This Team Better Not Sit Back

[dmc0015]

I love the nucleus that this thing has, but they better not make the mistake of sitting back and hoping that Feliz moving to the rotation and a closer is going to be enough to keep this thing at the top of the AL.

Sticking with Moreland at 1B? Fine with that. Not willing to go 5 guaranteed for CJ? I'm okay with it. Worried about committing 2-3 guranateed to Oswalt and his back? Solid reasoning.

What does that equal? A do-nothing winter. That I'm not okay with. What worries me is that we have heard pretty much nothing about the Rangers so far except for what they are NOT willing to do. It's about time to step it up and make some noise in the market. Get your name out there.

The wrong message is being sent to the players and the fan base right now, which is that this organization is not willing to take risks. Just because a contract may be a bad thing doesn't mean that it will, and it certainly doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least act like you are interested in being a big player.

This team has been to the World Series two straight years, and lost them both. Would anyone be upset had they offered that 6th guaranteed year to Cliff Lee AND signed Beltre? I imagine we could be talking now about sitting back and figuring out how to keep a World Series winner together. That's a lot more fun than talking about how to find the last piece AND keep the team together.

This isn't the Tom Hicks Rangers anymore. It's time that they start acting like it. You don't have to lose your mind and make bad deals, but at least make it sound like you have a pair.

 

[scotsman1948]

Starting Pitching, CF and 1st base are issues that have to be addressed, no matter what Nolan is saying publicly. Moreland is having surgery on his wrist so i have to wonder how ready he will be for ST. i like MY as a batter (DH) but do we want to see a lot of him at 1st?

and do we really want to see a lot of Gentry & ? in CF where when the playoffs come we have to move Hamilton to there? or do we want to address the issue now by picking someone up?

and Starting Pitching has to be the biggest issue. do we re-sign CJ or not? if we do then we have the same starters as we did last year and they didn't do too bad. if we don't, then in my opinion, we take a step backwards. i say that we have to re-sign CJ at minimum and maybe even consider pursuing Oswalt so that we can move Ogando back to the pen. Ogando needs a 3rd pitch before he becomes a long term answer in the rotation and he could develop that 3rd pitch while working as the long/middle reliever which makes Feldman a trade option.

 

[Xx srs bsns xX]

Newberg wrote a good piece on Olt this morning... I wonder what he would look like at 1B...

(of course, he wouldnt be ready for the majors for a season or two)

 

[scotsman1948]

There's no shortage of interest in Grady Sizemore this offseason. The free agent outfielder has drawn interest from eight teams, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. The Cubs, Rangers, Giants and Yankees are potential suitors for Sizemore, along with the Phillies, Rockies, Red Sox and Indians.

The Giants are interested, even after acquiring Melky Cabrera, and the Cubs view Sizemore as a possible fit in right field. The A's, who saw their entire outfield hit free agency after the season, have also been linked to Sizemore.

Sizemore's knees have limited him to 104 total games in the past two seasons, so the Indians declined their $9MM club option after the season, making the 29-year-old a free agent. He hit 10 homers and posted a .224/.285/.422 line in 2011, but Sizemore combined power, speed and on-base skills as one of baseball's premier center fielders from 2005-08.

 

[dmc0015]

Sizemore is an interesting rehab project, but this is a guy who you don't spend too much on. Maybe a Brandon Webb type deal if he'll take it.

I believe the Rangers are going to be fine offensively. The need is for a few quality bench guys who can fill in where needed. I'm with on relying on guys like Gentry and German coming off of the bench in key situations.

I'm with you on SP. You can't let CJ goto the Angels and come back with a breaking down Oswalt and Feliz. The Rangers caught lightning in a bottle with the rotation this year. No one took a step back. In fact, everyone took a step forward. That just doesn't happen regularly. You take away the steady hand of CJ without replacing it and you're asking for trouble. If you go in with just CJ at the front of the rotation and you're looking at another disappointing WS result.

 

[guitarmy21b]

I'm more favorable towards going after Darvish every day. I think the offense is fine and I think the pen will be fine, they have a great core with plenty of guys to call up and fill the gaps. We need an ace and CJ is not it. It looks like Shields won't be available, so our best bet is Yu. I think that's the only move they need to make at this point. You can still experiment with Nefty and Scooter starting and maybe Perez and Ramirez too, but you need Darvish as the guy who would have the best stuff on the staff right away. Then you got Dutch, Darvish, Ogando, Harrison, and 4 righties to fight over the 5 spot. Any combination would be pretty damn good.

 

[dmc0015]

I'm more favorable towards going after Darvish every day. I think the offense is fine and I think the pen will be fine, they have a great core with plenty of guys to call up and fill the gaps. We need an ace and CJ is not it. It looks like Shields won't be available, so our best bet is Yu. I think that's the only move they need to make at this point. You can still experiment with Nefty and Scooter starting and maybe Perez and Ramirez too, but you need Darvish as the guy who would have the best stuff on the staff right away. Then you got Dutch, Darvish, Ogando, Harrison, and 4 righties to fight over the 5 spot. Any combination would be pretty damn good.

Doesn't cut it for me. IMHO they have to go and get two proven starters (or Darvish) just for moral alone if they are going to let CJ walk.

 

[Ginger]

Rangers pitchers ranking via ERA.

CJ #7 in AL
Harrison #15 in AL
Ogando #19 in AL
Holland #24 in AL
Lewis #33 in AL

Now these are rankings of those who qualify and if you think about it there are 14 teams and 5 starters / team. That means their worst starter was better than 1/2 of the pitchers in the American League yet, the Rangers play 1/2 of their games in an extreme hitters park. Really not sure how you guys think the Rangers are going to improve in that area except with the maturation of their own guys.

Just look at Matt Scherzer who I am quite sure every one of yo guys would take over all of the Rangers pitchers. He ranked #34 and played almost exclusively in extreme pitchers parks. Outside of getting a Felix Hernandez who isn't available or Shields, who has never performed as well as he did last season, there just isn't an upgrade to be made.

I keep telling you guys but you keep blowing me off but the reality is the Rangers have a damned good staff. Guys like Hamels, Oswalt, and Buehrle aren't upgrades at all. Buehrle ranked #20 in ERA, has an average WHIP and just doesn't strike out any guys. Danks was also not better than any of the Ranger starters. I am perplexed by you guys continually wanting to make changes now when it is clear they should stay with what they have.

Heck, McCarthy was better than everybody you guys have been pining for except Shields and I wouldn't trade ANY of the Rangers starters for him and neither would any of you.

 

[romeo212000]

I'm with you ginger. Signing CJ should be top priority but not for ace money. He may still develop into an ace. He has only been a starter for two seasons now.

 

[Windingmywatch]

To add some ammo to what Ginger posted. Envy of the rotations of other AL teams is misplaced.

As Ginger pointed out ... all five TEX SPs were in the top 33 SPs ranked by ERA.

How did all the other teams do?

CHW ... 4 SPs ... (#20-Buehrle, #23-Humber, #31-Danks, #32-Floyd)
LAA ... 3 SPs ... (#2-Weaver, #11-Haren, #14-Santana)
TBR ... 3 SPs ... (#3-Shields, #8-Hellickson, #18 Price)
OAK ... 3 SPs ... (#10-Gonzalez, #13-McCarthy, #26-Cahill)
SEA ... 3 SPs ... (#16-Hernandez, #22-Pineda, #28-Vargas)
DET ... 2 SPs ... (#1-Verlander, #4-Fister)
NYY ... 2 SPs ... (#9-Sabathia, #21-Nova)
CLE ... 2 SPs ... (#12-Masterson, #27-Tomlin)
TOR ... 1 SP ... (#6-Romero)
BOS ... 1 SP ... (#17-Lester)
MIN ... 1 SP ... (#29-Pavano)
BAL ... 1 SP ... (#30-Guthrie)

KCR's top SP was #36-Hochevar.

Bottom Line ... TEX entire rotation ... accounting for 157 of 162 GS ... ranked in the top 33 SPs by ERA. CHW was second with 4 of their SPs ranked in the top 33 although its top SP ranked behind three of TEX SPs. No other team had more than 3 SPs in the top 33.

 

[Al Falfa]

There's no shortage of interest in Grady Sizemore this offseason. The free agent outfielder has drawn interest from eight teams, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. The Cubs, Rangers, Giants and Yankees are potential suitors for Sizemore, along with the Phillies, Rockies, Red Sox and Indians.

The Giants are interested, even after acquiring Melky Cabrera, and the Cubs view Sizemore as a possible fit in right field. The A's, who saw their entire outfield hit free agency after the season, have also been linked to Sizemore.

Sizemore's knees have limited him to 104 total games in the past two seasons, so the Indians declined their $9MM club option after the season, making the 29-year-old a free agent. He hit 10 homers and posted a .224/.285/.422 line in 2011, but Sizemore combined power, speed and on-base skills as one of baseball's premier center fielders from 2005-08.

That four year period is soon to be 4 years ago.

 

[guitarmy21b]

We get it Ginger, you think our rotation is good enough already. Forget about the fact that we don't have a number one and they sucked in the playoffs right? I think this is the Cards fan in you coming out and you don't want to see us improve. Nobody is questioning the talent we already have. Every team should have that one guy they're extremely confident can pitch deep into a game and dominate. We don't have anybody that were confident can go 5 innings and you're asking us to ignore this because they all have great stuff.

 

[Ginger]

We get it Ginger, you think our rotation is good enough already. Forget about the fact that we don't have a number one and they sucked in the playoffs right? I think this is the Cards fan in you coming out and you don't want to see us improve. Nobody is questioning the talent we already have. Every team should have that one guy they're extremely confident can pitch deep into a game and dominate. We don't have anybody that were confident can go 5 innings and you're asking us to ignore this because they all have great stuff.

So who are you suggesting Daniels get who is available that will actually be an upgrade? The failure in the playoffs had nothing to do with ability. They lost in the World Series with Lee in the rotation and they lost without Lee in the rotation. RW and Maddux changed the way they managed games in the post season and that as much as anything else is what bit them in the butt.

Also, Philadelphia has as good a staff as ever played and has the best pitcher of the last decade and they lost to the Cardinals. Rangers would have won, should have won but they played sloppy and out of sorts and they did a lot of uncharacteristic things like intentionally walking guys with nobody on base with the lead and playing poor defense.

What I am saying and a lot of people aren't figuring out is that I don't want the Rangers to make changes for the sake of making changes and in the process make their team worse. A team doesn't make it to two consecutive World Series because they suck. They are the best team in the American League.

 

[dmc0015]

The team lost the WS in 2010 because Lee and Lewis had no one behind them to pick up the slack when one of them faltered (like Lee did in the WS). The team lost the WS in 2011 due to a horrible inning from Nefti in Game 6, and the fact that they had no one other than Lewis who they could count on in shutting down the Cardinals. Holland had one amazing start, but outside of that no one else performed.

The Phillies couldn't hit the ball. That's why they lost. The Rangers can hit the ball, so now they need to make sure that they have a proven guy in the rotation come playoff time to back up Lewis and the other guys.

CJ, Holland, Harrison and Ogando got the Rangers through the regular season. You can't discount that, but do you think Ogando is going to be more like pre-All Star Ogando or post-All Star Ogando? Can Harrison do it again? Will Feliz be willing and able to step into the rotatio, and will the Rangers be able to find a reliable replacement at closer?

That's a lot of questions to answer, and I just don't think you can count on having another amazing year from the rotation like they did last year. Especially from the health aspect. Now you are going to let CJ walk and keep your fingers crossed? I sure hope that Nolan isn't arrogant enough to think that that's going to work.

It was either Newberg or BBTIA that wrote about Nolan's attitude hurting this team in free agency negotiations last year, and Greenburg feeling as if he needed to come to the rescue after Nolan claimed they were going to ask Lee to tell them what it would take. Now Greenburg is out of the picture, and it seems that Nolan is taking that same approach again. Sit back and let these guys come to us. Well guess what Nolan, that isn't how the game is played. Get out there and kick some tires. It sure would be nice to hear a story or two about you, JD or Levine talking to a few agents.

 

[dmc0015]

The team lost the WS in 2010 because Lee and Lewis had no one behind them to pick up the slack when one of them faltered (like Lee did in the WS). The team lost the WS in 2011 due to a horrible inning from Nefti in Game 6, and the fact that they had no one other than Lewis who they could count on in shutting down the Cardinals. Holland had one amazing start, but outside of that no one else performed.

The Phillies couldn't hit the ball. That's why they lost. The Rangers can hit the ball, so now they need to make sure that they have a proven guy in the rotation come playoff time to back up Lewis and the other guys.

CJ, Holland, Harrison and Ogando got the Rangers through the regular season. You can't discount that, but do you think Ogando is going to be more like pre-All Star Ogando or post-All Star Ogando? Can Harrison do it again? Will Feliz be willing and able to step into the rotatio, and will the Rangers be able to find a reliable replacement at closer?

That's a lot of questions to answer, and I just don't think you can count on having another amazing year from the rotation like they did last year. Especially from the health aspect. Now you are going to let CJ walk and keep your fingers crossed? I sure hope that Nolan isn't arrogant enough to think that that's going to work.

It was either Newberg or BBTIA that wrote about Nolan's attitude hurting this team in free agency negotiations last year, and Greenburg feeling as if he needed to come to the rescue after Nolan claimed they were going to ask Lee to tell them what it would take. Now Greenburg is out of the picture, and it seems that Nolan is taking that same approach again. Sit back and let these guys come to us. Well guess what Nolan, that isn't how the game is played. Get out there and kick some tires. It sure would be nice to hear a story or two about you, JD or Levine talking to a few agents.

C.J. Wilson's agent, Bob Garber, "dined Tuesday evening with Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine and director of baseball operations Matt Vinnola in what Garber called a "productive meeting"; Garber also noted that "[the Rangers] showed significant interest in trying to bring C.J. back and are willing to treat him as another other team would in the free-agent process ... they're going to be more aggressive than I thought. I assumed they were going to sit on the back burner. Now, it seems like they're putting him on the front burner." (Jeff Wilson, Fort Worth Star-Telgram)

I shall chew on some crow for a few days...

 

[Ginger]

Well, they were pretty proactive in signing Adrian Beltre. That didn't turn out to bad.

I believe these guys understand their team well and have an excellent plan.

And again I'll ask. Who is on the market that is better than the guys they already have on staff?

 

[romeo212000]

Well, they were pretty proactive in signing Adrian Beltre. That didn't turn out to bad.

I believe these guys understand their team well and have an excellent plan.

And again I'll ask. Who is on the market that is better than the guys they already have on staff?

The only potentially better pitcher is an unproven Darvish that the Japanese haven't even decided whether they are going to post yet. Beyond that, if you want Shields or someone like him be prepared to gut your farm system. The only player I would remotely consider doing that for is Kershaw. He is very young and quite cheap with regards to salary. I do not think we should gut our system for Shields.

 

[scotsman1948]

The only potentially better pitcher is an unproven Darvish that the Japanese haven't even decided whether they are going to post yet. Beyond that, if you want Shields or someone like him be prepared to gut your farm system. The only player I would remotely consider doing that for is Kershaw. He is very young and quite cheap with regards to salary. I do not think we should gut our system for Shields.

you are correct: the only available potentially better pitcher than CJ is Darvish and any trade pitcher is going to be too expensive in prospects to be worth it. so in the end the logical thing to do is re-sign CJ and, if the Japanese do post Darvish still get involved in him.

after that Plan C has to be Roy Oswalt or Mark Buehrle

 

[dmc0015]

Keep Cj and sign Oswalt and I'll be happy.

 

[guitarmy21b]

Darvish is not the only Japanese pitcher who will draw interest from Major League teams. Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada, who is described as the "Japanese Jamie Moyer," is a free agent and planning to jump to the United States. He was 16-5 with a 1.51 ERA for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks last season.

Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, who was 6-7 with a 2.42 ERA for the Tohuku Rakuten Golden Eagles, is also a free agent. He was posted last year and Oakland won his rights, but the two sides were not able to agree to a contract. The other Japanese free-agent pitcher who is drawing interest, but is not sure if he is coming to the United States, is left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, who was 8-10 with a 2.68 ERA in 2011 for the Chunichi Dragons.

That's from the Ranger's page. I looked up Wada on youtube and I'm not too impressed with his stuff, Darvish looks way nastier. Maybe that's just a bad showcase though. Actually I just looked up his stats and it looks like they got his stats wrong, baseball reference has him at 17-8 3.14 last season. I don't think they go after any Japanese guys other than Darvish. If someone else outbids them I think you abandon that ship altogether.