tOfficially Official 2016 Spring training thread

[saddles]

 

[saddles]

Rangers’ Rougned Odor, scratched from Tuesday’s game, hit the weights during off-season

When these guys beef up with the weights I always wonder about them becoming more injury prone ala Juan Gonzalez.

 

[saddles]

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Can you not listen to the audio?

Nah... at work so it's not feasible.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Well, my apologies for bogging the board down in what I thought was a very statistically strange game.

 

[saddles]

I remember prior to that when Kinsler was thought to be injury prone.

 

[saddles]

Well, my apologies for bogging the board down in what I thought was a very statistically strange game.

No problem. I had encountered that same thing once before myself. It can fool you if you haven't experienced it before. it certainly fooled me the first time I came across that situation.

 

[saddles]

Austin Jackson to Chicago White Sox: 1 year, $5 million

Austin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox, with the outfielder agreeing to a one year, $5 million deal to play center field for Chicago, according to multiple reports.

Jackson, you may recall, was someone we had talked about as a possible target for the Texas Rangers this offseason, at least prior to the team signing Ian Desmond. I'm a bit thrown that the Rangers apparently preferred Desmond at $8M, plus forfeiting a pick, over Jackson at $5 million with no pick given up. Jon Heyman says that Jackson chose Chicago because they offered him a chance to play center field, whereas the Angels, who made an offer to him recently, would have put him in left field.

From the Rangers' point of view, it seems like putting Jackson in center with Josh Hamilton hurt wouldn't be a problem, as Jackson is generally considered to be a superior defender to Delino DeShields, and DeShields seems like a better fit in left field, long-term.

It will be interesting to watch how Desmond and Jackson compare this season. The Rangers opted for the added versatility and willingness to change positions of Desmond, and seem to think he's poised for a bounceback year. We shall see...

 

[saddles]

Good article about Gallo.

Joey Gallo aims to show more patience at plate

Gallo knows that he needs to get more disciplined at the plate, and that's what he's been focusing on this spring. The results haven't been there early in Cactus League play -- entering Monday, he had struck out five times in six at-bats -- but the dedication has been.


"What I see from Joey, from the first day he got here, is his focus and commitment to his practice and his work," Rangers hitting coach Anthony Iapoce said. "He's really been diligent with his routine and staying within himself and being able to make decisions and make adjustments pitch to pitch in the cage, which is how you have to do things in order to translate that to the game.


"From what I see right now, he looks great. He's doing a great job. Great self-talk right now. He's not getting too down on himself. And it starts with practice and quiet work when you're focused in on what you're trying to accomplish each day, and then you just trust and believe in it during the game, and when it doesn't go your way, you go back to the cage and you build the trust within yourself."...

"I've learned a lot," he said. "Obviously, going to the Major Leagues and seeing the best pitching in the world, I went back and made adjustments. Now I feel 10 times better than I did at the plate. I'm just trying to be more patient, swing at pitches that are strikes and not let the pitcher get me out."

 

[jta4437]

He did have a talk with JD to clear the air about something. Whether whatever they had to talk about caused the team to lose confidence in him we will never know for sure. Either way things should be fine concerning that matter now.

Yes, overall he was ineffective last year, but in a very small sample size when coming back from a prolonged layoff. That layoff coupled with his lack of experience to me doesn't equate to him being disappointing. I am not going to blame any player for their performance when it was chiefly caused by an injury. Due to his injury and due to the acquisitions of first Hamilton and then Napoli Rua didn't get "plenty of opportunities for him to take the job back."

Kivlehan's ML experience had already been noted.

I was only being thorough by mentioning Kivlehan

Seems we're easing onto the same page regarding Rua minus the significance of his July, which is easy to do considering the sample

And as you stated he had July and obviously someone was not impressed enough by his numbers to keep Hamilton or Napoli out of LF at any given point and I'll leave that there

 

[jta4437]

As much as I enjoyed Gentry, he was and still is, at best, a 4th OF.

Would we have been better off with Gentry than Choice for that one season? Sure. But in the bigger picture, we gave up not much and got not much back.

You shut your whore mouth

Kidding, always disliked the Gentry trade but I thought it was a solid flip talent wise and just about any GM would've done it in a heartbeat, just wish we hadn't

 

[Kelleyman]

The Michael Choice thing is still such a head scratcher.

Haha Bennie. You caught my drift. Well. I do think the exhibition time does matter but it really depends on the quality of completion you bat against. I really want to see Rua face good pitchers not experimenting. My hesitancy is the thought he did not have the poise needed later in the year. You talked about injury but he just dos not look right. However he does have tools and players grow. Just like we expect Gallo to. There is still room for patience. Bennie. You are the top prospect advocate on this board. Ha

 

[donaldson79]

Rangers’ Rougned Odor, scratched from Tuesday’s game, hit the weights during off-season

When these guys beef up with the weights I always wonder about them becoming more injury prone ala Juan Gonzalez.

I'm gonna wander out on a limb here and suggest - just suggesting mind ya - that ol Wando was hitting more than the weights.

 

[donaldson79]

You shut your whore mouth

Kidding, always disliked the Gentry trade but I thought it was a solid flip talent wise and just about any GM would've done it in a heartbeat, just wish we hadn't

First, I got a legitimate laugh outta your initial sentence.

Second, I highlighted your thoughts, which accurately reflect my sentiments.

 

[donaldson79]

Haha Bennie. You caught my drift. Well. I do think the exhibition time does matter but it really depends on the quality of completion you bat against. I really want to see Rua face good pitchers not experimenting. My hesitancy is the thought he did not have the poise needed later in the year. You talked about injury but he just dos not look right. However he does have tools and players grow. Just like we expect Gallo to. There is still room for patience. Bennie. You are the top prospect advocate on this board. Ha

You responded to romeos post, not Bennie's. So, are you thinking romeo and Bennie are same-same? If so, you got a "posting-butt-kicking" coming your way.

 

[jta4437]

First, I got a legitimate laugh outta your initial sentence.

Second, I highlighted your thoughts, which accurately reflect my sentiments.

Yeah I was huge "Kitten Face" fan and was sad to see him go, and something about Choice always bothered me

I rooted for him bc he was the cost of Gentry and even defended the trade vs the hard core irrational haters (bc once again, it made sense) but yeah always disliked it deep inside

 

[DT LUNA]

You responded to romeos post, not Bennie's. So, are you thinking romeo and Bennie are same-same? If so, you got a "posting-butt-kicking" coming your way.

No kidding Sherlock. I'd rather see him spending the week end with the Crawler than what he has coming.

 

[Kelleyman]

No kidding Sherlock. I'd rather see him spending the week end with the Crawler than what he has coming.

Haha yeah there is a bit of philosophical difference between the 2 and yes there was user error on the post. This whole thing re Rua and where he stands has filled a bit of space. As has been said, we have a bit of depth in our system. Wonder if AJ was picked up how and DDJ wa earmarked for LF how the board would respond.

 

[jta4437]

We need to find someone else for Crawler to hate, since it worked out pretty well for Moreland last year

 

[donaldson79]

Yeah I was huge "Kitten Face" fan and was sad to see him go, and something about Choice always bothered me

I rooted for him bc he was the cost of Gentry and even defended the trade vs the hard core irrational haters (bc once again, it made sense) but yeah always disliked it deep inside

Hey, run your memory bank backwards to way-back-then, and I was the guy who asked, "is it just me, or do good things seem to happen with this Gentry kid in the lineup?" Swear, he seemed to make a good catch, steal a base, make a good throw, take an extra base, etc, when he played and the team seemed to feed off it.

One of those guys which the numbers - old school or new school metrics - didn't reflect his contributions IMO.