Monday Morning Manager...Beware the Ides of May

1. The Rangers OF offense has got to be the worst in the AL – maybe in all of MLB – can JD just get rid of them all and start over?

Not much you can do about CF – and when Kenny Lofton does get on base he does make things happen – it’s just getting him on base that is the problem. Walk off heroics aside – Nelson Cruz needs to go back to AAA. I hate to write that, because I’m one who is always saying the Rangers should show more patience with their younger players – but as bad as the OF production is right now – they need to find some kind of offense from someone and can’t afford to wait on Nelson as long as Wilkerson and Catalanotto are anchored well below the Mendoza line. It appears that the only options at this point is for Ron Washington to go with the hot….er….most lukewarm bat of the group – and just keep his fingers crossed that one them starts hitting…a little bit….please.

2. Let’s start with the fact that aside from Mark Teixeira – the Rangers are, at best, an average to below average group of defenders in the first place – expectations shouldn’t have been that high in the first place. However, as with anything else – when things are going badly for a team all the shortcomings are magnified, and I think the defensive problems are just a part of the poor momentum of the season so far. By the way - last year they finished 6th in fielding percentage – which still didn’t get them out of third place - and in the “magical” 2004 season they finished 11th in fielding percentage. I wonder if the Rangers were 22-15 instead of 15-22 if we’d even be talking about this?

3. I think it’s a little bit of bad luck but I can’t blame the offense for all of Vincente’s problems. In 4 of his starts he gave up 3 runs (and in Cleveland 5 runs) before the 3rd inning – that puts an already struggling offense in a hole they can’t seem to climb out of lately.

4. Almost – check back with me around the All-Star break

5. I don’t think it’s a rivalry – but it is nice to be able to take a shorter trip to see a Rangers road game (although personally, I prefer going to Denver for Rangers/Rockies games). Yes I am tired of it. But whether we in Texas or in other parts of the country like it or not they will keep showing way too many games with NewYork teams – they get the ratings they want every time the Yankees or Mets are on ESPN or Fox.

1. Depends on whether Cruz gets hot after last night's walk-off. That could be the jolt he needed. If not, and his production continues at the sub-par pace it's been at, he needs to go to OKC. The OF/DH distribution will depend if Cat is back to being Cat when he returns.

2. They lack focus. Ron needs to continue to ride them. These guys are too skilled in the field to be letting unearned runs continue to kill them.

3. Both. Padilla should have won at least one or two more games had it not been for offensive and defensive miscues. But, I continue to believe that this is not the same Padilla we saw last season. Last season, a contract year, he had something to prove. That played well into the bulldog mindset he needs to be at his best. With the mediocre - not too big, not too small - contract the Rangers gave him, what does he have to prove this season? Without something to prove, he's falling back to mediocrity.

4. HECK NO! Given what we coughed up for him, we should have gotten more. Until he wins 15 or more games and is a reliable, consistent front-line pitcher, I'm thoroughly disappointed to see him on the mound for the Rangers. May be a great guy. May have all the talent in the world. But The Rangers are not the team where talent and potential turn into consistent success for young pitchers. Never has been. Probably never will be. We should have gotten a young veteran like Buerhle or Willis (both lefties - which matters at The Ballpark).

5. Couldn't care less about the Astros-Rangers. The Yankees-Mets is a storied rivalry that's worth watching.

Question back at you and your readers: do you find it as interesting as I do that the guys who have been dead weight all season were the ones who stepped up and stopped our slide against the angels last night? My thoughts:

http://rangersorrobbers.wordpress.com

1. Against right handers: Wilkerson, Lofton, and Sosa Left to Right with Cat at DH. Against lefties: Wilkerson, Hairston, Diaz with Sosa moving to DH and Cruz to Oklahoma.

2. I don't know what to say about the defense. I don't believe it will be this bad all season but I'm starting to cringe on ground balls hit to 2nd the same way I used to when Soriano was here.

3. A little for column A and a little from column B.

4. Yes. He went through a really ugly patch there with his control but he's obviously very talented. I think he's a winner.

5. It hasn't been going on long enough to be a rivalry and there's not the same allure as White Sox/Cubs or Yankees/ Mets. I don't have a problem with baseball on TV ever. Even if it is the **** Yankees.

1. Got to give Cruz some at bats. He's the future. Make Brad Wilkerson and Cat compete in a cage match to see who plays left.

2. It's awful. It has to get better and fortunately, it can. Washington needs to be very accountable because he preached this all off-season.

3. Padilla is a rat. He plays for contracts. He has been awful. Granted, the offense could help a little but it's hard coming back from a five run deficit every game.

4. McCarthy is going to be shaky at times. Fans will need to understand this. But, yes, he's look tons better.

5. I think the Astros should win because they're forced to play in that sewer they call Houston.

No more Yanks/Mets. Give me Nats/O's from now on.

1. Cruz needs to play every day. We need to find out if he can play and the only way to tell is to play him. If he has a horrible year, we need to address several OF positions in the off-season. He won't get enough at bats against lefties only.
2. The defense is terrible, but not much you can do about it for now. The infield is set. Arias can't hit enough to warrant a major defensive adjustment, moving players around.

3. Just as Padilla wasn't worth 15 or 16? wins last year, he isn't as bad as 1-5 this year. He has good stuff. He needs to pitch every 5th day.

4. Still not excited about McCarthy's fly ball tendencies in a hitters park.

5. Rangers - Houston is not a serious rivalry and never will be unless they are in the same division. Yankees - Mets isn't much of a rivalry either. I get tired of seeing the Yankees, period. I hope they continue to struggle and am holding out hope that they will miss the playoffs this year so we can watch the fireworks.

http://hitlesswanderings.mlblogs.com/

1) I'm resigned to the fact that at one time Nelson Cruz was the star of the Milwaukee Farm system and top-prospect, so I'm willing to wait-it-out, because I feel he is a 5 tool player. I like Cat, but even though I guess Washington must go with the hot hand, there are no hot hands, so why not Cruz?

2) When Buck was banished from the Ranger fold, because of the players, and Washington was hired, he took Hank under his wing and worked on defense. I remember fairly recently, Hank had like 55 error-less games at third, so I wondered privately, "What's the big deal with the emphasis on Hank's defense?" To me he needed work on his situational hitting, and using all the field. Now that the Ranger's defense is solidly in the tank, I can only go back to the players, yes, the same ones who saw that Buck was sacrificed on the altar of scapegoating, because, no matter what Ron Washington says, the players aren't doing it, look often-times sloppy, and have cost Padilla, Loe, and the Ranger's victories. If the players are too "tight", How can this be??? They have a "player's manager" now. The players only have to look in the mirror for their culprit. It ain't Buck they can kick around anymore. Overall, the defense is putrid. I have no idea what can be done to ameliorate this problem. If the "player's manager" can't help them, who knows what they will respond to.

3) Padilla has pitched pretty darned well, and errors-galore happen when he is on the mound. I don't think Padilla can be faulted for the losses, as much as our give-away defense. Most teams would love a guy with Padilla's stuff. I give him a vote of confidence. Not willing to do that for our defense, however.

4) Yes, I feel Brandon is coming into his own. As bad as he looked earlier, he looks good now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Danks finally pitched very well for once, so they are about even. (I don't care about Danks--he's gone. I only included his name because some bloggers want to compare the two right now, when actually no true evaluation can be made until 5-8 years down the road.)

5) The Astros-Rangers rivalry is a good one. Hey, Texas is the second largest state in population and size in the Union. For that reason alone it's important. Although our baseball heritage isn't what it is on the East Coast, and the Yankees, Red Sox, etc....our Lone Star rivalry is a good one, because we are the only two major league baseball teams in the state, and both teams represent the different metropolitan areas of Texas: Fort Worth-Dallas and Houston. With the demographics of this state changing, we'll probably have 1 or 2 more major league baseball teams in Texas before too much longer. I do think the Mets-Yankees match-up is a might overdone, yet anything the Yankees seem to do is larger than life. Even though I personally detest them, it is newsworthy.

1. Cruz must play somewhere to get going. I can't understand why he hasn't played more with the outfield ice cold. If he's going to play a couple times a week, then send him down. I'd let him play everyday for at least two weeks first.
2. Hank and Young own the Rangers record for most errorless games in a row, and Tex is a gold glover. Laird has the best % throwing out runners in the league, and there is speed in the outfield, BUT the team is always pressing. Not because of the manager this year, but because they really feel like they can win now, but the pitcher always puts them in an early hole EVERY GAME!

3. Padilla is hot and cold. He can be too emotional at times and the errors and lack of hitting make it worse.

4. It's too soon to guess at this point. I need to see more. Brandon is here to win now, Danks was traded because we didn't want to wait for the future. If we have to wait years for Brandon to be good, what was the point?

5. It would mean alot more if we were both at the top of the standings every year.

1. Well, Cat will be back tomorrow, but he still has a sore shoulder, won't be able to throw for awhile yet, and will be stuck at DH. We probably won't see him in left anytime soon. Instead of Brad Wilkerson in left, I would play Matt Kata a little more, at least against lefties. We havn't seen hardly anything of him since the Yankees visited, and I can't figure out why. Is there a Scott Rolen/Tony LaRussa thing between him and Ron Wash or something? Just a note about Wilkerson, though: despite the fact that he strikes out minimum once a game, he has been on a power streak of late, so you have to leave him in the OF for the time being at least. Cruz hasn't made much of his chance with Cat out, but maybe yesterday's walk-off will give him the confidence he needs. But he doesn't improve in a few games, I would bench him for awhile. If he's a good as he's touted, sending him to AAA probably wouldn't serve us, but I hear Marlon Byrd (gee, didn't we sign him to be K-Loft's backup in CF?) is hitting something around .359 at OKC, and it sure would be nice to get a center feilder who can actually hit Vs. lefties, instead of Jerry "fly ball" Hairston.
In the meantime, though, with Cat's shoulder in question, I would play him at DH when Sammy's in right, and off the bench pich hitter when Sammy's not. It sounds to me like Frank is a far cry from 100% back, so overall, my OF would look like this:

Vs. Right handers: LF- Matt Kata/Brad Wilkerson CF- K-Loft RF- Sosa or Wilkerson/Cruz, Catalanotto/Sosa at DH.

Vs. Left handers: LF- Kata CF-Hairston RF- Cruz/Wilkerson, Sosa at DH.

(Just a note: as I write this, Brad Wilkerson just hit ANOTHER home run. Too bad it was already 7-1.)

2. Well, despite a few highlight reel plays like Wilkerson knocking down the LF wall, we're making at least an error a game. Mostly in the infeild. And mostly by Ian "double play" Kinsler, and Mike "airmail" Young. Oh, and then there's the afore mentioned Jerry "fly ball" Hairston, and others like Mike "cannonball" Wood... (yes I know, I'm being mean, but a guy can get pretty depressed watching the defense). Now would be a good time for Ron Wash to pull out some of the gold-glove infeild coaching he used on Eric Chavez.

3. When the defense is halfway decent, Padilla stinks. And when Padilla is halfway decent, the defense (and the offense) stinks. This poor guy can't buy a beak. Oh, and he also seems to be trying to set a new record for most batters hit in a season...

4. Yes. This kid has the potential (and the stuff) to be a 15+ game winner in a few years, we just have to endure the growing pains. Hopefully, the Rangers are willing to do that.

5. Astro's/Rangers is far and away one of the most underrated rivalrys in baseball. Rivalrys are created by the media and fans, and while it's very much real, it's just not much known outside of Texas. On the other hand, one of the more overrated rivalrys is Yanks/Mets. Not that it's not a real rivalry also, but everything is overrated in New York.

1. Carlos Lee in left, Gary Matthews in center and Mark DeRosa in right.
2. They are playing defense like expected.

3. Imagine the outcry if they hadn't re-signed Padilla.

4. Opening Day starter in 2008.

5. FOX has to make money somehow. Rangers-Astros isn't going to cut it

Lonestar and other McCarthy Believers:

Wake up! Click below to read why Brandon won't be successful (at least not here):

http://rangersorrobbers.wordpress.com

Prior to the season, I said that the Rangers would finish 79-83. I suspect that was wishful think now. At best, this team was never better than .500 and they will be pressed to be at .400 at the end of the season.

As for all the questions and the guessing, it totally rests in the hands of Ranger Management. Whatever they do, will not affect their overall performance this year. So, I guess they can stick it out with some of the players they currently have, like Cruz and McCarthy and keeping plugging along or bring up replacements from OKC.

The basic problem is the overlall lack of consistency, year after year. Many times, CHANGE is not the answer and trading just to say you traded and got someone else, is NOT the answer either. How about Nevins!

I have not missed a home game and must say it is painful to sit and watch high paid players make the fundemental mental mistakes, over and over. When a fly ball is hit and caught you have no idea if the throw is going into the dugout, the stands or to the cut-off man, and sometimes it does reach it's respectful destination. The same holds true with ground balls.

If I rememebr correctly, RW said he was going to concentrate on the basics; hitting, fielding and pitching. I guess that has not happened and those making the errors are sure not being held accountable. The Rangers lead the League in errors and I beleive are second only to the White Sox for the lowest overall team batting average. Their starting two pitchers hae a horrible record. This can be blamed on poor pitching, poor defense and poor offense.

So, leading the League in HRs has no bearing on the team's standings. Bases hit do and especially with men in scoring position. The Rangers have not figured out how to do that on a consistent basis.

The number 1 and number 2 pitchers on this team would certainly not be in those positions, if they were on any of the top two teams in the ALW, ALC or ALE. So, what you see is what you get.

Where does the blame fall? Well, I'd start with Management, not fielding a strong team, the Manager for not holding players accountable and the players for not producing.

If the Rangers are serious about baseball and fielding a team that can contend for the ALW, they have a huge job ahead of them. We'll see what happens in 2008-2009, cause it is not gonna happen this year, no matter what changes they make.

1. We have to play Cruz. I don't care if he hits .185. Let just make sure he doesn't lose faith and confidence in himself. Catalanotto isn't the answer. Besides we know what his capabilities are, no arm, good BA, no power. We have to play the young guys they are our future.
2. This organization has never focused on fundamental baseball. Washington has a hard row to hoe. He has to change the mindset of an organization that has never placed an emphasis on defense. This is where the Farm Director, has to begin emphasizing it in the minor leagues. This is going to take years to overcome. Too bad Washington isn't going to be around to see it, he seems to be a likable guy. I wonder how much Amstel Light he has left? I saw a tractor-trailer out at the ballpark the other day and Washington was telling these guys to bring it all in, i am going to need it. I **** as a manager.

3. Padilla had to be re-signed. I like the way he pitches. He doesn't usually do well until the weather gets hot. He has lost some games this year because of terrible defense. He hasn't pitched that badly. He also is the only guy the Rangers have who isn't afraid to pitch inside and to also retaliate. I like his agressiveness. I think that is what this team needs is to get into a fight.

4. Brandon will be ok. He needs to pitch. He seems to just need some confidence.

5. A rivalry is based on past history and games played among teams. The Astros and Rangers just haven't played each other that much. The Astros have been to the playoffs and a World Series. The Rangers haven't sniffed the playoffs in years and can only dream of the World Series. The Astros play good fundamental baseball with a staff ace and other good pitching. Need i say any more?

Here is the lineup for our new and future team. We have to go young, get rid of Lofton, Sosa, Wilkerson, and any other non-core guys and start trying to find long term answers during this season. Get as many as you can. We are out of it. Start playing these guys.
CF Guzman

2B Young

LF Teixiera

RF Cruz

3B Blalock

SS Kinsler

1B Botts

DH Catalanotto

C Laird

Which leads me to this question. Just who do we have down in minors that can help this "Major League" Team? Who is close, who could be here this year and help us? Why isn't Botts here now?????

Is anyone out there going to tell me i was right? 8 games under .500? I was crucified for saying the Rangers were going to be 10 games under by the all-star break. Has Washington lost the team already during the first 38 games?

Gone for almost 2 weeks seeking the piscatorial delights of the great northland and now I, the compleat angler" am back....and what do I discover has happened in my absencs.

If anthing the offense is worse.

If anything the pitching is worse...I think we had one starter then that had more wins than losses.

Who goes first? Connor or Washington?

Who do they trade first? The infield or the outfield?

I'm disgusted! Thanks Tom and Jon....anyone want Grieve and GWB and Shhieffer back?

For the good news! We are only at 37 games and the next 3 are being played at Disney! Maybe the Rays will put Goofy, Minnie & Mickey on the field and give us a chance! (Oh wait, they play for us)

Nelson Cruz (as pointed out earlier) is a 5 tool player. Keep throwing him out there and make sure Sosa stays in the game as either DH or another outfield position. The rest of the outfield flip a coin.

Questions 2 & 3 go together for me. For years all we hear from the position players is how they have no confidence in the pitching. I would argue that if I were a Ranger pitcher today I would feel my game would almost have to be perfect to give this team a chance to win. This pitching staff is not going to blow people away but we all agreed it would be servicable. The hitting is absolutely the pitfall of this team. I know the fielding is terrible but in years past the Rangers could slug their way out of huge holes. This team has lost it's identity.

McCarthy will be fine. Let him pitch every 5th day.

Astros-Rangers excited me in years past but these days I am having a hard time watching any game the Rangers play in. I find myself more and more turning away from the TV and catching mid-game summaries on the net. Once I see the Rangers are down by 5 I don't watch and only confirm the next day the loss on Texasrangers.com

I like this team have lost heart this year. No player will step up and lead this team. Management including Ron can only do so much. My 15 year old son wants me to take him to see the Astros. He said he wanted to see a professional baseball game!

1) I personally believe Doug Melvin hated parting with Nelson Cruz in the Carlos Lee trade-Cruz was the jewel of the Brewer farm system; therefore, my wish is to see what the young man can do. I like Cat, BUT, without us going anywhere, and the fact Cat cannot throw, yet or at anytime really, he should be a part-time guy in left field. Nelson Cruz should play, and be spelled at times by Sammy Sosa.

2) The take on the Ranger's defense? I believe former third base coach Perry Hill was superior, and we played much, much better defense when he was a tutor. The outfield arms outside of Cruz are pretty lame, and I'm especially fond of Kenny Lofton's "slings" to the infield, a-la the chicken wing throws of Mickey Rivers. Ian is pressing, Hank is hurt, Michael is down in all categories, including defense, and the only bright lights are Nelson Cruz and Gerald Laird. Rating on Defense: 3, with 10 being superb and 1 just awful.

3) I still feel the trades which brought Robinson Tejeda and the one which brought Vicente Padilla were great baseball moves. I feel Padilla has stunk at times, but overall, the 1-7 record when Vinny starts is due to bad defense and a very thin offense. Padilla is better than his record, but he hasn't performed equal to last year, unfortunately.

4) I'm feeling much better about Brandon McCarthy. In fact, without his renaissance recently, the Rangers would be off the charts. I still maintain it will take 5-7 years before we can clearly see an advantage for the McCarthy-Danks trade. I think it will be a draw personally. If the anti-McCarthy whiners can't give him credit for his recent success, they never will. The fact is folks who don't like the trade: Danks is GONE-GONE-GONE, and McCarthy will be a fixture in our rotation for the next several years. Best get used to it.

5) Astros-Rangers is becoming a rivalry, but I would rather the leagues face each other in the All-Star Game and the World Series only. I HATE PITCHERS GOING UP TO BAT! What a waste of time.....

Like are batters aren't bingo?