Hank Greenberg didn't think he could play in Game 7 of the World Series. Said his wrist hurt too much.

Tigers manager Steve O'Neill asked him to give it a try. Said the Tigers needed him to beat the Cubs that day.

So Greenberg did, batting cleanup that day 52 years ago in Wrigley Field. The first three Tigers singled to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Up came Greenberg and nobody knew that he was in pain.

He bunted. Dropped a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third. The Tigers scored five that inning and went on to beat the Cubs, 9-3 to win the 1945 World Series. That's the last time the World Series was played in Wrigley Field.

Saw that the other day when they showed the Life and Times of Hank Greenberg on television the other day. Greenberg is a Hall of Famer who played with the Detroit Tigers from 1933-46, although he missed almost four complete seasons because of World War II.

He was the first big star to enlist. Not sure he saw action – they were vague about that – but he was in Burma.

Remember reading as a kid that Greenberg was actually terrified at coming to the plate. This was early in his career and he had a deep-seated fear of failure. Then one day he told Charlie Gehringer: "Get on base and I'll drive you home."

Gehringer doubled. Greenberg singled him home. He was a monster after that.

Gehringer is in the Hall of Fame too. He was the guy who had five straight 200-hit seasons as a second baseman. Michael Young has tied that streak and can beat it this year.
Greenberg once said, "The only way you can get along with newspapermen is to say something one minute and something different the next."

But he was the general manager of the Cleveland Indians from 1949-57. The Yankees won the pennant five straight years in 1949-53, then the Indians won it in 1954. They won 111 games and were swept by the New York Giants in the World Series.

Greenberg wrote a big article in Life Magazine entitled: "How We Beat the Yankees."

Maybe the Rangers hire Nolan Ryan and he'll eventually write a big article on "How We Beat the Angels."

Only problem is, don't think Life magazine is still around. Is it? Maybe it's a monthly. Hard to tell at the checkout line at Tom Thumb. All those magazines and newspapers only have Britney Spears on the cover. Or Oprah Winfrey. Oprah's magazine only has Oprah. Guess she doesn't have to worry about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

Greenberg hit a home run in his first game back on July 1, 1945. He had 11 multi-home run games that summer, a Major League record that Sammy Sosa tied in 1998. The next year he hit 44 home runs and drove in 127 runs to lead the American League

But that winter his picture appeared in the paper with him holding a Yankees uniform. Greenberg was from New York and there was some vague reference to him wanting to finish his career with the Yankees.

Detroit owner Walter Briggs immediately sold Greenberg to the Pittsburgh Pirates for $75,000. Owners could do that then.

Pitchers and catchers in two weeks.

Yes... it was just 487 years ago today that Emperor Charles V summoned the Holy Roman Empire to the German town of Worms. The Empire had much to discuss but the main thorn in their side was Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

Luther had upset the Holy Roman Empire by nailing his 95 theses to the church doors in Wittenberg and now he was being summoned to the town of Worms on the Rhine River to answer for his heresy.

No doubt the Diet of Worms - which led to the Edict of Worms - was a lively affair. But on to other weighty matters. We have our own diet of baseball topics to consume

1. What impact would it have on the Rangers if Nolan Ryan were to return as club president?

2. What does the acquisition of Erik Bedard by the Mariners do to the balance of power in the American League West?

3. Who is the most surprising ex-Ranger without a job? Kevin Mench? Brad Wilkerson? Sammy Sosa? Kenny Lofton?

4. Are there any moves that Jon Daniels needs to make before the Rangers head for Arizona?

5. Right now, with the way the Rangers are constructed, do you see them as legitimate contenders in the American League West.

The Rangers have designated pitcher Armando Galarraga for assignment to make room for Jason Jennings on the 40-man roster. Galarraga was one of three players acquired from the Washington Nationals in a trade for Alfonso Soriano two years ago. He pitched in three games for the Rangers last September with a 6.23 ERA and was 11-8 with a 4.14 ERA in 27 games for Double A Frisco and Triple A Oklahoma.

The Rangers have ten days to trade him or put him on outright waivers to get him to Triple A Oklahoma. The Rangers may work out a trade and there is a danger that he could get claimed. But they have already been able to get pitcher Bill White and Chris Shelton through waivers this winter.

Still, this move is a little bit of a surprise.

Boys and girls.... taking the blog down this week while we address other matters. Should be back up next week. In the mean time, talk among yourselves... TR

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we're taking bets on who retires first: Mike Wallace, Joe Paterno or Bud Selig.

* Jason Jennings on pitching in Coors Field for the Rockies: "The first couple of years in Colorado, the Coors Field factor got to me. The last few years I started to settle in. I found a way. I started using my changeup more. Coors Field never bothered me after that. Some guys had a problem there but hitter's parks don't scare me. I learned you keep the ball down and limit walks."

* Jennings on watching the Rockies go to the World Series after he was traded to the Astros: "I found myself rooting for the guys, guys I came up with. We had some tough times over there, we never had a winning season. To see those guys have some success and get on a roll, it was fun. But it was frustrating. The Astros had been in the playoffs and the World Series. They had been one of the winningest teams in baseball. I was looking forward to being a part of that. But we underachieved as a team. It was frustrating. I thought I was going to a playoff team but it ended up going the other way."

* Jennings’ father, Jim, played baseball for the University of Texas and in the Rangers’ farm system.  His late grandfather, James Jennings, was the long-time public address announcer for the Dallas Cowboys and Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

* Rangers manager Ron Washington said he's "in love" with first baseman Ben Broussard: "I just like his defense. I'm in love with the way he plays first base. He's going to save us a lot over there and in this ballpark, he just might do some damage offensively."

* Kevin Millwood, Ian Kinsler, Wes Littleton, Travis Metcalf, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jim Sundberg and Ranger Captain will be at the Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday as part of the Rangers Winter Caravan.

* The Rangers will hold a town hall meeting tonight at Academy Sports and Outdoors in Grapevine. The address is 1523 State Highway 114. General manager Jon Daniels will be there along with Saltalamacchia, Sundberg, Wes Littleton and Victor Rojas.

* Saltalamacchia, Littleton and Washington will be at Academy Sports in Lewisville – 2428 South Stemmons Freeway – from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

* The Rangers are looking at Jason Botts and German Duran at first base but Washington said he's not necessarily looking at a platoon situation for Broussard: "I'm going to play him against left-handers. The only way he doesn't play against left-handers if he shows me he can't hit them."

* Just for the heck of it: Colby Lewis.

* Washington on Millwood this winter: "He looks strong. He looks very strong. His demeanor is different. He has a look about him. He's working hard."

* Bob Feller was 15-14 with the Cleveland Indians in 1949 after going 19-15 the year before. He took a paycut for 1950, going from $65,000 to $45,000. The $20,000 paycut was his idea.

* John McHale, who passed away Friday, gave Mel Didier his first job in Major League baseball. McHale was the Detroit Tigers farm director in 1954 when he hired Didier to be an amateur scout in Louisiana. That was 54 years ago. Didier – who discovered Andre Dawson at Florida A&M when nobody else knew about him - is still scouting for the Rangers today.

* Didier's assignment today is to watch Thomas Diamond throw. Diamond is recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and is scheduled to throw 45 pitches off the mound in Arizona. Said Didier: "His arm feels good and he feels good."

* Statman Jonathan Wells writes on Jennings: "To start with, his career ERA on the road is nearly a full run lower than his home ERA (4.48 vs. 5.39), and he's been less hittable on the road than at home (.270 vs. .299). Just imagine if he'd played his home games in a better ballpark what his ERA would be. For what it's worth, Vicente Padilla's career road ERA is 4.70 and he's allowed 6 more HRs on the road than has Jennings, despite pitching 17.2 fewer innings."

* Wells also points out: "In 20 career interleague starts (all against American League teams) he is 10-5 with a 4.26 ERA, whereas Kevin Millwood is 11-12 with a 4.85 ERA in 30 interleague starts."

The Rangers have announced they have designated first baseman Chris Shelton for assignment. The move takes him off the 40-man roster and allows the Rangers to add reliever Kazuo Fukumori. The Rangers will likely try and trade Shelton. More on the website.

No...not going to ask about the Dallas Cowboys. Just thought I would mention it. Actually more interested in some other things.

1. How about those Oakland Athletics? Danny Haren? Gone. Nick Swisher? Gone. Mark Kotsay? Gone. Are the Rangers going to finish ahead of the Oakland Athletics?

2.  How about those Seattle Mariners? They added Carlos Silva to a rotation that also includes Jarrod Washburn, Felix Hernandez, Horacio Ramirez and Miguel Batista. But that's the only significant move they made. Are the Rangers going to finish ahead of the Seattle Mariners.

3. How about those LA of A Angels? Torii Hunter in center. Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland, giving them six starting pitchers. Possible trade for Paul Konerko. Can anybody beat the Angels in the A.L. West this year?

4. How about those Rangers? Do you think that Jason Jennings is the right guy to be the Rangers fifth starter or is there somebody else on the market that you would rather have.

5. Hypothetical trade of the week: Would you trade Frank Francisco and John Rheinecker to the Dodgers for Nomar Garciaparra?

Running down the 25 pitchers who right now are headed to Surprise

Rotation candidates

Kevin Millwood - He has won at least 14 games in five of his ten full seasons in the Major Leagues. He needs to make it six out of 11. In one season he won just nine games but also won an ERA title.

Vicente Padilla - He was 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA in eight starts after coming off the disabled list and missing time because of his elbow problems. He won 15 in 2006. He needs to do it again.

Brandon McCarthy - The Rangers need to see him healthy for a full season. He was 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA in five starts in May last year when he it looked like he was healthy. Then everything unraveled.

Kason Gabbard - He was 5-0 with a 2.79 ERA in seven starts at his home park and 1-1 with a 6.33 ERA in eight starts on the road. The one victory was when his teammates scored 30 runs.

Jason Jennings - He won 16 games and was the National League Rookie of the Year for the Colorado Rockies. He is 28-43 with a 4.98 ERA in his last four seasons.

Luis Mendoza - He could put some pressure on the guys in front of him. Probably headed for Triple A but watch him closely in Spring Training.

Armando Galarraga - He turns 26 on Tuesday. He seems to be the kind of guy that requires a leap of faith by a team. He is not overpowering but he does have decent stuff and he does seem to have a feel for pitching. Do you give him an extended chance or do you go looking outside for something better.

Kameron Loe - The time has come for the Rangers to decide if he's a starter or a reliever and it's time for him to establish himself as a consistent Major League pitcher.

Bullpen candidates

Eddie Guardado - Feeling here is he came to Texas because he believes he'll be the Rangers closer.

C.J. Wilson - Interesting quote by Jon Daniels on Friday: "Where we are headed as an organization, there value having one of our own guys like C.J. in that role. But we don't want to just hand a job to our young guys. We want them to earn it."

Kazuo Fukumori: - He could close but he's coming off elbow surgery. The Rangers will bring him along slowly.

Joaquin Benoit - The Rangers Pitcher of the Year in 2007 was their right-handed setup reliever.

Frank Francisco - Four reasons why Francisco is not the Rangers closer: 1.) He doesn't throw 97 miles per hour anymore; 2.) His split-fingered fastball is not as devastating as it was in 2004. 3.) He needs to field his position better. 4.) He needs to hold runners better.

John Rheinecker - He has the potential to be a terrific situational left-handed reliever but his days as a starter should be over.

Jamey Wright - Last year he and Loe competed for the fifth starter spot. Now they are competing for the long reliever spot.

Wes Littleton - He had a 6.65 ERA in Arlington and a 2.16 ERA on the road. He had 16 walks and just 24 strikeouts in 48 innings.

Scott Feldman - Pitching coach Mark Connor made an adjustment in his delivery late last season that seemed to generate more power. But Feldman could be a candidate to be dropped from the 40-man roster when the Rangers add Fukumori or Jennings.

Josh Rupe - Great stuff, serious health issues. No more starting for him. The Rangers believe his best chance to stay healthy is in the bullpen.

Bill White - Connor: "He's what they look like." Will push Rheinecker for a job.

Robinson Tejeda - How the mighty have fallen. Outside chance for bullpen, almost no chance for rotation.

Not ready for prime-time

Thomas Diamond - He is coming back from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and needs a strong season at Triple A to re-establish himself as a big-time prospect.

Eric Hurley - He still has the chance to create a "feeding frenzy" in Spring Training. But if the Rangers do sign Jennings, it appears that Hurley is headed for more time at Triple A. Nothing wrong with that.

Matt Harrison - No more arm problems. No more toe turf. He'll start in the Minors but it will be interesting to see how fast he comes.

A.J. Murray - The Rangers believe he is better suited to be a starter. Connor loves him. He needs a full season at Triple A to build up the necessary arm strength and durability.

Warner Madrigal - This is the outfielder-turned-pitcher that the Rangers snuck out of the Angels system. He struck out 75 in 61 innings in Class A last year. He's on the 40-man but headed for Double A mst likely. Worth watching.

The Rangers are announcing that they have signed Eddie Guardado to a one-year contract. He will join them as a possible closer. They have also signed catcher Adam Melhuse and pitcher Jamey Wright to Minor League contracts with an invitation to Spring Training. More later on the website

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill where we drink a toast to the memory of Sir Edmund Hillary.

* The Rangers set a club record by winning 14 straight games from May 12-26, 1991. Rich Gossage pitched in seven of those 14 games.

* Rangers manager Bobby Valentine banned beer from the clubhouse that season. Gossage and Nolan Ryan convinced him to lift the ban if they won 10 games in a row. The 14-game winning streak did the trick.

* Gossage was a late signing for the Rangers. He had pitched in Japan in 1990 and had no job until the Rangers signed him to a Minor League deal on Jan. 25. He was considered a longshot to make the team. He did so and kept on pitching through the 1994 season, going from Texas to Oakland and Seattle.

* Could you win with this All-Unsigned Team: C Mike Piazza, 1B Sean Casey, 2B Todd Walker, SS Neifi Perez, 3B Morgan Ensberg; OF Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez, Shawn Green; DH Mike Sweeney.

* Oh yeah, they'll need five starters: Roger Clemens, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, David Wells, Livan Hernandez. Bullpen? Armando Benitez, Roberto Hernandez, Brendan Donnelly, Jose Mesa, Bob Wickman.

* How about this All-Unsigned Former Rangers: C Rod Barajas, 1B Brad Wilkerson, 2B Jerry Hairston Jr. SS Royce Clayton, 3B Desi Relaford; OF Sammy Sosa, Kenny Lofton, Kevin Mench; DH Julio Franco; Starting pitcher: Aaron Sele or John Thomson.

* Akinori Otsuka reported on his website that he will have elbow surgery. Said Otsuka: "I have come to this decision after much worry and consideration. I will work hard in rehab so I can definitely make a comeback to the mound.''

* Today marks the 35th anniversary of the designated hitter. It was 35 years ago today that the American League approved the use of the DH by a vote of 8-4. The National League turned it down. Oakland owner Charlie Finley came up with the concept of a DH but actually voted against the rule. Why? Because the owners wouldn't go along with his other idea and that was a designated pinch-runner.

* The DH was supposed to be just a three-year experiment. By the way, Finley also wanted to change the rule from four balls to just three. They tried in three exhibition games in the 1972 Spring Training and there were a total of 54 walks.

* The Rangers have used 220 different players at DH over the years. Larry Parrish and Rafael Palmeiro are tied with 388 games at DH for the Rangers.

* Michael Young's career .417 batting average as a designated hitter is the highest in Major League history among the 497 players with at least 80 at-bats at DH.

* Rico Carty was the Rangers first ever DH. Flied out to left against White Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood.

* Just for the heck of it: Billy Ripken

* You know what Carty has in common with Alex Rodriguez, Andres Galarraga and Alex Johnson? They all won batting titles for other teams before going on to play for the Rangers.

* Two guys played for the Rangers, then went on to win batting titles with other teams. Bill Madlock and Al Oliver.

* Madlock played in 21 games for the Rangers in 1973 and hit .351 in 77 at-bats. That's still the highest average for a Ranger in one season with at least 75 at-bats. The Rangers traded him and Vic Harris for Ferguson Jenkins.

* Ben Broussard comes to the Rangers with four pinch-hit home runs in his career. Only four Rangers had at least four pinch-hit home runs during their time with the team. Geno Petralli holds the club record with six. Bobby Jones, Pat Putnam and Darrell Porter had four.

* The New York Yankees began as the Highlanders. Changed the name to the Yankees in 1913. In 1915 the owners wanted to change it to the Knickerbockers. Newspapermen dissuaded them otherwise.

* Sir Edmund Hillary once autographed a baseball. Signed it: Ed Hillary. You can buy it on-line at a website called History for Sale. Just have $999 ready.

* Hey, it's cheaper than a baseball signed by Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. The Three Tenors baseball goes for $3,499.

Two pitchers are on my mind tonight. Roger Clemens and Bert Blyleven.

First Clemens:

* The possibility exists that Clemens is innocent but he pays for the sin of those who come before him. That's why he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt in many quarters. Pete Rose screamed for years that he was innocent. Eventually he wrote a book that described his gambling transgressions in minute detail. The sporting populace is far too jaded to give anybody the benefit of the doubt.

* Clemens deftly sidesteps issues. At the press conference, a reporter tried to ask him how he went from 6-6 to winning 20 games in a year in which McNamee said he used steroids. Clemens immediately launched into a rant about how the Hall of Fame didn't mean anything.

* Clemens comes across as somebody who is trying to win a battle of He Said, She Said by yelling the loudest and being the most intimidating. That usually works in bars and talk show radio. It could work here if there is no corroborating evidence to McNamee's allegations. That seems to be the strategy for Clemens. Most interesting was when he asked Mike Wallace where are the people who sold him steroids and begged them to come forward. He seems to know that's not going to happen.

* You would get fired at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram if you taped a phone conversation without telling the other person. That seems pretty low and smacked of desperation. If McNamee had said wrong things contrary to the Clemens position, that phone tape would have been at the bottom of Galveston Bay.

* Said it before and will continue to say it, especially when people ask if Clemens, Bonds, McGwire, anybody should be in the Hall of Fame: this story is far from over. There is much more to come.

Now Blyleven.

The Hall of Fame voting is going to be announced on Tuesday and Blyleven is not going to get in. And there are people who I respect greatly who say that is dead wrong. Rob Neyer is one and I really respect him.

I didn't vote for Blyleven. Again. I have such respect for him and some of his supporters that I keep looking hard at his career to see a reason to vote. I can't come up with one.

I have seen the numbers. I know he has 287 wins, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts. I have heard people say that if Don Sutton is in the Hall of Fame then Blyleven should be.

But I just don't believe that Blyleven was ever considered one of the elite pitchers in the game and has the credentials to be considered one of the best pitchers of his time. Here are my arguments.

* In the 1970's, during the prime of his career, he was an All-Star once. That was in 1973 and that was the only year in which he received Cy Young votes. That was the year he won 20 games and had his nine shutouts. One time?

* From 1976-1980, when he was 25-30 years old, he was traded three times. Do elite pitchers get traded that often?

* Everybody said he played for bad teams. That's overblown. The Minnesota Twins were 240-238 in a three-year period between 1972-74. Blyleven was 54-51 in those three years.

* There were 96 20-game winners in the 1970's. That's 9.6 per season. Blyleven, who was a rookie in 1970, did it once. I count 19 of those 20-game winners doing it for a team with a losing record. A pitcher won at least 18 games in a season 156 times in that decade. Blyleven did it once. He did it just once more in the 1980's in a decade in which a pitcher won at least 18 games in a season 87 times. Over a 20-year period, when an average of 12 pitchers per year were winning at least 18 games, Blyleven did it twice.

* Blyleven pitched for the Rangers in 1977 and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1978-80. His teams averaged 90 wins a year. He averaged 12 wins a year in that stretch. He was 12-5 in 37 starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they won 98 games and a World Series in 1979.

Blyleven is the one player I agonize over more than any other. But I just can't vote for him.

Watched 60 Minutes last night. Two observations:

Mike Wallace is pretty sharp for 89 years old and that was an interesting story on the Boston hitman. Only on 60 Minutes do we have one guy admitting with much remorse that he murdered 20 people and another guy denying he used steroids.

Clemens? Nothing surprising. He has another press conference today at 4 p.m. We'll see how others in the media compare to Mike Wallace in grilling the witness. ESPN is covering the event live.

Then we have the Hall of Fame announcements tomorrow.

Steroids one day. Cooperstown tomorrow. Only in baseball.

1. Did you watch Clemens on 60 minutes and do you believe him?

2. If Clemens were to come out of retirement - again - should the Rangers be interested.

3. Hall of Fame announcement on Tuesday. I expect only Rich Gossage to be elected. Who do you think should be elected. Either tell us who you would vote for or who is the one candidate who you think is being most unjustly overlooked.

4. Would you vote for Mark McGwire?

5. Hypothetical Trade Question of the Week: Would you trade outfielder Marlon Byrd and reliever Frank Francisco to the Indians for pitcher Cliff Lee.

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we're still trying to decide if we'd rather watch 60 Minutes on Sunday or Desperate Housewives.

* Jason Davis has started in his career but the Rangers signed him as a reliever. He gets $650,000 as a base salary if he makes the team plus another possible $200,000 available in incentives based on up to 65 appearances. He also can ask for his release if he's not added to the Major League roster by March 29.

* The Rangers are waiting for Kazuo Fukumori's contract to be approved. It's a complicated document: a one-year deal with options for 2009 and 2010. Apparently the 2009 option vests automatically if he spends less than 30 days on the disabled list. The Rangers hold the option for 2010.

* The contract also calls for $50,000 a year for an interpreter, four business class airplane tickets from Japan to the United States for his family each year and $3,000 for English lessons for his wife.

* Milton Bradley's base contract is worth $5.25 million but he can earn up to another $2.75 million if he gets as many as 600 at-bats. Only gets a $100,000 bonus if he is the American League Most Valuable Player but a $200,000 bonus if he is the Comeback Player of the Year.

* The Rangers had interest in free agent pitcher Josh Towers but he is signing with the Colorado Rockies.

* Bert Blyleven supporters point to 60 career shutouts as one piece of evidence that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Eleven of those 60 came with the Rangers in just 54 starts. He had six in just 24 starts in 1977 after being acquired on June 1. That included a no-hitter. He also had 29 complete games in his 54 starts for the Rangers.

* Blyleven's 54 starts with the Rangers are 27th in club history but he is tied for third in shutouts and seventh in complete games. Kenny Rogers made 252 starts for the Rangers and has just 21 complete games.

* The Rangers have 29 complete games over their last 1,382 games dating back to June 29, 1999.

* Just for the heck of it: Adrian Devine.

* Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner: "We're going to have the best pitching by far in baseball in two or three years."

* The Dodgers were the first team to own their own airplane. They bought a two-engine, 44-passenger job for $775,000 in 1957.

* Toby Harrah on former Rangers manager Billy Martin: "As a player, if you had some coward in you, you could probably bluff and get by with a lot of managers. Billy found out. Billy could find your weaknesses. And you couldn't hide stuff from this guy. He confronted you. He tested your manhood. There wasn't any three ways about it."

* Carlos Delgado on the Mets late-season collapse: "It was very disappointing because we know we had the best team."

* Hideo Nomo will be in Surprise. He is going to camp with the Kansas City Royals.

* Ohio State vs. LSU? Not sure who will win the football game but LSU has sent 58 baseball players to the Major Leagues while Ohio State has sent 47. Former Buckeyes include former Rangers Frank Howard and Dave Burba.

* In case you care: no player has ever gone to college in Alaska, Montana or North Dakota and ever made the Major Leagues.

* Pitching coaches stress consistency of delivery. Or repeating your delivery. Failure to do so was a problem for Robinson Tejeda last year. Then there is Satchell Paige who said, "I use my single windup, my double windup, my triple windup, my hesitation windup, my no windup. I use my step-a-pitch it, my submariner, my sidearmer, and my hat dodger. Man's got to do what he's got to do."

Jamey Newberg has come out with his top 72 prospects in the Rangers system. To view the complete list, go to his blog at http://newberg.mlblogs.com/

Jamey compiled the list before a few moves made by the Rangers this off-season so Tug Hulett and Danny Herrera are still on the list but that's no big deal. It's still a pretty complete list although with any rankings you can quibble on who belongs where. Some people actually thought Hawaii had the 10th best college football team in the country this year.

He ranks Chris Davis (right) as the No. 1 prospect and others might say Eric Hurley but that's trivial. It's generally conceded around here that nobody outside the organization has a better grasp on such matters than Jamey.

It's still a great list worth a few observations:

Here are his top ten: Davis, Hurley, Taylor Teagarden,  Elvus Andrus, Kasey Kiker, Michael Main, Blake Beavan, Engel Beltre, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz.

* Of those ten, only Hurley and Harrison spent the entire 2007 season at Double A or above. Davis and Teagarden had more at-bats at Class A Bakersfield than Double A Frisco. Five others were at Class A or Rookie ball. Beavan didn't pitch at all.

Here are the next ten: German Duran, Max Ramirez, Fabio Castillo, Cristian Santana, David Murphy, John Whittleman, Luis Mendoza, Omar Poveda, Neil Ramirez, Tommy Hunter

* Of those ten players, only three were seen above Class A last year: Duran, Murphy, Mendoza. So just seven of the top 20 in the Newberg 72 had any time at all above Class A in 2007.

The Rangers farm system may be drawing raves from outside the organization but much more time is needed.

Here are 21-30: Thomas Diamond, Julio Borbon, Josh Rupe, Wilmer Font, Joaquin Arias, Brandon Boggs, Zach Phillips, John Mayberry Jr. Omar Beltre, A.J. Murray.

* Mayberry (right) is ranked No. 28. Ouch. Remember, this guy was the Rangers No. 1 draft pick in 2005 but he's right down there in a group of ten that includes three guys who pretty much missed all of last year: Diamond, Arias and Beltre. Plus Rupe, who missed half the season and Borbon, who was a late, late signing. Right now it's probably where Mayberry belongs.

* Newberg has shortstop Marcus Lemon ranked No. 32. I'm thinking that he'll eventually merit much better than that. He was solid at Class A Clinton last year while playing at the age of 18 and 19 years old.

* Newberg has Triple A Oklahoma first baseman Nate Gold ranked 44th even though he hit .292 with 26 home runs and 103 RBI with the RedHawks. Newberg's ranking is pretty consistent with other people's evaluations. Gold may end up being a productive Major League player but the reality is there are not a whole lot of people expecting it.

* Don't underestimate outfielder David Paisano, who is ranked 54th. He's my sleeper in the organization. He just turned 20 in November. He hit .203 at Class A Clinton last year but apparently was much better in the second half. He also has some serious speed and can go get the ball in the outfield.

That said: here is my Top Ten.

This is not my top ten prospects. This is my top ten players who are worth watching closely in 2008 for various reasons.

1. Matt Harrison - He seems to be over his injuries and looked good in the Arizona Fall League. Still think he's the most important player in the Teixeira trade.

2. Eric Hurley - For obvious reasons. His time has come.

3. John Mayberry Jr. - It's too early to count him out. There were other good outfielders who didn't exactly fly through a farm system after they were drafted. Geoff Jenkins and Michael Cuddyer come to mind without doing too many tedious analytical comparisons. But the Rangers would kill to have a big year out of Mayberry in 2008.

4. Elvus Andrus - This shortstop prodigy will be extremely interesting to watch once he makes the big jump to Double A Frisco.

5. Thomas Diamond - He should pitch at Triple A Oklahoma after missing all of last year because of Tommy John surgery.

6. A.J. Murray - The Rangers are turning him into a starter and pitching coach Mark Connor thinks he can be a good one. He'll be right there with Diamond at Triple A Oklahoma.

7. Omar Poveda - Everybody knows about Kasey Kiker because he was the Rangers top pick in 2006. Poveda, who turned 20 in September, was 11-4 with a 2.79 ERA at Clinton. Newberg has him ranked 18 but he should start moving up the ladder quicky in the next year or two.

8. Engel Beltre - He turned 18 on All Saints Day. He is an outfielder and they say he's a stud. His agent, Scott Boras, said so. Said the same thing about another one of his clients: Elvus Andrus.

9. Chris Davis - Is he really this good? Most interesting will be his position, whether the Rangers keep him at third, move him back to first or turn him into a right fielder to take advantage of his plus plus arm.

10. Taylor Teagarden - Just a great hitter with physical issues or Rangers catcher of the future?

A final word about the Minor Leagues. That is, a simple rule: The jump from Class A to Double A is the biggest jump in the Minor Leagues. That's when you really start finding out about players.