Series Thread: Rangers Travel to Anaheim For Four Games With the Angels August 10-13

[saddles]

After winning the last series against a decent team in the Orioles, the Rangers will face an Angels team that is significantly worse than the Rangers, offensively. We will face two good pitchers in Detmers and Urena to bookend the series, but the Rangers hitters should be able to handle the other pitchers. Of course, we all know how that goes, sometimes.

The Rangers enter this series in slightly better shape in regard to the teams chasing them in the wildcard standings, compared to how they entered the Baltimore series. Some of that the Rangers took care of by winning the series with the Orioles. The Tigers are only one game back, while the Twins and Cleveland are a game and a half back. The Orioles are 2 games back.


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With 7 weeks to go in the season, the focus on the games will become more intense. The scoreboard watching will become more intense as well. All 4 of the teams closely following the Rangers play one of the other 3 teams. The Tigers host Cleveland and the Twins host the Orioles. If the Rangers take 3 of these games against the Angels they could put a little more distance between themselves and 2 of those teams.

The orher race the Rangers are in is for the American League West. It is the Astros turn to face rhe lowly Giants for 3 games this week. The Rangers enter this series only a half game back of the Astros. Interestingly enough, the only teams with a weaker remaining strength of schedule than the Rangers are Cleveland, Seattle and the Astros.

Gore, Bradford, Eovaldi and deGrom would seem to be the pitchers for this series, but as of right now, Gore is the only one shown to be pitching. He is scheduled to start tonight.

Word is, Jack Leiter will have one more throwing session today, and if all goes well he will go out on a rehab assignment. I believe he can come off the 60-day DL on the 20th of this month.

The last I heard is that Jung is still at least a week away from returning, but nothing is definite on that front. Jacob Junis may be getting close to returning. Our old friend, Robert Garcia, is supposed to be getting closer to returning as well, although it wouldn't surprise me if they delayed his return to coincide with the slightly expanded roster in September.

Who do we have at AAA who could come up and help? Gavin Collyer has looked good of late, as has Alexis Diaz. As well as Ben Peoples did while with the Rangers, you would think he would be first in line, though.

If the Rangers need a hitter, John Taylor could be close to making his big league debut. His
monthly OPS since being promoted to AAA in late May is:

June .790
July .863
August .947

Don't sleep in the greatness of John Taylor.

 

[Billybass]

I appreciate your work saddles

 

[saddles]

I appreciate your work saddles

Thank you, very much.

 

[Kelleyman]

Late night gsmes this week. Hurry realignment

Detroit is streaking but if we just win series we should be able to sneak into the playoffs

I wonder if Cole Winn days are numbered. He might pass through waivers.
Missed game Sunday. Thinking Monty looked none too dominating but the HR may have been a good pitch handled well

Is Rocker innings limited once Jack comes back?

 

[fanman8825]

After winning the last series against a decent team in the Orioles, the Rangers will face an Angels team that is significantly worse than the Rangers, offensively. We will face two good pitchers in Detmers and Urena to bookend the series, but the Rangers hitters should be able to handle the other pitchers. Of course, we all know how that goes, sometimes.

The Rangers enter this series in slightly better shape in regard to the teams chasing them in the wildcard standings, compared to how they entered the Baltimore series. Some of that the Rangers took care of by winning the series with the Orioles. The Tigers are only one game back, while the Twins and Cleveland are a game and a half back. The Orioles are 2 games back.


Image hidden. Log in or register to see images.

With 7 weeks to go in the season, the focus on the games will become more intense. The scoreboard watching will become more intense as well. All 4 of the teams closely following the Rangers play one of the other 3 teams. The Tigers host Cleveland and the Twins host the Orioles. If the Rangers take 3 of these games against the Angels they could put a little more distance between themselves and 2 of those teams.

The orher race the Rangers are in is for the American League West. It is the Astros turn to face rhe lowly Giants for 3 games this week. The Rangers enter this series only a half game back of the Astros. Interestingly enough, the only teams with a weaker remaining strength of schedule than the Rangers are Cleveland, Seattle and the Astros.

Gore, Bradford, Eovaldi and deGrom would seem to be the pitchers for this series, but as of right now, Gore is the only one shown to be pitching. He is scheduled to start tonight.

Word is, Jack Leiter will have one more throwing session today, and if all goes well he will go out on a rehab assignment. I believe he can come off the 60-day DL on the 20th of this month.

The last I heard is that Jung is still at least a week away from returning, but nothing is definite on that front. Jacob Junis may be getting close to returning. Our old friend, Robert Garcia, is supposed to be getting closer to returning as well, although it wouldn't surprise me if they delayed his return to coincide with the slightly expanded roster in September.

Who do we have at AAA who could come up and help? Gavin Collyer has looked good of late, as has Alexis Diaz. As well as Ben Peoples did while with the Rangers, you would think he would be first in line, though.

If the Rangers need a hitter, John Taylor could be close to making his big league debut. His
monthly OPS since being promoted to AAA in late May is:

June .790
July .863
August .947

Don't sleep in the greatness of John Taylor.

I was surprised Peoples got sent down but then realized Cole Winn was out of options to be sent down.
I guess the Rangers feel that Winn's issues this year are a bump in the road and are fixable.
I am hoping that Leiter comes back strong after his rehab. Bradford winds up being close to what he was 2 years ago before his injuries started. Either Degrom or Eovaldi start having more consistent starts. Lastly maybe Gore is close to figuring things out.
Dont feel good about Rocker in a playoff rotation.
Bradford may be the key to this rotation.
Also I was not Impressed with Montgomery.
There is huge diffetence between now and 2023. It was very obvious.

 

[saddles]

If the Rangers find themselves needing to let a pitcher go, would it make more sense to DFA Winn who is under control for 4 more seasons, or Montgomery who is not under control past the next 7 weeks?

 

[saddles]

It is August 10, where is my BZZR app for my Roku TV?

 

[fanman8825]

Late night gsmes this week. Hurry realignment

Detroit is streaking but if we just win series we should be able to sneak into the playoffs

I wonder if Cole Winn days are numbered. He might pass through waivers.
Missed game Sunday. Thinking Monty looked none too dominating but the HR may have been a good pitch handled well

Is Rocker innings limited once Jack comes back?

Good thoughts. I just wrote that I dont feel good about Rocker. If Jack heals up he definitely overtakes Rocker. Didnt think I might say this but I like Gore better than Rocker.
Bradford could steady this rotation. His location was very good last start.
Rangers will be ok if they take 3 from the Angels.
Still shooting for division

 

[Kelleyman]

If the Rangers find themselves needing to let a pitcher go, would it make more sense to DFA Winn who is under control for 4 more seasons, or Montgomery who is not under control past the next 7 weeks?

Who is more usable plus more pitchers knocking at the door

 

[fanman8825]

If the Rangers find themselves needing to let a pitcher go, would it make more sense to DFA Winn who is under control for 4 more seasons, or Montgomery who is not under control past the next 7 weeks?

Great question I would think Montgomery goes

 

[Kelleyman]

Do think we can only limit the number of project pitchers at AAA that are not MLB usuable? We can’t be scared to DFA them. Bad players that are waived usually aren’t picked up
Other teams have their own roster issues

 

[saddles]

Who is more usable plus more pitchers knocking at the door

I would say Winn is because he can be used for 4 years and 7 weeks versus just 7 weeks. At some point they may both need to be gone, but it seems like Winn has more value of the two.

The other part of this is their ages. Montgomery is old enough that he could very well be in decline, especially with his recent injuries. Winn could still return to his 2025 form as eatly as next year.

With all of that being said, I think the usual way of thinking will prevail, and the Rangers will choose to ketp Montgomery based on his past. Seniority usually prevails. A short-sighted view also usually prevails because baseball coaches and front office personnel don't keep their jobs based on how well their decisions will pan out in the long run.

 

[saddles]

Do think we can only limit the number of project pitchers at AAA that are not MLB usuable? We can’t be scared to DFA them. Bad players that are waived usually aren’t picked up
Other teams have their own roster issues

Woulld Teodo, Macko, Lopez, Davalillo and Santos be in that category?

 

[Billybass]

If the Rangers find themselves needing to let a pitcher go, would it make more sense to DFA Winn who is under control for 4 more seasons, or Montgomery who is not under control past the next 7 weeks?

When does the decision need to be made ?
I say trot Monty back out there a couple of times and see if he improves (I think he will)
Then make decision

 

[fanman8825]

When does the decision need to be made ?
I say trot Monty back out there a couple of times and see if he improves (I think he will)
Then make decision

Your right he needs a couple of more opportunities but based on what I saw Monty is nowhere near 2023.
He may improve some but I dont expect this to pan out. Just trying to be honest on a pitcher who I like very much

 

[Senator_fan]

Robert Garcia scares me.

 

[Kelleyman]

Woulld Teodo, Macko, Lopez, Davalillo and Santos be in that category?

Yes to some degree. Past bullpen games prove it

Out of this bunch- who do you trust to spit start

 

[WastinSomeTime]

A lot of knee jerking on Rocker. When he has a good game we are all onboard and a bad one send him to the pen and automatically put Leiter in his spot. If that's how it plays out then great but I am not going to just say Leiter will be better. The same with Monty as I may agree with most that he may not be the 2023 version but he is just now working his way back and I am willing to see what he can do.

 

[saddles]

Yes to some degree. Past bullpen games prove it

Out of this bunch- who do you trust to spit start

None of them. I would trust Dalton Pence more than either of them.

 

[saddles]

A lot of knee jerking on Rocker. When he has a good game we are all onboard and a bad one send him to the pen and automatically put Leiter in his spot. If that's how it plays out then great but I am not going to just say Leiter will be better. The same with Monty as I may agree with most that he may not be the 2023 version but he is just now working his way back and I am willing to see what he can do.

Yeah, Rocker is going to have his ups and downs. That is to be expected. The only good thing in taking him out of the rotation would be to better control his innings, but even that is not a necessity.

I think Montgomery may be done and that is more based on how he was in his rehab starts than what he did yesterday. I would be very surprised if he does anything close to 2023 and I thought that even before his rehab starts. He will have more opportunities thiugh.