2014 Offseason

[saddles]

I budget problem? I wouldn't call it that. But there is something to be said about being smart with our money.

What I had said previously is that if anyone is expecting us to go out and spend very much money this offseason then JD's budget will be a problem for them. The problem is in expecting a team to spend more than the budget that they have set.

Whether the budget itself is a problem or not is another subject entirely. I do wish where we rank in budgets matched where we rank in market size.

 

[Justinkm83]

Top prospect Gallo works on defense at instructional league | texasrangers.com


Here's a good article on some of the youngsters.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

JD said today not to look for FA like Shields.

I say good to that. He is not going to be worth the asking price.

 

[TxHeat]

I say good to that. He is not going to be worth the asking price.

Let the Yankees continue to overpay for FA's.

 

[saddles]

There are 8 teams in the Carolina League. The Rangers High A Myrtle Beach Pelicans team was 1 of those 8 teams.. Baseball America just released its Top 20 Prospects list for that league. One team had 8 of those top 20 players from that 8 team league. That team was the Pelicans.

This from Jamey Newberg: Here are the Texas minor leaguers out of those 20 prospects from eight teams, based on BA’s survey of managers and scouts most familiar with that league:

1. Joey Gallo, 3B, Rangers (ended up in Frisco)
2. Jorge Alfaro, C, Rangers (ended up in Frisco)
10. Alex Gonzalez, RHP, Rangers (ended up in Frisco)
11. Nick Williams, OF, Rangers (ended up in Frisco)
15. Lewis Brinson, OF, Rangers
17. Andrew Faulkner, LHP, Rangers (ended up in Frisco) – also named league’s best pitching prospect
19. Jose Leclerc, RHP, Rangers
20. Alex Claudio, LHP, Rangers (ended up in Texas)

 

[saddles]

Let the Yankees continue to overpay for FA's.

I wish the Yankees were the ones overpaying for Choo and Fielder.

 

[scotsman1948]

JD said today not to look for FA like Shields.

well there has to be someone between him and Masterson or the 2015 season will be worse than 2014 pitching-wise

 

[scotsman1948]

What I had said previously is that if anyone is expecting us to go out and spend very much money this offseason then JD's budget will be a problem for them. The problem is in expecting a team to spend more than the budget that they have set.

Whether the budget itself is a problem or not is another subject entirely. I do wish where we rank in budgets matched where we rank in market size.

i smell smoke screen

 

[saddles]

well there has to be someone between him and Masterson or the 2015 season will be worse than 2014 pitching-wise

You could bring back the same pitchers we ended the season with plus Darvish and the pitching would be significantly better in 2015. Having Derek all season long would make a very big difference in itself. Having Colby fully recovered all season would be pretty big also. The youngsters would be better naturally as well. They are not going to do that, but if they did it is easy to see that the starting pitching in 2015 would be significantly better than the starting pitching in 2014.

 

[romeo212000]

i smell smoke screen

We've all said that before...

 

[WilltheThrill]

Without question, the Rangers need to add starting pitching. Rolling with a rotation of Darvish-Holland-Lewis-Tepesch-Martinez is asking for a repeat of this last miserable season. Lewis could go on the DL at a moment's notice and neither Tepesch nor Martinez are sure things. Plus if either Darvish or Holland gets hurt, the team would really be screwed.

I guarantee you that at least 2 of those 5 won't hold up for a full season, whether it's due to injury or performance.

 

[DT LUNA]

Without question, the Rangers need to add starting pitching. Rolling with a rotation of Darvish-Holland-Lewis-Tepesch-Martinez is asking for a repeat of this last miserable season. Lewis could go on the DL at a moment's notice and neither Tepesch nor Martinez are sure things. Plus if either Darvish or Holland gets hurt, the team would really be screwed.

I guarantee you that at least 2 of those 5 won't hold up for a full season, whether it's due to injury or performance.

Pretty much have to agree.

 

[saddles]

Without question, the Rangers need to add starting pitching. Rolling with a rotation of Darvish-Holland-Lewis-Tepesch-Martinez is asking for a repeat of this last miserable season. Lewis could go on the DL at a moment's notice and neither Tepesch nor Martinez are sure things. Plus if either Darvish or Holland gets hurt, the team would really be screwed.

I guarantee you that at least 2 of those 5 won't hold up for a full season, whether it's due to injury or performance.

I think they will add pitching. I just question how much salary they will be able to add with the current budget constraints. They will add pitching alright, but will it be better than what we already have with what we have to spend? I guess we will find out.

Even if they add someone via trade, if it is someone coming off a good season who is arbitration eligible then they could be very costly. The most popular name being talked about on here seems to be Latos and he will probably get around $10 million in arbitration. With the contractual raises and the arbitration raises we have coming it is hard to see them being able to add that much salary and still keep the budget the same as last year.

I am afraid JD is going to have to go bargain hunting. A couple of years ago he went bargain hunting and came back with Berkman.

 

[romeo212000]

I think they will add pitching. I just question how much salary they will be able to add with the current budget constraints. They will add pitching alright, but will it be better than what we already have with what we have to spend? I guess we will find out.

Even if they add someone via trade, if it is someone coming off a good season who is arbitration eligible then they could be very costly. The most popular name being talked about on here seems to be Latos and he will probably get around $10 million in arbitration. With the contractual raises and the arbitration raises we have coming it is hard to see them being able to add that much salary and still keep the budget the same as last year.

I am afraid JD is going to have to go bargain hunting. A couple of years ago he went bargain hunting and came back with Berkman.

He also went bargain hunting and ended up with Lewis as well.

 

[saddles]

He also went bargain hunting and ended up with Lewis as well.

That's correct. If there are any other former Rangers coming back from Japan for a second chance I think JD would have a good chance of signing them also. Unfortunately, that unusual situation isn't going to occur this year. He has a better chance of finding another Scott Baker. He might just find a good bargain, but I sure wish we didn't have to hope for bargains to blossom into #3 starting pitchers.

 

[saddles]

He also went bargain hunting and ended up with Lewis as well.

If I remember correctly though there were a lot of fans who had thought he had found a bargain similar to the one he found in Colby when he found Berkman. It may take awhile before it becomes evident either way.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Evan was on with Norm the other day and thought that Detroit may not pick up their option on Alex Avila and that if he were JD he'd make a hard run at him for a decent price. I think I'd be on board with that.

 

[DT LUNA]

Evan was on with Norm the other day and thought that Detroit may not pick up their option on Alex Avila and that if he were JD he'd make a hard run at him for a decent price. I think I'd be on board with that.

Seems reasonable.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Without question, the Rangers need to add starting pitching. Rolling with a rotation of Darvish-Holland-Lewis-Tepesch-Martinez is asking for a repeat of this last miserable season. Lewis could go on the DL at a moment's notice and neither Tepesch nor Martinez are sure things. Plus if either Darvish or Holland gets hurt, the team would really be screwed.

I guarantee you that at least 2 of those 5 won't hold up for a full season, whether it's due to injury or performance.

Probably true but we also have more than those 5 mentioned. I thought Bonilla looked good for the most part. Then in the minors we will have Mikolas, Jackson (who took a big step backwards), Thompson and Chi Chi and I know I am missing a few others and if Baker is back he did a good job in this crazy role. Then those on the outside looking in are Perez and remotely Harrison. But I am not going to kick Tepesch and Martinez in the butt because Martinez should have been pitching in AA last year and I liked what I started to see out of him at the end of the year. I wonder how many Angel fans thought if they had to go with Richards and Shewmake or whatever his name was if they would be up a creek. Many of these free agents just do not pan out as great as people think they will. Give me a low cost guy like McCarthy and I will be good with that.

 

[donaldson79]

If I remember correctly though there were a lot of fans who had thought he had found a bargain similar to the one he found in Colby when he found Berkman. It may take awhile before it becomes evident either way.

Berkman was the one that JD wants to forget and IMO was his most ridiculous one ever.

I say this b/c he had/has the experience to not make such a total lapse like he did with Gonzalez way back when.

JD seems to make his worst decisions in depending on injured/older guys returning to form, and Lance would certainly fall into this category (s).