World Series Champions, Texas Rangers 2024 Spring Training Thread

[saddles]

 

[Nightcrawler]

Cole Ragans named opening day starter for Kansas City.

The trade of Ragans was unequivocally worth the world series.

He may be great this season and beyond, he may be great this season and good or average in the future, he may get knocked around. We'll have to wait and see.

I will say the Rangers may have been more apt to keep him if they could ever figure out the pitching coach heirarchy from the minors through the show. For some reason this club has never been able to consistently develop quality pitchers, and it is painful to see many moved on to other clubs where they then blossom.

im ok with what Ragans does because Chapman definitely helped us get the trophy.

 

[saddles]

The trade of Ragans was unequivocally worth the world series.

The problem with that statement is that it ignores 2 reasons why Ragans was traded.

For one thing, had the front office took care of business in the offseason after the 2022 season, Chapman would have never been needed. The bullpen should have been addressed 6 to 8 months prior to us acquiring Chapman.

Secondly, had the Rangers been able to tell how much Ragans had improved, they would have made the deal with other prospects, if they had needed Chapman. Ragans was very much improved after his time with Tread, but our people couldn't see that for some reason. Had they seen it, Ragans would have never been relegated to an occasional outing coming out of the bullpen. If nothing else, he could have closed for us until we found another closer later. Had they realized how good he was, they would have never traded him. They would have simply found another guy from our extremely deep farm system to trade.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Cole Ragans named opening day starter for Kansas City.

The trade of Ragans was unequivocally worth the world series.

He may be great this season and beyond, he may be great this season and good or average in the future, he may get knocked around. We'll have to wait and see.

I will say the Rangers may have been more apt to keep him if they could ever figure out the pitching coach heirarchy from the minors through the show. For some reason this club has never been able to consistently develop quality pitchers, and it is painful to see many moved on to other clubs where they then blossom.

im ok with what Ragans does because Chapman definitely helped us get the trophy.

I can't buy this logic. Chapman was total garbage in my opinion. To lose Ragans was inexcusable. Even an amateur like me saw that this guy had turned the corner as a starter and should have gone to AAA and keep starting instead of sticking him in the BP. Anyone with their eyes open could see that Ragans had figured it out as a starter. This was a huge black mark on the front office and coaching staff.

 

[Kelleyman]

Re Cole
I was always an advocate to let him be starter depth in AAA
However KC evidently tweaked him in ways the Rangers did not. This is the same with Rays development. They make good pitchers traadee for better.

So the point is he never would have been as good as he became if he stayed with the Rangers.
Now Chapman gave me a heart attack when he pitched. But were we a better pen with him him and did he contribute to win the WS I think so.

But of course now it looks like an overpay giving up Cole?
But I am still pretty ecstatic over the WS and trying to stuff any regrets

The real sin is not the trade but the age old development issue. To me this is crucial for us to get Leiter over the hump

 

[saddles]

Re Cole
I was always an advocate to let him be starter depth in AAA
However KC evidently tweaked him in ways the Rangers did not. This is the same with Rays development. They make good pitchers traadee for better.

So the point is he never would have been as good as he became if he stayed with the Rangers.
Now Chapman gave me a heart attack when he pitched. But were we a better pen with him him and did he contribute to win the WS I think so.

But of course now it looks like an overpay giving up Cole?
But I am still pretty ecstatic over the WS and trying to stuff any regrets

The real sin is not the trade but the age old development issue. To me this is crucial for us to get Leiter over the hump

KC didn't tweak anything with him. That was done by the folks at Tread in the prior offseason. The Royals simply allowed him to start.

 

[Kelleyman]

KC didn't tweak anything with him. That was done by the folks at Tread in the prior offseason. The Royals simply allowed him to start.

I heard they helped him with a breaking pitch

 

[WastinSomeTime]

KC didn't tweak anything with him. That was done by the folks at Tread in the prior offseason. The Royals simply allowed him to start.

You beat me to the punch. You are exactly right.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I heard they helped him with a breaking pitch

He was lights out in the preseason. To not let him start at AAA is unforgivable. When they actually sent him down to start right before they traded him his value went up.

 

[saddles]

 

[Kelleyman]

Cole interviewed and said he added a slider with the help of the KC brain trust.

x.com

x.com

x.com

x.com

The first interview goes into detail

Like I said I wanted him to continue to start in AAA and not saying he was discounted

But what I said was true despite dispute on the board. Maybe the Rangers would have helped him develop the slider Maybe not

 

[Kelleyman]

There is bus on this board at times
Sure I am biased as well
At least we all got a WS. Hope we get more but going to enjoy this one

 

[Kelleyman]

Word to the wise how we treat people is important. Eph dished it out but he had some valuable opinions I think
IMO the board was too rough with him so now he does not frequent
I hate that

 

[saddles]

I heard they helped him with a breaking pitch

It was Tread that helped him. Almost exactly a year ago,, Keith Lae listed him in the article,

MLB players to watch: Keith Law’s 10 candidates for a breakout season in 2023​

It was the increased velocity that helped all of his pitches. The fact that the Rangers decision makers couldn't see that is inexcusable. And the fact, that Chapman was needed due to a lack of bullpen building in the 2022-23 offseason is inexcusable.

I have heard so many, over the last 9 months or so, say that giving up Ragans was worth it. That sentiment completely dismisses our very deep farm system, as if Ragans was the only player we could offer. And it completely dismisses the opportunity to acquire a couple more moderately priced relievers in that previous offseason.

Let's just hope CY learned some valuable lessons. I think JD learned some lessons after some very bad trades and I think CY has too.

 

[Kelleyman]

It was Tread that helped him. Almost exactly a year ago,, Keith Lae listed him in the article,

MLB players to watch: Keith Law’s 10 candidates for a breakout season in 2023​

It was the increased velocity that helped all of his pitches. The fact that the Rangers decision makers couldn't see that is inexcusable. And the fact, that Chapman was needed due to a lack of bullpen building in the 2022-23 offseason is inexcusable.

I have heard so many, over the last 9 months or so, say that giving up Ragans was worth it. That sentiment completely dismisses our very deep farm system, as if Ragans was the only player we could offer. And it completely dismisses the opportunity to acquire a couple more moderately priced relievers in that previous offseason.

Let's just hope CY learned some valuable lessons. I think JD learned some lessons after some very bad trades and I think CY has too.

I am not saying Tread did not help his velocity
But you immediately poopooed what I heard as if it did not happen

Don’t want to argue Have a nice day

 

[saddles]

Word to the wise how we treat people is important. Eph dished it out but he had some valuable opinions I think
IMO the board was too rough with him so now he does not frequent
I hate that

Lol. He was the one who was rough with folks. He wasn't on the Romeo level, but he was very cantankerous. I know for my part, he left several months after I blocked him, so when he left it wasn't due to any exchange with me.

 

[saddles]

Cole interviewed and said he added a slider with the help of the KC brain trust.

x.com

x.com

x.com

x.com

The first interview goes into detail

Like I said I wanted him to continue to start in AAA and not saying he was discounted

But what I said was true despite dispute on the board. Maybe the Rangers would have helped him develop the slider Maybe not

In that longer interview Cole mentioned he could work on that slider as a starter. Something he could have done here had the Rangers sent him to Round Rock to start. That possibility with the Rangers was ruined by their decision to shoehorn Cole into a reliever role due to their lack of taking care of that area.

He mentioned that he went to the pitching coach in Omaha to ask him about what he thought about adding a slider. That reminds me of Bradford deciding to make a change late in 2022 in the minors. I see no reason why Cole couldn't have had the same idea in Roynd Rock. Cole got the idea after a start in Omaha where he faced several lefties and gave up 6 of the 8 hits he gave up to them. That caused him to think about trying a slider. Starting helped him to see what he needed to do. He even mentioned he couldn't have worked on that as a reliever. Had the Rangers had done the right thing and kept him starting, there is no reason to believe he couldn't have done that well over here, maybe even better.

As Keith Law mentioned a year ago, the added velocity should make the other pitches better. That is why Law included Cole as a major breakout candidate.

 

[saddles]

I am glad some of the players are starting to see how bad Scott Boras is for those that he doesn't represent. Even some of those he does represent may be able to see his flaws.

 

[saddles]

Here is the full report on Cole Ragans as a breakout candidate by Keith Law from the March 21, 2023 article.

Cole Ragans, LHP, Texas Rangers​

Ragans is a two-time Tommy John recipient, and when he finally debuted in the majors last year, it seemed more like a feel-good story than anything else, as he averaged just 92.1 mph on his four-seamer and got hit very hard. This spring, he’s touched 98 several times and 97 in every outing, and combined with the pitch’s high spin rate and huge arm-side run, it should go from being a major weakness (the pitch was worth -13 runs last year, per Statcast) to an asset. He’s got a big-breaking curveball and a changeup with plus fade, with the curveball playing up because its spin-based direction is dead opposite to that of the fastball and change. I do worry that his two main pitches both move away from right-handers, while he needs his curve and cutter (which could also be better with the better arm strength) to work more east-west and keep right-handed hitters from creeping up on the plate … but that we’re even at a point where that’s the main concern is a sign that his prospects are much brighter this year.

 

[saddles]