Rangers try to Progress to .500 ball in Cleveland.

[saddles]

It wasn't long ago there was a call from a few to send Choo packing, and eat $50 million in the process. Bench Elvis, embarrass him, do whatever is necessary, to get his head back in the game. Prince was never going to get his power back, came from a few corners. Why was DeShields even on the 25 man roster? And on and on.

Amazing what a little hot streak will do to adjust our attitudes isn't it?

I am still in favor of giving EA a loud wake up call. But I'm not necessarily on board with the "embarrassment" factor. But maybe, now the team is playing better around him, this will be all the wake-up call he needs.

I think a few of us are still on board with sending Choo packing. I have been on board with that even before his terrible start to the season. As far as DD goes it is still way too early to determine if anyone was right or wrong. A lot of bad players put together a few good weeks sometimes. It is still early, but it does appear that I was very wrong about Prince only hitting 20-23 HRs. I think I was in that corner by myself actually. I might be by myself in the corner regarding Elvis also. I still think he is going to be alright eventually.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Angels demote designated hitter C.J. Cron to Triple-A | HardballTalk

LAAAA struggles amuse me.

 

[Windingmywatch]

The media remains the biggest problem watching sports for me. Very little accountability and will only get worse. An opinion based on an opinion describes many fans today

Agree 100%. Media is in the business of getting hits to generate advertising revenue. They don't get clicks by posting ...

"It's too early to project how the season will work out. I'll be relevant in August but by then everyone will have the same viewpoints so I will be irrelevant."

In today's communication world fans are only 15 minutes behind the Heymans and Morosis in prognosticating.

 

[saddles]

Agree 100%. Media is in the business of getting hits to generate advertising revenue. They don't get clicks by posting ...

"It's too early to project how the season will work out. I'll be relevant in August but by then everyone will have the same viewpoints so I will be irrelevant."

In today's communication world fans are only 15 minutes behind the Heymans and Morosis in prognosticating.

It really isn't projecting if you wait until it works itself out is it?

 

[Windingmywatch]

It really isn't projecting if you wait until it works itself out is it?

Nope. But many here are as smart at these guys are. Doesn't take a wizard to tweet about a team that has W6 including sweeping NYY in NY ... who is having a hot May and who is projected to get 3/5 of its rotation back by midsummer ... and project they could contend for a WC spot. Half the league competes for WC spots!

Idea is to bring that team's fans to follow and retweet. Twitter is the ideal media to bring readers to where the advertising revenue is.

 

[romeo212000]

Angels demote designated hitter C.J. Cron to Triple-A | HardballTalk

LAAAA struggles amuse me.

I swear we're the only team that bastard ever hit.

 

[jta4437]

It wasn't long ago there was a call from a few to send Choo packing, and eat $50 million in the process. Bench Elvis, embarrass him, do whatever is necessary, to get his head back in the game. Prince was never going to get his power back, came from a few corners. Why was DeShields even on the 25 man roster? And on and on.

Amazing what a little hot streak will do to adjust our attitudes isn't it?

I am still in favor of giving EA a loud wake up call. But I'm not necessarily on board with the "embarrassment" factor. But maybe, now the team is playing better around him, this will be all the wake-up call he needs.

I think many would send Choo packing and eat 50 million in the process, and Andrus has yet to prove he doesn't need a kick in the rear, he had a good game sure, but he's still grossly underwhelming on offense and defense

I think Fielder has quieted some of his critics for sure as has DDJ

 

[PDay8810]

and Andrus has yet to prove he doesn't need a kick in the rear,

Big Time! I really think his biggest problem is pattering his game in the field after Beltre. That's the kick in the ass for me. Elvis defensively has been huge disappointment. Offensively not so much

 

[jta4437]

Big Time! I really think his biggest problem is pattering his game in the field after Beltre. That's the kick in the ass for me. Elvis defensively has been huge disappointment. Offensively not so much

Agreed

Not huge, but a disappoint on offense nonetheless,
but certainly this is a guy that should be hitting .270-.290 not .230

Defensively he's extremely disappointing bc if he's not going to hit much, he should at least be an asset on defense, not a detriment.... I can accept some errors on defense if he's hitting .300+ with 15 HRs at SS

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I think Fielder has quieted some of his critics for sure

There shouldn't be a damn one of them still yapping, in a perfect world.

In other news, I'm hoping that between Choo's surge, Fielder's utter domination, Beltre's veteran presence, and a continuation of Moreland hitting well, that Hamilton doesn't feel like he has to be "the guy" in this lineup. That he just needs to contribute to the lineup, and does not need to carry it.

 

[jta4437]

There shouldn't be a damn one of them still yapping, in a perfect world.

In other news, I'm hoping that between Choo's surge, Fielder's utter domination, Beltre's veteran presence, and a continuation of Moreland hitting well, that Hamilton doesn't feel like he has to be "the guy" in this lineup. That he just needs to contribute to the lineup, and does not need to carry it.

Seeing if Andrus in a low leverage position position helping,

Can Rua play a passable 2B while providing some offense will will be interesting,

Will DDJ be able to continue what he's doing; drawing walks, timely hits, making things happen, and does that keep Martin and his lack of production on the bench

Do either of our catchers finally start hitting, Chirinos has been good about busting out on occassion which keeps his counting stats solid, but his average is abysmal on the whole

 

[DT LUNA]

There shouldn't be a damn one of them still yapping, in a perfect world.

In other news, I'm hoping that between Choo's surge, Fielder's utter domination, Beltre's veteran presence, and a continuation of Moreland hitting well, that Hamilton doesn't feel like he has to be "the guy" in this lineup. That he just needs to contribute to the lineup, and does not need to carry it.

I remember hearing Beltre had a talk with Josh telling him pretty much the same thing

 

[saddles]

Seeing if Andrus in a low leverage position position helping,

Can Rua play a passable 2B while providing some offense will will be interesting,

Will DDJ be able to continue what he's doing; drawing walks, timely hits, making things happen, and does that keep Martin and his lack of production on the bench

Do either of our catchers finally start hitting, Chirinos has been good about busting out on occassion which keeps his counting stats solid, but his average is abysmal on the whole

I wonder if they will try Odor again by the time Rua is healthy enough to play.

 

[saddles]

Without getting into whether he should be traded or not has Fielder become tradeable again? If he keeps this kind of production up or something similar throughout this season will his contract be tradeable after this season?

 

[jta4437]

I wonder if they will try Odor again by the time Rua is healthy enough to play.

Honestly Odor had enough to work on before he was hitting .140, I think AAA is the place for him through the rest of the season
I like the walks, the lack of strikeouts and power in AAA
The 2 errors in 11 games is a little concerning
He's definitely a person to consider, but I'd like him to sustain it a little longer, obviously not at the level he's going since he's been down bc that would be insane, but something to show me he's turned around some of his bad habits

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Martin 8, Choo 9, Fielder DH, Beltre 5, Hamilton 7, Moreland 3, Andrus 6, Corporan 2, Field 4

DDJ with a day off. Corporan with consecutive games starting.

 

[saddles]

Per Scott Lucas,

ESPN's Keith Law ranked Gallo 8th and Mazara 12th in his updated prospect rankings, up from 11th and 31st, respectively, at the beginning of the season.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Martin 8, Choo 9, Fielder DH, Beltre 5, Hamilton 7, Moreland 3, Andrus 6, Corporan 2, Field 4

DDJ with a day off. Corporan with consecutive games starting.

Their patience should be running very thin with Martin at this point. He's had plenty of time to figure things out.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Their patience should be running very thin with Martin at this point. He's had plenty of time to figure things out.

While true, DDJ has earned a night off.

 

[saddles]

Milb.com has an article about Hickory prospect Ariel Jurado.

Texas Rangers prospect Ariel Jurado dominates again, remains unbeaten for Hickory Crawdads | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

"He's all about competing, being aggressive," said Crawdads pitching coach Oscar Marin. "It's like, 'If they beat me, they're going to beat me with my best stuff.'


"That competitive nature is one of the great things about him."

"He throws that sinker, and it can get away from him at times," said Marin. "But today, he was locked in. One of the things Ariel has a good mind-set on is getting his outs on the ground."


Jurado relies heavily on the sinker, though, he also possesses a changeup and slider. As lefty-heavy lineups have begun to adjust to the sinker, his secondary pitches have begun to make more of an impact.


"I think the other pitches are creeping in," Marin pointed out. "He's used the changeup well and has been mixing in some pitches on the back door to hitters as well."

Jurado lowered his ERA for the season to 2.60 and improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 40-to-5. The organization finds the 19-year-old to have remarkable maturity and poise despite his young age.


"He's been doing a good job of slowing everything down when he gets in a bind in the middle of an inning, taking it one pitch at a time," said Marin. "It's rare to see that."