Series Thread: Rangers Travel to Cleveland For Three Games August 23-25

[saddles]

and while CY is telling the manager who will play or not Josh Smith needs to start at least 140 games split between SS and 3B

So, I guess in your plan the Seager and Jung combo becomes your primary DH?

They will never do that to Seager, I don't think.

 

[scotsman#1948]

I want Lowe gone because he has trouble with fastballs. 1B should be rbi and home run position.

trade him and split playing time between Blaine Crim & Abimelec Ortiz

 

[scotsman#1948]

So, I guess in your plan the Seager and Jung combo becomes your primary DH?

don't care i like Smith

 

[saddles]

don't care i like Smith

I like him too, but that shouldn't happen.

 

[saddles]

trade him and split playing time between Blaine Crim & Abimelec Ortiz

I think Foscue might be at the top of the mic.

 

[saddles]

I like him too, but that shouldn't happen.

Now, if you want Smith to play that much in the OF, that would probably be doable. You wouldn't even have to get Bochy on board.

 

[scotsman#1948]

Now, if you want Smith to play that much in the OF, that would probably be doable. You wouldn't even have to get Bochy on board.

with Langford, Carter and Duran, Smith wouldn't get much time in the OF and neither would Duran if they keep Garcia

 

[saddles]

with Langford, Carter and Duran, Smith wouldn't get much time in the OF and neither would Duran if they keep Garcia

Or, Duran wouldn't

 

[saddles]

Rocker is expected to make his AAA debut on Wednesday.

 

[Duane1952]

with Langford, Carter and Duran, Smith wouldn't get much time in the OF and neither would Duran if they keep Garcia

Duran won’t get much playing time if Bochy is still here.

 

[Senator_fan]

Did Heim just have a bad year, or did he just have one good year?

Maybe he’s in a state of regression but I don’t know. Still feel comfortable with him behind the plate in close games in the late innings and all playoff games.

 

[DT LUNA]

The outfield is getting tight. No guarantee Carter gets back from injury. Garcia could be traded leaving Smith and Duran as possible starters which is better than DH. Will wait and see.

 

[saddles]

Some excerpts from an article by Shawn McFarland about Cody Bradford:

There are few guarantees in baseball. There’re even fewer for these frustrated and scuffling Texas Rangers. ...

Here’s another: Cody Bradford, the soft-throwing left-hander from Aledo and Baylor, will execute. It’s what he’s done when healthy this season. It’s what makes him such an intriguing piece of the Rangers’ present and future.

The 26-year-old allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks in six innings of the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Guardians on Sunday at Progressive Field. He was not perfect, made two mistakes — one of which was a Jhonkensy Noel moonshot home run on a meaty fastball in the second inning — and was tagged for a loss that secured Texas’ eighth series loss in their last nine attempts.

And, still.

“Oh, what a job he did,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. “Terrific job he did.”

 

[saddles]

More about Bradford from McFarland:

It’s gone as such more often than not for the former sixth-round pick this season. Bradford has a 2.49 ERA in eight starts — five of which have come since he returned a three-month stint on the injured list on July 29 due to a stress fracture in his ribs — and a team-high 62.5% quality start percentage. His 0.94 WHIP, 5.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .207 batting average against rank best among all Texas starting pitchers.

He is a homegrown success story. The Rangers have placed a great deal of hope in former first-round picks Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker to break the franchise’s decades-long inefficiency to develop starting pitching. Bradford has earned a spot in that conversation.

In fact, according to FanGraphs, the 1.4 WAR that Bradford has accumulated in his first two major league seasons rank third among all primary starting pitchers that the Rangers drafted, developed and used for more than 100 innings since the start of the 2014 season. Only Colby Lewis (4.9 WAR in 491 1/3 innings since 2014) and Derek Holland (2.3 WAR in 203 innings since 2014) rank higher.

Bochy, when asked on Wednesday to place himself in general manager Chris Young’s shoes and to determine whether Bradford breaks camp next spring as a starting pitcher, laughed and said “You can talk to him about that, I don’t put myself in somebody else’s role.”

That being said.

“He’s a man,” Bochy said Sunday. “The way he competes, the way he prepares ... the maniacal focus he has out there. He’s such a mature young man.”

Bradford (who is a pre-arbitration player), Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning (who is arbitration eligible) are the only primary major league starting pitchers under contract through next season. Leiter and Rocker could both work their way in on a full-time basis by next season.

It presents a window for Bradford to certify himself as a full-time starter. So, too, does the last month-plus of this season before next year’s spring camp.

“We’ve still got a month left to play,” Bradford said. “I’m locked in. I love baseball. God’s given me the ability to play it so I want to play it with all my heart. If that means starting for the Rangers then it’s an honor to take that role. If it’s in the bullpen, I don’t care, I just want to play for the Rangers.”

 

[saddles]

One sidelight from the Bradford article was in how one of the questions was framed. It assumed something and Bochy affirmed that it was so. The quote is:

"Bochy, when asked on Wednesday to place himself in general manager Chris Young’s shoes and to determine whether Bradford breaks camp next spring as a starting pitcher."

In other words, the roster makeup up and job assignments are CY's to make. Therefore, it would be nothing unusual for CY to state that Huff is the starting catcher and Duran is the starting RF. That is kind of what I thought, but some fans may not have understood that. I am glad the article made that clear.

 

[saddles]

The outfield is getting tight. No guarantee Carter gets back from injury. Garcia could be traded leaving Smith and Duran as possible starters which is better than DH. Will wait and see.

If Carter is not back by then they might as well have a retirement press conference for him. He should be back.

 

[DT LUNA]

If Carter is not back by then they might as well have a retirement press conference for him. He should be back.

He should but how will he perform is yet to be seen as so many have shown......Gray Degrom Scherzer and Garcia

 

[saddles]

I winder if the Rangers will bring Teido up at some point this year. He will have to be added to the 40-man in a few weeks anyway.

 

[DT LUNA]

I winder if the Rangers will bring Teido up at some point this year. He will have to be added to the 40-man in a few weeks anyway.

At this point not much to lose. Hope they do.

 

[Kelleyman]

One sidelight from the Bradford article was in how one of the questions was framed. It assumed something and Bochy affirmed that it was so. The quote is:

"Bochy, when asked on Wednesday to place himself in general manager Chris Young’s shoes and to determine whether Bradford breaks camp next spring as a starting pitcher."

In other words, the roster makeup up and job assignments are CY's to make. Therefore, it would be nothing unusual for CY to state that Huff is the starting catcher and Duran is the starting RF. That is kind of what I thought, but some fans may not have understood that. I am glad the article made that clear.

To me CY decides who is active but Bochy decides who to play.