The Officially Official Off Season Thread (2016)

[RevSader]

Guys I think our bad luck charm this whole time was Terps MD. Since he's been gone Texas turned it way around and the Stars have been the best team in the NHL.

 

[saddles]

Jurickson Profar hits homer in AFL in return

"Sure," Profar said when asked if he was thinking home run in the situation. "I don't want to lose. I hit it pretty well."

"I just want to stay healthy and a compete. I'm a guy who likes to win. When I come to the ballpark, I'll do anything to win."

I would imagine when Jurickson finds himself in the postseason that he is going to be one of those guys who makes the other team's fans hate him, but respect him. One of those players who always does well in big moments. I sure hope his shoulder heals completely this time.

 

[saddles]

Rangers offseason issue No. 5: Is bullpen capable of a season of success?

This appears to be a pretty good outline for an article, but there isn't much depth. Even Evan can do better than this.

 

[saddles]

This from Jamey Newberg this morning.

Montreal Robertson has faced 1,344 hitters as a pro. He’s a right-handed pitcher in the Tigers system who doesn’t strike out a ton of guys, but he keeps the ball on the ground and in the park with a big league-grade sinker.

In five seasons, spanning 299.2 innings, Robertson — who pitched at the High A and AA levels this season and earned a Detroit assignment to the Arizona Fall League — has been taken deep 12 times. He hasn’t had a season yet in which he’s allowed more than four home runs.

Robertson was making his second AFL appearance for Scottsdale yesterday, having previously thrown 2.2 perfect frames in his AFL debut. He came in to start the ninth inning, entrusted with a 5-4 Scorpions lead over Surprise.

He struck Royals prospect Ramon Torres out on a foul tip.

He caught future Rangers center fielder Lewis Brinson (who’d singled twice in four trips) looking at strike three.

An out away from a win.

Then a strike away from a win, as he had a full count on the Saguaros’ two-hole hitter. Robertson came back with another sinking fastball, at 95 miles per hour.

And Jurickson Profar deposited it over the right field fence, tying the game.

(Eight innings after he’d doubled down the line in the first inning, in his first action since February shoulder surgery.)

Yes, Profar is six years into his career, and he still may not throw a baseball in a game setting before spring training.

Look: He’s still just 22. Four months younger than Hanser Alberto.

Robertson is 25.

None of us knows where exactly Profar fits, but this is a versatile, switch-hitting ballplayer with an 80-grade internal clock, considered by some pre-injury to be the number one prospect in baseball, and with his shoulder repaired rather than rested, there’s greater reason for Profar optimism now than there’s been in a while.

 

[donaldson79]

Here's a poll on which Rangers to keep or let go from the DMN.

VOTE: Keep 'em or Leave 'em, which Rangers do you want to see return to the clubhouse in 2016?

 

[DT LUNA]

Here's a poll on which Rangers to keep or let go from the DMN.

VOTE: Keep 'em or Leave 'em, which Rangers do you want to see return to the clubhouse in 2016?

Biggest surprise ....Ohlendorf (sp)

 

[Kelleyman]

Rangers offseason issue No. 5: Is bullpen capable of a season of success?

This appears to be a pretty good outline for an article, but there isn't much depth. Even Evan can do better than this.

We are going to have to expand the number of guys we use in the pen in leverage situations otherwise some will be used up by the end of the year. Ie Kela and likely Tolleson

 

[donaldson79]

Biggest surprise ....Ohlendorf (sp)

Couldn't help but notice that the vote for letting Martin go was over 75% in favor of doing so.

 

[romeo212000]

Couldn't help but notice that the vote for letting Martin go was over 75% in favor of doing so.

When you thumb your nose at the organization it tends to cause people's perceptions of you to turn negative.

 

[saddles]

We are going to have to expand the number of guys we use in the pen in leverage situations otherwise some will be used up by the end of the year. Ie Kela and likely Tolleson

I wonder if when we work that creative trade that Thad Levine was talking about if we could get a quality relief pitcher back as part of the package.

 

[DT LUNA]

Couldn't help but notice that the vote for letting Martin go was over 75% in favor of doing so.

One of those votes was mine.

 

[donaldson79]

One of those votes was mine.

ha ha ha......Well, we certainly know where two of the negative votes came from then.

 

[saddles]

Tim Bogar didn't get the Mariners job.

Mariners Name Servais Manager - BaseballAmerica.com

 

[donaldson79]

Tim Bogar didn't get the Mariners job.

Mariners Name Servais Manager - BaseballAmerica.com

Sincerely hope Bogar gets his chance and does well with it. But that said, I'm glad he didn't get this particular opportunity.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

No idea if most teams can say this since I really only focus on the one... but with Bogar in contention and Servais getting the job in Seattle, and now Kapler being the focus of the Dodgers, it does seem like a lot of Rangers exes are out there making names for themselves.

 

[donaldson79]

You guys know who Richard Justice is? Wrote for the Houston Chronicle for many a year. Also wrote for the DMN for awhile too. Now he's with MLB.com.

Anyway, he was on PTI today and totally dissed on the Rangers about Jose Bautista. Something to the effect, "most of what you're hearing, negatively anyway, about him is coming from the Texas Rangers. And he hit the game winning HR against the Rangers." Heavy insinuation the Rangers were being too thin-skinned.

A-hole!

 

[donaldson79]

From Keith Law on Profar:

I've been in Arizona since Sunday night scouting the Arizona Fall League, which as usual is loaded with top prospects from across all of baseball. Here are some notes from the first seven games I've seen, with an emphasis on pitchers. I'll have another post after I leave here that pays more attention to the position players.

• Thursday afternoon's game in Scottsdale marked the return of Texas Rangersshortstop Jurickson Profar, who had only 47 at-bats this season after sitting out all of 2014 because of a shoulder injury that still has limited him to designated hitter. Profar had a double in his first at-bat and a full-count, two-out, game-tying homer in the ninth inning, as well as two other hard-hit balls in five plate appearances, flashing the hitting ability that made him the game's No. 1 prospect heading into 2014.

Profar's body remains in excellent shape, and he looked fine when standing at shortstop in batting practice, handling grounders but just flipping them to other fielders rather than making regular throws to the first baseman. His bat speed is totally intact, and despite the injury to his right shoulder, his left-handed swing was unrestricted in BP and during the game. All four balls he put in play were hard-hit and came on fastballs 93 mph or above, including the homer off a 95-mph fastball from Detroit's Montreal Robertson. We still have to see what his arm can do, and whether that's enough for him to return to shortstop, but the bat is still there, and it would play at a lot of different places on the field -- which is good for the Rangers, who have a rising star in Rougned Odor at second base and Elvis Andrus somewhat entrenched at short.

 

[saddles]

1 for 4 for both Profar and Brinson today. Profar hit a double and stole 3B while Brinson hit a triple. No strikeouts or walks for either. Both of them had an RBI.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

You guys know who Richard Justice is? Wrote for the Houston Chronicle for many a year. Also wrote for the DMN for awhile too. Now he's with MLB.com.

Anyway, he was on PTI today and totally dissed on the Rangers about Jose Bautista. Something to the effect, "most of what you're hearing, negatively anyway, about him is coming from the Texas Rangers. And he hit the game winning HR against the Rangers." Heavy insinuation the Rangers were being too thin-skinned.

A-hole!

My advice? Stop watching BSPN.

 

[Duane1952]

ha ha ha......Well, we certainly know where two of the negative votes came from then.

Make that three, got my vote for letting him go.