Texas Rangers 2010 Season

[mkat]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Of course he should have asked. I cannot believe that he didn't ask. That is absolutely ridiculous.

...it's Wash, man.

[ocelot_ark]

He's just further proof that being a professional coach in any sport doesn't require a MENSA card.

[mary]

Where the F do all of these Cubs fans come from?

[mkat]

Originally Posted by mary

Where the F do all of these Cubs fans come from?

front runner fans. even though the cubs are rarely front runners. kinda like yankee fans and what not. for some reason people are just cubs fans.

[ocelot_ark]

Ron Washington is, literally, retarded.

Let's pinch hit a lefty for a, you guessed it, lefty to face a left handed pitcher. Brilliant.

[Male30Dan]

Sigh... How are we in first place with this manager leading us? How? We have pissed far too many games away due to ignorance and stubborn "stick to my guns" decision making. I have held off calling for this Fers head, but shit.... Enough is enough.

Fire this dumb ass.

[Murphy3]

Alot of people are Cubs fans simply because growing up, many people chose between one of two teams because they were always on TV.. The Braves or the Cubs. Plus, there's also alot of idiots out there.

[jthig32]

And as everyone knows, there's a very transitive element to the Dallas population.

I have a buddy who spent most of his childhood in Indiana, near Chicago, and his entire family (about 25 people) was at all three games decked out in Cubs gear. I'm sure those kinds of things are fairly common.

[Male30Dan]

Interesting read...

[Mav Addict]

Originally Posted by jthig32

And as everyone knows, there's a very transitive element to the Dallas population.

I have a buddy who spent most of his childhood in Indiana, near Chicago, and his entire family (about 25 people) was at all three games decked out in Cubs gear. I'm sure those kinds of things are fairly common.

Most people from that area (East Chicago, Merriville, Gary,) and any other city near Chicago are Cubs fans even tho they live in Indiana b/c only thing on regular TV (WGN) were the freakin Cubs!

Like somebody else said.... back in the day they were the Braves b/c of channel TBS and the Cubs b/c of WGN...so if you dont live any an area that has a team you end up rooting for one or the other b/c these were some of the only televised baseball games.... then ESPN and FoxSports got hot.

I remember my grandafther falling asleep in his rocking chair back in the 80's watchin the Cubs b/c of WGN, and he has never step foot inside the state of Illinois

[Flacolaco]

w00t

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by jthig32

And as everyone knows, there's a very transitive element to the Dallas population.

I feel like I have to talk about this 18 times a hockey season, too. It made my blood boil to hear that crowd when the Cubs were here this weekend, or when the Wings are the AAC (or the Hawks, or the Devils, etc...) but there's seemingly nothing we can do about it. People aren't from here. Hell, I'm not from here. I just never lived any place long enough before here to settle down and dig my roots into teams in other places.

The same thing happens to the Cowboys on occasion, but to a lesser extent. I feel like baseball and hockey are the biggest casualties of it here in DFW. Basketball, for some reason, is different. I don't think the transient element plays into it as much as the Lebron/Kobe element does, and those people aren't transient. They're just...well that's them.

[Murphy3]

I know a few Cubs fans.. trust me, they buy up the tickets as soon as they go on sale. The crowd on Saturday, for instance, would have been around 40,000 for just about any middle of the road team. And yes, it would have been almost all Rangers fans.. But when it's the Cubs, Red Sox, Yankees, or Cardinals (perhaps I'm leaving out a team or two), well, those fans snatch up the tickets as soon as possible. So even though there's just 5000-6000 more fans in the ballpark, the Rangers to Cubs ratio quickly heads towards 1-1.

[Male30Dan]

From MLBtraderumors:

Buster Olney wondered today if the Rangers could take on a less-expensive player like Cliff Lee. Olney’s example: if the Rangers convinced the Mariners to take Rich Harden and his contract, they could offer better prospects for Lee. We’ve seen the Dodgers make payroll-neutral trades in recent years, even giving up Carlos Santana and Jon Meloan for Casey Blake in 2008.

Now THAT would be interesting... Wanna hear Cliff Lee's K/B ratio???

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Wait for it....









32:1

Obviously this isn't going to happen, but still quite fun to think about.

[Male30Dan]

Is there a reason Derek Holland came in to pitch an inning of this game? Have I missed something?

[jthig32]

I didn't catch the game, but I would assume it's because they have two off days this week.

He pitched on Saturday, so Sunday, Monday(off), Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday(off), Friday, Saturday.

He would have gone an entire week without pitching had he not gotten an inning today. I would assume that's the reason.

[mkat]

Originally Posted by Male28Dan

From MLBtraderumors:

Buster Olney wondered today if the Rangers could take on a less-expensive player like Cliff Lee. Olney’s example: if the Rangers convinced the Mariners to take Rich Harden and his contract, they could offer better prospects for Lee. We’ve seen the Dodgers make payroll-neutral trades in recent years, even giving up Carlos Santana and Jon Meloan for Casey Blake in 2008.

Now THAT would be interesting... Wanna hear Cliff Lee's K/B ratio???

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Wait for it....









32:1

Obviously this isn't going to happen, but still quite fun to think about.

this would be the best thing ever in the world. harden is a huge disappointment.

i'm kinda wondering if they could package harden + prospects for Oswalt, but i don't know what kinda cash Oswalt makes.

[Clutch21]

Is there a dominate Rangers forum based site on the net outside of Newbergreport? I bought a domain and vBulletin and was thinking about starting a Rangers forum.. that would by why I'm asking.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Clutch21

Is there a dominate Rangers forum based site on the net outside of Newbergreport? I bought a domain and vBulletin and was thinking about starting a Rangers forum.. that would by why I'm asking.

Guess you haven't seen this site...

[tcat075]

Why do the Rangers suck so bad riht now? Damnit! They showed a stat the other day, and the Rangers are apparently hitting about .300 the past 10-15 games. A single an inning isn't helping. The RISP average has to be about .200, mainly because Vlad/Kinsler/Ham/Cruz/Murphy can get on base at times, but those bottom three...

[Clutch21]

Originally Posted by tcat075

Guess you haven't seen this site...

Any fan operated sites? This is owned by SBNation. I would be more than glad to get one going if anyone is interested in running one with me. If I had a 2-3 die hards that would like to run it with me to success that would be great.

[tcat075]

f

[mkat]

they suck cause they're playing good teams. they're a middle of the pack team. just in a really bad division so they look better than they are. sigh.

[Male30Dan]

Man - this thread is dead... No talk at all about the first four picks for the Rangers yesterday? I expected to see a lot of hatred in this thread today considering many hated the Skole pick, (smart, safe selection though IMO considering not signing whoever you pick there means losing the pick for good).

OF, C, P, 3B - what are your thoughts on the selections?

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by Clutch21

Any fan operated sites? This is owned by SBNation. I would be more than glad to get one going if anyone is interested in running one with me. If I had a 2-3 die hards that would like to run it with me to success that would be great.

Everything SB Nation is fan operated.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Male28Dan

Man - this thread is dead... No talk at all about the first four picks for the Rangers yesterday? I expected to see a lot of hatred in this thread today considering many hated the Skole pick, (smart, safe selection though IMO considering not signing whoever you pick there means losing the pick for good).

OF, C, P, 3B - what are your thoughts on the selections?

I don't know. I can talk slightly intelligently about the Rangers minor league system (though I know less about it than the past few years), but when it comes to high school and college kids? Give me the scouting reports, but that's about it. We aren't going to see any of these kids for years...why should I care right now?

I'm much more interested in Perez's or Schepper's progress down in the system.

[dalmations202]

I just can't get into the Rangers right now. They are just too dang inconsistent. Don't get me wrong, I usually end up watching anyway, but arghhhh.

When the hitting is good, the pitching is all over the place. When the pitching is good, they can't hit. Then they put it together and everything works, then nothing works.

Just massively inconsistent right now - it seems like from everywhere.

Maybe this is just what you get from a young team - but ARGH.

[tcat075]

The offense has arrived.

[ocelot_ark]

Hamilton is on fire right now. Him + Smoak + Bourbon all getting hot at the same time? Scarrrrrry.

[mavspwnage]

It's hard to bitch slap a team as bad as the Rangers just bitch slapped the Mariners for the last three days.

[Flacolaco]

But how soon before the bitch slapper becomes the bitch slapee?

(Or, when does Harden pitch?)

[mavspwnage]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

But how soon before the bitch slapper becomes the bitch slapee?

(Or, when does Harden pitch?)

Harden pitches the next game. What a buzzkill he is.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

But how soon before the bitch slapper becomes the bitch slapee?

(Or, when does Harden pitch?)

Or Feldman. Both have been awful. I do have a faith that Feldman won't be quite this bad all year.

And Harden..well I don't think he's in the rotation much longer.

The good news is the next 15 games are against the Brewers, Marlins, Astros and Pirates. This is a golden opportunity to really put together a nice stretch and maybe establish a comfortable lead in the division.

[Male30Dan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Or Feldman. Both have been awful. I do have a faith that Feldman won't be quite this bad all year.

And Harden..well I don't think he's in the rotation much longer.

The good news is the next 15 games are against the Brewers, Marlins, Astros and Pirates. This is a golden opportunity to really put together a nice stretch and maybe establish a comfortable lead in the division.

Especially considering that the Angels' next 4 series are against the Dodgers, Brewers, Cubs, and Dodgers again... Oakland's next 4 series are against the Giants, Cubs, Cardinals, and Reds.

We definitely have the easier schedule out of the 3 teams so, yeah, let's take advantage here Rangers...

[sike]

Nice to see Smoak have a good game yesterday...are people still thinking he is going to be a big time hitter?

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by sike

Nice to see Smoak have a good game yesterday...are people still thinking he is going to be a big time hitter?

Yes. Without question.

Although, his massive struggles from the right side concern me a little.

[Male30Dan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Yes. Without question.

Although, his massive struggles from the right side concern me a little.

He will start getting hits there - hell hitting from the left side took a while and that is his strength. He will come around. This man is ready and he finally worked out the pressure of being up here. His average is over .220 now after being well under .200 for a while. He is hitting just under .500 over the past several games and is generally on fire. He is hitting some huge home runs and getting a lot of RBIs as well. I don't see him going back down. He is a Ranger for good barring a HORRIBLE slump.

Now, that does bring up the question of how Chris ever makes it back. Do they split time? Hell, Davis doesn't hit lefties great either. Too bad Chris isn't right-handed - that would work out pretty well, (despite the fact that you want both getting very regular playing time to continue to develop).

Does anyone think Davis becomes next year's 3B with Young moving to DH and Vlad being traded? What about Davis DHing himself, (again, with Vlad being traded)? Is he destined to be, at best, a AAAA hitter with a MLB glove?

I hate the idea of trading Vlad but at the deadline he could bring back a helluva haul and he obviously isn't a part of this team's long-term future, (MAYBE he plays this year and next with the Rangers, but surely that is it). You aren't going to rape an Atlanta for him but you could get a strong return and allow talented pieces to move back to the MLB level where, hopefully, they have worked out their issues.

I don't know though - we have a great shot to make the playoffs and I can't say that subtracting Vlad and adding Davis plus any other player that might be MLB-ready from the Vlad trade would keep us in that same position. It should make us stronger next year with more MLB-at bats for these young guys, but if WIN NOW is the strategy, it is a tough call.

[Mav Addict]

Aint no way im trading Vlad unless its for a no brainer package of young talent...jes sayin

[mkat]

unless you can get some kind of really really good pitcher, no trading the vladdy daddy.

[jthig32]

I think it's very possible that Chris Davis doesn't play another game for the Rangers. I doubt Vlad is back next year, but you can't go into a season where you expect to contend with Chris Davis penciled in as a regular. He's been given too much opportunity to trust him to that degree anymore.