Series Thread: Rnagers Go To Houston For 4 With The Astros May 9-12

[PhantomWarrior]

I think Elvis opts out this off-season

Will be a tough decision for him. If he continues as is his stock is high. But finding the right money match for someone even of his caliber at age 30 going on 31 will be interesting.

In the post PEDs MLB GMs should be catching on that giving out 5+ year over $130M contracts for 30 somethings are not even mid term investments.

 

[saddles]

I don’t know, I’m actually starting to question the front office. It just seems like they haven’t been good the last 5 years or so. I don’t seem to have a clear vision of what the long term plan actually is. When are we going to spend money again? The owners hardly invested in the team this year and it shows.

What sticks out to me are some bad trades, both in receiving the major league player and in sending the major league player away for prospects.

Maybe it’s just timing, but the Astros have definitely been doing better the last few years. The only trade we did that really excited me was Cliff Lee. The Astros have pulled off two trades like that when they got verlander and Cole.

It makes our dempster, Garza, lucroy / Jeffress trades look really bad. There’s one that makes us look bad on a yearly basis, the Christian Guzman for tanner roark trade. I’d rather have him in our rotation right now. Kyle Hendricks too.

I know we’ve had some bad luck with injuries, but we really havent made any shrewd moves to offset the bad ones. If someone could weigh in and let me know what the long term plan is, I’d appreciate it.

We will find out for sure at the deadline, but it really seems like some moves and decisions scream out "rebuilding," while others scream out "we need to try and be a .500 team" even if that means not looking at a prospect. If they are really rebuilding they will find a way to trade Minor, Choo, and Pence at the deadline. That means, trade all of them.

 

[Nightcrawler]

We will find out for sure at the deadline, but it really seems like some moves and decisions scream out "rebuilding," while others scream out "we need to try and be a .500 team" even if that means not looking at a prospect. If they are really rebuilding they will find a way to trade Minor, Choo, and Pence at the deadline. That means, trade all of them.

As we saw with both hamels and Darvish, it’s one thing to actually trade them, but it’s another to actually get value.

The prospects attained from the hamels deal are pretty much a wash. With the epic struggles of both Mazara and Odor, Calhoun might still be of some use to us. Alexy still needs to pan out.

Hamels trade was a dud. Jury is still out on Darvish trade. Neither one excited me all that much tho.

 

[Bmurph]

If the season ended today we would draft 8th again next year like we will next month.

We should only move up in the 2020 draft moving forward. Pitching aside from Minor will continue to regress at a rapid pace the rest of this season. They should have never had to take on the workload they will end up with this year.

 

[Kelleyman]

We should only move up in the 2020 draft moving forward. Pitching aside from Minor will continue to regress at a rapid pace the rest of this season. They should have never had to take on the workload they will end up with this year.

Without pitching beyond our 2 starters that can sustain. It looks like we are in sell mode but beyond Pence, Minor and Kelley I am not seeing attractive pieces.

 

[Kelleyman]

Kind of confused re midseason callups. Hearn comes up early for a start and looks totally mentally unprepared but is not paired with Mathis who I thought was brought in for this exact reason. To nurture the young guys and to equip IKF.

Now uncertain exact status of young arms who were projected to make the jump easing the load on our TJS projects

 

[jta4437]

As we saw with both hamels and Darvish, it’s one thing to actually trade them, but it’s another to actually get value.

The prospects attained from the hamels deal are pretty much a wash. With the epic struggles of both Mazara and Odor, Calhoun might still be of some use to us. Alexy still needs to pan out.

Hamels trade was a dud. Jury is still out on Darvish trade. Neither one excited me all that much tho.

Once again, you weren't ever going to get much for Hamels, he wasn't pitching very well, older, had problems with some injuries and also had the hige salary, if you were expecting a lot, then I don't know what to tell you

Darvish also with his injury history and effectiveness at the time also wasn't going to get as much as we thought he was worth... was it underwhelming, yes.... but you blow it out of proportion

 

[jta4437]

I don’t know, I’m actually starting to question the front office. It just seems like they haven’t been good the last 5 years or so. I don’t seem to have a clear vision of what the long term plan actually is. When are we going to spend money again? The owners hardly invested in the team this year and it shows.

What sticks out to me are some bad trades, both in receiving the major league player and in sending the major league player away for prospects.

Maybe it’s just timing, but the Astros have definitely been doing better the last few years. The only trade we did that really excited me was Cliff Lee. The Astros have pulled off two trades like that when they got verlander and Cole.

It makes our dempster, Garza, lucroy / Jeffress trades look really bad. There’s one that makes us look bad on a yearly basis, the Christian Guzman for tanner roark trade. I’d rather have him in our rotation right now. Kyle Hendricks too.

I know we’ve had some bad luck with injuries, but we really havent made any shrewd moves to offset the bad ones. If someone could weigh in and let me know what the long term plan is, I’d appreciate it.

Do you want them to spend money or develop young talent? spending money to make a push when they shouldn't got them your 2nd favorite player, Choo... the repercussions we feel on the roster today with him effectively blocking Calhoun the last couple years

 

[saddles]

Kind of confused re midseason callups. Hearn comes up early for a start and looks totally mentally unprepared but is not paired with Mathis who I thought was brought in for this exact reason. To nurture the young guys and to equip IKF.

Now uncertain exact status of young arms who were projected to make the jump easing the load on our TJS projects

I think you have had a misconception of why Mathis was brought in and about how much our young pitchers would pitch this season.

 

[saddles]

Without pitching beyond our 2 starters that can sustain. It looks like we are in sell mode but beyond Pence, Minor and Kelley I am not seeing attractive pieces.

Choo would be attractive if we pick up close to half of his salary. We certainly could afford to do that. We aren't spending anywhere else.

 

[saddles]

Rangers hitters on the farm hit a bit today

It’s a rebuilding year, so we should pay more attention to the farm than the major league team anyway, right?


Getting the pitchers out of the way first, John King made his high-A debut today and did well. 6 IP, 2 walks, 1 K, 1 run allowed, 54 strikes out of 81 pitches. Obviously, even though he’s a ground ball guy, you’d like more Ks, but hey, 1 run in 6 innings is 1 run in 6 innings. Demarcus Evans struck out 2 in 2 IP in relief of King, walking 2 unintentionally and 1 intentionally but allowing no runs, lowering his ERA to 1.15. I think we will see Evans in Frisco at some point this year, but his control hasn’t been as sharp as it was last year, and the team will likely want to see some improvement there before moving him to AA.


Anyway, the bats. That’s where there’s more fun lines today. Down East played two today, and combined, Leody Taveras went 3 for 8 with a homer, bringing his OPS up to 812 for the season, which I will take from a 20 year old plus defensive CF in high-A. Anderson Tejeda went 3 for 7 with and HBP and a home run, and despite a bad recent slump, has a 789 OPS. Sam Huff went 2 for 6 and has a 946 OPS since moving to the Carolina League.


Hickory got blown out, but Sherten Apostel, who has scuffled in his full season debut, picked up a double. Jonathan Ornelas played both outfield and shortstop today and homered in 5 plate appearances — he is now sporting an 881 OPS.


Frisco shortstop Michael Deleon has 3 hits today and is now slashing .299/.357/.359. He’s a quality defensive shortstop, and while it seems like he’s been around forever, he’s still just 22.

And for Nashville, Zach Granite, Delino DeShields, Willie Calhoun and Carlos Tocci all had two hit days. Calhoun is now slashing .294/.408/.550. His time is coming, soon

 

[Kelleyman]

I think you have had a misconception of why Mathis was brought in and about how much our young pitchers would pitch this season.

Perhaps..then why was he brought in? It was not for his offense.

It was my perception that between Hearn, Burke, Palumbo and Hernandez they all were earmarked to come up after the break if all went well...right?

 

[saddles]

Perhaps..then why was he brought in? It was not for his offense.

It was my perception that between Hearn, Burke, Palumbo and Hernandez they all were earmarked to come up after the break if all went well...right?

I think he was brought in primarily to help IKF and because he was very cheap.

The AAA guys had a chance to come up this year, but not necessarily after the trade deadline. I know you said break, but I am assuming you meant after the trade deadline. I think it all depended on their progress this year. When Mendez went down that accelerated Hearn temporarily. I don't think they were earmarked for any particular time because no one knows about injuries and individual progress.

I think had they decided before the season started to bring up 3 guys after the deadline that they would have signed more tradable starting pitchers in the offseason.

I remember trying to tell you last year that your timeframes for when our young pitching would arrive for good, was a bit optimistic.

I think your optimistic timeframes led you to believe Mathis was brought in to work with our young starters.

When good starting pitchers arrive they won"t need a .200 hitting catcher just for his leadership abilities.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Jerad Eickhoff has an ERA of 1.50 and a WHIP of 0.967 so far this year with Philly. 31 K in 30 IP.

That really hurts.

 

[scotsman1948]

Perhaps..then why was he brought in? It was not for his offense.

It was my perception that between Hearn, Burke, Palumbo and Hernandez they all were earmarked to come up after the break if all went well...right?

Only by fans, we don't know what the actual JD plan is/was. If you listen they didn't plan on rushing any of them.

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[saddles]

 

[Nightcrawler]

We are playing the royals a lot coming up.

Odor will hit a home run and get a single off some scrub royals pitcher who should be at double AA, everyone will celebrate, and odors “clock” will be reset for a few more months.

Round and round we go.

 

[jta4437]

Where do baseball's elite starting pitchers come from?

Interesting piece on how team's starting pitchers have been acquired