Series Thread: Rangers Host The Diamondbacks July 16-17

[Nightcrawler]

Gratefully, I didn’t watch it, but that’s probably the ugliest baseball game globe life park has seen in quite awhile.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Time for a change. Need all new pitchers and a new coach. This is horrible.

I think Woodward wants change. Part of development is sending non performers to the minors.

 

[Duane1952]

I think Woodward wants change. Part of development is sending non performers to the minors.

Unless your name is Odor. They could have sent him down in May before he got his 5 years of service. They royally screwed that up.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Unless your name is Odor. They could have sent him down in May before he got his 5 years of service. They royally screwed that up.

Our right side of infield has been an unmitigated disaster for the longest time.

I can’t remember when our second baseman and first baseman both qualified as “good” major league players at the same time.

Even when we had Kinsler, Moreland and Davis weren’t that good by MLB standards. It’s been a long time.

 

[saddles]

The manager and our coaches are a big reason we overachieved this year.

The front office invested hardly any money into improving this team during the offseason. I’m grateful for the entertaining few months of baseball this team gave us, but it looks like all good things must come to an end.

I think the overachieving has been mainly due to Gallo's maturing as a player and by three of JD's offseason pickup doing very well in Santana, Lynn, and Pence. Since they didn't seem to count on Santana to begin with, I am going to chalk that up to good luck. The other two pickups should be accredited to JD though.

 

[saddles]

Mike Minor moans and whines about the possibility if being traded more than any other Ranger that I can remember.

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Saddles and Kelleyman high tailed it and so did Crawler.Can ya blame em'?

That's why I very seldom ever watch the games and just get results high/lowlights the next day. It's easier to remain open minded about the team instead of having the fantasy baseball attitude/mentality.

 

[saddles]

That's why I very seldom ever watch the games and just get results high/lowlights the next day. It's easier to remain open minded about the team instead of having the fantasy baseball attitude/mentality.

Isn't just getting the results exactly what fantasy baseball participants do in general?

 

[handicappers]

Rangers' catcher-turned-reliever might have thrown the worst pitch in MLB history

 

[Nightcrawler]

Rumor has it the rangers have been giving Santana a lot of reps at 3rd base in practice.

Is it to increase his versatility? If he does well there, can they DFA Cabrera? Or do they want to find him a permanent spot so that odor no longer gets butt hurt when Santana plays for him?

The front office made some great pick ups in the offseason, but they’re on a cold streak with their decision making lately. I’m noticing a trend where they seem to be making decisions in favor of players who aren’t performing at the expense of players who are / have been.

Very disturbing.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Mike Minor moans and whines about the possibility if being traded more than any other Ranger that I can remember.

Kind of like most people on this board. You all realize we should not even be over 500. Yes, some guys have stunk and Odor is right up there. But do you really want to give up on Guzman. I do not want another Adrian Gonzalez who hit .238 in just 16 games and .227 in 43 games his first 2 years. This is the time to see what we have. We are not going to the W.S. this year. If he is garbage by the end of next year then do whatever but give him a chance. There is a bigger picture going on here.

 

[saddles]

Kind of like most people on this board. You all realize we should not even be over 500. Yes, some guys have stunk and Odor is right up there. But do you really want to give up on Guzman. I do not want another Adrian Gonzalez who hit .238 in just 16 games and .227 in 43 games his first 2 years. This is the time to see what we have. We are not going to the W.S. this year. If he is garbage by the end of next year then do whatever but give him a chance. There is a bigger picture going on here.

I wouldn't give up on Guzman now, but I think he needs to make some major improvements well before the end of next year.

We gave up on Adrian way too early. Guzman has already had more than 3 times as many PA with us as Gonzalez got.

Fans are always going to moan and whine. They always have and always will. I am used to that. I am not used to a player doing that about the possibilities that the trade deadline might bring.

 

[saddles]

9 trade targets who could make big impact

5) Mike Minor, SP, Rangers

The Rangers are another team that, like the Giants, has surpassed expectations. General manager Jon Daniels still seems likely to trade his No. 1 starter, in part because of the demand for starting pitching. At 31, Minor is pitching the best baseball of his career, having allowed three runs or fewer in 16 of 19 starts while averaging 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

Contract: $9.83 million in 2019, $9.83 million in 2020, then free agency before the 2021 season

Potential landing spots: Minor makes sense for the Brewers and Astros, but he could end up being the most sought-after starter on the market, since the Boyd and Bumgarner discussions could get complicated.

 

[saddles]

MLB Trade Rumors: Mike Minor, Hunter Pence could be moved

MLB Trade Rumors: Mike Minor, Hunter Pence, Shawn Kelley and Asdrubal Cabrera are among the veterans that the Texas Rangers could move in the next week-plus, according to Jim Bowden, who says that Chris Woodward had a team meetingbefore the second half started to say that if they played well in the second half of July, the team would be buyers, but if they didn’t, the Rangers would likely be selling.

It makes sense for Woodward to address the issue with the team, given that buy-or-sell talk is swirling and he’s emphasizing communications with the players, and Woodward reportedly is planning on talking to individual players whose names have come up in trade talks. That being said, with the Rangers having lost their last four in a row after winning their first two games post-break against Houston, and with a grueling road trip coming up, its not unreasonable to think the players may be seeing the writing on the wall, barring a sudden hot stretch.

Dan Szymborski writes today at Fangraphs that the Rangers’ playoff chances are so slim, even if they were to be buyers, that the team should be looking to move Mike Minor for a quality package — especially since their window is just starting to open, rather than close. Jon Morosi saysthe Atlanta Braves are “open” to bringing Minor, who was originally drafted by the Braves, back to where his career started, and as we discussed yesterday, Atlanta seems like the ideal match for the Rangers, given Atlanta has a deep farm system with a lot of top end talent.

With Pence, one can argue that his presence and influence in the clubhouse makes him more valuable for the Rangers than whatever fringe prospect you would expect to get from him, but dealing Pence would open up a starting spot at DH or left field for Willie Calhoun, and the intangible aspects Pence brings to the table would seem to enhance what you could get for him via a trade. Two months of a guy who is a quality bat as well as an 80 makeup person could bring back more in a deal than one would think, particularly given Pence is making very little in salary.

As has been discussed at length before, the elimination of post-July 31 waiver deals means that guys like Pence, Cabrera and Kelley — who might be held on to into August in previous years with the belief they’d likely clear waivers and be able to be dealt closer to September — will have to have calls made on them sooner rather than later. Kelley has an affordable 2020 team option, which means Texas doesn’t have to deal him, but that also means that he’s not necessarily purely a rental and thus may fetch more in return.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Baseball America new top 30 Texas Rangers prospect list

Baseball America has a mid-season top 30 prospect list for the Texas Rangers out, and while Hans Crouse is still atop the list, there’s a new #2 — Josh Jung, the Rangers’ first round pick in 2019 (and the #8 pick overall in the 2019 draft), slots in behind Crouse.

There are some rather significant changes behind those two as well, with Joe Palumbo and Sam Huff checking in at #4 and #5, respectively, and rookie ballers Osleivis Basabe, Randy Florentino and Luisangel Acuna in the upper echelons. Ronny Henriquez has also cracked the top 10, newly added infielders Nick Solak and Davis Wendzel are #11 and #12, respectively, and Cole Winn has plummeted.

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Isn't just getting the results exactly what fantasy baseball participants do in general?

Yes if they're trying to keep track of certain players on "all the teams" so they know who to pick up or dump on a daily basis. I'm only paying attention to what the Rangers are doing and occasionally and catch the scores of the Reds (to see if it would be worth my while to go to a game) everybody else I could care less about.

 

[saddles]

2019-20 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings

 

[saddles]

Latest On Mike Minor

 

[saddles]

Haha!!!