The Officially Official Off Season Thread (2016)

[The Q]

Columnist’s fearless sports predictions for 2016

Gil Lebreton has some interesting predictions for the Rangers scattered throughout 2016.

Jan.--Rangers sign free agent 3B Chris Johnson
Feb.--Rangers trade pitchers Keone Kela and Nick Martinez and outfielder Jairo Beras to Brewers for catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
March--Rangers leave Arizona spring training with starting rotation of Cole Hamels, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, Colby Lewis and Chi Chi Gonzalez.
April--Rangers’ Opening Day lineup against Mariners: DeShields, Choo, Beltre, Fielder, Lucroy, Hamilton, Moreland, Odor and Andrus. Cole Hamels pitches season opener.
May--Yu Darvish activated from Rangers’ disabled list.
July--At All-Star break, Rangers lead AL West with 51-39 record … Adrian Beltre, Jonathan Lucroy, Shin-Soo Choo and Cole Hamels make American League All-Star squad. Rangers sign dry-docked veteran lefty Cliff Lee to prorated $4 million contract.
August--Rangers promote Nomar Mazara from Triple A to replace injured Josh Hamilton.
Sept.--Choo, Beltre homer as Rangers clinch AL West for second year in a row.
Oct.--Rangers advance to ALCS with series win over Toronto, but Royals claim AL pennant in seven games … Cubs defeat Cardinals for first World Series berth in 71 years.

That seems like an awfully low return for Lucroy.

 

[jta4437]

Not sure where Nick would fall if still with the Rangers. We have Mazara and Brinson so I think we could afford to let Williams go so we kept the right player. Alfaro seemed to have lost some appeal here but time will tell on him and Thompson. I still like having Hamels for another year and was on board with the trade. But can understand anyone who would think differently.

Except that many don't think Lucroy will be able to stick at catcher due to concussions

 

[scotsman1948]

I wonder if the Rangers will have any interest in Sanchez for catching depth.

should be reasonably cheap

 

[Bmurph]

• Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that Rangers fans shouldn’t expect to see Justin Upton, Yoenis Cespedes or Yovani Gallardo in a Rangers uniform next season, as the team doesn’t have the payroll capacity to add any of the three. A trade for Marcell Ozuna is also unlikely, per Wilson, though the Rangers do still hope to add some rotation depth before the offseason is up. GM Jon Daniels tells Wilson that there are still some affordable names on the open market that have piqued the Rangers’ interest. Wilson also notes that Colby Lewis’ physical — the final step before his reported one-year, $6MM contract becomes official — is slated for next Monday.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Missed it by THREE votes!

How are some players from the past not 100% votes in their first year like Aaron and many others? Did the rules change or were the voters so hard core that no one was going to vote for an obvious Hall of Famer the 1st year eligible.

 

[donaldson79]

I normally like Tim Kurkjian, and enjoy listening/reading what he has to say. But today, he made the statement of "Mike Paizza is the 3rd best catcher in the history of baseball, behind Berra and Bench."

How can you have you have him 3rd when he was a below avg catcher for his entire career? Great, great bat. But he was a bad defensive catcher.

But he did write this about Pudge...........There are no suspensions, no positive tests, nothing in the Mitchell report, for catcher Pudge Rodriguez, yet suspicions remain about PED use, because he was named in Jose Canseco's book and because of an abrupt change in body type during his career. Such suspicions kept Mike Piazza out of the Hall for several years and continue to keep out Jeff Bagwell. Rodriguez, by any statistical measure, is undoubtedly a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

 

[donaldson79]

How are some players from the past not 100% votes in their first year like Aaron and many others? Did the rules change or were the voters so hard core that no one was going to vote for an obvious Hall of Famer the 1st year eligible.

One of those mystery's which will probably never be answered. Well, answered to our satisfaction anyway.

Mays, Mantle, Aaron, etc should all be 100%. There's a lot of guys who should have been. I just listed those 3 obvious one's which immediately came into my mind.

 

[The Q]

I normally like Tim Kurkjian, and enjoy listening/reading what he has to say. But today, he made the statement of "Mike Paizza is the 3rd best catcher in the history of baseball, behind Berra and Bench."

How can you have you have him 3rd when he was a below avg catcher for his entire career? Great, great bat. But he was a bad defensive catcher.

But he did write this about Pudge...........There are no suspensions, no positive tests, nothing in the Mitchell report, for catcher Pudge Rodriguez, yet suspicions remain about PED use, because he was named in Jose Canseco's book and because of an abrupt change in body type during his career. Such suspicions kept Mike Piazza out of the Hall for several years and continue to keep out Jeff Bagwell. Rodriguez, by any statistical measure, is undoubtedly a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Piazza was actually a pretty good defensive C outside of throwing runners out.

Mike Piazza Was More Than A Big Bat

 

[DT LUNA]

On the radio, they were saying they wanted Chi Chi and Gallo for Ozuna.

I normally like Tim Kurkjian, and enjoy listening/reading what he has to say. But today, he made the statement of "Mike Paizza is the 3rd best catcher in the history of baseball, behind Berra and Bench."

How can you have you have him 3rd when he was a below avg catcher for his entire career? Great, great bat. But he was a bad defensive catcher.

But he did write this about Pudge...........There are no suspensions, no positive tests, nothing in the Mitchell report, for catcher Pudge Rodriguez, yet suspicions remain about PED use, because he was named in Jose Canseco's book and because of an abrupt change in body type during his career. Such suspicions kept Mike Piazza out of the Hall for several years and continue to keep out Jeff Bagwell. Rodriguez, by any statistical measure, is undoubtedly a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

In regards to you and Wasting's comments,unfortunately politics is everywhere. Pudge is clean as a whistle and right up there with Bench, Bera,Campy and the rest. Actually better in some category's such as speed and equal in others. First round if not for politics.
Not that it matters, but having seen them all, my opinion of equality has some merit. Wonder how many voter can say that.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

How are some players from the past not 100% votes in their first year like Aaron and many others? Did the rules change or were the voters so hard core that no one was going to vote for an obvious Hall of Famer the 1st year eligible.

Because back in the day, players were assholes to the writers, and some of the writers got butthurt, so some of them didn't vote for those players for the HOF as kind of a revenge thing. The writers in later years then took it upon themselves to maintain the status quo of "hey, if Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth didn't get 100%, no one should!" - even though it was their shithead brethren that caused it to begin with. The whole %'s being made public is nothing more than attention whore BBWAA members relishing in the only claim to fame they have.

Yes, the whole thing irritates me a smidge.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Here is a little bit of HOF trivia I found interesting...

The highest draft pick ever elected? Ken Griffey Jr.

The lowest draft pick ever elected? Mike Piazza.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Because back in the day, players were assholes to the writers, and some of the writers got butthurt, so some of them didn't vote for those players for the HOF as kind of a revenge thing. The writers in later years then took it upon themselves to maintain the status quo of "hey, if Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth didn't get 100%, no one should!" - even though it was their shithead brethren that caused it to begin with. The whole %'s being made public is nothing more than attention whore BBWAA members relishing in the only claim to fame they have.

Yes, the whole thing irritates me a smidge.

Agree with you on those statements.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Piazza was actually a pretty good defensive C outside of throwing runners out.

Mike Piazza Was More Than A Big Bat

I am not trying to kick Piazza in the rear but the problem in most cases is offense speaks volumes. But yet Pudge has a .296 avg with 572 doubles (about 230 more than Piazza because he was agile) and 311 HRs (116 less than Piazza). He made the All Stars 14 times and Gold Glove 13 times and one of the times he was not name to the AS team he was in the top 25 in MVP. In fact from 1994 - 2006 he hit under .300 only twice and in one of those seasons he hit 297. The thing is if anyone ever saw Pudge in person catch they would just freak out. I do not know how many times a guy had a good jump off of the pitcher and I would say to myself there is no way they can get this guy out and Pudge would come up and fire the ball like bullet out of a shotgun and get the guy. I am not sure I can say as a Ranger that there was a more fun guy who loved the game like he did to watch than Pudge but of course I am being a homer. And I do think he had a positive impact on the Marlins winning a WS and Tigers going to a WS. He just fires everybody up around him.

 

[saddles]

I am not trying to kick Piazza in the rear but the problem in most cases is offense speaks volumes. But yet Pudge has a .296 avg with 572 doubles (about 230 more than Piazza because he was agile) and 311 HRs (116 less than Piazza). He made the All Stars 14 times and Gold Glove 13 times and one of the times he was not name to the AS team he was in the top 25 in MVP. In fact from 1994 - 2006 he hit under .300 only twice and in one of those seasons he hit 297. The thing is if anyone ever saw Pudge in person catch they would just freak out. I do not know how many times a guy had a good jump off of the pitcher and I would say to myself there is no way they can get this guy out and Pudge would come up and fire the ball like bullet out of a shotgun and get the guy. I am not sure I can say as a Ranger that there was a more fun guy who loved the game like he did to watch than Pudge but of course I am being a homer. And I do think he had a positive impact on the Marlins winning a WS and Tigers going to a WS. He just fires everybody up around him.

If Pudge had played in New York he would be considered the best catcher ever to play the game hands down by a whole lot of folks who don't rank him in the top 3 or 4 now.

 

[The Q]

just to be clear, my comment had nothing to do with Pudge. He's also a clear cut HOFer.

Just that Piazza's defense is underrated.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I think we're all probably biased quite a bit towards Pudge. That being said, he deserves to be a first ballot HOF member.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

 

[DT LUNA]

If Pudge had played in New York he would be considered the best catcher ever to play the game hands down by a whole lot of folks who don't rank him in the top 3 or 4 now.

Pure sport politics imo

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Is it me, or is $100 for a foot long section of foul pole kinda reasonable?