Greetings from Arizona
Barry Zito is headed for San Francisco and I’m here in Phoenix, taking a little vacation and working on a special project. Therefore the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill is closed this week and probably won’t do anymore blogging until after the New Year. But hold those thoughts and opinions because, as you all know, vacations go by quickly….TR
T.R. Sullivan
Toby
TR, as we turn the page on 2006, I want to thank you for the fantastic coverage. Today you were right on top of the Zito story faster than anyone…Speaking of which, good riddance at that price. Sign Mark Mulder and I give the Rangers’ offseason an A+
Enjoy the vacation!
If you didn’t get the Newberg book you are missing out. Mrs. Santa hit a homer with this gift. Zito is a Giant with a giant salary and I am glad we missed. (Hope we use the money allocation for MY long term contract.) McCarthy, Tejeda, and Rupe will pick up the slack. MM? Sign him only if it doesn’t interfere with MY contract. Consider, MY could be the RH bat between Tex and HB if the order was KL, Cat, Tex, MY, HB, etc.–until JD finds the right deal. Maybe Cruz or Botts will step up. JD, good work so far, but I think you have something else for us.
T.R….enjoy your time away, and thank you so much for keeping us Ranger afficionadoes informed, this is my first couple of months to discover this “stage”, and I truly like to hear everyone’s comments, and T.R.’s wisdom…….I wish Barry Zito had come our way, but at least it subtracts from a division rival. I hope J.D. keeps his nose to the grindstone, and finds a taker for Wilkerson, so we might get something of quality. Sorry to beat a dead horse, but a dead horse at least wouldn’t whiff and miss with the regularity of Brad “the Bust” Wilkerson-shoulder or no shoulder…..Happy New Year to All Ranger faithful!
TR I hope in your vacation includes tickets to the Fiesta Bowl! I’ll be there rooting on The underdog Boise St team! Baseball is still the best game on earth but it’s ok to take a few days off to watch one of the best College bowl games. Zito is gone…did anyone expect him here? Zambrano I’ve heard mentioned a few times although I think he too is just a pipe dream. I think we focus on winning this year. Hopefully Wilkerson will rediscover his all-star swing and we’ll see a good OF to go with our Studly IF. Pitching should still be good for us with Millwood, Padilla, McCarthy, Tejada and whoever wants to be #5. Mulder will be a nice fill in for mid season although I still think for the future I think many readers in the wake of losing Danks have forgotten about another one of our own. Eric Hurley is no slouch! He too is a former first round pick and has a great track record he should be ready late this year and ready for full time next. Happy New Year everyone. 2007 could bring good things to us Ranger fans!!
Merry 5th Day of Christmas, Y’all!
“5 Golden Rings” couldn’t be represented better than by the signing of a slam-dunk 5th starter.
How about one who’d be willing to sit out the first 2 months… while we confirm RTejeda and try-out a couple other prospects.
Clemens looks like he’s headed to NYY after they trade RJohnson, and I’d rather have Mark Mulder anyway, especially for 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 years instead of just the half that Clemens would provide.
As soon as Mulder is himself again, whichever rookie has stepped up can be our first safety net against an SP injury, and pitch out of the bullpen in the meantime.
It’s a situation as stable as the Yankees’ usual rotation of six veritable starters.
Now let us pray for MM.
And in the mean (Christmas honeymoon) time, Mr. Sinatra, it’s one thing to beat a dead horse, and another to keep feeding it.
If you’re right about Wilk (but I don’t think you are), this would be NO time to trade him. Anyone with even the rumor of Sorianic potential (post-recovery) should at least get to prove himself actually bad, once healthy.
If he is, in fact, bad, then we can trade him later for about what we would get for him now BEFORE knowing if he is actually quite good.
The same goes for Hank against lefties. If, when healthy, he still bombs vs. lefties, then we’ve got a problem.
One thing I do agree with you on is: if either Hank or Wilk is stuck in ’06, it would be a shame to let that kill us.
The answer to such an Achilles’heel seems to be Mark Loretta.
If Hank is healthy and hitting lefties, but not Wilk,
then Cat and Botts cover LF, and Loretta DH’s.
If Cruz isn’t ready, same thing.
If Wilk and Cruz are fine but Hank has to platoon, we don’t miss a beat in fielding percentage or comparable hitting with Loretta at 3rd vs. lefties. Then, when MY or IK need a day off, he’s got SS or 2B covered as well.
If we get back the Wilk and Hank of ’04, each healthy and hitting with a high OPS, then we are truly a force w/which to be reckoned.
But even in that situation, if Botts proves unable to handle DH vs lefties, Loretta is there, and can still spell others vs. righties.
Worst-case (i.e. best case)scenario: Wilk, Hank, Botts, Cruz and Lofton are all lights-out, and they plus MY and IK all stay healthy,…
Then we’ve GROSSLY overpaid for a Utility IF job which could have been covered by you or me.
EVEN THEN, Loretta is good for team chemistry, and a safety net in case we don’t sign Mulder.
Imagine what we could get for ANY ONE of these guys (once proven healthy) PLUS Otsuka!
Ben Sheets, perhaps? Certainly Lieber and high prospects. But I’m sure it’s Boston who would most like to have Otsuka to welcome Matsusaka. Whom might they offer?
Signing Loretta to gain such assurance and flexibility would be a bargain even at De Rosa’s price.
Like you TR I find myself on vacation this week and WAY to much time on my hands. So I to will be working on a special project. Ranger starting pitching! Now let me clarify that I have a ton of General Management experience. I once put together a powerhouse pee wee team that went 1-11! (And they said we wouldn’t win a game) So you can see that I am effective in getting a team to over achieve!
Anyway, enough about me. Last night, I was sleeping and enjoying a light dream about woman and beer and it hit me! No seriously, a 94 mph Roger Clemens fast ball hit me right upside the head! Whilst approaching me to retrieve the ball, he merely mumbled “get him and I will come”! I was so excited! As he walked away, I yelled, “but Mr. Clemens,” (all of us GM types call him that) “Zito already signed with the Giants.” He looked back at me and said, “Not him you idiot my son, Koby!” I ran to catch up with him and asked him to be more specific. He said, “Look DA (My name is Keith so I have no idea whay he said DA)do I need to draw you a picture?” “Just get Koby the heck off of that Lexington Legends team and into a Ranger uniform and I will come”!
We talked a bit more but I told him I had to get busy. I have been trying to get JD on the phone but for some reason he won’t return my call. I did call the Astros about Koby (being the aggressive GM type I am) but they wanted all of Mr. Hicks money if they were to take Brad Wilkerson straight up for Koby C so I guess this will go down as another deal that will fall through. Roger would need some helicopter fuel.
keibarr you make me laugh. Forget about Clemens and Baby Clemens. Mulder is who we should focus on. I do like the imagination though DA comes from an old movie called “where pigeons go to die” He’s the all-knowing grandpa….ahhh the memories. As for Loretta I think he’s still looking for a starting spot somewhere and may not be willing to sign up as a utility player. That may change if he’s not getting any offers of course but right now I don’t see anything coming from that. Maybe we just use one of our own for such a spot. We may have the answer in Arias and or Drew Meyer. Sure they are both less than stellar at the plate but should be just fine as a utility player and can both hold up defensively Meyer is projected as a utility player by quite a few scouts. But since we’re talking FA or trades I still think we look into BJ Upton from Tampa. He appears to me as having the most talent without a job in MLB. Iwamura takes over 3b for them, Longoria is coming on fast, there is no room at 2b or OF for him and I doubt they give him the DH role. Maybe we could get him cheap, groom him as our CF of the future but possibly use him as a Super Sub this year. The kid can flat out hit and run and Texas would be a good place for him to get his second chance. From everything I read his attitude is better than Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes he just happens to get lumped in with those two to often. Let’s start up talk about him…if nothing more than here on the blog what do all you other Ranger faithful think? I’ll check back in a few days.
The time has come. The Salary cap should be instutued in baseball.This is outrageous how can a small market team be in contention with this money. It’s not fair. Why do you think the yankee’s win every year and the devil rays finish last. This will make the MLB mor competive and exciting to watch. Knowing who is in and out of the playoffs on June is no fun. With a cap, more teams will won and the league will become ballanced. Teams like the A’s who develop talent the cant re-sign it will have a fighting chance. This will make September exciting and raise revnue for all MLB clubs, teams who stay in contention( KC) attendace will go up ect. Lets cap the MLB. Guys like Barry Zito, Chan-ho-PARK,Alfonzo Sorianio, A-ROD. These contracts are rediculas,how is Tampa Bay gonna re-sign Kaismer, Crawford,amd Cantu.