The reigning champs arrive at the Grill for a weekend set: ATL @ TEX 4/29-5/1

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

My gut is telling me the Rangers go 1-2 this weekend.

Gut was wrong, thankfully

 

[saddles]

He did say that Calhoun needs more lift on his swing

You see, this is what I really don't like about Woody. He has been saying all along that Willie has totally bought in to the approach Woody wanted for him. We heard about all of the hard hit balls that Willie was hitting, but they just weren't falling. Then he sends him down and says he needs to adjust again.

Woody was either lying about Willie all along, and that is enough to make me want him not managing my team, or Woody was dead wrong about that being the right approach for Willie. Or maybe, Woody is way too wishy washy.

I don't care which situation it is and I don't care if Willie is sent to AAA or not. Either way, Woody needs to be replaced.

I think Woody is not good for hitters in general. I think he thinks he knows way more about hitting than he actually does. He certainly looks challenged at times in knowing how to handle a pitching staff. He needs to go before this team is ready to compete again, whether that is during this season or after this season.

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Leiter, Winn, Ragans and Roby all had rough outings this weekend.

 

[saddles]

From mlbtraderumors:

Both the Rangers and Mariners were linked to Trevor Story’s market prior to the lockout, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that both AL West rivals offered Story a contract similar to the six-year, $140MM deal that the free agent eventually signed with the Red Sox in March. At that earlier date in the offseason, Story’s reps countered with a much larger contract demands, leading both Texas and Seattle to go in different directions with their lineup plans. The Rangers instead splurged on both Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, while the Mariners (who intended to use Story as a second baseman) acquired Adam Frazier from the Padres, and then added Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to the position player side in another trade with the Reds following the lockout. Interestingly, Rosenthal notes that Story has changed his representation since signing with Boston, and is now a client of the Wasserman Agency.

 

[DTC]

Willie all but demanding a trade

Rangers' Willie Calhoun Wants To Be Traded After Demotion To Triple-A

The Rangers optioned outfielder Willie Calhoun to Triple-A today, as part of the team's efforts to pare down to 26 …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Willie all but demanding a trade

Rangers' Willie Calhoun Wants To Be Traded After Demotion To Triple-A

The Rangers optioned outfielder Willie Calhoun to Triple-A today, as part of the team's efforts to pare down to 26 …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

He hasn't been happy here in a long time

 

[saddles]

Willie all but demanding a trade

Rangers' Willie Calhoun Wants To Be Traded After Demotion To Triple-A

The Rangers optioned outfielder Willie Calhoun to Triple-A today, as part of the team's efforts to pare down to 26 …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

"Calhoun also wasn’t pleased with how Rangers hitting coaches both old and new (Tim Hyers and assistant coach Seth Conner were hired over the offseason) tried to alter his swing and approach. “I don’t agree with some of the hitting philosophies from the new guys,” Calhoun said. “I don’t process that (information) too well. I’m not 6-4, 230 pounds; I can’t hit pop-up home runs. I don’t have that leverage.”'

 

[saddles]

Who all is hitting better under the new hitting coaches?

 

[DTC]

Who all is hitting better under the new hitting coaches?

Eh… I would wait a bit before judging the coaches.. it’s only been a month..


And Donnie Ecker was baseball America coach of the year for his work with the Giants

I believe we have great coaching..it would appear so.. just going to take a little bit to get everyone on the same page and heading in the right direction..

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Worth mentioning that hitting is down across the entire MLB

 

[saddles]

Eh… I would wait a bit before judging the coaches.. it’s only been a month..


And Donnie Ecker was baseball America coach of the year for his work with the Giants

I believe we have great coaching..it would appear so.. just going to take a little bit to get everyone on the same page and heading in the right direction..

The one new thing for the hitting coaches is that they are now coaching under Woodward.

 

[saddles]

It really looks like Story's agent messed him up. The agent wanted to play games and the Rangers and the Mariners said "no games for us" and moved on. It was just about the reverse of the scenario between JD and Boras two years earlier. No wonder Story found a new agent.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

He hasn't been happy here in a long time

I kind of feel for the guy. He hits 21 HRs in 2019 in about 300 ABs and then the next year in Spring Training he gets his jaw busted when hit by a pitch and you have to overcome some fears when that happens. Then the next year he gets hit in the arm and has his forearm busted. Just has tough luck. Hey, whatever happens with him happens. But with what we are trying to do and see what we have why is Kole Calhoun on this team. He has zero future here. More so than Willie.

 

[Kelleyman]

I had a postgame question with Sandler show questioning. Woody’s use ofHoward and pen, Allard vs Burke Also questioned since we are in a rebuild year why we don’t utilize guys with a future like Adolis on top of lineup and Why Kole leads off.

He stated basically Kole was the vocal leader in the locker room an has had bad luck.

 

[Kelleyman]

So yea why Willie was chosen the demotion over a guy like Kole who has no real future makes no sense at one level.
I do think a guy whose only real role is DH needs to hit at a higher standard than position players

Regardless his last comments to me show he will never be brought back up and will be traded. Here is hoping he does well in AAA.

 

[saddles]

I had a postgame question with Sandler show questioning. Woody’s use ofHoward and pen, Allard vs Burke Also questioned since we are in a rebuild year why we don’t utilize guys with a future like Adolis on top of lineup and Why Kole leads off.

He stated basically Kole was the vocal leader in the locker room an has had bad luck.

You would think guys like Seager and Semien could be vocal leaders.

I don't want to hear any more about bad luck now that they have told us Willie's bad luck was really not bad luck at all, or at least implied it.

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Willie all but demanding a trade

Rangers' Willie Calhoun Wants To Be Traded After Demotion To Triple-A

The Rangers optioned outfielder Willie Calhoun to Triple-A today, as part of the team's efforts to pare down to 26 …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

That didn't take long, you can only hide bad habits for so long...

 

[scotsman1948]

I kind of feel for the guy. He hits 21 HRs in 2019 in about 300 ABs and then the next year in Spring Training he gets his jaw busted when hit by a pitch and you have to overcome some fears when that happens. Then the next year he gets hit in the arm and has his forearm busted. Just has tough luck. Hey, whatever happens with him happens. But with what we are trying to do and see what we have why is Kole Calhoun on this team. He has zero future here. More so than Willie.

i like Willie but neither he nor Kole have a future here

 

[saddles]

Here is an update on one of the top draft prospects. This is the guy @DTC wants us to draft.

Kevin Parada has more HRs (22) than Ks (19).

He’s 1 of just 2 qualifying players in the country to do that.

In MLB, it’s only happened twice since 1960:

• Barry Bonds 2004

• George Brett 1980

Oh, and Parada is tied for the national lead w/ those 22

What Dropped Yesterday - Mikey Romero, Kevin Parada, Elijah Green, Michael Curialle, Druw Jones, Patrick Messick

4-30-22 - Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) It was a slow start to the season for Orange Lutheran SS Mikey Romero , but he finished with a ba...

mlbdraftdatabase.blogspot.com