The Officially Official Off Season Thread (2016)

[donaldson79]

DDJ will start the season as the starting center fielder with Hamilton and Ruggiano splitting time in LF. Brinson and Mazara will start the season at AAA most likely. Assuming Mazara continues to thrash AAA pitching he'll get called up as soon as Hamilton's glass body suffers its first injury. Could be Gallo depending on how he's doing.

I have no idea what our options are for backup CF/bench bat are. Do we currently have anyone on the 40 man? They won't use Brinson in that role, and they shouldn't.

I was typing my response to DT while you were posting yours.

And I had completely forgotten about our new addition in Ruggiano, and think you're probably correct in your assessment for LF.

Its gonna be interesting to see where the Rangers play Gallo in the minors this year. This is a big year for him I think.

 

[DT LUNA]

DeShields is going to be our CF, at least to begin the season IMO.

I don't know if the Rangers are thinking of going with Hamilton/Rua in LF or not. But for me, I'm not counting on any of the minor league guys to come to the rescue in 2016. But hope I'm wrong on that.

But you're right, we've got to get a versatile OF who can spell DeShields for next season.

I had forgotten about Ruggy to help in LF but if JH goes down then we likely will see Rua or Gallo imo. CF remains a mystery.

 

[romeo212000]

Shoot, I forgot about Rua. I hope he starts at round rock and gets going good. Could definitely see him jumping in when Hamilton goes down. I really want him to succeed.

 

[donaldson79]

Shoot, I forgot about Rua. I hope he starts at round rock and gets going good. Could definitely see him jumping in when Hamilton goes down. I really want him to succeed.

You and I have always been on the Rua bandwagon it seems.

But I gotta tell you, I was really disappointed in him refusing to go to winter ball.

 

[romeo212000]

You and I have always been on the Rua bandwagon it seems.

But I gotta tell you, I was really disappointed in him refusing to go to winter ball.

I didn't know he did that.

 

[donaldson79]

I didn't know he did that.

Yeah he did.

Here's what he did and it wasn't as disrespectful as perhaps I made it sound. He "declined" to go to winter ball so he could get married.

But here's how I look at it. "Fella, you know what makes a great wedding gift? It's going to winter ball, shining, reestablish your value, make a spot for you on the Rangers 25 man roster for next season, and get a nice 3 year contract worth $12 million bucks, that's what."

He's 27 and his window ain't exactly wide open anymore.

 

[romeo212000]

Yeah he did.

Here's what he did and it wasn't as disrespectful as perhaps I made it sound. He "declined" to go to winter ball so he could get married.

But here's how I look at it. "Fella, you know what makes a great wedding gift? It's going to winter ball, shining, reestablish your value, make a spot for you on the Rangers 25 man roster for next season, and get a nice 3 year contract worth $12 million bucks, that's what."

He's 27 and his window ain't exactly wide open anymore.

Yeah, sorry bud, but when you're given an opportunity to be a professional baseball player, that kind of takes precedence over these kinds of things. You know his beautiful bride had a lot to do with that decision. Poor choice, big guy.

 

[donaldson79]

Yeah, sorry bud, but when you're given an opportunity to be a professional baseball player, that kind of takes precedence over these kinds of things. You know his beautiful bride had a lot to do with that decision. Poor choice, big guy.

Actually, he'll be 26 going into next season, so I had him a year older.

But I'm with ya 100% on WTF are you thinking Ryan? Get married in a simple ceremony, and have a grand wedding when you get that first big contract.

It's perhaps easy for me to say, bag the "Big Wedding" plans. But in today's world of baseball, if he just becomes a player who can make a 25 man roster for the next 10 years, he'll have financial security for the rest of his life. Damn nice financial security!

Keep your eye on the "Big Ballgame" fella.

 

[Xx srs bsns xX]

They only made the qualifying offer. Yes, it was more than he eventually got, but that was a different circumstance entirely. That was before his market dried up. The Rangers knew he would refuse the QO and only did so for a draft pick.

This is the way I remember it and how I have discussed it with several folks over the years. Once the market dried up and it was evident that he was getting much less than what everyone previously thought that is when they had a chance to jump back into the bidding. They didn't though because they had already spent on Choo and Fielder and had no more money to spend.

Cruz wound up playing a whole lot of DH that year with Baltimore and the Rangers could have certainly used him as an OF that year as well as a DH. That didn't appear to be a deal buster.

Except they did make an offer to him. For 1 year. For more money than Baltimore offered him.
Dont make me find the article. Everyone here remembers it that way but you apparently...


"What’s clear is the Rangers were still interested in him. They made a qualifying offer of $14.1 million in November. Cruz rejected it. According to two sources, they made at least one more offer to Cruz worth more than the $8 million he ultimately took. Cruz also rejected it."What’s clear is the Rangers were still interested in him. They made a qualifying offer of $14.1 million in November. Cruz rejected it. According to two sources, they made at least one more offer to Cruz worth more than the $8 million he ultimately took. Cruz also rejected it."

 

[jta4437]

no more than you do. but IMO there have been opportunities to upgrade at certain positions and JD has been handcuffed and blocked from making the moves

Would help to understand your thinking if you would be specific regarding certain positions.

I notice that Scottie never answered this question...

 

[romeo212000]

Except they did make an offer to him. For 1 year. For more money than Baltimore offered him.
Dont make me find the article. Everyone here remembers it that way but you apparently...


"What’s clear is the Rangers were still interested in him. They made a qualifying offer of $14.1 million in November. Cruz rejected it. According to two sources, they made at least one more offer to Cruz worth more than the $8 million he ultimately took. Cruz also rejected it."What’s clear is the Rangers were still interested in him. They made a qualifying offer of $14.1 million in November. Cruz rejected it. According to two sources, they made at least one more offer to Cruz worth more than the $8 million he ultimately took. Cruz also rejected it."

Because Cruz wanted to play the outfield like we all said, but we did not have a spot for him. Everyone remembers it, but Bennie because it doesn't fit his rhetoric so he chooses to ignore it.

 

[scotsman1948]

I notice that Scottie never answered this question...

I think we could have better address the LF and Catcher situation if the purse strings hadn't been tied shut for one. There now y'all go ahead and rip me for expressing my opinion

 

[scotsman1948]

Your opinion is based in ignorance and it gets old seeing you whine constantly with no knowledge of which you speak. Im allowed to point that out. It's a fucking message board. Deal with it. And try to tone back the childish name calling.

I see only lord and master romeo is allowed to express an opinion. Well here is another of my opinions you are a major league jackass

 

[romeo212000]

I think we could have better address the LF and Catcher situation if the purse strings hadn't been tied shut for one. There now y'all go ahead and rip me for expressing my opinion

That doesn't really tell us anything. How would you have gone about doing that, and what would you have been willing to give up to accomplish it? Saying we should've done more to address left field and catcher doesn't really say anything. It's demanding results without giving any thought to the process to accomplish them.

 

[romeo212000]

I see only lord and master romeo is allowed to express an opinion. Well here is another of my opinions you are a major league jackass

Grow up, Scotty. Quit playing the bullshit victim card and up your fucking game. Deal with people disagreeing with you and pointing out when youre being foolish, or fuck off. And again, cool it with the childish name calling. Nobody likes a crybaby.

 

[jta4437]

I think we could have better address the LF and Catcher situation if the purse strings hadn't been tied shut for one. There now y'all go ahead and rip me for expressing my opinion

With who? Who was available that you saw made sense? Stop with the purse strings argument, you haven't even offered an upgrade, just rhetorical non sense...

Who was the supposed upgrade at catcher that was supposedly available? Where's this move in LF that made sense?

 

[jta4437]

One name I haven't heard much about is Gerardo Parra, he's a solid LF/4OF option and potentially offers a backup in CF

Only concerning thing for me is he's gone from a fantastic defender to a mediocre defender to a bad defender in 3 short years and he's only 28... only thing I can figure is he's mostly been a CFer and then he played a lot of RF an unfamiliar position

As always it depends on the price and role acceptance, as I'm sure he might be able to get more elsewhere

 

[romeo212000]

One name I haven't heard much about is Gerardo Parra, he's a solid LF/4OF option and potentially offers a backup in CF

Only concerning thing for me is he's gone from a fantastic defender to a mediocre defender to a bad defender in 3 short years and he's only 28... only thing I can figure is he's mostly been a CFer and then he played a lot of RF an unfamiliar position

As always it depends on the price and role acceptance, as I'm sure he might be able to get more elsewhere

I thought I'd heard us linked to Parra as a possibility.

 

[jta4437]

I thought I'd heard us linked to Parra as a possibility.

I saw us linked via an article but no one on here has said much about him, only Cespedes and Upton, lets be honest, we're not paying big money to them with Choo around (he's not getting traded, no one is taking on that contract sorry) and Mazara/Gallo and Brinson potentially coming soon

Funny thing to think that even with his horrid first year and a third here, that Choo (based on current WAR valuations) is actually 800k in the positive on that bad contract

Now I don't think he'll meet the expectations when its all said and done, but his horrible start had me thinking the front end was a bust too, but not so, he just lost the chance to build up some surplus value to make the back end worth it

 

[donaldson79]

I saw us linked via an article but no one on here has said much about him, only Cespedes and Upton, lets be honest, we're not paying big money to them with Choo around (he's not getting traded, no one is taking on that contract sorry) and Mazara/Gallo and Brinson potentially coming soon

Funny thing to think that even with his horrid first year and a third here, that Choo (based on current WAR valuations) is actually 800k in the positive on that bad contract

Now I don't think he'll meet the expectations when its all said and done, but his horrible start had me thinking the front end was a bust too, but not so, he just lost the chance to build up some surplus value to make the back end worth it

It's been overdue for this to be pointed out really.

I still think we're gonna be happy with this guy for at least the next 2/3 years. It's the back-end which is going to hurt some. I suspect anyway.