Poor Toby's Almanac...Sadaharu Oh's Birthday
Toby descends from a pack of wild dogs that have roamed the mystical lands of the Transvaal since the beginning of time. Each Sunday morning, he helps us look ahead.
The week ahead: The Rangers close out their three-game series with the Astros this afternoon at Minute Maid Park with the annual wives softball game being played at 11 a.m. beforehand. The Rangers open a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Monday and then host the Boston Red Sox for three games on the weekend.
McCarthy vs. Masset: It is already quite fashionable to compare Brandon McCarthy to John Danks in perhaps the most pre-judged trade in Rangers history. Now people can do it with Nick Masset. McCarthy pitches for the Rangers on Sunday afternoon and Masset makes his first Major League start for the White Sox against the Chicago Cubs. Weather and a doubleheader on Thursday forced manager Ozzie Guillen to go with either John Danks or Jose Contreras on three days rest or bring a reliever out of the bullpen. He decided on Masset, who made 104 starts in the Rangers farm system.
The Oracle of the Elysian Fields: "I remember when I was coming up and I told my mom that I wanted to hurry up and face Reggie Jackson, which I did. I know how it must have felt for him." Roger Clemens on Class A outfielder Erik Lis hitting a home run off him on Friday.
Dice-K coming: Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his first start against the Rangers on Friday night in Arlington. He will be the 14th pitcher from Japan to pitch against the Rangers.
The list:
Pitcher G W-L Saves ERA
Shigetoshi Hasegawa 57 8-5 3 2.58
Kazuhiro Sasaki 26 3-1 14 3.16
Mac Suzuki 10 0-4 0 8.74
Shingo Takatsu 6 0-0 1 6.00
Steve Chitren 5 1-0 0 6.75
Hideki Irabu 5 1-2 0 5.47
Masao Kida 5 0-0 0 29.08
Tomo Ohka 5 3-1 0 3.21
Keiichi Yabu 0 0-0 0 4.76
Hideo Nomo 4 1-0 0 5.25
Hideki Okajima 2 0-0 0 0.00
Jeff McCurry 1 0-0 0 0.00
Kaz Tadano 1 0-0 0 13.50
Birthdays: The great Japanese superstar Sadaharu Oh is 67 today.
* Ricardo Rodriguez is 29 on Monday. Wondering what happened to him? He is 1-3 with an 8.02 ERA in eight starts for the Albuquerque Isotopes.
* Monte Stratton's birthday is Monday. He was born in 1912 up in Greenville and died in 1982. He was a 15-game winner for the Chicago White Sox in 1937-38 who shot himself in the leg while hunting rabbits after the 1938 season. The wound required amputation and his Major League career was over. But he attempted a comeback after World War II and won 18 games in Sherman in the East Texas League in 1946. Jimmy Stewart played him in the movies.
* Buck Showalter is 52 on Wednesday. He's with the Cleveland Indians as a special assistant, doing a lot of scouting. One of his assignments later this month is the SEC baseball tournament. Doesn't look like he's still a good luck charm if you know what I mean and most of you do.
* Joey Eischen is 37 on Friday. He is currently on the disabled list with the Triple A Toledo Mud Hens after being signed by the Detroit Tigers to a Minor League contract in the off-season. He has pitched in 324 Major League games and is 11-9 with a 3.67 ERA. Does anybody even remember he was the Rangers fourth round pick in the 1989 draft and one of three pitchers traded to the Montreal Expos back on Sept. 1, 1991 for Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd?
Last call: "I'm afraid we're going to get in a frenzy here, and the expectations are going to be unattainable The kid's playing good. Just let him play." Astros manager Phil Garner on outfielder Hunter Pence.
It was Masset's inclusion in that deal that concerned me. Danks for McCarthy I was ok with at the time but Masset being part of the deal seems excessive in hindsight. But it's like like you said at the time, TR, JD doesn't have the luxury of waiting 3 years to see if a trade works out.
Hunter Pence is the second coming of DiMaggio.
3 quality starts in a row for Dice-K. I guess we're not running into him at the right time.
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Well, here we go again: now it's McCarthy Vs. Masset. Ugh. I'm just going to say one thing about that (hefe300 said it already, but I'll say it again) in hindsight, Masset was too much to include in the trade. Danks and McCarthy had about the same level of value and talent, and Masset will be the guy we'll be missing down the road when we need a good young bullpen pitcher, and all we have is deadheads like Scott Feldman and AJ Murray. Heck, we could use him now. But hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?
On that note, in the draft this year, the Rangers should go after that ambidextrous releiver from Creighton U, Pat Vindette. Just an idea.
As for Dice-K: who cares? We're gonna lose a lot more games this year anyway, does it really matter if we lose to Dice-K, or someone else? At least with Dice-K we'll have an excuse.
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Quick edit on my comment above: that's Pat Venditte, not Vindette.
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Hey TR, no need to imply things. I think we all know that the Rangers aren't going to the World Series this year and winning it, eventhough Buck is gone. Buck must be having a good laugh on Hicks, as he draws his $5 Million. I think we can all see now that Buck wasn't the problem here. I didn't think that was the case in the first place. This was a power struggle that Buck lost. Daniels wanted full authority on all things so Buck had to go. Looks like Daniels picked the wrong Manager though. Rangers win today. I liked what i saw. Victor Diaz a former top prospect has to start playing every day. I think he is 26 years old. If he is a player, that helps. Vasquez who is 30 also looked good. These are the things that Washington and company have to start doing. Play these young guys it is exciting to me to watch these young guys turn the corner, gain confidence and become players. Wilkerson, Lofton, Sosa, Teixiera all have to be dealt if we can get value. I think we have some guys in the minors that can help us. Call up Botts and play him. I don't understand why he isn' here. Teixiera is gone, his Baltimore Orioles aren't doing to badly, call them up and ask them what they will give for a hometown hero.
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I would never have traded Chris Young, John Danks or Nick Masset. The first had proven himself and the last two deserved a front line chance, McCarthy did ok today and really the last three games before this but he's only appealing to us because we have such a poor starting staff. Remember on the White Sox he was no better than a 6th starter.
TR...Jonathan Hurst and Beckly (Buckley...fuzzy on that) also in the "Can" trade.
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McCarthy pitched well today. I think he can be a good pitcher. I still think this was a bad deal, because, #1 Danks is Left Handed and young. # 2 We were led to believe he was the second coming of Jesus Christ. # 3 Massett is a good pitcher as he proved today. # 4 Danks was never given an opportunity to pitch at the Major League Level. Never! I don't understand how you can draft this kid out of high school, tout him, invest time and money in him and then deal him somewhere else, without giving him an opportunity to pitch for the Rangers. Daniels didn't want to wait, no patience. Give me a break. (Ron Darling comes to mind immediately). The only difference is if Danks remains healthy he will be haunting us for the next 15 years as opposed to Darlings career. The waiting was almost over, he panicked, misjudged the situation, overevaluated his team and made ANOTHER bad deal. It was great to see GALLOWAYS article today that echoed many of my sentiments. Jon Boy is in over his head and is obviously swimming in an area without parental supervision. He has to go, the owner has to sell. P.S. Was anyone watching the game on TV last night when Washington went to the mound. Did you see his facial expressions. This guy had this blank stare, stunned look on his face that looked like he was shell shocked and lost in another land. This guy probably wants to be fired and put out of his misery.
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I found the word that i was looking for. Now i will attempt to use it in a sentence. Ron Washington walked to the pitching mound with a BELEAGURED look on his face. B E L E A G U R E D, BELEAGURED. He looked shocked and dismayed by his record and his surroundings as if he never expected to fail as miserably as he is doing on a daily basis. He should be fired. I have a sign on my wall that says those who remain calm, fail to understand the gravity of the situation. It is ok to attempt to be positive, but don't ignore the facts. #1 This team has major issues. It didn't take us 4 months to get here and it ain't gonna take 4 to get out of it. The main questions that have to be asked are this. Was Washington hired to coach a veteran team that was supposed to be contending? Can he lead a group of young guys and help re-build? Is he the guy to help re-build and start over with? These questions have to be asked and answered as in last night!!!! If the answers are yes that he is better with a group of younger players, then he stays. If not and he can't develop and build a team then he goes. What are the answers Hicks, Daniels, TR???? No one is going to blame Hicks if he fired the whole crew, told the public that he made a mistake, should have went young when Melvin told me to. Now i know what needs to be done and i am hiring this guy to do it. What does everyone else think???
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