Texas Rangers 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[Nightcrawler]

My point is, that among the top few teams it is hard to distinguish who is best by record alone. It is easy to look at the stats and think Houston is the favorite, but with our unbalanced schedules, the stats are sometimes skewed.

Then there is the part about a team going through a rough stretch, whether diue ro injuries or other factors, and then righting the ship, but doing so too late to keep their record from ever being as good as it should be, based on their talent. That is why the postseason is usually very telling. That should never lead to a team planning on catching lightning in a bottle in the postseason and therefore only building a good team instead of a great one.

One thing to keep in mind is how some pitchers simply perform much better in the regular season than the postseason and that can make a really good regular season record not be worth very much in the postseason. CJ Wilson comes to mind. I believe Kershaw, Verlander and Price have had their problems in the postseason as well. Hamels and Darvish didn't fare so well for us a little while back. In our case CJ was so valuable in getting us to the postseason and then struggled once we got there. Colby Lewis seemed to do the opposite.

Bottom line to the whole discussion is the Rangers are not ready to do anything that might hamper their future to win more games now. That includes not trading someone like Minor for good prospects if you get the chance to. They have to be willing to make a trade like that even if it means us winning a few less games in 2020. Don't be afraid at any point in the very near future, to take a step back if it helps propel you to greater things in the not so very near future.

It is a lot easier to enter a window when it is open than to force your way in, by breaking the glass, thereby ruining the window and cutting yourself in the process.

Can’t seem to buy a break lately. When we were competing it was a sellers market. Due to teams copying the Astros tanking model, the trade deadlines have always been buyers markets while we’ve been trying to rebuild. the Yankees and Twinkies should’ve wanted minor. I hope they realized that after they got dominated in the playoffs.

you gotta give up quality to get quality.

 

[Kelleyman]

My point is, that among the top few teams it is hard to distinguish who is best by record alone. It is easy to look at the stats and think Houston is the favorite, but with our unbalanced schedules, the stats are sometimes skewed.

Then there is the part about a team going through a rough stretch, whether diue ro injuries or other factors, and then righting the ship, but doing so too late to keep their record from ever being as good as it should be, based on their talent. That is why the postseason is usually very telling. That should never lead to a team planning on catching lightning in a bottle in the postseason and therefore only building a good team instead of a great one.

One thing to keep in mind is how some pitchers simply perform much better in the regular season than the postseason and that can make a really good regular season record not be worth very much in the postseason. CJ Wilson comes to mind. I believe Kershaw, Verlander and Price have had their problems in the postseason as well. Hamels and Darvish didn't fare so well for us a little while back. In our case CJ was so valuable in getting us to the postseason and then struggled once we got there. Colby Lewis seemed to do the opposite.

Bottom line to the whole discussion is the Rangers are not ready to do anything that might hamper their future to win more games now. That includes not trading someone like Minor for good prospects if you get the chance to. They have to be willing to make a trade like that even if it means us winning a few less games in 2020. Don't be afraid at any point in the very near future, to take a step back if it helps propel you to greater things in the not so very near future.

It is a lot easier to enter a window when it is open than to force your way in, by breaking the glass, thereby ruining the window and cutting yourself in the process.

Ok original post said it would be nice to make playoffs if owner opened up wallets without us unloading prospects

I also said I don think the best teams don’t always win the WS. You have to be a pretty good team to get in the playoffs but yes that does not mean they are legit WS contender.

 

[Kelleyman]

now that Verlander has a ring and he’s a surefire first ballot hall of famer, I don’t feel bad in rooting for his skills to diminish. The Astros never sniffed any championships until they acquired verlander. He’s the leader of that pitching staff. Whenever they lose him, they should take a step back.

Thankfully, the Astros haven’t had much luck growing their own pitching. They have a highly hyped kid coming out this year tho.

Age can creep up on you quickly

 

[Kelleyman]

Re trading Minor.

Do think the ASB has made it a buyers market as the Crawler states.

Not thinking JD wants to duplicate the lack of haul for Cole. But as a mere observer hard to know what is or was offered for Minor.
But yeah no player is untouchable.

 

[Kelleyman]

Lastly prospects are not always sure things. Especially true for pitching What we gave up for Hamels in the first place seemed to much to me but in retrospect most did not pan out as much as expected IMO.

 

[Kelleyman]

Ok more.... Wash won but aren’t they glad a ball hit the foul pole. And that the ump messed up balls and strikes and hard hit balls by Astros did not find holes. Tend to think destiny is a factor. Astros won their WS during hurricane disaster. Cubs got theirs finally.

Rangers though SMH. Zero baseball mercy. We had a good run and came up with zilch. Hopefully we can make another soon

 

[Kelleyman]

Pretty obvious Ranger baseball on mine and others on this board hearts daily

 

[saddles]

Lastly prospects are not always sure things. Especially true for pitching What we gave up for Hamels in the first place seemed to much to me but in retrospect most did not pan out as much as expected IMO.

What prospects will eventually become is definitely not a sure thing. Their value at a given point in time is much closer to a sure thing. They are currency. When you spend that currency you need to get their value or better. I don't think we did that when we acquired Hanels or Lucroy, not even close.

 

[saddles]

Ok more.... Wash won but aren’t they glad a ball hit the foul pole. And that the ump messed up balls and strikes and hard hit balls by Astros did not find holes. Tend to think destiny is a factor. Astros won their WS during hurricane disaster. Cubs got theirs finally.

Rangers though SMH. Zero baseball mercy. We had a good run and came up with zilch. Hopefully we can make another soon

The key is knowing when your run is over and starting the rebuild process at that point. That should have been what we did 6 offseasons ago after the 2013 season.

 

[DT LUNA]

Without Verlander and Cole the Stros would have been a different team. How much is hard to know. Money and luck plays a significant role in who wins and loses as this WS points out. Stros spent money. No luck! Nats spent much less money. Had all the luck. Never know where the wheel stops spinning. 2011 also points out the no luck thing. Cruz should have not been in RF. Bad luck for us. Lucky for SL and no money involved.

 

[saddles]

Verlander has a history of performing poorly in the WS, so any time a team is depending on him in the WS they are ripe to be beat by even a slightly lesser team. He does a great job of getting his team to that point though.

 

[DT LUNA]

Verlander has a history of performing poorly in the WS, so any time a team is depending on him in the WS they are ripe to be beat by even a slightly lesser team. He does a great job of getting his team to that point though.

Can't buy luck.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Without Verlander and Cole the Stros would have been a different team. How much is hard to know. Money and luck plays a significant role in who wins and loses as this WS points out. Stros spent money. No luck! Nats spent much less money. Had all the luck. Never know where the wheel stops spinning. 2011 also points out the no luck thing. Cruz should have not been in RF. Bad luck for us. Lucky for SL and no money involved.

that’s the other thing.

it sickens me that the Astros were able to acquire 3 future hall of fame ace type pitchers during their competitive window.

it feels like while we were competing that JD didn’t even come close. Cliff lee at the time was probably comparable to this version of Gerrit Cole, but we only had him for a few months.

I never viewed Hamels as a bad ass ace while he was with us. He was more like something in between a #1 and a #2.

did JD have an issue with being able to acquire guys of the Verlander, Cole, and Greinke caliber? Did we not have the prospect capital to get it done? Were these type of guys not available because so many teams were trying to compete during our window?

I’m just thinking about all the bad trades JD made to try and help us like Ryan dempster, Matt Garza, Lucroy, Jeffress. Houston doesn’t have any bad trades to their name.

 

[Kelleyman]

that’s the other thing.

it sickens me that the Astros were able to acquire 3 future hall of fame ace type pitchers during their competitive window.

it feels like while we were competing that JD didn’t even come close. Cliff lee at the time was probably comparable to this version of Gerrit Cole, but we only had him for a few months.

I never viewed Hamels as a bad ass ace while he was with us. He was more like something in between a #1 and a #2.

did JD have an issue with being able to acquire guys of the Verlander, Cole, and Greinke caliber? Did we not have the prospect capital to get it done? Were these type of guys not available because so many teams were trying to compete during our window?

I’m just thinking about all the bad trades JD made to try and help us like Ryan dempster, Matt Garza, Lucroy, Jeffress. Houston doesn’t have any bad trades to their name.

Let JD Martinez and Pence go. Giles trade stunk. Carlos Gomez did not work out well.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[donaldson79]

Lastly prospects are not always sure things. Especially true for pitching What we gave up for Hamels in the first place seemed to much to me but in retrospect most did not pan out as much as expected IMO.

Give me a P.....Give me an R.....Give me an O.....And a F......Now give me an A.......And give me an R

What's that spell?.........hahahaha

 

[Nightcrawler]

What prospects will eventually become is definitely not a sure thing. Their value at a given point in time is much closer to a sure thing. They are currency. When you spend that currency you need to get their value or better. I don't think we did that when we acquired Hanels or Lucroy, not even close.

all you can really do is hoard as many prospects as possible. Some will work out and others won’t.

that’s the problem league wide right now tho. It seems like way more teams are trying to hoard prospects and be the next “Astros” then are actually trying to put a good product on the field.

 

[Kelleyman]

all you can really do is hoard as many prospects as possible. Some will work out and others won’t.

that’s the problem league wide right now tho. It seems like way more teams are trying to hoard prospects and be the next “Astros” then are actually trying to put a good product on the field.

I hate that the owners are allowed to make money to lose with the revenue sharing. Messes up the fabric of the game.