Texas Rangers Spring Training 2020

[scotsman1948]

Everyone doing okay so far?

We are fine so far.

glad to hear that we're doing fine too

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Here are the future aces of the AL West

Rangers: Hans Crouse
The Rangers are excited about the starting pitching they have stockpiled in their farm system, and right-hander Hans Crouse is viewed as a potential top-of-rotation guy. A second-round Draft pick in 2017, Crouse, who was at Class A Hickory last season, throws 94-97 mph with a wipeout slider and a changeup with plus potential. His control is also getting better -- he went from 4.3 walks per outing at Hickory in 2018 to 2.0 last season. Crouse, the Rangers’ No. 7 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, has made 38 starts and four relief appearances over three seasons. He is 11-4 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP while averaging 9.3 strikeouts and 2.5 walks per nine innings during that span. The big step will be Double-A, where more polished hitters await. -- T.R. Sullivan

 

[DT LUNA]

A distant reminder of Dutch

 

[Kelleyman]

A distant reminder of Dutch

Except much worse for him. He is not rostered

 

[Kelleyman]

Where is justice when you need it?

 

[Kelleyman]

For those of the Spanish speaking persuasion on the board

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[WilltheThrill]

Gee, what a shocker that you chose Will "the thrill" Clark. Love the guy too and both came from MSU. Both were good players even before Raffy screwed up. I picked him because my oldest son at the time was in elementary school and loved watching the guy play.

I knew someone would point out the bias in my selection of Will over Raffy based on my username... haha. And yeah, I guess you could say I am a bit biased there, since Will Clark is my all-time favorite player. But my post was really more to discuss how I could never vote for Rafael Palmeiro for anything except most unbelievable jerk to wear a Rangers uniform. There’s no denying Raffy’s numbers, steroid-influenced or otherwise. His on-field performance certainly merits selection to an all-time Rangers team. And I was actually a big Palmeiro fan during his years as a Ranger. But that was before I found out what a scumbag he is in real life. I know most sports stars aren’t complete saints in real life and you have to look the other way on some of their nonsense. But Raffy took being a jerk to another level.

The whole steroids scandal, followed by his self-righteous finger pointing in front of Congress was despicable. But I’ve also got 4 different Rafael Palmeiro stories from personal and trusted 2nd hand accounts that show what an unbelievable a-hole the guy is.

After college, I had a 2nd job as a part-time bartender at the Red Hot N Blue bbq restaurant that used to be by the Ballpark, back in the late 90’s. One day Raffy came in to pick up his to-go order from the bar. I didn’t acknowledge he was a celebrity or ask for an autograph, but instead just greeted him with a smile like I would anyone else. When I printed his creeit card slip and gave it to him to sign, he noticed the line for the tip (which was on all credit card receipts), he said “a tip? You think you deserve a tip for bagging up my order and handing it to me? Get real.” He signed the slip, grabbed his bag, and stormed out. I just sat there speechless. If he felt that strongly about me not deserving a tip, he could have just written a zero on the line. But instead he made sure to belittle me and make a scene, as if I had directly asked him for money.

Then, in the early 2000’s, I was working nights as a server at Mac’s Steakhouse when I again had the displeasure of waiting on Raffy and some blonde woman (maybe his wife?). He was rude throughout the meal and even pre-emptively threatened me when I took his order, saying “you’re not going to like what happens if my order comes out wrong”. Unreal. I mean, who treats people that way?

Those were my 2 personal encounters with him. The lady who has cleaned my parents’ house for over 20 years now also cleans the houses of several former Rangers, including Steve Buechele and Rafael Palmeiro. This lady is literally the sweetest person on the face of the earth and, while she has nothing but nice things to say about the Buechele family, she told my mom that Rafael Palmeiro was the meanest person she had ever met. She said he frequently would berate his wife right in front of her (awkward!). And in one instance, he wadded up his bath towels and threw them in her face, telling her to wash them again and get them clean or else she would be fired.

And lastly, Jackie Moore had multiple stories for me (from his first go-round as Rangers bench coach when Kevin Kennedy was manager) about how much Raffy was disliked by his teammates and what an arrogant jerk he was. He said that getting rid of Raffy and a few select others and replacing them with guys like Mickey Tettleton and Will Clark was a big boost to the atmosphere in the clubhouse.

So even if I didn’t vote for Will Clark as the team’s best 1B, I would vote for literally any other 1B from the team’s history before I ever gave Raffy any support.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Also, did any of you see what that lowlife Evan Gattis did last week? He first posted on Twitter a picture of a beer glass from a local Houston bar which had a picture of Mike Fiers, and below the picture were the words “Snitches Get Stitches”. The responses he got to the tweet were predictable- scumbag Astros fans saying how much they love him and think there is nothing wrong with cheating, mixed in with responses from everyone else saying what a piece of trash he was for cheating and now threatening Fiers.

But then there was talk of MLB looking into the tweet, due to the implied threat Gattis was making towards Fiers (not that he would actually give him stitches, but just that Fiers deserved payback). Now, all of a sudden, Evan Gattis has magically had a change of tune. He just released a long apology for cheating, saying that his team definitely cheated both baseball and its fans. He also went so far as to say Mike Fiers was right for calling them out.

Amazing how he can go from posting “Snitches Get Stitches” to “we were wrong and Fiers was right” in less than one week. I’m sure the threat of MLB investigating his tweet had nothing to do with his hollow apology.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I knew someone would point out the bias in my selection of Will over Raffy based on my username... haha. And yeah, I guess you could say I am a bit biased there, since Will Clark is my all-time favorite player. But my post was really more to discuss how I could never vote for Rafael Palmeiro for anything except most unbelievable jerk to wear a Rangers uniform. There’s no denying Raffy’s numbers, steroid-influenced or otherwise. His on-field performance certainly merits selection to an all-time Rangers team. And I was actually a big Palmeiro fan during his years as a Ranger. But that was before I found out what a scumbag he is in real life. I know most sports stars aren’t complete saints in real life and you have to look the other way on some of their nonsense. But Raffy took being a jerk to another level.

The whole steroids scandal, followed by his self-righteous finger pointing in front of Congress was despicable. But I’ve also got 4 different Rafael Palmeiro stories from personal and trusted 2nd hand accounts that show what an unbelievable a-hole the guy is.

After college, I had a 2nd job as a part-time bartender at the Red Hot N Blue bbq restaurant that used to be by the Ballpark, back in the late 90’s. One day Raffy came in to pick up his to-go order from the bar. I didn’t acknowledge he was a celebrity or ask for an autograph, but instead just greeted him with a smile like I would anyone else. When I printed his creeit card slip and gave it to him to sign, he noticed the line for the tip (which was on all credit card receipts), he said “a tip? You think you deserve a tip for bagging up my order and handing it to me? Get real.” He signed the slip, grabbed his bag, and stormed out. I just sat there speechless. If he felt that strongly about me not deserving a tip, he could have just written a zero on the line. But instead he made sure to belittle me and make a scene, as if I had directly asked him for money.

Then, in the early 2000’s, I was working nights as a server at Mac’s Steakhouse when I again had the displeasure of waiting on Raffy and some blonde woman (maybe his wife?). He was rude throughout the meal and even pre-emptively threatened me when I took his order, saying “you’re not going to like what happens if my order comes out wrong”. Unreal. I mean, who treats people that way?

Those were my 2 personal encounters with him. The lady who has cleaned my parents’ house for over 20 years now also cleans the houses of several former Rangers, including Steve Buechele and Rafael Palmeiro. This lady is literally the sweetest person on the face of the earth and, while she has nothing but nice things to say about the Buechele family, she told my mom that Rafael Palmeiro was the meanest person she had ever met. She said he frequently would berate his wife right in front of her (awkward!). And in one instance, he wadded up his bath towels and threw them in her face, telling her to wash them again and get them clean or else she would be fired.

And lastly, Jackie Moore had multiple stories for me (from his first go-round as Rangers bench coach when Kevin Kennedy was manager) about how much Raffy was disliked by his teammates and what an arrogant jerk he was. He said that getting rid of Raffy and a few select others and replacing them with guys like Mickey Tettleton and Will Clark was a big boost to the atmosphere in the clubhouse.

So even if I didn’t vote for Will Clark as the team’s best 1B, I would vote for literally any other 1B from the team’s history before I ever gave Raffy any support.

I went to the last Dirk Nowitski Celebrity Baseball game and Raffy was there. I could see the arrogance in his body language so I believe what you say to be true. Like I said he was my oldest son's favorite player and one of mine with the Rangers but I have no problem when Clark is picked over Raffy. As actual players they both we great fun to watch. So understand your feelings completely.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I guess you guys can confirm this, but didn’t raffy just leave for the Baltimore Orioles while he was still under contract with us?

i was much younger and a more casual fan at the time so I don’t know if it’s true or not.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I guess you guys can confirm this, but didn’t raffy just leave for the Baltimore Orioles while he was still under contract with us?

i was much younger and a more casual fan at the time so I don’t know if it’s true or not.

I don't think so. He actually went to Baltimore twice and both times as a FA. The first time the Rangers decided to sign Will Clark so Palmeiro then signed with Baltimore. The 2nd time he went he was like 39 and was a FA again. At least I think that is right.

 

[Kelleyman]

I guess you guys can confirm this, but didn’t raffy just leave for the Baltimore Orioles while he was still under contract with us?

i was much younger and a more casual fan at the time so I don’t know if it’s true or not.

Well Bennie can answer this better but my take was the Rangers chose not to pay him so he signed with Os. Some would say Clark was a downgrade. To me going into that year Raffy was superior in skills but could hardly dispute Clark was a team first type of guy.

I am no expert on clubhouse talent and how it translates to making a team better. But in this world politics does play a role in who and who’s don’t get chances. I would venture politics plays a role unfortunately in baseball. Some would say playing Odor fits this scenario to some degree. I think it did when we did not fully utilize Profar in his early years before injury

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[saddles]

I guess you guys can confirm this, but didn’t raffy just leave for the Baltimore Orioles while he was still under contract with us?

i was much younger and a more casual fan at the time so I don’t know if it’s true or not.

We wanted Raffy to give us a big discount. When he didn't do so right away, we went to Plan B and signed Clark. At the time many fans considered Clark a distant Plan B. It was a rash, hasty decision and to many fans a very bad decision. We were too cheap.

 

[saddles]

Jon Daniels provides Rangers updates

 

[WastinSomeTime]

We wanted Raffy to give us a big discount. When he didn't do so right away, we went to Plan B and signed Clark. At the time many fans considered Clark a distant Plan B. It was a rash, hasty decision and to many fans a very bad decision. We were too cheap.

And I believe signed Clark for more money than they offered Palmeiro which ticked him off of course at the time. He ended up with the same 5 year deal for a fraction more money than Clark. Based on what WilltheThrill stated I am sure that was important to Raffy.