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

[saddles]

sorry what was i thinking

I am not sure, but several of those guys aren't eligible for Rule 5 until a year or two from now.

 

[saddles]

Pitching Prospects Who Could Be Added to Protect From Rule 5 This Offseason

Teodo
Santos
Garcia
Acker
Stephan
Magdaleno

The first two will definitely be added. I am not sure how they feel about Garcia and Acker, but I would protect them. Stephan was very disappointing this year and is too far away from being ready to be protected.

Magdaleno is an interesting case. If there is room I might protect him as well. He is a relief pitcher who really came into his own this year.

 

[saddles]

Position Player Prospects Who Could Be Added to Protect From Rule 5 This Offseason

Blaine Crim
Abimelec Ortiz

I am not sure the Rangers will protect either of them. I would certainly protect Crim. Ortiz would probably slide through the draft, but there is a slight risk he could be taken.

Odds are, no team would take Ortiz at this point. It took him at least 3 months to get acclimated to AA. He would do very poorly in the big leagues next year. I think it is harder to stash away a position player on your 26 man roster all year than it is a pitcher.

 

[saddles]

If I had to guess, I would say the Rangera protect Teodo, Santos, one of the other pitchers and Crim.

I would protect all 5 pitchers besides Stephan, and I would also protect Crim.

 

[DT LUNA]

If I had to guess, I would say the Rangera protect Teodo, Santos, one of the other pitchers and Crim.

I would protect all 5 pitchers besides Stephan, and I would also protect Crim.

It is apparent we should protect Crim. He needs to be brought up now to see how he handles pitching. He can be gone in a flash if he goes unprotected.

 

[saddles]

From Baseball America:

Prospect archetypes we love:

1. The tooled-up mega athlete with a massive ceiling.

2. The grinder-type: the kid who is constantly underrated, working hard and mostly under-the-radar.

No one fits the second archetype better than Blaine Crim

 

[saddles]

From Baseball America:

Prospect archetypes we love:

1. The tooled-up mega athlete with a massive ceiling.

2. The grinder-type: the kid who is constantly underrated, working hard and mostly under-the-radar.

No one fits the second archetype better than Blaine Crim

From the article:

No one fits this archetype better than Blaine Crim, a now-27-year-old first baseman for the Rangers. Crim was drafted in the 19th round (565th overall) in 2019 and signed for $5,000 as a 5-foot-10 righty-righty first baseman out of Mississippi College. He was a very good hitter in college, playing four seasons of college ball:

• 2016: .300/.358/.424 with three HR
• 2017: .335/.393/.540 with eight HR
• 2018: .384/.435/.665 with 13 HR
• 2019: .373/.423/.689 with 11 HR

Good numbers, but not the kind of numbers you need to overcome being a short first base-only prospect, hence the 19th round pick and small bonus. Crim is one of the guys that may have not been able to continue chasing his dream if they didn’t make progress towards fixing minor league pay.

Fast forward to his minor league career, and we still see a guy who has hit everywhere he’s played:

• 2019 Low A: .335/.398/.528; eight HR in 236 PA
• 2021 A+: .300/.372/.559; 20 HR in 304 PA
• 2021 AA: .288/.331/.525; nine HR in 148 PA; 124 wRC+
• 2022 AA: .295/.363/.508; 24 HR in 531 PA; 118 wRC+
• 2023 AAA: .289/.385/.506; 22 HR in 582 PA; 114 wRC+
• 2024 AAA: .277/.372/.468; 19 HR in 554 PA; 111 wRC+

Every single season, at every single level, Blaine has produced. He hasn’t dominated, but he hits for average, hits for power and draws walks. He also doesn’t strike out a whole bunch. Let’s see if the Statcast data lines up with this profile:

We see a remarkably consistent batter year-to-year, with a robust sample pointing to excellent discipline, average contact skills and 60-grade raw power with the ability to get to optimized launch angles. If I were translating the raw Statcast metrics into a batting line, it would probably look quite a bit like his numbers across his career.

Blaine has done everything he can to show he’s ready for the next challenge. If anyone in the Rangers organization is reading this, this is my pitch to you to give Blaine a shot: The dude has been grinding and producing, chasing that elusive dream. An end-of-year promotion would do wonders for him; he’s more than earned it.

 

[saddles]

If you told me I had to choose either Crim or Foscue to play as our starting 1B next season, I would choose Crim. I think we have room for both between 1B and DH.

 

[Kelleyman]

I am not trying to be hard to get along with but I am not seeing Garcia as a liability as our RFer. To decide to use him just as our DH makes our team worse unless his offensive production picks up as a DH and we have a valid replacement for RF.

Of course yuu aren’t. I am in mine with most your posts. Just think Adolis is slow and is not the player he used to be unless he played injured.
Overbulked? Don’t know. They kind of caved to his contract demands

 

[Kelleyman]

Position Player Prospects Who Could Be Added to Protect From Rule 5 This Offseason

Blaine Crim
Abimelec Ortiz

I am not sure the Rangers will protect either of them. I would certainly protect Crim. Ortiz would probably slide through the draft, but there is a slight risk he could be taken.

Odds are, no team would take Ortiz at this point. It took him at least 3 months to get acclimated to AA. He would do very poorly in the big leagues next year. I think it is harder to stash away a position player on your 26 man roster all year than it is a pitcher.

If they won’t add Crim now then why protect him.

AAa player of the year can’t see they might of day

 

[jaar01]

I am not sure if CY has given up on Adolis or not. I doubt it, but he may have seen enough this year to convince him.

Every decision like this has more than one facet. The decision on Adolis affects the lineup, the makeup of the roster, the defense in the OF, the budget, and the replacement for him.

His contract is a significant one, but not one that is impossible to trade. The budget would be helped by replacing him with a younger guy making the minimum.

His offense is something to consider, of course. They could upgrade the offense if they hit in the right guy. Duran is a possibility.

An outfield of Smith, Langford and Carter is fine by me. Duran can back those guys up. If they go this route, I would give bith Duran and Smith some reps in CF in Spring Training to have more versatility.

They could always spend on a free agent for an OF position. I mentioned Santander a few weeks ago. If they do that then they would most likely need to save by moving on from Adolis and probably Lowe as well. They could move on from both of those two even without a free agent hitter being signed. Lowe and Garcia being gone would free up money for the bullpen or other areas.

We have guys in the minors who have put in the time and should be given an opportunity. Huff, Crim and Foscue need to have a fairly big role here next season. Crim, Foscue, and Duran can have 1B and DH covered.

I know at least a couple of us feel that we are set with starting pitching for 2025, but CY probably will not feel that way. I think we are better off spending elsewhere, but I imagine we will spend fairly big on a starter. One way we may not have to do so is if Roki Sasaki gets posted and CY talks him into coming here. He would be much cheaper in 2025 than an American free agent starting pitcher.

Pretty safe bet that Sasaki is going to be a Dodger. They will overpay him by deferring most of his salary...just like Ohtani, Yamamoto, Betts, and Freeman.

It's a loophole that shouldn't be allowed...but it is.

 

[saddles]

The Rangers scout that found Sebastian Walcott found him when Walcott was 10 years old.

 

[saddles]

Pretty safe bet that Sasaki is going to be a Dodger. They will overpay him by deferring most of his salary...just like Ohtani, Yamamoto, Betts, and Freeman.

It's a loophole that shouldn't be allowed...but it is.

Not if he gets posted this year

If he waits a year then who knows. The Dodgers aren't going to sign everyone.

I don't necessarily want him if he doesn't get posted this year though. He would be extremely expensive a year from now.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I would feel a lot better about Lowe if he had the defensive capabilities and versatility of Smith.

Smith is in line with Lowe, but Lowe is much further down the line in experience. I believe Smith will continue to improve while I cannot say the same for Nathaniel. In other words, Smith has caught Lowe and his career is in the process of passing Lowe, in my estimation.

I think Smith will be a perennial top 10 finisher in batting average over the next few years and I have thought that since he was at AAA. Add his versatility and defense to that and that makes him an everyday player to me, even if he just comes close to what I expect offensively

You are right in that Smith is definitely more versatile than Lowe so having the same offensive results gives the edge to Smith. I think is still out on how well he will hit for an entire season.

 

[saddles]

You are right in that Smith is definitely more versatile than Lowe so having the same offensive results gives the edge to Smith. I think is still out on how well he will hit for an entire season.

Yeah, he still has to do it, but I believe in him, because like Crim, he has hit very well at every level. But, I also understand that different folks will view him differently.

He seems to have a very high baseball IQ. He works hard at his craft, and he really wants to improve. He makes it hard to not believe in him.

 

[Duane1952]

it would have to be someone DFA'ed because Crim isn't on the 40-man

Ok. I would take Owen White off the 40 man

 

[Kelleyman]

Yeah, he still has to do it, but I believe in him, because like Crim, he has hit very well at every level. But, I also understand that different folks will view him differently.

He seems to have a very high baseball IQ. He works hard at his craft, and he really wants to improve. He makes it hard to not believe in him.

I agree with everything re Smith but I wonder if the grind is getting to him
If he played regularly then he may be more value as a SUIF.
Think I want a stronger arm in the OF and think Wyatt is better suited for LF

 

[saddles]

I agree with everything re Smith but I wonder if the grind is getting to him
If he played regularly then he may be more value as a SUIF.
Think I want a stronger arm in the OF and think Wyatt is better suited for LF

Or, he may be getting used to the grind since the big league season is longer than his previous seasons. Or, he may have just gone through a slump at that particular time. There are a lot of guesses that could be made and only one full big league season to go on. Everyone though Jonah had worn down and would be okay with a little more rest, and then the last 12 months happened.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I agree with everything re Smith but I wonder if the grind is getting to him
If he played regularly then he may be more value as a SUIF.
Think I want a stronger arm in the OF and think Wyatt is better suited for LF

I definitely want Wyatt playing in the OF and not DHing so I agree with you on that point for sure.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Yeah, he still has to do it, but I believe in him, because like Crim, he has hit very well at every level. But, I also understand that different folks will view him differently.

He seems to have a very high baseball IQ. He works hard at his craft, and he really wants to improve. He makes it hard to not believe in him.

He definitely does have a high baseball IQ.