The Texas Rangers really never did want Josh Hamilton back

FORT WORTH, Texas - When the Texas Rangers 2012 holiday media luncheon at a hotel in dowtown Fort Worth began on Thursday afternoon, the questions for GM Jon Daniels and team president Nolan Ryan focused on where the team was in regards to free agent outfielder Josh Hamilton.

By the time the luncheon was done, roughly 70 minutes later, Josh Hamilton was a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Orange County. He agreed to a five-year, $125 million deal. Josh Hamilton may not work for NASA any time soon, but he was smart enough to sign this contract.

"I did want Josh back," Daniels said. "We hesitated in going long term. There is no sugar coating it. We lost some talented players from last year's club. We now have to go back and look at other options."

Although I don't blame either side in this move, selfishly I am bummed he left - he is a lot of fun to watch. 

An offseason the Rangers supposedly were going to win now has them finally dumping Michael Young, who apparently was the devil, losing out on Zack Greinke in a bidding war with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, whiffing on an attempted deal to land Arizona OF Justin Upton, and now seeing Hamilton leave as a free agent to a division rival.

The Rangers may have said they wanted Josh, but don't buy it. If the Rangers really wanted Josh back, as they said, they would have signed him.

What they wanted was Josh Hamilton on their own terms, which is their right. It was also Josh's right to say, "No thanks."

The fact he never gave the Rangers the chance to match the Angels' offer tells you that Josh really did not want to come back, either.

It's better for both to move on. The Rangers maximized their relationship with Josh, who in turn used his time in Texas to become a national baseball star. Josh should always be celebrated for what he did with the Rangers. There are no consecutive World Series appearances without his production.

The Rangers were tired of worrying about Josh, and the strain it created on the club.

As much as his talent and production were worth the worries, at some point you say, "We can find somebody else to hit home runs."

Josh was equally wise to bolt. He owed it to himself to maximize this opportunity. He can go somewhere else and get a fresh start, and perhaps not be a burden to his club in any way. And it's not as if he signed with the Marlins - the Angels are competitive and are going to be around it for years. The lineup with Hamilton, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols is stupid loaded.

What do the Rangers do now?

"I am sure Vegas may not like our chances right now," Daniels told me. "It's going to be the sum of the parts and I still like this team."

 

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This stinks, but Michael Young should go

Texas Rangers (third baseman?) Michael Young may be coming off the worst year of his career and he is 36, but he is not done. He likely will be a solid producer for three or four more years.

He won't be doing it for the Texas Rangers.

The Google Machine is all abuzz that the Rangers will finally deal Young, this time to the Philadelphia Phillies. This means Young will be dealt to a team in Japan.

All Young needs to do is waive his no-trade clause, and the Rangers will likely eat a decent portion of the $15 million he is due in 2013. As much as I like Michael Young and do feel his departure will create a much larger void in that clubhouse than expected, he should go.

Rangers manager Ron Washington may want him back, but the management does not. At some point, as much as MY and his family may want to stay, he should go. He can play for another team for a few seasons, return to FW/d when he retires and remain a fan favorite forever.

Rangers GM Jon Daniels may operate different than his mentor, GM John Hart, but they both agree to the philosophy that they want someone better than Michael Young.

The Texas Rangers have been trying to dump "the face of the franchise" ever since Tom Hicks hired the smartest man in baseball, John Hart, as his general manager in the offseason of 2002. Hart's successor, Jon Daniels, has also wanted to get rid of Michael Young for a long time.

When Hart was hired he made it clear he wanted a big bat and serious run production from his second baseman, which at the time was Young. Hart's emphasis was anchored around power pitching, and big bats.

But every time the Rangers thought they could find someone better all MY did was hit. Since then MY has been moved to shortstop, third base, first base, DH ... but he was also paid $80 mil over five years. When one signs for that type of a deal one is usually asked "deal with it".

Daniels has at least learned from the last time he tried to deal MY a few seasons ago and is not making any type of potential deal too public. At all. Daniels is going out of his way to say that teams are calling him about MY, not the other way around (wink-wink).

It doesn't matter who called who first. The Rangers want someone else in their infield, and in their lineup, whom they are convinced is an upgrade over MY.

Maybe they are right. 
MY should go to a team that wants him in their lineup and regards him as their upgrade.

 

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Why adding Zack Greinke makes sense for the Texas Rangers

The best news for your Texas Rangers coming out of Nashville at MLB's annual winter meetings is that the club is focused on the rotation.

(Also, Per Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram, the club remains hopeful it's going to keep Josh Hamilton.)

The team also appears to be among the two finalists to land Los Angeles Angels right-handed starter Zack Greinke. The other team is the L.A. Dodgers. According to Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, it's a two-team race for Greinke.

The way the winter meetings usually go, this means Greinke will sign with the Rockies.

It's really hard not to like a potential rotation of:
Yu Darvish
Zack Greinke
Matt Harrison
Derek Holland
Alexi Ogando/Neftali Feliz/Colby Lewis 

Fat contracts for pitchers are a serious dice roll, but there are reasons to think Greinke will be "worth" the $160 million he is expected to sign for.

Greinke is 29, and he does not get hurt. He doesn't look like a pitcher who will get hurt. His delivery is simple, he is in good shape, and he looks like a guy who will eat innings for the duration of his contract.

As free agent pitchers go, don't expect a career year every season. Just hope they are consistent and remain healthy for the duration of the contract. Greinke looks like one of those Atlanta Braves pitchers of years past who pitched effectively forever.

Greinke has averaged about 30 starts per season for the past five years. He is 91-78 with a 3.77 ERA in his nine year MLB career.

I would rather see the Rangers add Greinke than keep Hamilton.

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Remembering when the Texas Rangers making the playoffs was cause for celebration

Between the Texas Rangers' arrival to Arlington, Texas from Washington, D.C. in 1972 all the way through 1996 the team qualified for the postseason zero times.

The next four years from '96 to '99, the team made the playoffs three times, whereupon their arrival to the playoffs they were 1-9 against the Yankees in those games.

In 40 years of playing ball in Texas, the team has made the playoffs six times, three of which are the last three years. You would think with that type of history this town would still be thrilled that the Rangers are in the playoffs for a third consecutive season. 

Nope. This is All or Nothingville for your Rangers, which makes this regular season gag and weeze towards the finich line so difficult to stomach.

The Rangers have lost 8 of their last 12, and now must rally against Brad Pitt's Oakland Athletics to win a division they had led since April 9. The AL West will be decided at 2:30 p.m. in Oakland.

Ryan Dempster, go "git" em, son!

The Rangers would be soooooo much better off defeating the A's today, facing the Tigers in the ALDS and dealing with the Yankees in the championship series.

A one-game playoff against the Orioles does not look enviable.

Quit screwing around and win the division title that has been theirs to take since Opening Day, then you have our permission to break our hearts again.

 

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For the Texas Rangers this postseason, it has to be about Yu

Count me among the masses who assumed for months the Texas Rangers would be in the postseason, and anything leading up to the Game 1 of the ALDS was not necessary. As Bugs Bunney said, "For shame, Doc'."

Things are interesting into the final three games of the regular season with the Rangers having clinched a third consecutive postseason berth but not quite another AL West title. The Rangers could be awarded the World Series trophy tomorrow afternoon, or watch as the Bud Selig accepts all postseason revenues and just hands the Yankees the title, as he wants to do.

The point is we must trust no one for nothing is certain in this, the 2012 Major League Baseball playoffs. Chaos is order! And why? Because the Baltimore Orioles, and the AL West turned out to be a rather large Mitch.

The Rangers vs. the AL West this season:
v. Angels 9-10
v. A's 8-8
v. Mariners 10-9

As much as I did not like the big-cash addition of Japanese free agent pitcher Yu Darvish because the money was crazy high, if the Rangers are going to win the World Series he has to be the difference.

There are two Texas Rangers' starting pitchers with sub 4 ERAs - Yu and Matt Harrison. Derek Holland has great stuff, but it's still not there. Ryan Dempster should be able to get you six innings in the playoffs, but he has serious blowup potential. Maybe in the playoffs Holland will find his dominant self. It is there.

No one on this staff has celebrity ace stuff like Yu. If he is on the Rangers can win every time he pitches. What he did against the Angels (6 2/3, 9 hits, 3 runs, 7 Ks) on Saturday proved he is through the second-go-around blues that so many MLB rookies face.

Yu has to be good for seven or eight innings of dominant ball for the Rangers to get through this all the way to the end. He can't expect to throw 117 pitches in 6 2/3 innings, such as he did against LAA, and make it eight innings.

As the Rangers saw first-hand against the Giants (Matt Cain) and the Cardinals (Chris Carpenter) in the World Series in each of the last two years at some point they need a consistent shutdown from their starter. 
If the Rangers can finally win the World Series, it's going to be Yu that does it.

 

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Angels CF Mike Trout & this former Texas Rangers MVP share this in common

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout recently turned 15 years old and already he is the American League MVP, and its Rookie of the Year. His numbers are absurd:

.339 BA in 437 ABs
148 hits
22 doubles
6 triples
25 HR
74 RBI
41 steals
4 caught stealing
.401 on base percentag
.588 slugging

Also,
* Feeds the homeless
* Gives all of his money and future contracts to a village in Central America
* Delivers Meals on Wheels on Saturdays
* Is thought to be the Navy SEAL team 6 member who got Osama Bin Laden on the daring night raid
* Is secretly dating Condi Rice

He is thought to be the easy winner for the 2012 AL MVP award. 
He is has no business winning it.

Why? The Angels are in third place in the AL West, nine games behind the Rangers for first and four for a wild card spot. Only if the Angels make a push and grab that playoff spot will I change my mind.

The best team in the league may not require an MVP candidate, but a team that does not make the playoffs, especially in the expanded format, was going to be just as irrelevant with or without a Mike Trout type of season.

The last time the AL MVP award went to a player on a team that didn't make the playoffs was in 2003 when Alex Rodriguez won it for the Rangers. They finished 71-91 that season.

Stat me up all you want - but a non-playoff team can't have the MVP.

 

 

 

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Both Rangers & Angels await returns on their "big" deadline pitching acquisitions

Tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Texas Rangers Unsponsored Ballpark Name Stadium their "big time", trade deadline pitching acquisition starts against the Baltimore Orioles.

Ryan Dempster starts for the Rangers. Since being acquired by the Cubs in a deadline deal, he is 1-1 with an 8.31 ERA. He has allowed 24 hits in 17 1/3 innings. That's not easy.

But the Rangers are 70-50 with a five game lead in the AL West.

If Ryan Dempster has you feeling a bit short changed, now imagine if you are a Los Angeles Angels fan, or coach, or manager, or player, or front office employee.

The day the Angels traded for Zack Greinke they were 55-46, and four games behind the Rangers for the division lead.
Today they Angels are 62-60, and nine games behind the Rangers for the division lead.

Just as Dempster has not provided the Rangers with type of top-of-the-rotation consistency, neither has Greinke. On Sunday against the Rays, Greinke took the loss and is now 1-2 with a 6.19 ERA for the Angels. The team is 1-4 in his starts. He allowed seven hits with four walks and six runs in six innings against the Rays.

Each pitcher is going to have at least six more starts, so there is more than enough time to make the respective deals look OK.

The way things are trending the Angels are looking awfully bad for their rent-a-pitcher.

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Roy Oswalt & Ryan Dempster's statistics are only slightly lacking

While no one can fault the Texas Rangers' ambition to pursue and land both pitchers Roy Oswalt and Ryan Dempster during the season, plenty of people can fault the two pitchers since they came to town.

The word "stink" comes to mind.

In the Rangers' 8-2 loss against the New York Yankees, Dempster gave up eight runs on nine hits in six innings. He did, however, have four strikeouts. So that's good.

Here are Dempster's three starts since being acquired by the Cubs:

8/2 v. Angels: 4.2 ip., 9 hits, 8 runs, 8 ER, 2 HR
8/7 at Boston: 6.2 ip., 6 hits, 3 runs, 0 ER, 1 HR
8/13 at NYY: 6 ip., 9 hits, 8 runs, 8 ER, 2 HR

Dempster is 1-1 with an 8.31 ERA.

So you can go for that, or Oswalt, who is now 4-2 with a 6.53 ERA. 

The silver lining is that the Rangers are 67-47 with a six-game lead in the AL West.

 

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Ryan Dempster may be another C.J. Wilson, neither of whom is another Cliff Lee

Tonight at 7:05 the Texas Rangers professional baseball club conclude their four-game series against The California Angels. C.J. Wilson vs. Yet Another Attempt at An Upgrade - Ryan Dempster, who was acquired from the Cubs by the Rangers just before the trade deadline.

(FYI: In two postseason games with the Cubs in 2007 and '08, Dempster was 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA.
In 10 postseason games for the Rangers in 2010 and '11, Wilson was 1-6 with a 4.82 ERA.)

In Wilson's first season with the Angels since he signed a five-year, $77.5 million deal he is 9-7 with a 2.88 ERA. He has started 22 games, and pitched 137.2 innings. He projects to finish with a 14-11 record in 211.2 innings.

That's about who C.J. was in his last two seasons as a starter with the Rangers. He doesn't get hurt. He he is reliable. He eats a lot of innings. He is only 31. He may come across as glib and above it, but he is a solid major league starter. He just isn't an ace, hammer.

Not many are. And even those who are may not be that for a very long time.

When the Rangers agreed not to give in to Cliff Lee's demands it was thought they kissed away their best chance at a hammer.

Yu Darvish has that type of ability, but as evidenced by his second starts against familiar opponents experience is lacking.

In the end the Angels' decision to sign Wilson may be a better one than the Phillies' decision to give Cliff Lee a five-year, $120 million deal in the winter of 2010. 

Wilson is the type of pitcher who is going to get your team to the postseason. The same for Ryan Dempster. Lee is the type of pitcher who is going to win the 2-1 postseason game.

Lee is just one year into that very backloaded deal, but the Phillies shopped the 33-year-old lefty to anyone who was willing to take him off their hands.

In 18 starts this season, Lee is 2-6 with a 3.73 ERA in 125.1 innings for a very, very, very disappointing Phillies team. Last season, Lee was 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA in 232.2 innings for a team that should have won the World Series had it not been for Chris Carpenter.

The Phillies were trying to land prospects and were willing to take on some of Lee's deal to get rid of him. It would not be a total surprise if they were still able to trade him.

A million variables affect a pitcher's win/loss record - it's not as if Lee's ERA this season merits a losing record - but finding and then deciding to pay that type of hammer ability is a massive risk because you never know when that special ability will vanish.

The Phillies took it and appear to be regretting it.

The Rangers didn't, and are still trying to find it.

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Las Vegas still likes the Texas Rangers' chances to win the World Series

Despite the recent slump of your Texas Rangers professional baseball club, the good people in Las Vegas still like them. Like them as in win-the-World-Series like them.

After all of the recent moves throughout the league, most notably the Angels' acquiring Zack Greinke, the Rangers are still the team in Vegas.

According to a variety of betting websites, the Rangers still rank very high in terms of odds on favorite to win the World Series.

According to betvega.com, the Rangers are 5 to 1 favorites. The Angels are 15-2 and the Yankees are 19/4.

VegasInsider.com has the Rangers at 5/1, second to the Yankees' at 4-1 and ahead of the Angels, who are 6-1. The site LasVegasSportsBetting.com has the Rangers at 5-1.

Vegas.com has the Rangers currently at 9-1. They opened at 8-1. The Angels are 8-1.

BankrollSports.com has the Rangers as the favorites at 5 to 1.

 

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