And five hours later...

TR, is Derek Law any relation to former Pirate pitcher Vernon Law?

Is the drafting of Purke an admission that we made a mistake in not drafiting Mr. Porcello in 2007? It is reported that Purke wants 7.5 million up front, something along the lines of what Porcello got. Is that the new philosophy? I believe there is a big difference in that Porcello had some college experience and was further along than this high school pitcher who is probably 4 to 7 years away by the way the Rangers go about their starting pitchers. You almost have to be at least 26 + years old before they get a chance to pitch at the big league level. But alas the Rangers seem to have discovered that it truly is about the pitching. Good pitching and great defense wins games, who would have thought it???????? If you play fundamental baseball, don't beat yourself then you win games. Anyone else out there notice that Elvis Andrus gets to balls behind second base that Mr. Young couldn't dream of getting to????? Anyone else out there remember when someone said that Andrus would probably have more errors at shortstop than Young, yet the defense would still be improved because of Andrus range. Range factor???? Someone said that Young had a great range factor. Well here is betting that Andrus has a better range factor than Young. Do the Rangers look great or what for not giving Hamilton a huge contract? Can Hamilton play first when he gets healthy and Davis be trade bait? Are we really missing the feel good story of the year? By the way just how many wins does Volquez have this year? If Hamilton never does anything ever again and Volquez wins 16 to 17 a year for the next 10 is that still a good deal? How do you develop a pitcher and then not reap the rewards for the development??????? So what good does it do if you draft 32 pitchers a year but deal your top pitching prospects? It makes me sick watching Galarraga, Danks, Young, Demptster dominate games. Just how good would this team be with all those pitchers?

Thank God that Hicks is selling the team? He is a true businessman, he is going to sell high, get out at the top and move on. He really must be hurting for cash.... Is someone really going to pay $400+ million for this team in this economy?

Is Purke demanding a major league contract out of high school? No, he’s not. So there is no real parallel between him and Porcello other than unsubstantiated rumors regarding contract demands and that they’re both highly regarded (Porcello much more so) high school lefties. Remind me Dgod, what “college” Porcello pitched at.

I bet it was really hard keeping that exact same rant under raps all these weeks. Congratulations. And for the record, Volquez has 4 wins, the last of which came 5 weeks ago because he, too, is currently sidelined by injury. He's got a middle of the road ERA, not only this season but going back 29 starts. You can pretend he's Cy Young, though, if it makes you feel better.

Galarraga? Really? Have you seen how he's actually pitching this season? Of course not. That would require a rudimentary knowledge of current baseball. Who are you going to kick out of the Ranger's rotation for his over 5 ERA? I'll take Holland in the long term, thanks.

Dempster? Yeah, that's what we need. A 32 year old pitcher with a career record under .500 signed until he'll be a 36 year old pitcher. The Cubs can keep his $52 million contract as far as I'm concerned as well as the $30 million they gave "heart and soul."

Even Chris Young has hit 30 and is trending rapidly toward the middle, despite piching in the Grand Canyon. Maybe his glory days of 170 inning totals and 11 win seasons are behind him. I wonder what his 4.76 ERA and > 6 innings per outing would tranlate to playing half his games at RBPiA?

I meant to say that both Purke and Porcello were highly regarded high school pitchers. Porcello is, of course, right handed.

Welcome back, d'god! I knew it was you after reading your first sentence. Your rants are misleading when they are not downright innaccurate, but no matter, I lap up every word as though they be nectar. Hefe, Hefe, cast him not down with cruel, cold facts. Let his spirit soar where it will. He will lead us to the promised land...

Well, the return of Rip Van D'god! I guess that little trip to the asylum didn't help any. When I look at the long familiar rant, two things occur to me. One, he doesn't know the Rangers are in first place, pitching has been acceptable, and we have the best farm system. Okay that was three things. But, when I see the d'god rant, I see nothing but a big ink blot.