His watch has ended: HOU @ TEX to close out August

[saddles]

 

[armadillooutlaw]

How many of this team's starting hitters do y'all think will have an 800+ OPS next year?
Personally I'd say Seager, Lowe, Jung and Semien.

 

[Duane1952]

The announcers making excuses for Kuechel.

 

[DT LUNA]

How many of this team's starting hitters do y'all think will have an 800+ OPS next year?
Personally I'd say Seager, Lowe, Jung and Semien.

Pretty good guess

 

[saddles]

How many of this team's starting hitters do y'all think will have an 800+ OPS next year?
Personally I'd say Seager, Lowe, Jung and Semien.

I think if they find a spot for either Duran or Smith to play on a regular basis, that they have a good chance. Huff would have a decent chance to do so if he had a regular spot in the lineup.

Probably not Semien.

I am assuming they don't bring Gallo back or I would include him.

 

[scotsman1948]

I think if they find a spot for either Duran or Smith to play on a regular basis, that they have a good chance. Huff would have a decent chance to do so if he had a regular spot in the lineup.

Probably not Semien.

I am assuming they don't bring Gallo back or I would include him.

one of Duran and Smith will probably be traded this off-season and the other will probably be at AAA. 3rd base will be Jungs to lose. think Garcia, Taveras. Thompson & Eli White will be the outfield. Garver will be the DH while getting playing time at 1B and C. that pretty much leaves the Ranger having construct a bench. think they will pick Mathias over Miller which leaves 2 spots: a couple of IF/OF types. personally, i think Wendzel will get one of them and maybe Harris

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Lowe with another fantastic game. Two hits, RBI and two walks.
Nice games for Seager and Semien, too.
Rest of the lineup not so much.

 

[saddles]

Let’s Have a Debate About Nathaniel Lowe

Is the Rangers' breakout first baseman an indispensable building block, or should he be trade bait?

www.dmagazine.com

Newberg and Piellucci sit down and debate the possibility of trading Lowe.

These are excerpts from Jamey Newberg wanting to at least explore the possibility.


Lowe may sit close to alone as far as trade ammunition at the big-league level.

I’m not desperate to get rid of Lowe. His season at the plate has been one of the better developments of the season. But I sure would test his trade market if I were Young.

Let’s say the Marlins properly decide they need to fix their offense and know they probably won’t be able to convince both Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez to take the kind of money they can afford to pay. They lock Alcantara up, then decide to make Lopez available. He’s controllable through 2024, and he’d fit nicely with Jon Gray and either Martin Perez or whomever else Texas adds to the rotation this winter.

What if Lowe and his four-plus years of control plus something like a Justin Foscue/Marc Church package separates the Rangers from other suitors less willing to trade from their big-league roster? Get Miami to throw in (All-Star!) Garrett Cooper’s final year before free agency—maybe that means you have to add someone like Zak Kent to the trade—and now you have your stopgap first baseman until Harris is ready or, say, you decide the best play is moving Jung to first base and making Duran your long-term third baseman.

 

[saddles]

From Jeff Wilson:

Minor-leaguers whose seasons will continue at the annual fall instructional league won’t be languishing unnecessarily in Arizona.

The Rangers are planning to limit instructs to only three weeks before finishing with a Texas tour for the second straight year and for the third time since 2019. The Rangers are hoping to play some of the games at Globe Life Field.

Instructs begin Sept. 18 and will place an emphasis on, well, instruction. Rather than playing a full slate of games, the Rangers are planning to play only three times a week.

“There will be specific players in certain development buckets,” Fenstermaker said. “Not everybody will play in games. We are really targeting our development out there. It’s one of those things where we feel players are better served starting their offseason development plan rather than having to play games.”

The Texas tour is scheduled to begin Oct. 9. TCU is one of the colleges to commit to playing

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Let’s Have a Debate About Nathaniel Lowe

Is the Rangers' breakout first baseman an indispensable building block, or should he be trade bait?

www.dmagazine.com

Newberg and Piellucci sit down and debate the possibility of trading Lowe.

These are excerpts from Jamey Newberg wanting to at least explore the possibility.


Lowe may sit close to alone as far as trade ammunition at the big-league level.

I’m not desperate to get rid of Lowe. His season at the plate has been one of the better developments of the season. But I sure would test his trade market if I were Young.

Let’s say the Marlins properly decide they need to fix their offense and know they probably won’t be able to convince both Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez to take the kind of money they can afford to pay. They lock Alcantara up, then decide to make Lopez available. He’s controllable through 2024, and he’d fit nicely with Jon Gray and either Martin Perez or whomever else Texas adds to the rotation this winter.

What if Lowe and his four-plus years of control plus something like a Justin Foscue/Marc Church package separates the Rangers from other suitors less willing to trade from their big-league roster? Get Miami to throw in (All-Star!) Garrett Cooper’s final year before free agency—maybe that means you have to add someone like Zak Kent to the trade—and now you have your stopgap first baseman until Harris is ready or, say, you decide the best play is moving Jung to first base and making Duran your long-term third baseman.

Lowe plus Foscue for Lopez would be a no-go for me.
Foscue plus another top prospect for Lopez? Sure.
Lowe being a proven hitter at this point makes me hesitant.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

From Jeff Wilson:

Minor-leaguers whose seasons will continue at the annual fall instructional league won’t be languishing unnecessarily in Arizona.

The Rangers are planning to limit instructs to only three weeks before finishing with a Texas tour for the second straight year and for the third time since 2019. The Rangers are hoping to play some of the games at Globe Life Field.

Instructs begin Sept. 18 and will place an emphasis on, well, instruction. Rather than playing a full slate of games, the Rangers are planning to play only three times a week.

“There will be specific players in certain development buckets,” Fenstermaker said. “Not everybody will play in games. We are really targeting our development out there. It’s one of those things where we feel players are better served starting their offseason development plan rather than having to play games.”

The Texas tour is scheduled to begin Oct. 9. TCU is one of the colleges to commit to playing

Oh shit... Kumar gonna be on that?

 

[saddles]

Lowe plus Foscue for Lopez would be a no-go for me.
Foscue plus another top prospect for Lopez? Sure.
Lowe being a proven hitter at this point makes me hesitant.

Yeah, if I trade Lowe to the Marlins I would want to load up on their young pitching. Jamey is really crazy about getting pitching help right away though.

 

[Duane1952]

Good job Miller. You shouldn’t pinch hit for anyone.

 

[saddles]

Kumar gonna be on that?

He will be at the AFL and not at Instructs, but I believe he could still tour with them.

 

[Kelleyman]

Let’s Have a Debate About Nathaniel Lowe

Is the Rangers' breakout first baseman an indispensable building block, or should he be trade bait?

www.dmagazine.com

Newberg and Piellucci sit down and debate the possibility of trading Lowe.

These are excerpts from Jamey Newberg wanting to at least explore the possibility.


Lowe may sit close to alone as far as trade ammunition at the big-league level.

I’m not desperate to get rid of Lowe. His season at the plate has been one of the better developments of the season. But I sure would test his trade market if I were Young.

Let’s say the Marlins properly decide they need to fix their offense and know they probably won’t be able to convince both Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez to take the kind of money they can afford to pay. They lock Alcantara up, then decide to make Lopez available. He’s controllable through 2024, and he’d fit nicely with Jon Gray and either Martin Perez or whomever else Texas adds to the rotation this winter.

What if Lowe and his four-plus years of control plus something like a Justin Foscue/Marc Church package separates the Rangers from other suitors less willing to trade from their big-league roster? Get Miami to throw in (All-Star!) Garrett Cooper’s final year before free agency—maybe that means you have to add someone like Zak Kent to the trade—and now you have your stopgap first baseman until Harris is ready or, say, you decide the best play is moving Jung to first base and making Duran your long-term third baseman.

No certainty of a window next year. Bad move imo

 

[Kelleyman]

Yeah, if I trade Lowe to the Marlins I would want to load up on their young pitching. Jamey is really crazy about getting pitching help right away though.

Exactly on all counts. Newberg trade on this is way premature and likely too much

 

[saddles]

Exactly on all counts. Newberg trade on this is way premature and likely too much

I don't understand why he thought we would have to throw Foscue in. I wouldn't trade either Lowe or Foscue for the guy straight up.

 

[Kelleyman]

How many of this team's starting hitters do y'all think will have an 800+ OPS next year?
Personally I'd say Seager, Lowe, Jung and Semien.

Seager Lowe, Semien on the comeback trail. I wonder what his OPS minus His bad start

Hard to predict a guy like JUng but Adolis is close this year

In theory the better protection you get the better pitches you see.
I would like to see Duran in the lineup regularly but not sure where he is going to fit.
bet he has a better arm than Jung
Guess LF may be open but maybe Bubba can win it I think our offense without much help will be better. Just need that pitching to develop pronto

 

[Kelleyman]

I don't understand why he thought we would have to throw Foscue in. I wouldn't trade either Lowe or Foscue for the guy straight up.

Foscue has easy power. And it is early and we get injuries. We need to keep him for now

IMO you and to some degree me overestimate our current prospects but I think he is underestimating them. Now we don’t have what some say our alphas minus Leiter and White but there are a lot of legit MLB talent I have not seen for years. Maybe our pitching progresses over the winter but I am guessing some changes are coming re pitching coaches at the MILB level

And with a new coach there may be more house cleaning

 

[saddles]

I don't believe I have mentioned pitcher, John Stephan at all this year. He was signed 2 years ago as a free agent out of South Grand Prairie HS. He has had a fine year this year. He was promoted to Hickory 2 or 3 weeks ago. He has made 2 starts in Hickory including this one today.