomparable Joey Matschulat has an awesome piece up on Elvis Andrus… and finally, CJ Wilson got a haircut.
Kevin Millwood vs. Tim Redding tonight in Washington, folks – we’ll see if the Rangers can pull more than one game above .500 this weekend against the Nats- so far this year they are 2-15 in games after they pull even with .500, though.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Milton Bradley, Sidney Ponson, Tom Grieve
Yes, the announcement of Eric Hurley’s callup was of course the big story yesterday, but there was some other stuff worth mentioning that didn’t make it into my afternoon update, so I thought I’d knock it out real quick this morning. So without further adeu, some random left-overs from Monday:
Milton Bradley has scored co-player of the week honors for his explosion at the plate last week. He shares the award with Joe Crede, who hit .524/.600/1.333 with 5 homers, 2 doubles and 12 RBI the last 7 days, good for a 1.933 OPS. Bradley hit .550/.690/1.450 (11 for 29) last week with 5 homers, 3 doubles, 9 RBI – a 2.140 OPS. Nice to have some recognition for Milton, who has really been carrying the team while Josh Hamilton has slumped a bit at the plate lately (perhaps due to his viral infection).
Speaking of Hamilton, even though he’s gotten a little cold of late, he’s still going strong in the all-star voting- he’s a sold second in the AL outfield voting, 257,664 votes behind Manny Ramirez. He has pulled away from third place Ichiro Suzuki, as he now holds a 226,044 vote advantage over third.
And it’s not just Hamilton who’s now getting recognition for Texas now – the Rangers as a whole are surging in the All-star voting. Ian Kinsler and Michael Young have moved up to second in their respective second base and shortstop races, and Milton Bradley (who is just now starting to really get votes, thanks to his insane performance of late) is up to 14th in the OF voting. In an even bigger surprise, Frank Catalanotto is somehow up to 5th in the DH voting – of course, he’s 1,073,257 votes behind David Ortiz, but that’s still impressive. Keep on voting, Ranger fans - it looks like you’re making a pretty sizeable impact.
Along with Eric Hurley’s callup seems to have come a renewed interest in the Sidney Ponson DFA’ing, and the situations surrounding it. Joey Matschulat notes notes that Mike Rhyner of DFW sports radio KTIC 1310 AM The Ticket recently claimed of knowledge that Ponson had unleashed a racial slur toward a “Rangers official” during one of his angry rants before his release, and that this “official” was presumably Ron Washington. Rhyner also went on to claim that Michael Young had also been involved in a “dust-up” with Ponson, which would lend credibility to the recent rumor that Young’s finger was not fractured in a weight-room accident as claimed, but instead in a fight with Ponson.
Of course, sports talk radio is not the greatest source for credible information, but if these claims are true, then you can certainly understand even more why the Rangers where so quick to release Sir Sidney, despite the fact that he had been a fairly productive member of the pitching staff. The recent pieces from Evan Grant and Kevin Sherrington on the subject would seem to contradict these rumors – Sherrington even goes so far as to specifically say that Ponson’s problems “did not include a fight with Michael Young, rumors to the contrary” – emphasis his.
I myself really have no problem believing the rumor of Ponson unleashing a racial slur – that would fit right into Sidney’s modus operandi as a profane douche with a problem with authority. I do however, doubt the rumor about he and Michael Young mixing it up, if for no other reason than I seriously doubt Michael would have lowered himself to that level.
But true or not, these rumors are pretty much moot, in my view – Ponson’s past indicates that he is not a good teammate, or a responsible athlete- and we do know that in one form or another, Sidney had been sliding back into his old ways with the incident in the bar in Tampa. As Evan Grant says, he was basically challenging the team to release him with his attitude toward the team and his teammates – and the Rangers didn’t let him get away with it. I don’t really care to what lengths his antics went to, simple logic tells me that a pitching-starved team like the Rangers (who specifically went after him him midway through spring training) would not have released him had they not felt it absolutely necessary. And for that reason, I trust the Rangers judgement on their decision.
Hell, it’s not like Ponson was Roger Clemens or anything on the mound anyway.
And finally, best wishes go out to broadcaster Tom Grieve, whose surgery for prostate cancer was supposed to be Monday. I haven’t seen word yet on how everything went, but I hope it was successful, and I pray for his swift return to the booth – Ranger broadcasts just aren’t going to be the same while he’s gone.
Millwood vs. Meche later tonight – go Rangers.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Michael Young, Sidney Ponson
If Thursday was draft day, yesterday was bizzarro day for the Texas Rangers. Not only did they find themselves shut down by Scott Kazmir once again, as the Texas bullpen got hammered again in a 12-4 loss, they had a catcher playing third base, and they released their #3 starter due to a sudden off-field attitude problem.
The game wasn’t much to write home about – Vicente Padilla and Kazmir dueled for the first 5 innings, with the Rangers picking up a run in the second on a Marlon Byrd sac fly. They lead it 1-0 until Evan Longoria smashed a solo homer off Padilla in the 5th, and then BJ Upton jacked a solo shot of his own in the 6th to break the tie, and the Rays added another run on a wild pitch.
Then in the top of the 8th, things got ugly. Robinson Tejeda melted down with 2 out to give up 3 runs, including a 2 run homer by Dioner Navarro. Kameron Loe actually had to come on to get the final out. Ian Kinsler popped a solo homer in the bottom of the 8th for just the second Texas run of the game, but Kameron Loe took the hill for the top of the 9th and absolutely imploded, allowing 6 runs (although none earned, thanks to a pair of errors – but don’t let that fool you, he was horrible) including a triple and a 2-run homer. The Rangers tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to take the edge off of some of the embarrassment, but that didn’t change the fact that the bullpen once again got absolutely hammered.
In fact, I’d say it’s safe to assume that with their performances last night, Tejeda and Loe may have just earned themselves a pair of bus tickets to OKC (although Tejeda would have to pass through waivers again to get there).
The real news of the day though, was of course the DFA’ing of Sidney Ponson, due to a series of incidents in which Ponson disrespected the team. It apparently started on the last road trip, when Ponson was put on notice after creating a ”serious disturbance” at a hotel bar in St. Petersburg, FLA. Then this week, after being called upon to start on three days rest while Kevin Millwood attended to a personal matter, Ponson “showed up his teammates” by blowing up after he was taken out of the game on Wednensday after he gave up 6 runs (though partly due to 3 errors committed by his defense). Apparently the icing on the cake came Thursday, when he again blew up when Ron Washington informed him he would make his next start on 6 days rest. After that, the Rangers decided to cut him when Vicente Padilla came off the bereavement list yesterday.
As Evan Grant notes, Ponson has had similar incidents like this before in his career, so this is really nothing new - it appears Ponson was simply sliding back into the behavior that has gotten him released and bounced around by multiple clubs in the last 3 years. And that’s certainly not something you want on your team. In the words of Jon Daniels:
“He had disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate,” Daniels said. “We want guys who want to be here. We’re trying to put together a team here, and based on some comments and reactions, he didn’t want to be part of that. That’s not something we’re going to tolerate.”
Amen.
This does leave the Rangers without a 5th starter, something they can do without until next Saturday – but once that time rolls around, JD has apparently said someone from OKC will be called up. TR Sullivan dropped the names Kason Gabbard, Luis Mendoza, Matt Harrison, Eric Hurley, and oddly enough Dustin Nippert in his article, and Evan Grant did the same, although he highlighted Hurley and Harrison a little more.
Myself, I wouldn’t mind seeing Eric Hurley, I don’t think he’s got a whole lot left to prove in the minors – he just needs to learn to keep the ball down more, and he’ll get schooled on that pitching in Arlington anyway. But he’s missing enough bats, and has pitched well enough of late to warrant a callup in my opinion – I actually think the extra pressure of pitching in the bigs and pitching in a hitters park might help him focus on keeping the ball in the yard more. The only thing is, I kind of doubt the Rangers agree with me, so I’m going to predict it will probably be Kason Gabbard who gets recalled.
Also of note was Gerald Laird making an emergency start at third base, after Michael Young apparently fractured his finger in the weight room. It’s only a hairline fracture, and Young expects to start today and play through it, but this is just the Rangers reaping the rewards of sending down their only other infielder earlier this week. German Duran is eligible to be called up again on Sunday, so I image he’ll be back here by then, but they still have to go one more game with no backup infielder – hopefully MY’s finger holds up.
Today, it’s Scott Feldman vs. Andy Sonnastine. Needless to say, it would be nice to come back with a win after the bullpen implosion last night.
One last thing: maybe from now on, when I say I’m going to write a special piece here, we should just assume it’s going to come out a day later than I said it would. I’m still working on my draft recap, and I won’t have it published till later today – fortunately, it is Saturday though, so I should have the time to finish it for a change. In the meantime, here you can find EMC’shandy draft board, with all the Rangers day 1 and day 2 picks. And here you can read Jamey Newberg’s day 1 recap. Good stuff.
It’s never fun to watch your team blow a ballgame like they did last night in Minnesota. It leaves you looking for someone to blame, and while there’s several scapegoats you could pick for this loss, the biggest culprit was CJ Wilson. The Rangers struggling blue glove lefty blew his second save of the season, and the Rangers could not take advantage of their scoring opportunites in extra innings, as they fell to the Twins 7-6 in 12 innings.
It was admittedly a tough game for the Rangers pitching staff the entire night, as home plate “umpire” Tim Tschida put the squeeze on Texas pitchers all night long with a minaturized strike zone that only seemed to be in effect in the bottom half of innings. That most certaintly contributed to Wilson’s blown save, and it also hampered Scott Feldman in the early going as well.
The Rangers lead 2-0 early on home runs by Josh Hamilton in the first inning, and Ian Kinsler in the top of the third, but the Twins got on the board in the bottom of the inning with an unearned run after Josh Hamilton made an errant throw from center field on a Brendan Harris single. Then in the fourth, Feldman gave up a three run homer to Alexi Casilla – the first major league home run for a guy who has just 7 homers his entire minor league career. Mike Lamb would hit a sac fly in the 6th to put the Twins up 5-2, but the Rangers would rally.
Aside from surrenduring the two early homers, Twins starter Boof Bonser was cruising along through the first 6 inning, allowing just one hit besides the home runs and walking nobody, while striking out 5. But he would break down in the 7th, as Milton Bradley started the inning with a single. David Murphy fouled out, but Brandon Boggs singled to left, and then Frank Catalanotto tapped one back to Bonser, who promptly committed a throwing error, loading the bases for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who had hit a ball to the warning track in his first at bat and struck out previously. Salty knocked a 2 run single to left on the first pitch he saw from Bonser, to close the gap to 5-4. Delmon Young’s throw in from LF went awry, putting runners on second and third, but the Rangers could not capatalize, as Twins brought in Matt Guerrier to work out of the jam.
They got the job done in the 8th, though - Michael Young singled to start the inning, and after a Josh Hamilton strikeout, Milton Bradley would double him home on a hit-and-run to tie it up. The very next batter was David Murphy, and he singled home Bradley to give the Rangers a 6-5 advantage. After Joaquin Benoit worked a scoreless 8th, all the Rangers needed was three outs from the CJ Wilson for the victory. Lately, though, that hasn’t been quite as simple as it sounds.
After getting Mike Redmond on a groundout to third to start the inning, CJ walked pinch-hitter Craig Monroe. He got ahead of Brendan Harris 0-2, but couldn’t get a strike called on any of the next four pitches, two of which looked good enough to be strike three, but Tim Tschida wouldn’t ring him up. That at-bat pretty much broke the inning for CJ, although after the game, he wasn’t making any excuses:
“Apparently I thought I missed on a couple of locations,” Wilson said. “I thought I threw some pretty good pitches. It was a tough zone all night, but we have to make a collective adjustment. This is the big leagues. You need to be able to throw it in a teacup if you need to throw it in a teacup. That’s the gist of it. I cost the team a win tonight.”
After Harris walked, CJ broke off a curveball in the dirt for a wild pitch to Joe Mauer, moving the runners up. Mauer then dropped one into center to tie it at 6, resulting in the blown save for CJ, who to his credit, did escape the inning on two fielders choice’s.
The Rangers had one big chance in extra innings, when they loaded the bases with one out in the 11th, but Twins rookie Bobby Korecky came on in relief of Jaun Rincon and struck out Ian Kinsler and Michael Young. Frank Francisco escaped a bases loaded situation on the bottom of the inning himself, but the Rangers went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 12th.
Then, in the bottom of the inning, Franklyn German came on, and things predicatbly fell apart, although it really wasn’t German’s fault this time. Carlos Gomez had a leadoff infield single, on what probably should have been a Michael Young error, and was moved to second on a hit-and-run groundout. After an intentional walk to Mike Lamb, utilityman Howie Clark sent one into CF, where Josh Hamilton, who was playing shallow to try and cut off the run on any singles, misjudged it, and allowed it to go over his head for a double – another play that probably should have been an error - a drepressing end to a ballgame the Rangers pretty much gave away.
Nobody really knows what’s up with CJ Wilson right now – he’s given up 7 runs now in his last 5 appearances, and has a 7.04 ERA for May. It’s hard to say that these struggles are recent, though – as I’ve mentioned in the past, CJ hasn’t been getting enough strikeouts the entire year (less than 10% of his pitches this season are being swung on and missed) compared to his walks. He does somehow have a pretty good .235 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) but he’s simply allowing too many baserunners (which was a bit of a problem for him last year as well) and he’s not missing enough bats to get outs when he needs them. Perplexing, to say the least – I don’t currently advocate his outright removal from the 9th inning role (for now at least, although I am starting to lean toward exploring other options), but it’s starting to appear more and more certain that closing is not going to be CJ’s long-term role for this club.
In other news, Michael Young says he does not want to move to third base, and he’s being pretty snooty about it, too:
“Absolutely not,” he said before the Rangers’ game with the Twins at the Metrodome on Monday night. “It hasn’t been brought up. It hasn’t been brought up to me, so it hasn’t been brought up.”
…
“There is no reason for me to move to third base,” Young said. “I can’t envision what’s going to happen down the road, but for right now and the near future, any position other than shortstop is not an option.”
…
“If something happens down the road and the team is better served by me moving, I’m sure there will be some discussions,” Young said. “But the time is not now, and I don’t see it in the near future.”
Quite a disappointing attitude from the guy that is supposedly our team leader and the “face of the franchise”. You’d think Michael would be big enough to say that he’ll do what’s best for the team (like Hank Blalock just did), but all he does is say there will be “discussions” and acts as if suggesting that he needs to move to third is an insult to him and his abilites. To me, that’s far from the attitude of the indispensable leader he’s supposed to be to this team - in fact, it reminds me of our egotistical old friend Alfonso Soriano, whose refusal to bend was the reason Young had to move to short in the first place.
Seriously, if MY’s gonna pitch a fit over moving from SS to 3B, I see absolutely no reason to keep him and force him into it. If he won’t make the move voluntarily, trade him. Eating a good chunk of his contract, and getting a prospect or two is better than paying him uber-money to begrudgingly provide sub-par offense, and likely sub-par defense at third base - I’m sure he’ll waive his no-trade clause if it means he gets to keep his precious status as a middle infielder.
TR Sullivan has a 2008 draft preview out – he says the Rangers may look to draft more college players if possible this year, rather than the younger high schoolers they have drafted in recent years, in an effort to find players who might be ready sooner. I don’t really care about that whole college vs. high school philosphy, myself – I’m not much into predicting which draft picks the Rangers will take, I just want them to take the best players available, and not try to cherry-pick positions. If they can do that, I’ll be happy – which, according to JD, is what he plans to do.
Doug Mathis will make his first Major League start tomorrow – and unlike what was previously thought, it might not be his only one - Kevin Millwood’s rehab is apparently progressing slowly, which could result in another 2-3 starts for Mathis. Anyway, best of luck to Doug as he faces off agaist Twins lefty Glen Perkins – I’m anxious to see how he does.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, CJ Wilson, Elvis Andrus, Hank Blalock, Marlon Byrd, Michael Young, Ron Washington, Salty vs. Laird
Last night, Josh Hamilton made an amazing play at the wall in CF to save the game for the Rangers. Today, he committed one of a pair of defensive gaffes in the 7th inning that wound up costing the Rangers a 2-0 lead, as they would later fall in extra innings, 4-3.
Another tight pitchers duel was the mantra for the second time in 2 days in Arlington, as Carlos Silva and Scott Feldman went head to head in a battle of sinkerballs for the first 6 innings.
The Rangers got on the board first, scoring twice on 3 doubles (by Frank Catalanotto, Michael Young and David Murphy) in the bottom of the first off Silva, but that was all they where able to muster against the veteran right-hander, who proceeded to toss 5.1 more innings of scoreless ball. Meanwhile, the M’s chipped away with a Jose Lopez RBI double in the 4th off Feldman, and then took advantage of the poor defense in the 7th to take the lead.
Ramon Vazquez started the inning by throwing away a Jose Lopez grounder to third, putting Lopez on second with nobody out. The very next batter, Jeff Clement, hammered one into CF where Josh Hamilton misjudged the ball and started to charge in – only to realize that the line drive was over his head, and bounding to the wall. Clement’s liner was scored as a triple (the first of his career), although I’m sure Hamilton would tell you that he probably should have had a play on that ball.
Yuniesky Betancourt would double in Clement later in the inning to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead, and things continued to go downhill for Texas after that. They escaped the inning, and where presented witha huge opportunity when they loaded the bases withoneout after a David Murphy double and a pair of walks. The red-hot Ramon Vazquez (who is 15 for his last 34 – a .441 average over the last two weeks) was due up next, but the Mariners brought in lefty Aurthur Rhodes from the bullpen to face him. Apparently not wanting to go with a lefty-lefty matchup, even with the sizzling hot Vazquez, Ron Washington decided to pinch hit Marlon Byrd, who was just hours up from AAA, and had not seen ML pitching in nearly a month, in what was arguably the biggest spot in the game.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Byrd grounded into an inning-ending double play on a 3-1 pitch. Note to Ron Washington: just because you like a guy, and you want to get him into a game his first day back from the DL does not make him a good choice for a pinch hitter in a huge situation. In fact, it makes him an extraordinarily BAD choice for a pinch hitter. Seriously, if Ron really wanted a righty hitting in that situation (instead of the uber-hot Vazquez), he should have pinch-hit Gerald Laird, who historically mashes lefties, and has been on a gigantic hot streak lately (in some supreme irony, Laird would pinch-hit the very next inning for Frank Catalanotto, and tally a base knock).
The Rangers tied it in the 8th on a Josh Hamilton sac fly, but in the bottom of the 9th, Ron Washington’s “strategics” failed once again. After Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a leadoff walk, Ron decided to have Chris Shelton, who up until the last two days, had not had a sacrifice bunt in his entire Major League career, bunt again. Guess what the Mariners infield was looking for? First baseman Miguel Cairo charged the bunt, which wasn’t a very good one, and turned it into a double play.
Note to Ron Washington part II: sacrificing with the same player (who does not bunt that well, BTW), late in the game three days in a row is not a good idea. You might as well call the Mariners dugout and give them a heads up on what your next move is. Dumbass.
Throughout all of this offensive mismanagement, the Rangers bullpen (namely Doug Mathis, CJ Wilson, Jamey Wright and Eddie Guardado) managed to hold the M’s scoreless until the top of the 12th (despite another scary inning from Wilson), when Franklyn German allowed a leadoff single to Wladimir Balentien. The M’s sacrificed him to second, and then Ichiro Suzuki got him to third in a deep fly ball to center. With 2 out, Miguel Cairo then popped one up the middle, past Mr. no-range (Michael Young) to score Balentien from third. Starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn came on for the Mariners in the 12th (they had completely depleted their bullpen by this time) and worked around a 2-out walk of Gerald Laird to record the save, and spare the Mariners the sweep.
This may have been a close game, but I think it’s more than fair to say that this loss is squarely on the shoulders of Ron Washington and Josh Hamilton – without the gaffes made by those two, this is a game we should have won. Ham still seems to have trouble judging some fly balls at the Ballpark in Arlington, but there is no excuse for the micromanaging perpetuated by Washington late in the game. I know his intent was to try to spark a rally, but he went about it completely wrong. The man is quite obviously in love with both Marlon Byrd and the bunt, and both backfired on him bigtime today.
Sigh.
Moving on to the notes and more interesting stuff now: while the Byrdman of Arlington is back, he is going to be limited to the 4th OF/reserve role. His presence should allow Brandon Boggsand David Murphy to get a little more time off without sacrificing the OF defense, so as long as Ron doesn’t overdo the pinch-hitting bit with him, he should be a welcome addition to the bench. To make room on the roster, Travis Metcalf was sent to OKC, as expected.
Ron Washington wants to make it clear that CJ Wilson is still the closer right now, even though Eddie Guardadoclosedout Tuesday night’s game with 9 consecutive strikes, although Guardado has now moved ahead of Joaquin Benoit in the pecking order for save opportunities when CJ is not available. In any case, it’s still advisable to keep your Tums and your pepto-bismol handy when you’re watching close games in the late innings, folks.
Hank Blalock’s return from the DL appears imminent, as he cleared his final test on Wednesday, and was supposed to report to AA Frisco for a rehab game today. However, Hank was spotted in the dugout in Arlington during today’s contest, so it sounds like to me that his activation from the DL on Friday is all but decided. That probably means German Duran will be sent back down to OKC – considering Duran is only hitting .182/.260/.273, it’s probably best that he head back down and see some regular playing time again.
Now for something I mentioned in my last entry: Ken Rosenthal’s latest column has some notes on Michael Young, his declining range at short, and how Elvis Andrus fits into the equation. Rosenthal suggests that Elvis Andrus’s rise though the farm system could result in Young’s removal from shortstop as soon as next season, and includes a quote from an unnamed scout, who suggests that Andrus could come faster than currently expected:
“Nothing will intimidate him,” the scout says. “He has a great amount of confidence. He would approach it the same way at the big-league level as he would at Double A or Triple A.
“Of course, you’ll see better arms and better stuff in the big leagues. But he has always had good strike-zone command and good pitch recognition. It will serve him well, probably even better at the major-league level. The strike zone is tighter. And the pitchers, to some degree, are more predictable than they are at Double A.”
Probably true, but Andrus is currently only hitting .271/.329/.307 for AA Frisco, and still appears a little raw offensively. He only has 9 walks to 27 K’s, and just three extra-base hits in 140 AB’s - things that will all need to improve drastically before he can be considered Major-League ready, IMO. There’s still plenty of time for an offensive breakout, but at this point, I’m not sure that Andrus will ever get on base enough to be the spectacular leadoff/top of the order hitter that he is hyped as. However, with the defensive ability he displays at shortstop, and his overall athletic prowess, average offensive production and the ability to contribute in the bottom of the order should be enough to take him places in the majors. And if what that scout says is true, he does seem like a player that will only improve with experience.
As for Michael Young, I agree, he needs to be moved from short, and by the end of this season, although I’m not really a fan of some of Rosenthal’s suggestions – he says that the best options would be to move Young to third base, and deal or convert Hank Blalock to first, or move Ian Kinsler to LF, and Young back to second base.
The second of those proposals is outright preposterous, as it’s a huge waste of Kinsler’s ability to stick him in LF, not to mention the fact that his bat would no longer be that much of an asset there. I don’t see the Rangers converting Blalocktofirst either, not with Chris Davis lying in the minors. I suppose Michael could also be converted to LF, but given the fact that he has never professionally played OF, and his declining mobility, the only reasonable solution would appear to be dealing Young or Blalock and moving Young to 3B.
As I’ve stated in the past, I would much rather see at least part of Young’s massive contract disappearfromthe payroll, along with his defensive inability (which is going to come into play no matter where you move him) than Blalock’s bat, which at this point has a lot more miles left on it that Young’s – but the no-trade clause in MY’scontractmakes trading him a very complicated proposition. Perhaps we could get Michael to waive it once Andrus begins to pressure him for the job, however – I’m fairly sure that if we could trade him to a contender next year or in 2010, and get a fair amount of value back, it would be a win-win for both Michael and the Rangers. But that day seems a ways off – until then, I’ll just have to keep on cringing every time an opposing batter smacks ball Young’s way.
Finally, Anthony Andro of the FW Star-Telegram had a peice up on the catching situation yesterday, noting that neither Laird nor Saltalamacchia are happy with this infernal platoon. That makes three of us.
I found it interesting that Laird’s quote from the article is practically a request for a trade (of some kind, anyway):
“We both deserve to play somewhere every day,” said Laird, who beat out Saltalamacchia in spring training. “It’s definitely frustrating. I don’t like having to come in and look at the lineup to see if I’m playing. It’s working for the team, but it’s not an ideal situation.”
Laird has been on a hot streak of late, witha.290 average over his last 8 games, along with 4 XB hits – very good numbers for a guy like Gerald, so his trade value should be about maxed out right now. Now the Rangers just need to find themselves a trading partner. I wonder if the Washington Nationals (whose primary catcher, Paul Lo Duca is out till midseason) might be interested?
It’s an off-day tomorrow, as the Rangers gear up for the first three games of the “Lone Star Series” against the Astros on Friday. It’s scheduled to be Sidney Ponson vs. Shawn Chacon. If the Rangers can take the first two games, against the “Stro’s, as they have in their last two series, they will be back to that magic .500. Hard to believe, no?
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Ben Broussard, Jason Botts, John Patterson, Luis Mendoza, Michael Young, Ron Washington
So far, this series in Seattle has had a bit of everything for everybody. The first two games saw one club chase the opposing starter early, and effectively put the game away before the 5th inning. Last night’s contest, however, saw a classic low-scoring, nail-biting pitchers duel between Seattle’s ace lefty Erik Bedard, and the Rangers revitalized Vicente Padilla.
Bedard, who came into the game with a 4-1 career line, and a 2.42 ERA against the Rangers, pitched a pretty good game, but the story of the night was Vicente Padilla. Already the author of a complete game shutout this season (back on April 27th against the Twins) Padilla tossed another brilliant gem, putting goose eggs on the board for 7 innings, surrendering just two hits and two walks and striking out 8. At one point, he retired 12 Mariners in a row. To say he was brilliant might have been an understatement. Filthy is probably a better adjective.
The Rangers offense managed to get just two runs off Bedard, but the way Padilla was pitching, it turned out to be enough. Brandon Boggs ripped an RBI triple to plate Milton Bradley from first win 2 out in the 4th to break the scoreless tie. Bradley, who scored both the Ranger runs, later hammered a solo shot to left in the 6th, and that was all the Rangers needed.
Things did get a little hairy for Padilla in the 7th, when he walked Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre to lead off the inning. But thanks to some blazing upper 90’s fastballs, and some excellent framing by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Padilla rebounded to strike out the side, getting Jeff Clement and Yuniesky Betancourt looking, and Wladmir Balentien swinging to end the threat.
That was Padilla’s most brilliant inning, but also his last, as he was pulled by Ron Washington in the 8th, despite only being at 91 pitches. Joaquin Benoit took over, and worked though a nailbiter inning, walking the first batter he saw, and later giving everyone a scare by giving Jose Lopez a pitch that was jacked all the way back to the corner in deep LF, but hauled in by Brandon Boggs for the third out. Even though he got out of the inning unscathed, Benoit can just count himself lucky that it was Jose Lopez he served up that last pitch to, and not someone like Adrian Beltre, or he would have been looking at a blown save. But it wasn’t, and CJ Wilson came on for the 9th, and worked around a walk of his own to pick up his 8th save of the season, slamming the door on the shutout, and the Rangers 15th win of the season.
There was some bad news coming along with this one though, as shortstop Michael Young tweaked a flexor muscle in his left hip during his at-bat in the top of the first inning. Right now he’s listed as day-to-day, and there hasn’t been anything said about how serious his problem is, but from what I gather, flexorinjuries can keep a guy out anywhere from a few games to over a month. Needless to say, if Young is out for an extended period, it will be very bad, because the Rangers don’t have many options to replace him. German Duran and Ramon Vazquez are already splitting time filling in for Hank Blalock, and there’s no other infielder on the 40-man roster besides Joaquin Arias (who has so far been limited to playing second base in OKC, as he rebuilds arm strength from a shoulder surgery last year) who is eligible to be called up to the majors. Even if Young is only out for a few days, and the Rangers wait for him to recover, they’ll still be in a dangerous predicament, as they’ll have no backup infielder on the roster.
I’m afraid I have more discouraging news, too – John Patterson has suffered a setback in his recovery from his 2007 elbow surgery. He has been shut down after his second start in extended spring training, thanks to soreness in his right forearm.
“He was not happy with the way the ball was coming out of his hand, and he had some pain in his forearm again,” Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor said. “Everything was going well until that second start.”
I guess this means Sidney Ponson is now undoubtedly here to stay, be it for better or worse.
Luis Mendoza, who is on the DL with shoulder pain, is not close to returning to the rotation either. According to Mark Connor, he is making progress, but the Rangers still want to play it safe, and let him build up his endurance, as he’s scheduled to throw a simulated game Saturday, and then make 2 or 3 rehab starts in the minors.
For now, that leaves the Rangers with a rotation of Millwood, Padilla, Ponson, Kason Gabbard (who comes off the DL tommorrow) and Scott Feldman, with AJ Murray being the primary fallback option.
Another interesting note though, is that Doug Mathis has now “pushed ahead” of Eric Hurley, as far as consideration for a big league callup anytime soon goes. Mathis is 5-0 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP for OKCso far, whereas Hurley is 1-2 with a 7.32 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP, and has given up 8 HR – disappointing to say the least for the Rangers top pitching prospect.
A couple last notes, and I’ve got to wrap this up: Ben Broussard is a dead man walking. The Rangers have decided to platoon Frank Catalanotto and Chris Shelton at first base, pretty much making it a logical certainty that Broussard will be dropped when Marlon Byrd comes off the DL. There’s more, too: Evan Grant goes so far as to suggest that because Ron Washington was the one who lobbied for, and effectively got Broussard signed this offseason he could wind up being fired at the same time Broussard is DFA’d. While I would dearly love to see that (the very thought of seeing my two least favorite people associated with the Texas Rangers fired at the same time floods my brain with pleasure endorphins) something tells me that if Ron Washington was going to be fired, it would have been done by now. JD seems reluctant to admit he whiffed when he hired Washington in the first place, and that denial, combined with the Rangers better play of late, I think is going to save Washington’s job until the All-Star break, if not October.
Finally, Jason Botts has cleared waivers, and been outrighted to OKC, something Jason can’t be too happy about, if you remember what he had to say about his designation:
“I think I’ve been here for a pretty long time and I deserve a fresh start somewhere else. It’s not the most negative thing to me right now that this has happened. I’m excited about it.”
Unfortunately for Jason, he now must endure another season of slogging through the minors with OKC, splitting time at first base and DH. I really feel sorry for Bottsy – he may not have ever performed enough in any of his brief stints with the club to convince anyone he should stay, but he didn’t really get a fair shake at a long term chance – he got screwed out of that when the Rangers signed Sammy Sosa in 2007, and his career never recovered.
Kason Gabbard, who will be fresh off the DL, will take on Felix Hernandez today as the Rangers try to take 3 of 4 from the Mariners. Gabbard was 1-0 with a 2.18 ERA before his DLtrip – hopefully he comes back dealing, and hopefully we find out something positive about Michael Young’s hip.
