Series Thread: Rangers Host The Indians For Three Games September 23-25

[saddles]

Cleveland (83-67, first in the AL Central) vs. Texas Rangers (65-84, third in the AL West)

BOTTOM LINE: Cleveland will try to keep a six-game road win streak alive when they visit the Texas Rangers.

Texas is 65-84 overall and 32-42 at home. The Rangers are third in the AL with 183 total home runs, averaging 1.2 per game.

Cleveland has gone 43-35 in road games and 83-67 overall. Cleveland pitchers have a collective 3.54 ERA, which ranks fifth in the AL.

The matchup Friday is the fourth time these teams meet this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Marcus Semien has 31 doubles, five triples and 23 home runs while hitting .254 for the Rangers. Corey Seager is 7-for-36 with three doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Jose Ramirez has 42 doubles, four triples, 28 home runs and 117 RBI for the Clevelands. Amed Rosario is 17-for-48 with a double, two home runs and 12 RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 5-5, .234 batting average, 4.86 ERA, outscored by four runs

Cleveland: 8-2, .280 batting average, 2.94 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs


Pitching matchups: RHP Cody Morris (0-2, 2.30) vs. RHP Jon Gray (7-7, 3.80) Friday at 8:10 p.m.; RHP Cal Quantrill (13-5, 3.56) vs. RHP Glenn Otto (6-9, 4.88) Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and RHP Aaron Civale (2-6, 5.29) vs. LHP Cole Ragans (0-2, 5.40) Sunday at 2:35 p.m.

Series: The Indians lead, 2-1, this season. Texas leads, 349-335, overall.

Team updates: Cleveland: They entered Thursday night’s game against the White Sox having won 14 of their last 17 games. They are 14-7 in September and will be playing the Rangers for the first time since June. Rookie Steven Kwan has nine hits in his last three games, while Amed Rosario is hitting .385 (5-for-13) against Texas this year. Rangers: They have lost four of their last six games entering Thursday’s game against the Angels. Corey Seager leads Texas with 31 homers and Adolis Garcia has 94 RBI. Marcus Semien is hitting .667 (8-for-12) with three homers against Cleveland this year.


Injuries: Cleveland: LHP Anthony Gose (left elbow) and RHP Zach Plesac (right little finger) are on the injured list. Rangers: C Nick Solak (right foot), RHP Spencer Howard (right shoulder), RHP Joe Barlow (right index finger blister), CF Eli White (right wrist, left knee), RHP Josh Sborz (right elbow) an C Mitch Garver (right forearm) are on the injured list.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

The Rangers have recently fallen from the 9th worst record to the 11th worst record. With 13 games to go and with 10 of those games against contending teams there is a decent chance we can move from 11th to as high as 8th or 9th. Right now only a game and a half separates the 8th and 11th worst teams.

8. Rockies have only 3 games left against non-contenders
9. Cubs have 8 games against non-contenders
10. Angels have 9 games against non-contenders
11. Rangers have only 3 games against non-contenders

So the rest of the schedule seems to show that the Rangers have the better chance to finish either with the 8th or 9th worst record, than either the Angels or the Cubs do. The Rangers would have the tiebreaker on every one of these teams so we would only have to finish with the same record as a team to be ahead of that team in the draft order. And then, the lottery will determine the final order.

 

[Kelleyman]

Well guess that is end of the year for Leiter and have to say it sure looks Iike him starting at AA was a tad too ambitious. Way too many walks and had to face hitters way advanced to what he saw in college. Maybe it shakes the confidence

Of course that is why I would rather see guys do well in the minors vs let them develop in the majors as a general rule

 

[saddles]

Well guess that is end of the year for Leiter and have to say it sure looks Iike him starting at AA was a tad too ambitious. Way too many walks and had to face hitters way advanced to what he saw in college. Maybe it shakes the confidence

Of course that is why I would rather see guys do well in the minors vs let them develop in the majors as a general rule

That is one reason why I don't expect to see Rocker up here before some time in 2026.

 

[saddles]

I would rather see guys do well in the minors vs let them develop in the majors as a general rule

Other than the in the Covid season, who have the Rangers brought up in the last few years who didn't do well in the minors first? They have been few and far between haven't they?

Also, there is some development that guys will never get until they are brought up.

 

[saddles]

Well guess that is end of the year for Leiter and have to say it sure looks Iike him starting at AA was a tad too ambitious. Way too many walks and had to face hitters way advanced to what he saw in college. Maybe it shakes the confidence

Of course that is why I would rather see guys do well in the minors vs let them develop in the majors as a general rule

I think Leiter will pitch Game 2 on Tuesday.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Well guess that is end of the year for Leiter and have to say it sure looks Iike him starting at AA was a tad too ambitious.

I was not a fan of the idea from day 1.

 

[Kelleyman]

Other than the in the Covid season, who have the Rangers brought up in the last few years who didn't do well in the minors first? They have been few and far between haven't they?

Also, there is some development that guys will never get until they are brought up.

Well we are in a weird scenario this year. But this year we had limited success with alot of the pitching brought up including Howard. Alexy and Ragans. Could go on. They just did not blow it out in AAA



Batting too. We have brought up out of need
For lucky with Duran as he skipped a level
Smith did well but he got brought up early as has a lot of guys like Hernandez
There have been a lot of shots in the dark. They had to send Leody back down.
I dearly when you bring a guy up you don’t want to have to send him down unless it is an obvious injury replacement

Part of this is because AAA just did not get it done

So disagree technically they do it consistently

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Well guess that is end of the year for Leiter and have to say it sure looks Iike him starting at AA was a tad too ambitious. Way too many walks and had to face hitters way advanced to what he saw in college. Maybe it shakes the confidence

Of course that is why I would rather see guys do well in the minors vs let them develop in the majors as a general rule

When you see rankings of your organization and Leiter is at the top of the list it really confirms why those rankings are bogus. Leiter was a BOTR starter for us at Frisco. These ranking seemed to be based off of perception of the one doing the ranking and of course there is a lot of bias in them. There seemed at this point in time to be a number of players ahead of him. Leiter has a lot of work to do.

 

[Kelleyman]

I am kind of interested to see if Barlow got a reset Still don’t think he is closer material but if he can induce weak contact then ok for elsewhere

 

[Kelleyman]

Plawecki sighting. Josh in Huff nope

 

[saddles]

Well we are in a weird scenario this year. But this year we had limited success with alot of the pitching brought up including Howard. Alexy and Ragans. Could go on. They just did not blow it out in AAA



Batting too. We have brought up out of need
For lucky with Duran as he skipped a level
Smith did well but he got brought up early as has a lot of guys like Hernandez
There have been a lot of shots in the dark. They had to send Leody back down.
I dearly when you bring a guy up you don’t want to have to send him down unless it is an obvious injury replacement

Part of this is because AAA just did not get it done

So disagree technically they do it consistently

Leody, Tejeda, and Taveras came up in the 2020 season, so I was accounting for those guys. in a normal season when they could play in the minors, I don't imagine we would have seen them.

Hernandez did come up early in 2019.

Duran did come up early this year.

Alexy was early and they have really messed his development up in a few ways, and coming up early was one of them.

With Smith, I can see your point, but I didn't think they were stunting his growth because he did have an OPS of .800 in about 160 at bats.

There is a theory that says you develop them through AA and then bring them up. I do like them getting some time in AAA, but maybe not as much as you would like. The Rangers used to bring a lot of guys up from AA or after just a cup of coffee in AAA, like with Holland and Feliz. The White Sox brought Dunning up from AA after only 11 starts there. Otto only had a handful of AAA starts before being brought up

 

[saddles]

When you see rankings of your organization and Leiter is at the top of the list it really confirms why those rankings are bogus. Leiter was a BOTR starter for us at Frisco. These ranking seemed to be based off of perception of the one doing the ranking and of course there is a lot of bias in them. There seemed at this point in time to be a number of players ahead of him. Leiter has a lot of work to do.

Would you have ranked Yohel Pozo as our #1 prospect a year ago after he had a monster season at AAA when he hit .337 with an OPS of .974?

 

[Duane1952]

Plawecki sighting. Josh in Huff nope

I would like to see them try Bubba at lead off in some of the remaining games and see how he does. Move everyone else down a spot.

 

[saddles]

This was the way I felt about estimated times of arrival almost 2 months ago. I think I would have to adjust some of those now.

Winn - early 2023
White - mid 2023
Leiter - early 2024
Garcia - early 2024
Acker - mid 2025
Porter - mid 2026
Rocker - mid 2026

This was before Bradford, Kent and Englert showed that they had turned their seasons around. I think I Put Kent at mid-2023. I would put Bradford at late 2023. I would put Englert at mid 2025. I would probably move Leiter to mid 2024 and Winn to late 2023.

Kent - mid 2023
White - mid 2023
Bradford - late 2023
Winn - late 2023
Garcia - early 2024
Leiter - mid 2024
Acker - mid 2025
Englert - mid 2025
Porter - mid 2026
Rocker - mid 2026

 

[Kelleyman]

Leody, Tejeda, and Taveras came up in the 2020 season, so I was accounting for those guys. in a normal season when they could play in the minors, I don't imagine we would have seen them.

Hernandez did come up early in 2019.

Duran did come up early this year.

Alexy was early and they have really messed his development up in a few ways, and coming up early was one of them.

With Smith, I can see your point, but I didn't think they were stunting his growth because he did have an OPS of .800 in about 160 at bats.

There is a theory that says you develop them through AA and then bring them up. I do like them getting some time in AAA, but maybe not as much as you would like. The Rangers used to bring a lot of guys up from AA or after just a cup of coffee in AAA, like with Holland and Feliz. The White Sox brought Dunning up from AA after only 11 starts there. Otto only had a handful of AAA starts before being brought up

Leody, Tejeda, and Taveras came up in the 2020 season, so I was accounting for those guys. in a normal season when they could play in the minors, I don't imagine we would have seen them.

Hernandez did come up early in 2019.

Duran did come up early this year.

Alexy was early and they have really messed his development up in a few ways, and coming up early was one of them.

With Smith, I can see your point, but I didn't think they were stunting his growth because he did have an OPS of .800 in about 160 at bats.

There is a theory that says you develop them through AA and then bring them up. I do like them getting some time in AAA, but maybe not as much as you would like. The Rangers used to bring a lot of guys up from AA or after just a cup of coffee in AAA, like with Holland and Feliz. The White Sox brought Dunning up from AA after only 11 starts there. Otto only had a handful of AAA starts before being brought up

Well yes I have moved from AA to getting time in AAA mentality. And ok will give the 2020 exception but I do think with Leody they learned their lesson and did it right with JUng. But pitching wise I wonder especially if Ragans should have had more time in AAA to keep confidence uo. Really like to see him get a win
Same holds true for Leiter. He might just be overmatched in AA for now trying to do too much too soon like he has the automatic fast track

 

[DT LUNA]

Well yes I have moved from AA to getting time in AAA mentality. And ok will give the 2020 exception but I do think with Leody they learned their lesson and did it right with JUng. But pitching wise I wonder especially if Ragans should have had more time in AAA to keep confidence uo. Really like to see him get a win
Same holds true for Leiter. He might just be overmatched in AA for now trying to do too much too soon like he has the automatic fast track

Think you have something there.

 

[Kelleyman]

Think you have something there.

Trying to find a positive in his development but I can’t seem to find it. Sad

Most players seem to have to work very hard to get to AA but it was like it was given to him and allowed to think more highly of himself than needed. Maybe it was a precondition of being drafted. Heard that but it has to be a blow to his confidence this years work

 

[Kelleyman]

Buxton back on the IL needing a knee scope
Done for the year just like the Twins