Disneyball...Day 4. Center of attention

Danks and Diamond for Rowand? Do they think JD has downs syndrome?

Forget about Lofton and Payton. Spend the money on a bat. Aubrey Huff comes to mind. Find a centerfielder in spring training/rule 5 draft.

I agree on the bat..let Guzman play center until we can take a shot at Wells or Hunter next year. Get some pitching!!!!!!

Hey, what's the problem? We've already got Gary Pettis.

With how the state of the baseball market has turned this winter, what makes you think the Rangers will be able to afford Vernon Wells or Tori Hunter.
You're talking about two of the best CFs in the past couple of decades. Wells is gonna get five-six years and 80-95+ million.

Good bye Teixeira?

The question isn't how will the Rangers be able to afford the roster this year and next year. Hicks has money, but he doesn't want to lose money on the team. The best way for us to see Texas having a good team is by attending games and buying a whole lot of $6 beers.

Yep, I agree. Whether we like it or not, the salaries have gotten totally out of control. With Teixeira and Young's contract both coming up in '09, if they are not signed before they both become free agents, they will be history. If you make minimum wage, you don't buy a house in Highland Park. If money is not an object, you live where you wish. If the Rangers plan to keep the team salary at around 70M, well, they should not expect to keep up with the "big boys". So if you are gonna "talk the talk", you need to be able to "walk the walk"...

Yeah right! After this winter, Hicks will jack beer prices to $16.

I heard he's going to raise bleacher seat prices to $20 and that's after he moves the bleachers out to the parking lot.

Here's a quick lesson on economics:

You have to spend money to make money.

The Rangers "saved" loads of money by not signing Lee, GMJ, etc - my understanding is that the money saved was earmarked to aquire high quality pitching...i.e. Barry "Probably going to the Mets" Zito.

As I have heard many places before, this organization has to pay extra for pitching for the following three reasons:

1. the ballpark

2. the heat

3. for being the Rangers

I would much rather have them spending truckloads of cash to sign great pitchers like Zito and build a fantastic rotation than just resting on their laurels waiting for the stars to align.

Will it cost money to bring Zito (and others like him) to Texas? YES. Will the extra money now eventually payoff once we get a winning team that will bring playoff baseball back to the ballpark? OF COURSE.

The DFW media market is HUUUUUUGE. Look at the Mavericks - did anyone care about them when they were in the cellar for what seemed like forever?? Amazing how getting to the playoffs would increase ticket sales for the Rangers.

PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING.

102M/6= 17 million a year. Texas gave Millwood a 5 year deal at age 31. Zito is 28. DO THE DEAL!!!!

Excellent points, ryan.

I don't think Hicks fuels this ballclub enough, and at times I don't think he makes the proper decisions. But I do believe this - - the guy has already made success of himself, and whatever profit he makes from the Rangers he will pour back into the Rangers.

It has got to start somewhere, and I think the perfect offseason is this offseason, where we still have money to spend and be in his "price range". We can easily add Zito this season and still be in our budget. With the new faces of our team, we could easily contend or make it to the playoffs from this win-able division.

All of this leads to more profits for Hicks, and a higher payroll for 2008, and then 2009, and then beyond that. And what does that mean? It means we can resign Mike Young, Mark Teixeira, and bring in Vernon Wells or Torii Hunter - - all of which would want to be here playing for a team that can contend.

It starts now, guys. We need Barry Zito.

#1, Daniels should have laughed in their face.
#2, I kinda like Payton, so I would sign him for two years. I think paying Lofton 6 million for 110 games is way too much.

#3,

For this season, I see the Rangers and Angels having the best shot at the division. The Angels have practically the same club as last year plus GMJ; The Rangers, if these deals happen, would have the best rotation in the division plus a great infield and some solid bats. We can count Oakland out. They lost Thomas, Zito, and Ron Washington. Payton doesn't look like he'll resign. I'm thinking the division is the Angels if the Rangers don't sign Zito or get a solid pitcher and if some of the young guys step it up.

Payton's a Georgia Tech grad. Could he help us keep Tex the way VWells could help us keep MYoung?

Wouldn't signing both Payton and Lofton cut Jason Botts entirely out of the picture?

Otherwise your scenario sounds great.

In that case, I could see trading Hank + Botts or Hank + Wilkerson for VWells (provided he signed a contract extension).

None of the above, however, is priority over pitching.

Mulder (healthy by the All-Star Break) would give us time to test our arsenal of prospects in the fifth spot.

If we can get HIM + LILLY for anywhere NEAR the cost of Zito, we should do it now.

The proportion of empty Major League starting rotation spots to decent FA starters is about 6:1. As Boras sits on Zito, while Lilly and others sign elsewhere, Zito's price will climb up and over the cost of Lilly + One of them (e.g. Mulder, Suppan, Batista) and yet any one of them AND Lilly might turn out as good as Zito, who is due for a little breakdown any year now.

We should at least take away SOME of Boras'surity (in our desperation) by signing Mulder in the meantime.

Cheers from St. Helena

Right...Even though Lilly signed, Mulder may be out on an injury and he would probably end up with 5 or 6 million a year. Them together is about 15 or 16 million...Just under the asking price of Zito who has much better numbers and has never missed a start.

Since Lilly (for only 4 years of risk) is gone,

make that "16 or 17 million... for 7 years" for Zito now.

And tomorrow, if Pettite goes to Houston, let the bidding war between the Yankees and Rangers (to save face) drive Zito up to 8 years at 18 million per.

I'm not against signing him. I'm just against courting him as an all-or-nothing suitor.

Love is absolute, but value to a baseball team is relative.

If we hope to sign Zito, we need to give an ultimate offer with a Matzuka-like ultimatum NOW so that we don't find ourselves in an even worse pitching-budget predicament than Boston...

while all the 2-for-the-price-of-1's sign elsewhere.

And in the meantime, I'd gladly sign Mulder (not for a half year only, but) at 13 million for 1 1/2 years.

I hope I'm wrong, but I just get the feeling Boras is using us to up the price for the Mets. I don't think he's serious about Zito signing to play in Texas. But like I said, I hope I'm wrong. No way do I sign Zito for over $100 million.

Please, oh please may we put the idea of Brad Wilkerson in centerfield to rest? The one striking moment of last season was to me seeing Alfonso Soriano's stand-in, (gulp!!)Brad Wilkerson whiffing, fanning and taking strike three when he didn't swing and miss for strike three, plus producing absolutely nothing in the clutch. He has no speed, and I'm not sure his arm/shoulder--even with surgery is going to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Let Guzman play center while we spend resources on pitching.

I was under the impression that wilkerson's arm fell off in 1994. Am I wrong about that?