Series Thread: Rangers Travel to New York For Three Games With the Yankees August 9-11

[saddles]

The Rangers have struggled so much on the road that is it hard to believe they can avoid a sweep. Stranger things have happened though.

The Rangers will go with Bradford, Eovaldi and Heaney in this series.

The Rangers begin the series down 5.5 games to both the Astros and the Mariners. The Rangers currently have the 8th worst record in MLB.

I am beginning to wonder if this division will be won by a team with a losing record. There should be a rule that says no divisuon winner can go to the postseason if they don't have a winning record. That spot should go to an extra wildcard team.

 

[saddles]

From Jamey Newberg:

If the Astros, for example, had merely gone 18-18 out of the gate this year rather than 12-24, the Rangers would be 11.5 games out of first today. And 9.5 back at the trade deadline.

Timing. If the deadline didn’t land pretty much exactly when it did, or if the division wasn’t collectively having its worst season in years, you would think the signs and opportunity, if not the motivation, might have pointed Texas in a very different direction as far as trade activity was concerned. A direction, ultimately, that probably would have materially changed the top half of my midseason Top 72, if not the top 10.

It’s unlikely you will ever convince me that Jack Flaherty or Yusei Kikuchi or Zach Eflin fetched more than postseason beast Nathan Eovaldi would have, or that any of the stack of relievers traded, outside of Tanner Scott, were higher on teams’ boards than Kirby Yates or David Robertson would have been. And they’re not the only Rangers players who might have conceivably been made available.

That’s not to say I would have acted any differently from how Young did in that moment in time. Right or wrong, I was in go-for-it mode myself. I was seduced by the White Sox wins, the return of Josh Jung and Tyler Mahle, the virtual certainty (right??) that someone outside of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien and Josh Smith would rediscover his 2023 form any day now, the promise of Jacob deGrom.

The reliability of Bruce Bochy.

But I did have a much different feeling a week earlier and, now, a week later. The trade deadline was just very poorly timed.

 

[saddles]

Unlike Jamey Newberg, I thought the Rangers should be sellers at the deadline a few weeks before the deadline. I understand the way the timing worked out made it difficult for CY, but sometimes those in charge have to make those kind of tough decisions.

This team has some serious flaws, and those need to be corrected before we can realistically expect to compete for a WS appearance again.

Last year was a fluke in that we should have never been in the postseason. The postseason itself was neither a fluke nor was luck involved. That was a team putting in their beat efforts at the right time. Being in the postseason was a fluke though.

It is time to build a team that does not have to depend on luck or on flukes to get to the postseason. Let's build another team that kicks the door down to enter the postseason, a 100-win team.

 

[saddles]

Baseball America has our farm system ranked at #24. At least that is better than MLB. Who has us ranked at #29.

 

[fanman8825]

Unlike Jamey Newberg, I thought the Rangers should be sellers at the deadline a few weeks before the deadline. I understand the way the timing worked out made it difficult for CY, but sometimes those in charge have to make those kind of tough decisions.

This team has some serious flaws, and those need to be corrected before we can realistically expect to compete for a WS appearance again.

Last year was a fluke in that we should have never been in the postseason. The postseason itself was neither a fluke nor was luck involved. That was a team putting in their beat efforts at the right time. Being in the postseason was a fluke though.

It is time to build a team that does not have to depend on luck or on flukes to get to the postseason. Let's build another team that kicks the door down to enter the postseason, a 100-win team.

Great post. Completely agree with you. I try to tell friends that despite the team only being 6 games out that the Rangers are nowhere near being a championship team.
So much can change from a season ago.
All we can do is trust that CY will make the moves to put us in a position to be a legit contender in 2025.
I would hope some of those moves are giving these younger guys an opportunity to compete.

 

[saddles]

The game tonight has already been rained out.

Doubleheader tonorrow.

 

[Kelleyman]

The Rangers have struggled so much on the road that is it hard to believe they can avoid a sweep. Stranger things have happened though.

The Rangers will go with Bradford, Eovaldi and Heaney in this series.

The Rangers begin the series down 5.5 games to both the Astros and the Mariners. The Rangers currently have the 8th worst record in MLB.

I am beginning to wonder if this division will be won by a team with a losing record. There should be a rule that says no divisuon winner can go to the postseason if they don't have a winning record. That spot should go to an extra wildcard team.

Division champs but no playoffs
Good thought

 

[Kelleyman]

Unlike Jamey Newberg, I thought the Rangers should be sellers at the deadline a few weeks before the deadline. I understand the way the timing worked out made it difficult for CY, but sometimes those in charge have to make those kind of tough decisions.

This team has some serious flaws, and those need to be corrected before we can realistically expect to compete for a WS appearance again.

Last year was a fluke in that we should have never been in the postseason. The postseason itself was neither a fluke nor was luck involved. That was a team putting in their beat efforts at the right time. Being in the postseason was a fluke though.

It is time to build a team that does not have to depend on luck or on flukes to get to the postseason. Let's build another team that kicks the door down to enter the postseason, a 100-win team.

So I think it would be a fluke if we were not in the postseason

If we had a better reliever pick up or one the previous offseason.
Then we could have easily won more games

There is a bit of baseball magic that went our way for sure but to me the same thing happened to the Cards in 2011. They should not have made the playoffs

Re the sell off Hindsight is always 20/20 but even still I did not want to e compared to the Marlins even remotely

Still the haters always going to say our WS is a fluke.
Let em talk. I hope we get it again just not in another 50 years asi won’t last that long lol

 

[Kelleyman]

The game tonight has already been rained out.

Doubleheader tonorrow.

I guess we get an extra player. Wonder who it is

 

[saddles]

Jon Heyman mentioned yesterday that the Rangers checked in on a possible trade for Blake Snell at the deadline.

 

[saddles]

So I think it would be a fluke if we were not in the postseason

If we had a better reliever pick up or one the previous offseason.
Then we could have easily won more games

There is a bit of baseball magic that went our way for sure but to me the same thing happened to the Cards in 2011. They should not have made the playoffs

Re the sell off Hindsight is always 20/20 but even still I did not want to e compared to the Marlins even remotely

Still the haters always going to say our WS is a fluke.
Let em talk. I hope we get it again just not in another 50 years asi won’t last that long lol

Flukes happen.

Yes, if last year's team had been better prepared in the bullpen, it certainly would not have been a fluke to make the postseason last year. Or at least it wouldn't have seemed so. If Garcia, Heim and others have more bad seasons, like this one, then it is going to make their previous prediction seem like a fluke.

The thought that we should have sold is not hindsight if it was felt previously. I am not sure how prevalent the feeling was among Rangers fans before the deadline, but it seemed most of us on here felt that way.

 

[saddles]

I guess we get an extra player. Wonder who it is

Anderson or Robert, probably.

 

[Duane1952]

Anderson or Robert, probably.

Or Pennington.

 

[saddles]

Or Pennington.

I believe he worked 2 innings last night, so that might preclude him.

 

[saddles]

I wonder if the Rangers might consider Robby Ahlstrom for the pen. In 47 innings this year he has a 1.72 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He has 60 strike outs and 23 walks. He has pitched mostly at Frisco, but has been pitching for Round Rick this month.

He isn't on anybody prospect list or radar, but he has had a good minor league career. He has improved each year as he has made his way up the ladder. He came over in the Jose Trevino trade.

 

[saddles]

I wonder if the Rangers might consider Robby Ahlstrom for the pen. In 47 innings this year he has a 1.72 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He has 60 strike outs and 23 walks. He has pitched mostly at Frisco, but has been pitching for Round Rick this month.

He isn't on anybody prospect list or radar, but he has had a good minor league career. He has improved each year as he has made his way up the ladder. He came over in the Jose Trevino trade.

From Tepid:

Robby Ahlstrom pitching in the big leagues at some point wouldn’t surprise me. He’s a lefty with some deception and a good CB.

 

[saddles]

From The Prospect Times:

Over his 3 starts in Double-A, Kumar Rocker has pitched a total of 11 scoreless innings.

He's only given up 5 hits, 1 walk and struck out 16.

 

[saddles]

A comment from Tepid about Rocker.

"I don’t really know what to say. He threw 51 pitches. 41 of them were strikes. He’s absolutely dominating right now."

 

[Senator_fan]

A comment from Tepid about Rocker.

"I don’t really know what to say. He threw 51 pitches. 41 of them were strikes. He’s absolutely dominating right now."

He’s a beast.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

A comment from Tepid about Rocker.

"I don’t really know what to say. He threw 51 pitches. 41 of them were strikes. He’s absolutely dominating right now."

Watch him be a fast riser and make it to the Majors (for more than a cup of coffee) before Leiter.