2014 Offseason

[romeo212000]

Evan Grant and Gerry Fraley were on the Rangers Roundtable on The Ticket this morning. Gerry thinks they will win about 84 games this year. Evan was more vague, but thinks if healthy they could win as many as 90.

The subject of Ron Washington came up. Gerry thinks Wash will resurface as a coach in Oakland in 2016. Evan thinks he won't be back in the big leagues anytime soon. He thinks if he comes back to baseball anytime soon that it might be as a minor league instructor to avoid all of the questions.

They were asked about any young prospects who they thought could contribute this year. Evan mentioned the possibility of Chi Chi and Kela.

Banister was referred to as Hurdle 2.0.

Evan said the key was keeping our top 4 starters healthy. He mentioned how our first 5 starters of the season last year, Scheppers, Perez, Ross, Saunders, and Martinez, totaled about 300 less innings than the team with the next least number of innings from their first 5 starters.

Gerry mentioned how a scout told him a year ago that Prince's bat speed had declined to the point where he couldn't lift the low inside fastball like he used to. That resulted in those balls being turned into ground outs to 2B.

Prince's pre-existing injury would've had a lot to do with that.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Prince's pre-existing injury would've had a lot to do with that.

I was thinking that myself, but honestly... there were a few balls last year that Fielder absolutely murdered, and even hurt it didn't look like bat speed was much of an issue. Granted, I'm not a scout, but still.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Longest Drives | COL@TEX: Fielder crushes a home run to second deck - Video | texasrangers.com: Multimedia

Longest Drives | CWS@TEX: Fielder launches mammoth shot to right field - Video | texasrangers.com: Multimedia

Here's a couple of favorites...

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Prince's pre-existing injury would've had a lot to do with that.

That was my first thought as well. I would like to think we will see more of the Fielder many remember from his days in Milwaukee.

 

[Xx srs bsns xX]

That was my first thought as well. I would like to think we will see more of the Fielder many remember from his days in Milwaukee.

I'll play devil's advocate here and say that I think those days are behind him.

Honestly, if he can produce 25-30HR, 90-110 RBI -- with an OBP of around .385 -- I'll be quite happy.

 

[donaldson79]

I'll play devil's advocate here and say that I think those days are behind him.

Honestly, if he can produce 25-30HR, 90-110 RBI -- with an OBP of around .385 -- I'll be quite happy.

His last season in Detroit he had 25 HR, 106 RBI and OBP of .362.

I'd love this myself.

 

[saddles]

There are a lot of theories around about Fielder. We are going to find out over the next 4 or 5 months which one is right I guess. There are a lot of important things to find out in 2015.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I'll play devil's advocate here and say that I think those days are behind him.

Honestly, if he can produce 25-30HR, 90-110 RBI -- with an OBP of around .385 -- I'll be quite happy.

To clarify myself what I was hoping to see is more of the Fielder who played in Milwaukee but we will not see it 100 % of the time as opposed to what we have seen lately. Even his first year in Detroit he hit 313 with 33 doubles and 30 HRs along with 108 RBIs with a 412 OBP. I just have to think that his injury was really hindering his swing.

 

[Xx srs bsns xX]

His last season in Detroit he had 25 HR, 106 RBI and OBP of .362.

I'd love this myself.

Ditto.

 

[RevSader]

To clarify myself what I was hoping to see is more of the Fielder who played in Milwaukee but we will not see it 100 % of the time as opposed to what we have seen lately. Even his first year in Detroit he hit 313 with 33 doubles and 30 HRs along with 108 RBIs with a 412 OBP. I just have to think that his injury was really hindering his swing.

Now that we know he was injured before 2014 started it's pretty obvious there was something wrong with him in 2013. In the first month of the season in 2013 he hit 7 homers. After that he only hit another 18 total.

 

[romeo212000]

Oakland just signed Clippard to a 1 yr 8.3 million dollar deal. Wtf is billy beane doing?

 

[RevSader]

Oakland just signed Clippard to a 1 yr 8.3 million dollar deal. Wtf is billy beane doing?

I didn't realize he was due arbitration when they traded for him. So I guess they thought it would cheaper to sign him than let him go through the arbitration process.

 

[RevSader]

I didn't realize he was due arbitration when they traded for him. So I guess they thought it would cheaper to sign him than let him go through the arbitration process.

Sure enough he asked for 8.85 and they offered 7.75 so they met in the middleish.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Phillies have received four ?real offers? for Cole Hamels | HardballTalk

Rangers still assumed to be in the mix on this.

 

[DT LUNA]

Donaldson 79 check for a PM I sent ya.

 

[romeo212000]

Phillies have received four ?real offers? for Cole Hamels | HardballTalk

Rangers still assumed to be in the mix on this.

Meh.

 

[donaldson79]

Donaldson 79 check for a PM I sent ya.

Got it DT, and I tried to respond. But you're not receiving PM.

I did not know Mr Cotton. But sorry to hear of his passing.

 

[donaldson79]

This from the DMN and pretty interesting too. But let me ask ya something, "are the folks at the DMN so busy they can't check their spelling?" The spelling of potential in the Profar question, is potetail, which is ridiculous.

Will Jurickson Profar, Joey Gallo or Jorge Alfaro play for the Rangers in 2015? | Dallas Morning News

 

[DT LUNA]

Got it DT, and I tried to respond. But you're not receiving PM.

I did not know Mr Cotton. But sorry to hear of his passing.

Thanks very much. Don't no why I am not receiving messages. I was. Thanks again.

 

[saddles]

This from the DMN and pretty interesting too. But let me ask ya something, "are the folks at the DMN so busy they can't check their spelling?" The spelling of potential in the Profar question, is potetail, which is ridiculous.

Will Jurickson Profar, Joey Gallo or Jorge Alfaro play for the Rangers in 2015? | Dallas Morning News

Every time I hear or read Evan asked a question about when a prospect like that will come to the majors it makes me recall when I asked him about when he thought Mitch Moreland would be brought up because he was having a good year on the farm. Evan told me it wouldn't be anytime soon. A week later Mitch made his MLB debut. These two writers tend to discount the potential of prospects and they tend to downplay how good young players are for some reason.

I remember after the 2011 regular season Gerry telling me Colby had contributed more to the Rangers than Derek because Colby had pitched more innings than Derek even though Derek's ERA was a half a run lower than Colby's. Colby had pitched all of 2.1 innings more than Derek had. Gerry just had a predudice against younger players and he didn't like it too much when I accused him of it.

I wonder if they are afraid of how the veteran players will view them if they heap too much praise on the younger guys.

Of course, in this situation I think they are right about Gallo and Alfaro, but I just don't consider them to be experts on the subject because of their prejudices.