2013 Season - Post-Mortem

[Senator_fan]

What went right. What went wrong. This is the place to dump.

 

[fordman84]

I started a 2014 offseason thread for people to go on record what they want to do. I've got a good eye for getting catchers on this team, so I'll figure out who we need to get that will light the world on fire after I'm done cursing the baseball gods for the Rosales A's vs CLE HR-called-double that kept us from having tonight off while CLE and TPA slugged it out.

 

[fordman84]

And its time for me to go yell at my TV when Brees throws at COlston, since I'm hanging onto a FF win by a couple of points

 

[WilltheThrill]

Positive takeaways from 2013:

1) Adrian Beltre continues to be a monster. Love him, bad September and all.

2) The arm of Leonys Martin. Phenomenal.

3) The improvement of both Martin and Gentry. Speed kills.

4) The offensive resurgence of Elvis Andrus in the second half (with bits of power even!)

5) Tanner Scheppers developing into a legit set-up man/future closer.

6) The reaffirmation that Geovany Soto is a very good backup catcher.

7) Martin Perez proving the hype was right all along. Very bright future.

8) Neal F'ing Cotts. Beast.

Lots to look forward to in 2014 too:

1) No AJP

2) No Lance Berkman

3) A full season of Rios in RF

4) No more David Murphy the player (though I'll miss David Murphy the person)

5) A much healthier and more definite rotation

6) A new manager?????? (wishful thinking)

7) Most likely a few new acquisitions to bolster the offense

 

[Windingmywatch]

Ford ... can you move Will's post #1190 from the game thread to here ... would be good list to start the conversation here

 

[WilltheThrill]

Ford ... can you move Will's post #1190 from the game thread to here ... would be good list to start the conversation here

Yeah, Winding is right. I should have posted it in here. I didn't think to look for the new thread. My bad. Move it here if it helps get the conversation rolling.

 

[WilltheThrill]

My wish list reads (in order):

1) A legitimate offensive force at 1B. To have your worst hitter at 1B is almost unheard of and was a major weakness of this team.

2) A corner OF with power. Our current OF has to be one of the weakest in the game in terms of HR power. Get a big OF bat, play Rios in the opposite corner, and have Gentry/Martin as the speedy platoon in CF. Re-sign Nelly to DH and occasionally fill in in RF.

3) An everyday starting catcher with a solid bat. I list this one 3rd because I honestly think that if we brought two legit hitters on board at 1B and OF, we could conceivably get by with a solid guy like Soto and a decent defensive backup. Wouldn't be ideal, and I'd love to bring McCann here, but I think acquiring #1 and #2 would make us overall more dangerous if it meant living with an average catcher.

4) A high OBP utility infielder a la Marco Scutaro who can draw walks, move runners, collect clutch singles, and play multiple positions. Our ability to reach base consistently, especially in crunch time, was atrocious this season.

 

[Robotech]

I feel for you guys. What sucks about baseball is you go through 162 games only for it to end all of a sudden like this.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I feel for you guys. What sucks about baseball is you go through 162 games only for it to end all of a sudden like this.

Thanks man. Although the month of September was so horrendous for the Rangers, I think we've all experienced more of a gradual descent into despair instead of all at once like either the Pirates or Reds fans are going to feel. We've already yelled, cussed, cried, etc. enough over the last month so tonight isn't as harsh as it could have been had the Rangers dominated all season and then got suddenly bounced.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Thanks man. Although the month of September was so horrendous for the Rangers, I think we've all experienced more of a gradual descent into despair instead of all at once like either the Pirates or Reds fans are going to feel. We've already yelled, cussed, cried, etc. enough over the last month so tonight isn't as harsh as it could have been had the Rangers dominated all season and then got suddenly bounced.

Yea I expected them to lose tonight. I was over it right after the game ended

 

[ashcan]

Thanks man. Although the month of September was so horrendous for the Rangers, I think we've all experienced more of a gradual descent into despair instead of all at once like either the Pirates or Reds fans are going to feel. We've already yelled, cussed, cried, etc. enough over the last month so tonight isn't as harsh as it could have been had the Rangers dominated all season and then got suddenly bounced.

" . . .instead of all at one like either the Pirates or Reds fans are going to feel."
Amen, brotha'. I don't think Reds fans will take a loss as hard as the Pirate's. To lose and be gone in a matter of 3 hours after waiting 20 years? Man, wouldn't wanna' be them.

 

[ashcan]

Yea I expected them to lose tonight. I was over it right after the game ended

Same here. Never had a good feeling. I woulda' been suprised had we earned our way to CLE. How suprised? I thought this year's ceiling was the ALDS. Had we made it to BOS, I'd have been ok. I didn't think we had the squad to go any further unless the baseball gods all smiled on us.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I think Martin, Gentry and Rios are an excellent OF. Resign Cruz and you have OF/DH covered, of course Nelly would play alot of OF too. In the IF, move Kinsler to 1st, Profar to 2nd, and sign McCann at all costs.
To the pitching staff, resign Garza, I think he is happy here. Yu, Dutch. Harry, Garza and Perez in the rotation, add Feliz and Ogando back to the bullpen, and you have the best pitching staff in baseball

 

[donaldson79]

Considering the injuries we incurred from day one, the lack replenishing a depleted RBI team, and of course the problems in management, this team did an absolutely amazing job. Tip of the hat.

I can see an OF of Rios/Martin/Cruz with a dependable 4th one in Gentry for next season. This could be an extremely fast, well armed group, with much more RBI potential than we showed this season.

I do think we have to be concerned about 3rd base. Beltre's next season will be his 17th, his legs are only going to get worse, and we can't just keep depending on him for 160 games a year. Would be foolish to do so. Love him, he's been a horse, but all horses get worn out too.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I agree with just about everything you stated in both posts Will. And we definitely missed the Power that Cruz brought in his at bats as well as the timing of many of his RBIs as they seemed to be at important points in a ballgame while the outcome was very much undecided.

I was very disappointed in Moreland as I really thought he might help us much more than he did. It seemed like many of his HRs and RBIs came when the game was no longer in doubt. Like to see him be a little more clutch.

And I am glad to have Nathan back. I think it would not hurt Scheppers to set up one more year.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I feel for you guys. What sucks about baseball is you go through 162 games only for it to end all of a sudden like this.

Thanks Robo but the fact that they were even playing in game 163 was amazing considering they had to go 7-0. But after the 2011 WS kick to the heart it will be hard for anything to really bother me that much. This seemed mild compared to that night after game 6. It took me a long time to get over that.

 

[ashcan]

Thanks Robo but the fact that they were even playing in game 163 was amazing considering they had to go 7-0. But after the 2011 WS kick to the heart it will be hard for anything to really bother me that much. This seemed mild compared to that night after game 6. It took me a long time to get over that.

As a long time Ranger fan, it hit me hard. But, by that Sunday, I was over it. Really. To this day I've never looked back.
I'm so looking forward to 2014. I think with the addition of Rios, we'll be able to manufacture runs and also have that power game with Nellie and Adrian. Getting another bat would not hurt. But I think we're ready. We've got pitching galore and might need to move some to get more thunder. Regardless, I'm ready to make a deep run next year. Forget this wildcard mess. Let's choke OAK and LAA by the neck, win the freaking West, and get on about unfinished bidness.

 

[Windingmywatch]

Agree. Given the play the prior seven games ... I was far more upset with the poor quality of play the last seven 2012 games. Am over it too -- already focused on 2014.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I've been saying for years that there was a real division within the Rangers organization between JD people and Nolan people and that JD and Nolan don't exactly like one another. For the longest time I was either questioned on this or flat out told I was lying. Then last offseason the whole Nolan issue happened which I think showed that Nolan was being pushed aside and somewhat stripped of his power. It almost caused him to leave.

Now today, one of the biggest Nolan guys in the organization, Jackie Moore, was shown the door for seemingly no reason other than because he was a Nolan guy. Wash is returning as are Magadan, Maddux, and Pettis (all JD guys except for Maddux). I can now reveal that Jackie Moore is a very close friend of mine. I've known him my entire life. As a kid, I got to be around a lot of the Oakland A's like Carney Lansford and Dave Kingman when Jackie was manager there. He's given me tons of cool memorabilia over the years. I babysat his kids when they were young and his family came to my wedding. So that's how I've been privy to some of the inside happenings within the Rangers clubhouse over the last several years. He hasn't told me anything super secret or anything which would have gotten him in trouble. But he was able to answer some of my general questions. I like JD as a general manager and most of what he's done for the team. But I've also known for quite some time that he's a two-faced snake in the grass. He's stabbed Nolan and Thad Levine in the back on numerous occasions. So when Mike Young left and went out of his way to say he loved the fans, teammates, coaches, and even Nolan and basically said he couldn't stand JD or the way he was lied to, I knew he was telling the truth. It's how I also knew Wash didn't always listen to his coaches.

Anyway, I'm just telling you all of this because many of you often wonder on here why Wash is still around, why Nolan was partially pushed out, why certain players are re-signed and why some are strangely let go. There's your reason, a major division within the upper brass and differing opinions on how things should run.

 

[DT LUNA]

I've been saying for years that there was a real division within the Rangers organization between JD people and Nolan people and that JD and Nolan don't exactly like one another. For the longest time I was either questioned on this or flat out told I was lying. Then last offseason the whole Nolan issue happened which I think showed that Nolan was being pushed aside and somewhat stripped of his power. It almost caused him to leave.

Now today, one of the biggest Nolan guys in the organization, Jackie Moore, was shown the door for seemingly no reason other than because he was a Nolan guy. Wash is returning as are Magadan, Maddux, and Pettis (all JD guys except for Maddux). I can now reveal that Jackie Moore is a very close friend of mine. I've known him my entire life. As a kid, I got to be around a lot of the Oakland A's like Carney Lansford and Dave Kingman when Jackie was manager there. He's given me tons of cool memorabilia over the years. I babysat his kids when they were young and his family came to my wedding. So that's how I've been privy to some of the inside happenings within the Rangers clubhouse over the last several years. He hasn't told me anything super secret or anything which would have gotten him in trouble. But he was able to answer some of my general questions. I like JD as a general manager and most of what he's done for the team. But I've also known for quite some time that he's a two-faced snake in the grass. He's stabbed Nolan and Thad Levine in the back on numerous occasions. So when Mike Young left and went out of his way to say he loved the fans, teammates, coaches, and even Nolan and basically said he couldn't stand JD or the way he was lied to, I knew he was telling the truth. It's how I also knew Wash didn't always listen to his coaches.

Anyway, I'm just telling you all of this because many of you often wonder on here why Wash is still around, why Nolan was partially pushed out, why certain players are re-signed and why some are strangely let go. There's your reason, a major division within the upper brass and differing opinions on how things should run.

Thank you Will. Just to let you know I always took you at your word. Pretty sure most did also. It's a great story you have elected to share. Disappointed that JD is a Wash man. Will never understand why.