Series Thread: Rangers Travel to Seattle For Four Games September 12-15

[saddles]

I follow several national baseball media types on Twitter. I don't believe I saw a single Tweet about Rocker's debut. There may have been one here and there that I missed, but it certainly wasn't a big deal nationally. I remember after Paul Skenes debut, there were several tweets about him. Rocker put up a better line in the same number of innings than Skenes did.

That's okay, though. Keep on ignoring us, national media. I like it better that way, anyway.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I follow several national baseball media types on Twitter. I don't believe I saw a single Tweet about Rocker's debut. There may have been one here and there that I missed, but it certainly wasn't a big deal nationally. I remember after Paul Skenes debut, there were several tweets about him. Rocker put up a better line in the same number of innings than Skenes did.

That's okay, though. Keep on ignoring us, national media. I like it better that way, anyway.

Late night game on a Thursday. Rocker didn’t take the mound until about 10 pm on the east coast. Old farts probably just went to bed or were watching the Dodgers and Ohtani for the 50th time.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I follow several national baseball media types on Twitter. I don't believe I saw a single Tweet about Rocker's debut. There may have been one here and there that I missed, but it certainly wasn't a big deal nationally. I remember after Paul Skenes debut, there were several tweets about him. Rocker put up a better line in the same number of innings than Skenes did.

That's okay, though. Keep on ignoring us, national media. I like it better that way, anyway.

I thought I saw MLB make a big deal about it after I got home. But I was up at the ER until midnight as our grandson ended up with 6 stitches under his chin. So I didn't get to see the debut.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

From Jack Baer of Yahoo Sports

Kumar Rocker's path from being college baseball's most electric freshman to his MLB debut ended up being more eventful
Rocker's most impressive pitch was easily his slider, which MLB Pipeline rates as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. Per Baseball Savant, Rocker threw 33 sliders out of his 74 pitches and generated 13 whiffs on 21 swings.


That's tied for the eighth-most swing-and-misses on a slider in a game this season, which, again, Rocker did in only four innings. No player had generated 10 slider whiffs in fewer than 78 pitches all season.

 

[saddles]

Evan Grant says CY has flown to Japan to scout Roki Sasaki.

 

[saddles]

From Scott Lucas:

One potential concern is how Rocker's addition affects the 40-man roster. He'll occupy a spot over the winter, of course, leaving one less space for offseason maneuvering. Sometimes that could cause trouble, but in this case I don't see it. Texas has 45 players on the 40-man roster including those on the 60-day IL, but no fewer than nine will become free agents at season's end. The Rangers will be able to reinstate the injured without breaking a sweat. Also, the number of 40 additions this fall could be as few as two. The Rangers have only one Rule 5-eligible pick from the truncated 2020 draft (pitcher Dylan MacLean, who's hurt) and four from 2021, none of whom I expect to be protected. The "roster crunch" has the texture of oatmeal. Even with free agent additions, Texas should be able to find room without too much difficulty.

 

[saddles]

From Texas Rangers PR:

The Texas Rangers today announced the organization’s minor league award winners for August:

Player of the Month – C Julian Brock
Starting Pitcher of the Month – RHP Kumar Rocker
Reliever of the Month – RHP Ryan Lobus
Defender of the Month – OF Aaron Zavala

 

[saddles]

CY gets a contract extension. It is a multi-year extension and also includes him being promoted to the position of Rangers President of Baseball Operations

 

[Duane1952]

I’m seeing reports that the Rangers have signed CY to a multi year extension. Haven’t seen any numbers yet.

 

[saddles]

Kohl Drake starts tonight for Frisco on only 4 days rest. Scott Lucas seems to think that means a short outing for him.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

CY gets a contract extension. It is a multi-year extension and also includes him being promoted to the position of Rangers President of Baseball Operations

I'm happy to see this. Overall he has done a pretty good job as GM. Between being able to land big fish (Seager, Semien, Eovaldi, Yates, Robertson), and overseeing the drafting of Leiter and Rocker, he has been much better than JD in many respects.
He does have areas he needs to improve (prioritizing the bullpen mainly), but we don't win a WS without him.
JD never valued starting pitching like CY has shown to (even if he has maybe gone overboard on SPs, lol).
That said, even the signings of Yates and Robertson last year showed growth as far as recognizing the importance of the pen.

 

[saddles]

From Heyman, but Montgomery is a Boras client so take it with a grain of salt.

Red Sox bid 4 years for Montgomery but he was apparently waiting on Texas (or another)

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Any word on if Jack Leiter will be getting any more starts?

 

[Senator_fan]

CY gets a contract extension. It is a multi-year extension and also includes him being promoted to the position of Rangers President of Baseball Operations

Not surprised. Overall he’s done a pretty good job. Hired two studs to work the 8th and 9th this year so he learned from last year. Now he has to continue that and get the 5,6,7 inning relief settled once and for all for next season. The starting pitching looks strong for next year too.
The offense has to take some responsibility. CY can’t do it all by himself.

 

[Duane1952]

I'm happy to see this. Overall he has done a pretty good job as GM. Between being able to land big fish (Seager, Semien, Eovaldi, Yates, Robertson), and overseeing the drafting of Leiter and Rocker, he has been much better than JD in many respects.
He does have areas he needs to improve (prioritizing the bullpen mainly), but we don't win a WS without him.
JD never valued starting pitching like CY has shown to (even if he has maybe gone overboard on SPs, lol).
That said, even the signings of Yates and Robertson last year showed growth as far as recognizing the importance of the pen.

I’m still not sold on him. Trading for Max, Grossman and Chaffin were not good trades. He did nothing in the off season and at trade deadline to help the offense. Trading Ragans was not a good move either. Chapman was terrible in the playoffs. He’s the reason were the team is at in the standings. He kept saying they’re going to turn it around, when everyone else knew they weren’t.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I’m still not sold on him. Trading for Max, Grossman and Chaffin were not good trades. He did nothing in the off season and at trade deadline to help the offense. Trading Ragans was not a good move either. Chapman was terrible in the playoffs. He’s the reason were the team is at in the standings. He kept saying they’re going to turn it around, when everyone else knew they weren’t.

Losing Ragans and picking up Grossman were really bad decisions.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

I’m still not sold on him. Trading for Max, Grossman and Chaffin were not good trades. He did nothing in the off season and at trade deadline to help the offense. Trading Ragans was not a good move either. Chapman was terrible in the playoffs. He’s the reason were the team is at in the standings. He kept saying they’re going to turn it around, when everyone else knew they weren’t.

No doubt some of the moves he's hade have been head scratchers.
That said, do you honestly believe guys like Seager, Semien and Eovaldi come to Texas if JD had still been solo calling the shots?
CY was able to sell those guys on the vision the team had for the future. The end results being a WS win. At the end of the day, that's the end goal.
Now, the offense underperforming this year has been a huge disappointment, but outside of essentially swapping Garver for Langford, the offensive lineup going into the season (before injuries) was essentially the same as the one that had just won a title.
Guess what I'm saying is this: Yes, he's got some real flaws - getting too attached to scrub vets like Grossman/Jankowski and not putting enough resources into the bullpen - but his strengths - having the ability to land big-time free agents and recognizing the value of great starting pitching (unlike JD) - are just as big.
He already showed some improvement of his weaknesses re: bullpen last year by going out and signing Yates and Robertson.

 

[saddles]

No doubt some of the moves he's hade have been head scratchers.
That said, do you honestly believe guys like Seager, Semien and Eovaldi come to Texas if JD had still been solo calling the shots?
CY was able to sell those guys on the vision the team had for the future. The end results being a WS win. At the end of the day, that's the end goal.
Now, the offense underperforming this year has been a huge disappointment, but outside of essentially swapping Garver for Langford, the offensive lineup going into the season (before injuries) was essentially the same as the one that had just won a title.
Guess what I'm saying is this: Yes, he's got some real flaws - getting too attached to scrub vets like Grossman/Jankowski and not putting enough resources into the bullpen - but his strengths - having the ability to land big-time free agents and recognizing the value of great starting pitching (unlike JD) - are just as big.
He already showed some improvement of his weaknesses re: bullpen last year by going out and signing Yates and Robertson.

I see both sides In all of this. Here are some thoughts based on what you have said.

JD was still instrumental when we signed Semien and Seager.

It was time for JD to go when he was fired so I am not sure I would make a decision to keep CY just because he co.pares favorably to JD.

The team showed some offensive ineptness for large chunks of last year as well.

 

[saddles]

The way Ragans was handled, several of the trades he made, the way some of these young guys like Foscue, Duran, and Crim have been handled, and the 40-man decisions in the offseasons are all good reasons to question CY.

I am not sure that he should be shown the door just yet, but I certainly hope the extension doesn't get in the way if these problems are still problems a year from now.

 

[saddles]

Sometimes it pays to be lucky like when the Mets didn't keep Rocker and when the Tigers drafted Max Clark instead of Langford.