They Did it Again....

shotgunn

dont let your ranger pants go too crazy yet - but I'm on the bandwagon as well! I was at the game today - McCarthy looked good - I think having the big lead worked against him. The ball was flying out of the yard - had a huge jet stream to right center.

LOVE the Ranger Red - wish they would throw the blue into the dumpster

baby arm

 

I don't think it's safe to say that. It's one thing to feast on bad pitching at Arlington and elsewhere in the regular season, but it's another to face good pitching in an ALDS. I do think the Rangers are going to win a relatively weak AL West though, where all it's going to take to win the division is 83-85 wins.

 

I dont know if you guys read the Newberg report - I post some of his stuff from time to time. This is great and it is free -

http://www.newbergreport.com

baby arm

 

The Rangers are my second favorite team(after the Astros). I think I will buy a Rangers polo shirt to alternate with my Astros polo shirt on casual Fridays at work.

I watched a lot of the game yesterday on Fox Sports Network. I hope the Rangers keep it up. :thumbs:

 

Hate to break your bubble, but the Rangers won't be able to get anything for either Blalock or Jones. Blalock can hit, but he can't stay healthy. Andruw Jones can't do anything. Well, he can eat. Dude is listed on ESPN's site as 6'1" 240, which is fat for a professional baseball player. The Rangers probably couldn't even get Carl Pavano or Big Fat Sidney Ponson for either one of them.

They could probably get a decent pitcher for Teagarden, assuming that Saltalamacchia turns out to be good.

 

The rangers wont be able to fleece a team the way they did Atlanta for Tex (Andrus and Salty, Neftali Feliz, and Matt Harrison) and Boston for a washed up Gagne (David Murphy, engle Beltre, a promising AAA outfielder and Kason Gabbard - injured but should be decent.

Jones is only 31 years old, if he is able to ressurect his swing, as it appears he has done since a disastrous start in spring training he will have some value. He makes no money, the Dodgers are paying all that, so he will be relatively easy to move if the Rangers decide to.

Blalock playing 1st or DHing should be able to stay healthy, his contract is not cheap however. I've always liked Hank, surrounded by the rest of Washington's bangers, he will be protected and should do well. Hope he does well and that the Rangers hold onto him.

 

Is this the guy that worked with Francoeur? He's worked with some other hitters, I think, but I don't remember the names right off-hand. Regardless, it's way too early to know whether the batting stance changes have helped Frenchy or not.

Please define "some". In 2007, he hit .222 with a .724 OPS, though he somehow managed to hit 26 HRs and had 94 RBI. In 2008, he was one of the worst players in the majors, hitting .158 with a .505 OPS, 3 HRs and 14 RBI. If by "some", you mean that Andruw Jones has more upside as a professional baseball player than I do, then I agree. Very little financial investment or not, major league teams can't afford to give 200 ABs to guys who can't hit their weight.

To who? Who would trade for him and what would they trade? Anybody who would trade for Andruw at this point would trade a guy you don't want anyway. At 31, he ought to be in the prime of his career with his best days happening right now, not trying to resurrect his swing after 2 years of being bad.

Let me be clear. I like Blalock. If he played a full year, he'd give you 24 HRs and 80 RBI, which makes him Texas' version of Derrek Lee. That's not bad. But, there's no "if" about whether he's staying healthy. He's not. He's had 258 and 208 ABs the last 2 years, meaning that he's missed about half of the last 2 seasons.

No question I'm going at this from a long-distance view. I could be wrong about both of them.

 

Rangers no longer undefeated - the Tigers just dropped a big Boo-Yah on them.

 

You beat me too it Andy. One more win and we can get to .500. I hope Verlander starts pitching like he did his rookie year. If he doesn't we have no chance this year.

 

I have lost hope on Verlander - I think he is a headcase. Expect a slugfest today on both sides. I think the key for the Tigers is the return of Bonderman and Zumaya. If Bondo can just pitch around 4.00 ERA and somehow Zumaya return to old form, there might be hope for this team. I'm beginning to think Zumaya is the next Mark Fidrych, though.