August, the Orioles, and the Trade Deadline all arrive: BAL @ TEX 8/1-3

[Bmurph]

Juan Soto will wear No. 22 with the Padres. He has secured the number from Nick Martinez. The number was significant to Martinez, but Soto is buying Martinez “something” and “If we win the World Series, I’ll probably forget all about it.” Martinez will wear 21.

 

[saddles]

Well they could have said
“We like where we are on the pitching side and want to rely solely on our own guys and prospects”

Which I’m glad they didn’t say.
I’m glad they are aware we need a frontline starter.

Difference between an ACE and a rookie over the first 22 games started before the trade deadline can be the difference between a playoff run vs going home

They said starting pitching would be their primary target. They didn't say a word about an Ace or even a frontline starter, unless of course Perez fits into one or both of those categories. I would imagine they are going to target one short term starter and one longer term one. I don't know if one will be an Ace or not though. They could even go with Perez and Gibson.

I would imagine guys like Ragans, White and Winn could alter those plans though. For instance, if Ragans comes up and does well and Winn forces his way up before the end of the year then there is no telling what the offseason looks like. You pretty much have to assume those two are not going to do those things until they do though.

I think starting pitching was a target last offseason too, wasn't it? They signed Gray and Perez. They just had offensive targets as well, so pitching wasn't necessarily the primary target.

 

[saddles]

He pitched well against the bad teams. Still don’t trust him.

He has pitched almost exclusively against the bottom few teams in team batting average. It is uncanny how few of the better teams he had pitched against. Toronto and Atlanta are only teams he has faced that are better than 24th.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Juan Soto will wear No. 22 with the Padres. He has secured the number from Nick Martinez. The number was significant to Martinez, but Soto is buying Martinez “something” and “If we win the World Series, I’ll probably forget all about it.” Martinez will wear 21.

I didn't realize that he is just 23 years old.

They said starting pitching would be their primary target. They didn't say a word about an Ace or even a frontline starter, unless of course Perez fits into one or both of those categories. I would imagine they are going to target one short term starter and one longer term one. I don't know if one will be an Ace or not though. They could even go with Perez and Gibson.

I would imagine guys like Ragans, White and Winn could alter those plans though. For instance, if Ragans comes up and does well and Winn forces his way up before the end of the year then there is no telling what the offseason looks like. You pretty much have to assume those two are not going to do those things until they do though.

I think starting pitching was a target last offseason too, wasn't it? They signed Gray and Perez. They just had offensive targets as well, so pitching wasn't necessarily the primary target.

I wonder if they will bring some of those guys up to test the waters towards the end of the year.

 

[saddles]

I wonder if they will bring some of those guys up to test the waters towards the end of the year.

I think they will let them show if they are ready or not. I think Ragans has done that. I am not sure if the others will do that this year or not.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

I think they will let them show if they are ready or not. I think Ragans has done that. I am not sure if the others will do that this year or not.

Wonder what a realistic projection for Ragans would be?
Wonder how his stuff compares with a guy like Dunning.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I think they will let them show if they are ready or not. I think Ragans has done that. I am not sure if the others will do that this year or not.

I know for me it would add a little excitement to the game.

 

[saddles]

I know for me it would add a little excitement to the game.

Yeah, I would like it too, but it really wouldn't tell us much.

I remember going to Wilson Alvarez's debut. I think he faced about 6 batters and didn't get anyone out. He never pitched for us again.

 

[Kelleyman]

Yes RIP to Vin a gracious gentleman and soul. Wonderful broadcaster and part of Dodger family and baseball community

 

[Kelleyman]

Hearing Vin stories and the Woody connection solidifies my belief that Woody ha his boys and he will ride with them. Number on is Charlie C. JD let him have him and the connection is real set in stone like his Dodger roots.
He will ride and die with his boys.

Now our boys are the new ones we want to see play and perhaps have the spark of Magic that can launch this club into WS contention.
I am sure Woody loves his players but I am not sure he knows the concept of tough love or if he loves the “Rangers” the one that counts and seen by the fanbase here , the one embraced by Nadel but kept at arm length by Evan Grant

Until he loves that he will make self serving choices. We shall see what the rest of the season entails including off-season.
Great locker room presence should not excuse lack of talent and or performance on the field

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Just to give you an idea on how much you would have to have given up to get Soto...

Nationals Land Mix of Marquee Prospects, Young Big Leaguers in Soto Trade

The influx of talent has reshaped Washington's farm system.

blogs.fangraphs.com

There is an updated Top 100 list at bleacher report that for some reason won't post here...

This one is from MLB and quite a bit different from bleacher report...

Top 100 Baseball Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

www.mlb.com

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Hearing Vin stories and the Woody connection solidifies my belief that Woody ha his boys and he will ride with them. Number on is Charlie C. JD let him have him and the connection is real set in stone like his Dodger roots.
He will ride and die with his boys.

Now our boys are the new ones we want to see play and perhaps have the spark of Magic that can launch this club into WS contention.
I am sure Woody loves his players but I am not sure he knows the concept of tough love or if he loves the “Rangers” the one that counts and seen by the fanbase here , the one embraced by Nadel but kept at arm length by Evan Grant

Until he loves that he will make self serving choices. We shall see what the rest of the season entails including off-season.
Great locker room presence should not excuse lack of talent and or performance on the field

This is getting pretty ludicrous

 

[DTC]

Just to give you an idea on how much you would have to have given up to get Soto...

Nationals Land Mix of Marquee Prospects, Young Big Leaguers in Soto Trade

The influx of talent has reshaped Washington's farm system.

blogs.fangraphs.com

There is an updated Top 100 list at bleacher report that for some reason won't post here...

This one is from MLB and quite a bit different from bleacher report...

Top 100 Baseball Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

www.mlb.com

I’m definitely glad we didn’t make that trade. Maybe we can make a trade like that in a few years when we’re gearing up for a World Series run.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

I'm not going to waste time trying to analyze, decipher, and extrapolate what the FO means by "focusing on starting pitching," but if they are saying they expect the Rangers to contend in 2023, they have a LOT of work to do.

 

[Kelleyman]

This is getting pretty ludicrous

Ok, not sure what you mean

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Yeah, I would like it too, but it really wouldn't tell us much.

I remember going to Wilson Alvarez's debut. I think he faced about 6 batters and didn't get anyone out. He never pitched for us again.

I did think of that as well as things could turn south. I was just thinking that at the end of the year and we expand the roster it MIGHT be good for them to have some exposure. Bring them in to start a game for a couple of innings and then bring in another starter who has been in the rotation to finish it. But I can see the good and the bad of that.

 

[scotsman1948]

I think they will let them show if they are ready or not. I think Ragans has done that. I am not sure if the others will do that this year or not.

the only way for them to show is at the MLB level. most would never get beyond AAA or AA using your scenario of until they totally dominate AA they shouldn't go to AAA and until they totally dominate AAA they shouldn't go to the MLB

 

[saddles]

“Our general intent was to help the club this year, as well as build for the future and really address putting together pieces that could help us win in 2023 and beyond,” Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said during post-deadline media availability. “I think how we played here in the last couple of weeks and then just the nature of the standings, our focus shifted slightly from that more to players that would be here in 2023 and beyond.”

 

[saddles]

Some excerpts from a Levi Weaver article.

“The last couple of years, we were more clearly in a rebuilding phase,” Daniels said. “We had to get good value, but we were going to move certain players. We did not take that approach this year for a variety of reasons. But as you see in the market, the players on expiring contracts generally get very low returns, in terms of the players back. So for a couple of guys here — Martín and Matt in particular, that are so important to this club — we just felt like we weren’t going to be at the whim of the market, we weren’t just gonna take the best offer at the last minute.”

 

[saddles]

“That’s what we had to keep stepping back and reminding ourselves,” Daniels said. “It’s a deadline in a sense for the next two months, but come November, it opens up 100 percent again to build the club for 2023 and go forward. We have a lot of confidence that really most of the players in our system will most likely be asked about in the future. It was not our intent to (only) lay groundwork — the intent was to see if we could close a deal to get there — (but) a byproduct of that is that we have a better idea going forward.”

Put another way…

“We all like instant gratification,” Daniels said. “(But) the exciting part for us is that we have all of our resources moving forward into the offseason to address the areas that we want to address, both financially and (with) young talent that will either play for us or could potentially be used to acquire the types of players we’re looking for … We feel like we have both top-end talent and depth, and that was confirmed by some of the inquiries we had. There was nobody (we pursued) on the market that we were told, ‘You guys don’t have the pieces.'”