Texas Rangers 2022 - 2023 Offseason Thread

[Kelleyman]

MLBTR assessment

 

[saddles]

Lol baited question. You think they messed up on Burke. Ok.

Do you want a closer who can ground balls but never can strike anyone out?

I was just trying to show why I don't agree with your overall idea of determining who should relieve and who should start.

Your closer question is a good one, but our previous conversation never centered around closers. That is a different breed than everyone else in the pen, including Burke's role last year.

 

[saddles]

I wonder if the Rangers are in the same boat.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

I wonder if the Rangers are in the same boat.

JD loves to trade

 

[saddles]

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Excerpt from this article: Sunday Notes: James Click Won’t Care About Houston’s Infield Positioning

The article also mentions the end of the shift and what some teams will do about it. Another athletic IFer with good range (regressing to the old days somewhat) might be a good idea for the team like Trea Turner...

Scott Boras opined on several subjects when he addressed the media in Las Vegas, one of which raised my eyebrows. Referring to “the analytic bridge,” he said that “the creators of the analytic information are not effectively implementing and executing the information to the player.” Not entirely clear on the point he was trying to make — the Boras Corporation utilizes a ton of data — I later approached the powerful and verbose agent to see if he could clarify his comments.

“When you’re a great baseball player and are under a contract with a team, you have to execute that contract,” Boras told me. “So, all of a sudden the team comes to you and says, ‘These are our standards.’ The player says, ‘I get people out [and] this is how I do it.’ There is nothing negative about [the analytic information], but how it is presented, and the perception of the player to the information given, is hugely important. And that is misunderstood. The player thinks he has to forego what he does, and do something they want him to do. We’re seeing, ‘I’ve got to throw up in the zone, yet I’m a guy with a great two-seamer.’ I see it all the time. We’ve seen failure after failure, because of the fact that the strength of the player is eroded by the conceptual thought that analytics will make it better.”

Those comments raised my eyebrows, as well. Teams with a strong understanding of how to optimize pitchers’ arsenals generally aren’t going to push guys in the wrong direction. After pointing this out, I asked Boras if what’s he’s seeing and hearing is primarily an organization-to-organization issue, as opposed an all-encompassing one.

“People show value for what they’re hired for,” replied Boras. “If I’m the analytical staff, I want to show value, so I bring this intensity to my information. Then I blame the player for not following. And then there’s an organizational whisperer, if you will, that says ‘He’s not doing what we tell him to do; he could be so much better, but he’s not.’ The reality of it is, that information is actually deafening to the player rather than aiding him.

“Look, the game is not doing anything wrong. We just need better communicators, because [players] want to do what their teams want them to do. There’s that equilibrium where you need veteran coaches — people with great experience in dealing with, and communicating with players — to manage that analytic process.”

What Boras said makes sense. At the same time, I’m still unclear on exactly what point he was initially trying to make.

 

[Kelleyman]

Brock Burke​

1.97 ERA, 82 1/3 IP, 90 Ks, 24 BBs, 2.1 bWAR

It was an amazing comeback year for Burke, who hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2019 after a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery and cost him the entirety of the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The year-end numbers you see up there don’t portray how dominant he was in the first half: On July 31, Burke’s ERA was a minuscule 1.17, and he had held hitters to a .202 batting average (that number climbed to .211 by season’s end). He wasn’t bad in the season’s final two-plus months (3.45 ERA) but he did come back to earth a bit. Regardless, he was a bright spot in the bullpen, and his 2.1 bWAR was good for eighth-best on the team. It will be interesting to see if the team entertains a move back to starting pitching in 2023.

Via The Athletic

 

[Kelleyman]

Excerpt from this article: Sunday Notes: James Click Won’t Care About Houston’s Infield Positioning

The article also mentions the end of the shift and what some teams will do about it. Another athletic IFer with good range (regressing to the old days somewhat) might be a good idea for the team like Trea Turner...

Scott Boras opined on several subjects when he addressed the media in Las Vegas, one of which raised my eyebrows. Referring to “the analytic bridge,” he said that “the creators of the analytic information are not effectively implementing and executing the information to the player.” Not entirely clear on the point he was trying to make — the Boras Corporation utilizes a ton of data — I later approached the powerful and verbose agent to see if he could clarify his comments.

“When you’re a great baseball player and are under a contract with a team, you have to execute that contract,” Boras told me. “So, all of a sudden the team comes to you and says, ‘These are our standards.’ The player says, ‘I get people out [and] this is how I do it.’ There is nothing negative about [the analytic information], but how it is presented, and the perception of the player to the information given, is hugely important. And that is misunderstood. The player thinks he has to forego what he does, and do something they want him to do. We’re seeing, ‘I’ve got to throw up in the zone, yet I’m a guy with a great two-seamer.’ I see it all the time. We’ve seen failure after failure, because of the fact that the strength of the player is eroded by the conceptual thought that analytics will make it better.”

Those comments raised my eyebrows, as well. Teams with a strong understanding of how to optimize pitchers’ arsenals generally aren’t going to push guys in the wrong direction. After pointing this out, I asked Boras if what’s he’s seeing and hearing is primarily an organization-to-organization issue, as opposed an all-encompassing one.

“People show value for what they’re hired for,” replied Boras. “If I’m the analytical staff, I want to show value, so I bring this intensity to my information. Then I blame the player for not following. And then there’s an organizational whisperer, if you will, that says ‘He’s not doing what we tell him to do; he could be so much better, but he’s not.’ The reality of it is, that information is actually deafening to the player rather than aiding him.

“Look, the game is not doing anything wrong. We just need better communicators, because [players] want to do what their teams want them to do. There’s that equilibrium where you need veteran coaches — people with great experience in dealing with, and communicating with players — to manage that analytic process.”

What Boras said makes sense. At the same time, I’m still unclear on exactly what point he was initially trying to make.

Really good points IMO. A pitcher wanting to throw his best pitch vs blindly gong with the analytics with a pitch he is weak at

 

[saddles]

JD loves to trade

He is free to trade for Spencer Howard again

 

[saddles]

Grades for CY thus far.

Bochy hire -- A
Odorizzy trade -- A+

Next up, is preparing for the Rule 5 draft. That grade comes tomorrow.

 

[saddles]

I wonder what the holdup is in hiring a pitching coach. Something tells me it isn't going to be Maddux since it is taking so long.

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

View attachment 314025

I think Jesse Chavez signed a MILB deal with Barves lol. Robertson has been linked to the Rangers

 

[saddles]

Is it a great sign?

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Is it a great sign?

it's an obvious sign.

 

[Kelleyman]

it's an obvious sign.

Watch expectations rise and then the market stagnates Then a feeding frenzy after Jan 1

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Watch expectations rise and then the market stagnates Then a feeding frenzy after Jan 1

possibly. there's really no way to predict what will happen and when. our guys signed early last year, and a lot of people predicted that FA's would get signed before the lockout. that's not what happened.

 

[Kelleyman]

possibly. there's really no way to predict what will happen and when. our guys signed early last year, and a lot of people predicted that FA's would get signed before the lockout. that's not what happened.

Well Rich NYM owner and Houston with tons of youth are not enough to drive up a market drastically IMO. But yeah so static a market is nothing I would bet the bank on with my prediction

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]