Ha! Josh Hamilton is awful*

The Twitter deal and all of social media nearly broke itself on Monday night with the news that Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton is simply awful.

In case you missed it, in a 19-inning loss at Oakland on Monday night, Josh went 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. On the good side, he did knock in an RBI to snap a streak of 12 consecutive games Hamilton went without a run batted in.

Right now, Hamilton is batting an impressive .219 with two homers and 8 RBI. At his current rate, he is projected to bat .202 with 13 home runs and 58 RBI this season.

The reality is $25 million a year just doesn't buy what it used to.
The other reality is that you can't expect his garbage first month as an Angel to hold forever. 

Free agents, especially a guy like Josh, need time to get used to their new life and new surroundings before the production takes off.

Part of my obligation as a journalist/columnist/blogger/big mouth/self righteous judge of all things life is to do this: Just prepare that Josh Hamilton's numbers will come around to reflect Josh Hamilton type numbers.

He is a career .300 hitter who averages around 24 home runs and 80-plus RBI per season. Expect that again.

I went back to review a handful of the big-time offseason free agents who changed teams to see how Josh's first month as an Angel compared to others. Here is the earth-shattering information I found:

Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, 2001: .312, 7 HR, 21 RBI. Finished season .318, 52 HR, 135 RBI

Albert Pujols, LA Angels, 2012: .217, 0 HR, 4 RBI. Finished season .285, 30 HR, 105 RBI

Carlos Beltran, NY Mets, 2005. .284, 3 HR, 12 RBI. Finished season .266, 16 HR, 78 RBI

Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees, 2009. .200, 3 HR, 10 RBI. Finished season .292, 39 HR, 122 RBI

Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals, 2011. .221, 4 HR, 7 RBI. Finished season .232, 20 HR, 58 RBI

Jose Reyes, Miami Marlins, 2012. .220, 0 HR, 3 RBI. Finished season .287, 11 HR, 57 RBI

Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers, 2012. .309, 3 HR, 11 RBI. Finished season .313, 30 HR, 108 RBI

 

What does it mean? Give this some time before saying Josh Hamilton is a bust.

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Yu is Japanese for Cy

It simply is never too early to hand out regular season baseball awards, especially in a sport that features a mere 162 games to garner said hardware.

Alas, the way Texas Rangers right handed pitcher Yu Darvish is pitching thus far in the 2013 Major League Baseball season it's time fire up the Yu for Cy campaign.

Against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, Yu was again over powering and made hitters look like fools.

In five starts this season, Yu is 4-1 with a 1.65 ERA. He has pitched 32 2/3 innings and allowed 16 hits with a league-leading 49 strikeouts. He is drawing comparisons to an in-his-prime Pedro Martinez, who during his time with the Boston Red Sox was arguably the most dominant pitcher in baseball. Or one of three.

Right now Yu is projected to go 31-8 with 378 strikeouts this year. That would be a fairly decent season, and would just maybe, probably win the American League Cy Young.

If you are wondering, no Texas Rangers pitcher has ever won this award.

The closest was Fergie Jenkins, who finished second in 1974 to Catfish Hunter of the A's.
That season, Jenkins went 25-12 with a 2.89 ERA and 29 complete games. He threw 328 1/3 innings that season. And he didn't win.

The only other times the Rangers had pitchers garner votes in the Cy Young balloting were:
Jenkins (1978, 2 votes)
Jim Kern (1979, 25 votes)
Nolan Ryan (1989, 5 votes)
Kevin Brown (1992, 9 votes)
Ken Hill (1996, 1 vote)
Aaron Sele (1999, 4 votes)
John Wetteland (1999, 3 votes)
C.J. Wilson (2011, 9 votes)
Matt Harrison (2012, 2 votes)
Yu Darvish (2012, 1 vote) 

As you can see, not exactly a pitching factory in Arlington. Yu is not only becoming a celebrity No. 1 hammer ace, but he is this franchise's best shot at a Cy Young winner since Fergie Jenkins.

 

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Curtis Granderson nailed the decreasing number of blacks in baseball

It's Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, the perfect time to bring up the staggering decrease of blacks in baseball these days. The number of blacks in MLB is down to 7.7 percent.

The numbers are so low that baseball boss Bud Selig has created a task force to address this issue. That's great. Good luck.

Two years ago I wrote a story on this decline and interviewed high school coaches, college coaches and a handful of major leaguers for their opinions on why this trend has not been reversed.

New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson offered the best, and most real, insight:

"I know it's expensive, but I've gone to places and there are fields. You can easily get equipment donated. I don't know how you fight this one. I've heard a lot of kids just say, 'I don't want to.' That's not a black/white thing, that's a kid thing. So they play on their computer, and they say, 'I want to just stay right where I am. I'm not getting into any trouble so you can't force me.'"

Here is the problem not just for young black kids who want to play sports - baseball can be boring. This generation thrives on constant stimulation and that has never been baseball's strength. A Major League game is 3 hours, six or seven times a week, 162 times a year. That is an enormous time investment.

This is not a race issue, this is a time issue. And no sport takes its time any more than Major League Baseball.

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Kerry Wood '98 > Yu Darvish '13 v. Astros

Total buzz kill not moving for more than 30 minutes all in the hope that Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish would finish off his perfect game against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

Alas, Astros shortstop Marwin Gonzalez killed Darvish's perfect game bid by hitting a sharp line drive back up the middle with two outs in the ninth inning. It was a legit hit. BTW - As a rookie last season, Gonzalez batted .234.

Darvish: 8.2 ip., 1 hit, 0 r, 0 bb, 14 K, 111 pitches, 78 strikes

Bummer to see Darvish came so far to finish one batter away from perfection.

As dominant as Darvish was, he was not as impressive as Kerry Wood in 1998 when he toyed with the Astros. 

That Astros team had real professional hitters and not their current collection of inexpensive kids that partly comprise a team payroll of 33 dollars and 45 cents.

On May 6, 1998 Wood was making his fifth career start for the Chicago Cubs. Some have argued that it's the best game ever pitched.

He was facing an Astros lineup that featured Craig Biggio, Derek Bell, Jeff Bagwell, Jack Howell, Moises Alou and Brad Ausmus. All of those guys ranged from good to Hall of Fame.

Wood: 9 ip., 1 hit, 0 run, 0 bb, 20 K, 122 pitches, 84 strikes.

The only hit in the game came by Ricky Gutierrez leading off the top of the third inning - a shot in the hole between third and short.

Darvish's game was brilliant, and it was a reminder of just how good the kid from Grand Prairie was one overcast afternoon in Chicago.

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The manager of the Houston Astros once won a game for the Texas Rangers

The Major League Baseball season starts on Sunday, which means we are just short six months away from the start of the playoffs!

On Sunday night, your Texas Rangers professional baseball team will travel to Houston to play the Astros in an American League West rivalry game. As much as I hate to see the National League gone from the great state a' Texas - because the NL game is the better brand of baseball - I do love to see Texas and Houston play each other all the time.

The Astros are going absolutely suck this year, but they do have a nice little story in manager Bo Porter, who played for the Rangers in 2001. He is a good guy and deserves a better roster to see how well he can actually manage a game, and a team.

Bo was a utility player for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland A's and Rangers from 1999 to 2001. He appeared in 89 big league games and batted .214 with two home runs and 8 RBIs.

Here is one of the most tragic wastes of brain matter in recorded history - I vividly recall his second home run.

By the time the Rangers faced the A's on July 1 in 2001 in Arlington the home team was way out of first place, everyone was mad because in Alex Rodrguez's first year with the club the team was terrible.

This game was delayed 90 minutes by rain, and by the middle of the fifth inning A's starter Mark Mulder was running over all of the Rangers hitters. Rangers starter Rick Helling was effective, but the A's led 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Rangers had two on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Porter came to the plate to face Mulder. This next part is true: Mulder was laboring, and I was watching the game in the press box thinking, "Porter is going to hit a home run."

Porter fell behind 1-2 in the count before hitting a long drive down the left field line that just barely cleared the fence for a three-run home run.

"Anytime you hit a game-winning home run, it's exciting," Porter said after the game.

They were the last RBIs in Porter's career.

The Rangers improved to 32-48 with the win. That A's team featured Mulder, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Jason Giambi, Miquel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye. They would win 102 games.

After this game, Porter would have four more big league hits and appear in 14 more big league games.

He eventually made it back to the bigs as a manager.

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Nolan Ryan statement says nothing while saying a lot

Paging Robert Langdon. Paging Doctor Robert Langdon. We really could use you right about now. (that's a DaVinci Code reference)

For the first time since Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway broke the story that Texas Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan was seriously considering leaving the Texas Rangers, the man has spoken. Well, kind of.

Ryan released this statement today through the Rangers: 

“Over the last week, Ray Davis, Bob Simpson, and I have been in discussion and met in-person. The conversations have been productive, and we have discussed my role as CEO of the organization. We agreed these discussions will continue as we go forward.

"I am very proud of what the Rangers have accomplished over the last several years, and I believe our preparations for upcoming season are what is important." 

What does this say? Technically, nothing. It does, however, leave the door wide open to Nolan staying, and leaving.

Clearly the Rangers are in full crisis, red alert, oh-crap spin control mode after the poop hit the fan when it was announced that all baseball decisions were all going to go through GM Jon Daniels, and the business part was left to Rick George.

No one much cared about the business part anyway. People wanted to know if Ryan was going to have a final say about the team on the field.

The power structure left Nolan Ryan as the final say on nothing.

My first take on that announcement was that Nolan, 66, was tired of the day to day stuff and wanted to step back. Because no one other than Jerry Jones would be stupid enough to slap a Texas sports icon in the face like this. Turns out I was wrong - the Rangers were indeed that stupid, and Nolan wants to work.

Rangers ownership clearly was not aware of the backlash and criticism they were about to face when they outlined a power structure that did not include the one man who has brought more credibility to this franchise than any other, either as a player or an executive (sorry, Doug Melvin).

The reaction was - You don't do this to Nolan Ryan.
The other reaction was - We can find another Jon Daniels. There never will be another Nolan Ryan.

For fans of Nolan, this statement is encouraging because it's not a giant middle finger to the franchise and a declaration of departure. 
For fans of Nolan, this statement is not totally encouraging because it does not say he is going to remain with the team.

What the ownership has to do is figure out a way to save face while ensuring Ryan has say in baseball decisions.

The Rangers can't be expected to be quite as competitive in '13 as they were in previous seasons, so this is not the right time to alienate and run off the proudest face of this franchise.

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Video: Galloway & Big Mac debate Josh Hamilton's thoughts

 

 

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Roger Clemens' "instructional" book should follow Jack Abramoff's example

Former MLB and new Hall of Famer pitcher Roger Clemens is back with the Houston Astros as a part-time professional helper-outer, full time do-gooder.

It's been more than a month since Clemens learned he just came up only 213 votes shy of reaching the Baseball Hall of Fame. Lee Smith (272) had more votes than The Rocket's 214.

Clemens is not hiding these days, but is instead helping out the young pitchers with the Houston Astros as they prepare in Florida for the start of the 2013 regular season.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Clemens is also working on a big book that will be mostly be instructional.

He told the Chronicle that he has a "couple of really solid names" to work with him to write it. Lance Armstrong, perhaps.

Of course Roger Clemens should write an instructional baseball book. No amount of instruction will allow an 18-year-old to have the type of right arm Clemens used to over-power hitters for generations. He can't teach a guy to throw a ball 97 m.p.h.

But he can help instruct youngsters how to:
1. Throw a bat at an opposing player.
2. Beat Congress, which includes convincing some of those dolts (I'm looking at you, Indiana R Dan Burton) that you are a hero.
3. Leverage the hell out of Tom Hicks for more money from the New York Yankees.
4. Find a trainer who will supply you with the right "supplements", and then completely destroy his credibility if said supplements turn out to be steroid-ish.
5. The proper use of the word "mis-remember" (yes, it really is a word).

A straight-forward, this-is-how-I-was-so-great Clemens "instruction" book will do nothing. He will throw in a few harmless behind-the-scene stories to maybe generate a few interviews for the release, but those stories won't have any teeth. He may receive a nice little advance, but in the end it will be another sports book that we don't buy collecting dust on a Barnes & Noble shelf.

A book we will buy is if Clemens takes the Jack Abramoff angle and just rolls it all out; Abramoff was the Washington D.C. insider and powerful lobbyist who went to jail and then wrote the book "Capitol Punishment" - of how he played the D.C. political scene.

If Clemens does that, that would be an instructional book worth reading.

 

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It's better that Josh Hamilton not play in a "true, true baseball town"

You may miss former Texas Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton's ability to hit monster home runs, but I will miss this man's candor. The edit button on his mouth didn't work all the time.

Now with the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, that same edit button still doesn't. God bless him for that.

Take for instance his interview with Gina Miller (@ThatSportsGirl) of CBS 11 that aired Sunday night. In Gina's behind-the-scenes to the interview she noted that Hamilton is keeping his family in north Texas. He wanted to buy house in Newport Beach, Calif. but didn't because the price of real estate is too expensive.

It's depressing to think a man who recently signed a five-year, $125 million contract can't afford a home near where he works.

He did notice that the Texas Rangers' fans quickly got spoiled by the team's consecutive World Series appearances. 

“Texas, especially Dallas, has always been a football town. They’re supportive, but they also got a little spoiled at the same time, pretty quickly," he told Gina Miller. 

He also added: "It's not a true baseball town."

It is better for Josh Hamilton that he not play in a true baseball town. If Josh thought the criticism directed his way for his play late last season was harsh, go to Boston. Or go to the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Not Anaheim. The Angels may be a successful franchise, but neither that fan base nor that media market is going to roast him if his production slides because he can't see through his right eyelid. As much as I personally like Josh, some of the drama that he generated is going to play better in certain markets.

The smartest move Josh made was to go to a place where not only can he win, but that he has protection in the lineup and plays in a market that does not have the scrutiny of a Yankees, Mets or a Cubs. He's going to receive praise and criticism wherever he plays because he's Josh Hamilton, but the intensity will not be as intense in a place like Anaheim.

Josh is right in that FW/d is not a true baseball town. This area feels a Week 3 Dallas Cowboys loss almost with the same intensity as that Rangers' loss in Game 6 against th Cardinals.

In a way, that worked to his benefit here and it should in Anaheim.

Click here for to play the interview.

 

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Ruh-roh: Report says Rangers OF Nelson Cruz tied to steroids guy

We have known for a while that New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez tried a few steroid shots, or a few dozen. And we have also known for an even longer period of time that players are likely still able to get a little boost despite MLB's increased efforts to root out the bad guys. 

So it should be no surprise that a Miami clinic that focuses on anti-aging reportedly has a giant list of high-profile clients who also dabbled in something said clinic did on the side: provide PEDs and HGH.

According to the above report by the Miami New Times, among the many names obtained is Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz.

It was some place called Biogenesis, and some of the names include A-Rod, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and a few others.

In case you are wondering, Cruz has hit 22 home runs in each of his last four seasons.

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