Official 2011-2012 Texas Rangers' Offseason Thread

[jthig32]

It's hard to really say what you would "prefer" because baseball doesn't have a salary cap, and if Bob Simpson et. all want to foot the bill, I'll absolutely take Fielder, Darvish, CJ and whatever else they want to do.

Within the realm of possibility, I prefer CJ over Darvish (for now, depends on the finances of both), I prefer to not sink money into Fielder while the roles of Young and Napoli are somewhat undefined, and I prefer to try like hell to make Feliz and Ogando to work in the rotation.

[Male30Dan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

It's hard to really say what you would "prefer" because baseball doesn't have a salary cap, and if Bob Simpson et. all want to foot the bill, I'll absolutely take Fielder, Darvish, CJ and whatever else they want to do.

Within the realm of possibility, I prefer CJ over Darvish (for now, depends on the finances of both), I prefer to not sink money into Fielder while the roles of Young and Napoli are somewhat undefined, and I prefer to try like hell to make Feliz and Ogando to work in the rotation.

Wow - even after the last two postseasons? Not me. I mean, sure, we don't get to either post season without him (or do we, we thought we might not without Lee and our youth has really stepped up) but for the money he will command I would rather put that and some toward a young pitcher showing true, legitimate, Ace numbers, albeit against inferior competition (Colby moved nicely with numbers increasing, sure, but Yu's numbers are WAY better than Colby's were). Understand it and definitely the safer (and cheaper) decision, but give me Darvish. If we end up signing CJ back, I won't cry about it as I thought I would after the Series ended, but it better not be for crazy money.

Yeah, I thought about the Young/Napoli thing, but I say Napoli plays a lot at C next year with Young splitting time between DH and, yes - another position - OF, along with his backup time for guys that take full or half days off. When Young isn't at DH, Napoli is. Fielder would improve the team dramatically by adding his bat in this lineup. Dramatically. Imagine that man hitting in our ballpark.

If Feliz AND Ogando are to be in the rotation, well... I guess that means you aren't signing Darvish or CJ (or are you knocking one of Lewis/Holland/Harrison out of the rotation), right? If not, and you don't want Fielder, are we just looking for bullpen arms to shore up all of the departures?

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Male30Dan

Wow - even after the last two postseasons? Not me. I mean, sure, we don't get to either post season without him (or do we, we thought we might not without Lee and our youth has really stepped up) but for the money he will command I would rather put that and some toward a young pitcher showing true, legitimate, Ace numbers, albeit against inferior competition (Colby moved nicely with numbers increasing, sure, but Yu's numbers are WAY better than Colby's were). Understand it and definitely the safer (and cheaper) decision, but give me Darvish. If we end up signing CJ back, I won't cry about it as I thought I would after the Series ended, but it better not be for crazy money.

Yeah, I thought about the Young/Napoli thing, but I say Napoli plays a lot at C next year with Young splitting time between DH and, yes - another position - OF, along with his backup time for guys that take full or half days off. When Young isn't at DH, Napoli is. Fielder would improve the team dramatically by adding his bat in this lineup. Dramatically. Imagine that man hitting in our ballpark.

If Feliz AND Ogando are to be in the rotation, well... I guess that means you aren't signing Darvish or CJ (or are you knocking one of Lewis/Holland/Harrison out of the rotation), right? If not, and you don't want Fielder, are we just looking for bullpen arms to shore up all of the departures?

I'm just not sure that it's reasonable to expect a very young Japanese pitcher to come over and immediately front a rotation that's going to contend. Even if he works out, it will almost certainly take time. And I'd prefer not to trade time, not with the clock running on so many players.

I'm not real dug in on it, and it would certainly be exciting to get a prospect like him, but I'm not sure it's the best course of action.

If the club thinks Ogando and Feliz can both be rotation pitchers, then I think you trade one of Holland/Harrison (probably not even a decision, you trade Harrison) to improve the club, and you plug them into the staff with Feldman as the swing man in the bullpen.

If you go acquire a starter of any kind, then I put Feliz in the rotation, I put Ogando back in the pen, but not as the closer. I want Adams closing.

[Male30Dan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I'm just not sure that it's reasonable to expect a very young Japanese pitcher to come over and immediately front a rotation that's going to contend. Even if he works out, it will almost certainly take time. And I'd prefer not to trade time, not with the clock running on so many players.

I'm not real dug in on it, and it would certainly be exciting to get a prospect like him, but I'm not sure it's the best course of action.

If the club thinks Ogando and Feliz can both be rotation pitchers, then I think you trade one of Holland/Harrison (probably not even a decision, you trade Harrison) to improve the club, and you plug them into the staff with Feldman as the swing man in the bullpen.

If you go acquire a starter of any kind, then I put Feliz in the rotation, I put Ogando back in the pen, but not as the closer. I want Adams closing.

Well, I think that at the end of the day talent will typically overcome discomfort due to strange surroundings, unfamiliarity, etc. He is very, very good as I am sure you are quite aware of. A true stud of a pitcher and at a VERY young age. Sure, he will cost a lot of money and will have to overcome his lack of knowledge of MLB hitters (i.e., he is likely getting away with things there that will be hit out of the park here), but MLB hitters will have to overcome their lack of knowledge of him too - not to mention his stuff. For that matter, I expect Feliz to struggle some next year getting up to speed with facing guys 2-4 times per game if he is given a rotation spot. Part of it - he is worth those struggles and we will be much better off for letting him learn. Same with Darvish. Stuff is just way, way too good.

Yeah, if it comes down to Harrison or Holland, you absolutely 100% trade Harrison, and I don't care that his numbers were technically better. Fact is, when Holland fully matures and figures out just how good he is and how to duplicate outings and become consistent - watch out. He has Ace stuff himself. Of course, I still am not sure who your 5th guy is in that scenario. Are you saying this is your preference: Don't sign Fielder, resign CJ, move Feliz and Ogando to rotation, have Adams close?

If so, fair enough... But you better damn well hope Mitch's wrist is why he sucked so very hard last year. Talk about black hole. Sombitch can't even play good defense to cover his horrible, horrible offense. If your stance is Napoli/Young play 1B against every single LH pitcher with Moreland getting all RH pitcher starts (with literally ZERO ABs against LHP), well that's somewhat better, but still the guy is average at the very best. A -.2 WAR and -.5 dWAR starting 1B (hell, starting ANYTHING) is horrible for a World Series contending team.

As far as Adams closing, why are you so high on that idea? Because Newberg said it (don't mean to be rude there - truly just wondering)? You have no proof that he can do it at this point anymore than we have proof that Ogando can do it so there is no added security there. He doesn't have nearly as good of a fastball as Ogando and while pitching isn't just about a power fastball, you typically prefer your closer to have a great one. He gave up more HRs while pitching for us, which is the absolute last thing you want your closer to do. He does issue fewer walks, which might be the biggest positive in the transition from Feliz.

Don't get me wrong, I imagine he will be very good in the role. That said, I would rather have a guy like Darvish starting who I know won't have stamina issues (like Ogando obviously did down the stretch and again in the WS) and have Ogando pitching much more effectively in limited innings as the team's shut down closer. Now, if we were NOT going to sign CJ or bring in Darvish, yes, that is different. A starter is significantly more important than closer/bullpen pieces so if you have a hole that Ogando could fill, you absolutely put him there with Adams closing. My point though is that I don't anticipate that happening. Either we keep CJ, get Darvish or make a trade for a TORP and that person will join Feliz, Holland, Harrison and Lewis barring a trade. Feldman said today he wanted to start in 2012 so you have that issue brewing as well.

Good problem to have. Man is it ever. Not too far back that ol Ryan Drese was our opening day starter with hopes of .500 as a best case scenario. Hell, has been worse than that too. We are blessed and will be for another 5 years or so at a minimum.