July 23-26 A's vs Rangers

[saddles]

I really hope it isn't Wilson. He is a weak hitting CF. We certainly don't need another CF.

 

[DT LUNA]

Four A's triples tonight.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Bartolo has lost his sexy. Given up three triples this far

Those 1st 2 runs though were garbage. Lowrie should have been taking some pine as he should have struck out on a perfect by by Colon then got that nonsense IF hit. So overall he did fine.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I really hope it isn't Wilson. He is a weak hitting CF. We certainly don't need another CF.

You mean like another Tocci?

 

[Bmurph]

I really hope it isn't Wilson. He is a weak hitting CF. We certainly don't need another CF.

What is the fascination with weak hitting CF's? Lino, Tocci, this Wilson kid.....

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

An extra player?

 

[WastinSomeTime]

BP does it job now that we were not ahead. Oh well.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

An extra player?

We do need to stockpile the minors so that would be good.

 

[Bmurph]

10:30pm: Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets that the Rangers will receive two pitchers for Hamels in addition to the PTBNL. Lacy will indeed head to the Rangers, though Wilson hears that the second pitcher is “not a prospect.” As he notes, it’s unclear whether that means the Cubs are sending a Major League player or if that’s merely a means of indicating the pitcher to be of low upside.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

3 players for Cole is about as good as you could expect.

 

[Nightcrawler]

3 players for Cole is about as good as you could expect.

Hopefully we get the better of a cubs trade this time.

The last 2 didn’t go well for us.

 

[saddles]

3 players for Cole is about as good as you could expect.

That depends on the other two players. They could be guys with no chance to ever contribute. I do like Lacy though.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

10:30pm: Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets that the Rangers will receive two pitchers for Hamels in addition to the PTBNL. Lacy will indeed head to the Rangers, though Wilson hears that the second pitcher is “not a prospect.” As he notes, it’s unclear whether that means the Cubs are sending a Major League player or if that’s merely a means of indicating the pitcher to be of low upside.

That is okay. You just never know what can come of a player Look at IKF or a Claudio. They may turn out to be very serviceable.

 

[scotsman1948]

wish they would send down Gallo. the 5th inning was another example of him trying to hit a 5-run homer when all we needed was a ball hit deep into the outfield to bring home Profar with the tying run. Profar had just drove in 2 runs with a triple with one out and Gallo hits an Ian Kinsler popup into shallow left to kill the momentum

 

[donaldson79]

From ESPN's Jeff Sullivan on players under the radar which would be good pick-ups.

RHP Jose Leclerc, Texas Rangers: Even last year, Leclerc was one of the better swing-and-miss relievers in baseball. The problem was getting batters to swing in the first place: Leclerc walked 20 percent of his opponents. This year, that's down to 13 percent, and he has added six percentage points to his strikeout rate. The swings and misses certainly haven't gone away, and Leclerc still rushes his fastball up there in the mid-90s. He leans equally heavily on a dynamite changeup. Between seasons, his OBP against has dropped from .330 to .271. Just like with the Marlins and Conley, it's not immediately obvious the Rangers would want to give such a young player up, but relievers are usually too volatile to bank on for the longer-term future.

CF Leonys Martin, Detroit Tigers: Martin signed with the Tigers for a pittance, because he was coming off a dreadful 35 wRC+ season. He didn't hit with the Mariners, and he barely got a chance with the Cubs. As of this writing, Martin's present wRC+ is 103, which means he has been an above-average hitter. He has embraced hitting the ball in the air, knocking grounders just 35 percent of the time, where he used to hover around 50 percent. Oh, by the way, Martin is also a steady regular center fielder with a dangerous arm. Teams are frequently skeptical about good performances from players who were recently almost freely available, but Martin has turned himself back into an asset, and he could help a team like, say, the very Mariners club who ran out of patience with him.

 

[fordman84]

What is the fascination with weak hitting CF's? Lino, Tocci, this Wilson kid.....

power at the corners, defense up the middle.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I have no issue whatsoever trading LeClerc

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Rangers' Cole Hamels-Yu Darvish dream is now the Cubs' reality. Where does Texas go from here?

The history is this: The first step in a rebuild is a tear down. This is where the Rangers are now.

Where once they peeled off prospects like they were dollars in a money clip, now they must peel off the old, chipped paint that is the veterans on their roster. They must create opportunities for minor leaguers, even if the upper levels of the system aren't brimming with prospects.

Maybe the departure of Hamels will get Yohander Mendez or Ariel Jurado an extra couple of major league starts. Maybe the likely upcoming departure of Keone Kela will allow for the ascent of Jose Leclerc into a closer's role and the permanent arrival of Ricardo Rodriguez. Maybe a trade of Jake Diekman will create a chance for late-blooming lefty Brady Feigl.

None of these names are going to create excitement, but the start of a rebuilding program doesn't start with excitement. It starts with trials -- and errors -- at the big league level while stocking up on as many prospects (high profile and otherwise) as possible in the minors. And then allowing those prospects to grow.