The Officially Official Off Season Thread (2016)

[Hambombs]

So what will the rangers do this offseason?

 

[True Rangers Fan]

So what will the rangers do this offseason?

Jon Daniels, Rangers head to Winter Meetings

Looks like Colby is still on their radar, but they are doing due diligence with his knee.

 

[RevSader]

But you have to admit that is a very important small sample. He has not been able to elevate his game like many studs will do in the playoffs.

I really don't put too much stock into 64 innings.

 

[RevSader]

I mean obviously he's great if you want to win the regular season. But playoffs have been a different story atleast so far. Obviously I'm not saying he's not a great pitcher. Just not in the postseason that's what counts

The regular season doesn't count? How the hell do you make the postseason?

 

[saddles]

The Rangers non-tender James Jones and Nick Tepesch. They do sign Chris Gimenez.

 

[RevSader]

The Rangers non-tender James Jones and Nick Tepesch. They do sign Chris Gimenez.

I liked Nick. He wasn't very good, but he also wasn't very bad. He was just meh, but he hung in there.

 

[saddles]

 

[Hambombs]

The regular season doesn't count? How the hell do you make the postseason?

Obviously it counts but the real goal is getting to the promise land

 

[RevSader]

Obviously it counts but the real goal is getting to the promise land

You know Kershaw has had the same problems with winning games in the playoffs right? Do you think he is overrated?

 

[Bmurph]

The Rangers non-tender James Jones and Nick Tepesch. They do sign Chris Gimenez.

James Jones was non-tendered, I'm not surprised. He's not good

 

[donaldson79]

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers have agreed to a $975,000, one-year contract with catcher Chris Gimenez while allowing right-hander Nick Tepeschand recently acquired outfielder James Jones to become free agents.

Tepesch and Jones were not offered 2016 contracts by Wednesday night's deadline.

Gimenez hit .255 over 36 games with AL West champion Texas last season, with five home runs and 14 RBIs. He started 32 regular-season games after joining the team July 31.

Tepesch was on the Rangers' 60-day disabled list for the entire 2015 season and underwent surgery Aug. 19 to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Jones was acquired in a Nov. 16 trade with Seattle, where he hit .238 in 136 major league games the past two seasons.

 

[saddles]

But you have to admit that is a very important small sample. He has not been able to elevate his game like many studs will do in the playoffs.

To me it is of supreme importance and the reason why I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on him.

 

[saddles]

You know Kershaw has had the same problems with winning games in the playoffs right? Do you think he is overrated?

Kershaw's problems in the postseason are not to the same extent as Price though. Since they reached 25 years of age Price has really only had one really good start in the postseason in 9 tries and Kershaw has had 4 in 8 tries. That is 4 of 8 for Kershaw with 2 others being quality starts. Small sample size maybe, but then that is usually all you have to go on in the postseason.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

You know Kershaw has had the same problems with winning games in the playoffs right? Do you think he is overrated?

From a fan's standpoint, though, it's a real pisser to have a stud ace in the regular season and then get let down by them in October. It's not a matter of being "overrated", just inflated expectations not being met.

 

[DT LUNA]

From a fan's standpoint, though, it's a real pisser to have a stud ace in the regular season and then get let down by them in October. It's not a matter of being "overrated", just inflated expectations not being met.

Could it be that pitchers are not the only players elevating their game?

 

[saddles]

Some Jamey Newberg notes about the acquisition of Kivlehan.

Given his player development background, Jack Zduriencik, the longtime Mariners GM that Jerry Dipoto replaced at the end of the season, was probably particularly proud of the Kivlehan story...

Nobody drafted Kivlehan out of high school at all.

He didn’t even play baseball at Rutgers until he’d finished four years of football for the Scarlet Knights. The strong safety asked the school’s baseball coach for a tryout, and the senior not only made the team, but ended up recording the first Triple Crown (.399, 14 home runs, 50 RBI) in Big East history. Kivlehan also led the conference in reaching base (.484) and slugging (.710 — sixth in all of NCAA Division I), and stole 24 bases in 28 tries.

He was drafted at season’s end by the Mariners in the fourth round (2012), signing under slot — because that’s what college seniors, without much alternative, typically agree to do.

Kivlehan was the Northwest League MVP that summer, putting up an .883 OPS with a league-leading 12 homers and .511 slug for Short-Season A Everett, playing third base. Baseball America listed him after the season as Seattle’s number 18 prospect.

In 2013, he hit .303/.366/.464 between the Low A and High A levels, and earned a brief assignment to the Arizona Fall League. BA then judged him to be Seattle’s number 12 prospect.

2014: A collective .295/.363/.507 slash line at the High A and AA levels, defensive reps at both infield corners and all three outfield spots, followed by a full-season AFL assignment in which he hit .280/.387/.473 and led the league in RBI (playing first base and left field). He finished the year as BA’s number 4 Mariners prospect.

This year, Kivlehan hit .256/.313/.453 for AAA Tacoma, hitting 22 home runs (seventh in the Pacific Coast League) in 123 games, with his season interrupted briefly by a summer stint with Team USA in the Pan Am Games, where he hit .342 with a team-leading three homers. After playing one all four corners and center field again during the season, he’s playing first base for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League right now, putting up a .310/.333/.448 small-sample line in his first 30 plate appearances.

Maybe most notable about Kivlehan’s AAA production in 2015 was that he hit .237/.288/.440 (319 plate appearances) before the two-week run with Team USA — and then .287/.352/.475 (199 plate appearances) thereafter. He got better.

The idea that a player could be away from the game completely for four years and succeed at such a high level in college, and then meet every challenge as a minor league hitter, had to make a scouting-first guy like Zduriencik unusually proud. Whether Texas was among them or not, I’m sure teams asked Seattle regularly about Kivlehan — who universally earns “off the charts” grades for his makeup as well — and I can imagine Zduriencik was regularly reluctant to seriously consider the idea.

For Dipoto, who has shown this off-season that he’s focused on improving his outfield defense (Martin and Norichika Aoki in, Mark Trumbo out), Kivlehan was probably less a scouting and player development success story than a four-corners bat at an advanced minor league age who may not profile as an everyday defender.

But as a guy who hits with power from the right side, presumably capable of filling a role that would allow Josh Hamilton to sit against lefties or give Mitch Moreland an occasional day off at first, Kivlehan — who was just added to Seattle’s 40-man roster and thus has three option years remaining — gives Texas a player who could compete with Ryan Rua for a meaningful big league role.

I was a big Mike Simms fan.

Consider this as well: Texas and Seattle made the Wilhelmsen/Martin deal on November 16, at which time the teams agreed that Kivlehan would be the player to be named later.

The Mariners put the 25-year-old on their 40 on November 20.

Texas could have asked Seattle not to roster Kivlehan, waited for the Rule 5 Draft (one week from today) to conclude, and either taken Kivlehan once he slid through the draft unselected (which would have preserved an option if he were to start 2016 on the farm, and more importantly kept another of the Rangers’ own roster spots open for the winter), or accepted a different Mariners player if Kivlehan did get popped in the draft.

The Rangers obviously wanted Kivlehan badly. They didn’t want to take the chance that they’d end up with a different player to be named after the draft, even with the upside that Kivlehan going unchosen on December 10 would have presented.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Could it be that pitchers are not the only players elevating their game?

Oh sure, absolutely. I was just specifically referring to pitchers like Kershaw who dominate in the regular season but then become mortal in the postseason.

 

[saddles]

Jon Daniels on SportsDay podcast: What to expect from Rangers at winter meetings, updates on Darvish, Profar | SportsDay

Evan Grant: One other arm we need to touch on is the latest on Jurickson Profar. He's not throwing right now, just taking time off. Correct?

Jon Daniels: Correct. Just a normal offseason. He wanted to go out and play winter ball. He wanted to go down to the Dominican and play shortstop and winter ball. That's like his level of confidence, where he feels 100 percent normal. In our conversation with the medical staff, we kind of felt like he could do it if he needed to, but we thought the extra rest made more sense. If our mindset was to trade him right now, maybe it makes sense to have him go play winter ball and let other teams see him and make that evaluation that his arm is 100 percent. That's really not our mindset. I'm not saying he never gets traded. You never know how these things go. But there's time for that. We just felt like the extra rest this winter ... let him have a normal throwing program, starting in January, come in an be a normal player for us in spring training.

Kevin Sherrington: When he comes back and he is ready to play in the field, he will play at shortstop, not second base?

Jon Daniels: Correct. I do think he can play other positions, but that's something we don't know 100 percent. I think also, his makeup, that (shortstop) is where he should play in the field. He has that internal clock. Do you want him with the ball in his hands in big spots. That was always his makeup, his reputation coming up through the system. He's one of these guys, you want the ball hit to him in big spots. Could he end up playing third base? Could he end up playing second base? Playing the outfield? Yes, he's athletic enough for all those things. First time back in the field after missing the better part of two years, we're gonna play it safe and have him focus on shortstop first.

 

[saddles]

Jon Daniels on SportsDay podcast: What to expect from Rangers at winter meetings, updates on Darvish, Profar | SportsDay

Evan Grant: What constitutes a successful week for you in Nashville next week?

Jon Daniels: The Winter Meetings are a little different than they used to be in that I don't view them as a start point or an end point. It's just a time of year where things get accelerated a little bit around the league. There is a lot of activity, but it's 24/7-365 at this point as far as the ability to acquire talent. You see trades made all year long. There's always opportunities to get better. I don't view it as this is our to-do list, so to speak, for the Winter Meetings. We have to get this done in the hotel suite in Nashville. Our off-season list, things we want to address, really hasn't changed.

We need to add a starter, it could very well be bringing Colby (Lewis) back or could be adding somebody from the outside. We could conceiveably add two, but I think one is more realistic. Add some depth behind it. I feel pretty good about where our bullpen is. We've already added to that a little bit with (Tom) Wilhelmsen. A couple of spots - catching and center field - if we can add a some guys ... ideally, maybe a longer term, younger catcher that we can grow with. But that's easier said than done. Center field ... we have Delino; we have James Jones. If we can get some shorter-term options to compete with those guys, I think that would be beneficial. And then if there's a right-handed hitter, or hitters, that we can have kind of complement our lineup. We've explored some things for maybe a little bit of a bigger bat, more of an everyday player. At this point, I think it's more realistic that we would add complementary pieces, more platoon-type options than an everyday player. But things do pop up and you have to prepare for that as well.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

This do anything for anyone?

Cliff Lee cleared medically, could pitch in 2016