Series Thread: Rangers Host the Mets For Three Games June 17-19

[saddles]

After a sweep in Seattle is is hard to hope for much. Maybe we can take two against the Mets.

Our offense seems hopeless at present. Two of our best hitters, Jung and Smith, missed the Seattle series. With the way the Rangers are so secretive about injuries, Smith could play tonight or he could miss two more weeks. Jung is at least a couple of weeks away.

Gray, Lorenzen and Heaney are due to pitch this series.

Maybe Heim coming back will help, although he hasn't been that good for a large chunk of the season, either.

Adam Morris joked that the Rangers could trade Scherzer back to the Mets for Acuna.

I am afraid we will have the look of sellers at the deadline. Now, who knows what CY will do.

 

[saddles]

From Texas Rangers PR:

Congratulations to RHP Alejandro Rosario of Texas' Low-A Down East affiliate after being selected Carolina League Player of the Week for June 10-16. This is his 2nd time to earn to circuit’s weekly honor this season (also May 27-June 2).

Rosario, 22, tossed 6.0 shutout innings in his lone start last week on Sat. vs. Charleston (ND, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO). It matched the longest scoreless outing of his career (also 6.0 SHO IP on 6/1/24 vs. FRE), as he joins Hickory’s Joseph Montalvo (2x) as the only Rangers farmhands with multiple starts of 6.0+ SHO IP in 2024.

The Miami native has gone 2-2, 1.49 ERA (7 ER/42.1 IP) with 63 SO/5 BB across 9 games/starts for the Wood Ducks this season in his professional debut. He ranks among Carolina League leaders (min. 40.0 IP) in WHIP (2nd, 0.80), SO/BB ratio (2nd, 12.60), ERA (3rd), and SO (T3rd).

According to FanGraphs, his 38.4% SO pct. this season ranks 3rd among age 22-or-younger minor league pitchers (min. 40.0 IP) to only CLE’s Matt Wilkinson (44.0%) and ATL’s Owen Murphy (38.7%). Rosario was originally selected by Texas in the 5th round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of the University of Miami.

 

[Duane1952]

Wow, Huff is starting today.

 

[saddles]

Still no Josh Smith.

 

[saddles]

Jeff Wilson mentions that Jon Gray likes pitching to Huff.

 

[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

Josh Smith said that his “general soreness” is getting better day by day, and said that hopefully he’ll be back to playing in the next couple of days.

 

[jaar01]

Josh Jung may be back by the weekend against the Royals.

 

[saddles]

From Michael Bier:

Jacob deGrom said he threw off a mound for the first time today during his rehab process.

Session lasted about 15 minutes. All fastballs.

From Jeff Wilson:

Jacob deGrom threw off a mound today for the first time since having Tommy John surgery 12 months ago -- 15 pitches, all fastballs. He'll do a few more light bullpens before starting to mix in changeups and then sliders.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Wow, Huff is starting today.

Bochy wasn't going to be able to justify 4 straight starts for Knizner. It would be great if he did well but there has to be a lot of pressure to perform when you are getting very few chances to impress someone.

 

[jaar01]

Isn't Huff out of options now?

 

[saddles]

Isn't Huff out of options now?

This year is his last one.

 

[scotsman#1948]

time to gut the team of every player who has trade value including Semien & Seager and turn out the lights this season is done

 

[WastinSomeTime]

time to gut the team of every player who has trade value including Semien & Seager and turn out the lights this season is done

Semien and Seager stay. Just put some players around them that can actually do something at the plate. I don't know what in the world is going on with Garcia. He started off well but has just bottomed out. This team with some tweaks is not that far away from getting itself back together next year.

 

[saddles]

Semien and Seager stay. Just put some players around them that can actually do something at the plate. I don't know what in the world is going on with Garcia. He started off well but has just bottomed out. This team with some tweaks is not that far away from getting itself back together next year.

Last Septemeber I prepared the narrative that I was going to use for the Offseason thread. I prepared it before the playoffs started. When I prepared it I presented the option to trade Adolis to free up some money and bring back some upper level prospects. I think I mentioned Taveras and another player or two as possibilities to trade as well. It was mainly so we could afford several bullpen pieces.

Once the postseason was over, I took Adolis completely out since he was one of our best postseason players. Had we lost a couple more regular season games, and not made the postseason, I think several of us might have entertained the possibility of trading him.

The Championship was great, but I think it gave a false sense of how good this team really is. As constructed, this team may only be a .500 team. If everyone is healthy it could be a lot better, but as constructed, with so many fragile guys, it might be a pipe dream to think almost everyone could be healthy at the same time.

 

[jaar01]

There are reasons that Garcia did not pan out with the Cardinals. He has streaky power, and was integral to the playoff run, but his K rate due to plate discipline has always been in his scouting reports.

And now he's chasing everything and looks like one of the easiest outs in baseball. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe just unmotivated. Or maybe the Cardinals were right all along.

 

[saddles]

Mock Draft from The Sporting News:

30. Rangers​

• Wyatt Sanford, SS, Independence (TX)

The last Wyatt picked by the Rangers in the first round seemed to work. Why not try it again? Wyatt Sanford is not quite Wyatt Langford, and picking him would snap Texas' run of five straight first-round college players. Sanford, a Texas native, is one of the better defensive high-school shortstops in the 2024 class. His speed gives him plenty of range and he adds a powerful arm to boost the profile. His bat still has some room for development, particularly in the power department. But the defense and his bat speed give him a high floor and the chance to develop into a solid prospect in Texas' system.

 

[saddles]

The latest mock draft from CBS Sports:

30. Texas Rangers​

Mock pick: 3B Tommy White, LSU
Slot value: $2,971,300

The man they call Tommy Tanks is one of the greatest power hitters in college baseball history -- White has hit more career home runs than any Division I player this century -- though there are concerns about his game at the next level. The power is real, there's no doubt about that, but White expands the zone more than you'd like and he's probably not a third baseman long-term. Still, it's not often a college hitter with this much thump and a performance track record as good as White's slips out of the first round.

 

[saddles]

The latest mock draft from SBNation:

30. Texas Rangers: Jurrangelo Cijntje, RHP/LHP, Mississippi State​

You read that right.

Jurrangelo Cinjntje is a natural left-hander, but wanted to be like his dad, who was a right-handed pitcher in the Netherlands. So he would put on his dad’s right-handed glove and start to throw.

He first became known worldwide as a member of Curacao’s team at the 2016 Little League World Series, where his switch-pitching ability drew lots of eyeballs. As a right-handed hurler he operates with a fastball that can get into the upper 90s, while that same pitch left-handed is more of a low-90s heater.

His best stuff comes as a right-hander, so do not be surprised if he focuses on that going forward. But he is certainly an intriguing prospect.

 

[saddles]

Latest MLB Pipeline mock draft:

30. Rangers: Kash Mayfield, LHP, Elk City HS, Okla. (No. 28)
Another team that hasn’t been afraid to go the prep route, the Rangers could be in on that group of high school shortstops or could look at Mayfield, who very easily could go higher than this.

 

[scotsman#1948]

Last Septemeber I prepared the narrative that I was going to use for the Offseason thread. I prepared it before the playoffs started. When I prepared it I presented the option to trade Adolis to free up some money and bring back some upper level prospects. I think I mentioned Taveras and another player or two as possibilities to trade as well. It was mainly so we could afford several bullpen pieces.

Once the postseason was over, I took Adolis completely out since he was one of our best postseason players. Had we lost a couple more regular season games, and not made the postseason, I think several of us might have entertained the possibility of trading him.

The Championship was great, but I think it gave a false sense of how good this team really is. As constructed, this team may only be a .500 team. If everyone is healthy it could be a lot better, but as constructed, with so many fragile guys, it might be a pipe dream to think almost everyone could be healthy at the same time.

so who do we get rid of and do we have the quality to replace them? and how long will it take once we've deposed of them to bring the team to a competitive level again?