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The 2023 Texas Rangers Spring Training Thread

saddles

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Here are some OPS for the spring so far.

.868 - Ezequiel Duran
.931 - Josh Smith
1.025 - Sam Huff
1.135 - Josh Jung
 

DT LUNA

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Here are some OPS for the spring so far.

.868 - Ezequiel Duran
.931 - Josh Smith
1.025 - Sam Huff
1.135 - Josh Jung
Jung was good today.
 

saddles

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I asked Evan this question today. I am not sure if he will answer or not, but I will ask you guys as well. Let's say you are the GM and the owner tells you that he wants you to come up with a plan to replace each member of this year's projected rotation with guys who are cirrently in our system, and he wants the transition completed within 4 to 5 years. Who do you think the 5 guys will be and give an ETA for each?

I will have to give it some thought but here are some possibilities to choose from.

Leiter
Rocker
Porter
Winn
White
Roby
Vanasco
Bratt
Kent
Bradford
Garcia
Teodo
Stephan
Acker
Ragans
Otto
Dunning
Here is Jamey Newberg's answer to my question:

Ideally, especially given the expectation that Texas will be in the pennant race these next five seasons, I’ll want to bring the young pitchers in one at a time — add one to the rotation in 2024, and then one each in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028.

I’m going to tell ownership to be prepared for at least one and maybe two of Owen White, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker to be traded before they’re established members of the Rangers rotation. With that, here’s the plan:

Owen White (currently age 23): 2024
Tekoah Roby (age 21): 2025
Mitch Bratt (age 19): 2026
Brock Porter (age 19): 2027
Leandro Calderon (age 20): 2028
 

saddles

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I see our ole buddy, Hans Crouse, got in an inning in the Phillies big league camp.
 

saddles

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I asked Evan this question today. I am not sure if he will answer or not, but I will ask you guys as well. Let's say you are the GM and the owner tells you that he wants you to come up with a plan to replace each member of this year's projected rotation with guys who are cirrently in our system, and he wants the transition completed within 4 to 5 years. Who do you think the 5 guys will be and give an ETA for each?

I will have to give it some thought but here are some possibilities to choose from.

Leiter
Rocker
Porter
Winn
White
Roby
Vanasco
Bratt
Kent
Bradford
Garcia
Teodo
Stephan
Acker
Ragans
Otto
Dunning
When I asked this question earlier this month, I asked Evan Grant, Jamey Newberg, and John Moore the same question. Each ot them responded, as did a fan who commented on the question for Evan. I will give each of their answers below and then my own.

Evan Grant:

Jack Leiter -- 2025
Owen White -- 2026
Kumar Rocker -- 2026
Mitch Bratt -- 2027
Brock Porter -- 2027


Jamey Newberg:

Owen White (currently age 23): 2024
Tekoah Roby (age 21): 2025
Mitch Bratt (age 19): 2026
Brock Porter (age 19): 2027
Leandro Calderon (age 20): 2028


John Moore:

Perez=Ragans ETA 2023-24
Gray=White ETA 2024
Eovaldi=Leiter ETA 2024
Heaney= Winn ETA 2024
deGrom=Rocker ETA 2025


Another fan on Twitter:

Perez -> White 2023
Heaney -> Leiter 2024
Eovaldi -> Porter 2025
Gray -> Roby 2026
deGrom -> Bratt 2027


My Answer:

White -- 2024
Leiter -- 2025
Roby -- 2026
Rocker -- 2026
Porter -- 2027

Owen White shows up in all 5 of them
Brock Porter shows up in 4 of them
Jack Leiter shows up in 4 of them
Kumar Rocker shows up in 3 of them
Mitch Bratt shows up in 3 of them
Tekoah Roby shows up in 3 of them
Cole Winn shows up in 1 of them
Cole Ragans shows up in 1 of them
Leandro Calderon shows up in 1 of them

I look forward to revisiting this at the end of the season to see how I would change my answer.
 

Kelleyman

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Here is Jamey Newberg's answer to my question:

Ideally, especially given the expectation that Texas will be in the pennant race these next five seasons, I’ll want to bring the young pitchers in one at a time — add one to the rotation in 2024, and then one each in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028.

I’m going to tell ownership to be prepared for at least one and maybe two of Owen White, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker to be traded before they’re established members of the Rangers rotation. With that, here’s the plan:

Owen White (currently age 23): 2024
Tekoah Roby (age 21): 2025
Mitch Bratt (age 19): 2026
Brock Porter (age 19): 2027
Leandro Calderon (age 20): 2028
Newberg seems to have no faith in our pitcher development. How can we expect to win consistently without this. SMH.
 

Kelleyman

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I like Ragans Leiter Porter and maybe Winn as a lower piece. The others not mentioned need to keep injury free like White and Rocker. Bratt did not impress me although young. His stuff was not great and looked overpowered. And he nibbled way too much

Not sure of Roby or others. Just too soon and not enough exposure to me
 

saddles

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Keith Law lists ten players that he predicts will have a breakout season this year. Two of the ten are Ragans and Taveras.
 

saddles

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Newberg seems to have no faith in our pitcher development. How can we expect to win consistently without this. SMH.
I think some of it is that he has a lot of Monty Hall in him. He loves trade talk. He loves to concoct big trades. He has thought we would pull off a blockbuster trade every offseason and trade deadline for at least a couple of years now. Eventually, he will be right. Lol
 

saddles

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I like Ragans Leiter Porter and maybe Winn as a lower piece. The others not mentioned need to keep injury free like White and Rocker. Bratt did not impress me although young. His stuff was not great and looked overpowered. And he nibbled way too much

Not sure of Roby or others. Just too soon and not enough exposure to me
You shouldn't take a single thing out of that outing for Bratt. Just remove it from your memory. It means nothing aa far as his potential. If anything, the fact that he was even considered to be on the team might be worth remembering.
 

Kelleyman

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I think some of it is that he has a lot of Monty Hall in him. He loves trade talk. He loves to concoct big trades. He has thought we would pull off a blockbuster trade every offseason and trade deadline for at least a couple of years now. Eventually, he will be right. Lol
He no longer impresses me. Maybe my own issue. Seems like he is entrenched into a system bs the past independent thought. Perhaps I am a bit harsh
 

Kelleyman

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You shouldn't take a single thing out of that outing for Bratt. Just remove it from your memory. It means nothing aa far as his potential. If anything, the fact that he was even considered to be on the team might be worth remembering.
Even the pitch’s I saw were not good. Maybe he strengthens. If so then that would be good
 

Kelleyman

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Keith Law lists ten players that he predicts will have a breakout season this year. Two of the ten are Ragans and Taveras.
Tavares is the one I would move for relief pitching
 

saddles

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I like Ragans Leiter Porter and maybe Winn as a lower piece. The others not mentioned need to keep injury free like White and Rocker. Bratt did not impress me although young. His stuff was not great and looked overpowered. And he nibbled way too much

Not sure of Roby or others. Just too soon and not enough exposure to me
One guy no one mentioned was Ryan Garcia. I think he will change some people's thinking this year. Maybe, Vanasco will too.
 

saddles

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Even the pitch’s I saw were not good. Maybe he strengthens. If so then that would be good
Those pitches were affected by nerves and butterflies that were to be expected in that situation though. Not too many guys are going to pull a David Clyde.

Also, he has a lot of development left, a whole lot. The pitcher he is now is not close to who he will be. The same is true for Porter and Teodo.
 

saddles

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He no longer impresses me. Maybe my own issue. Seems like he is entrenched into a system bs the past independent thought. Perhaps I am a bit harsh
I respect him for his knowledge of our system and his overall baseball knowledge. He does have some biases though, and those show up frequently and they affect his judgment at times. I would imagine a lot of folks think the same about me as well.
 
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