Kinsler to get time off; Hernandez released
From the Ballpark...where it is 92 degrees..
* Manager Ron Washington wants to give Ian Kinsler some time off in the second half. Washington pushed Kinsler hard in the first half and he hit .138 in his last 14 games. He also hit .223 since hitting for the cycle on April 15.
"I'm going to have to make sure I get him some extra time off," Washington said.
* To help do that, the Rangers may bring up infielder Esteban German from Triple A Oklahoma City next week. German would have to be placed on the 40-man roster but he is hitting .319 with 27 stolen bases and can play multiple positions.
* The Rangers have released pitcher Orlando Hernandez from Triple A Oklahoma. He had a 2.45 ERA, opponents were hitting .121 off him and he had struck out 12 in 11 innings over eight appearances.
* Matt Harrison is going to have a slow return from the disabled list. The plan is for him to throw 65 pitches in the bullpen on Sunday, take two days off and then begin a medical rehabilitation assignment on Wednesday. But he'll only throw two innings and slowly build up. He won't be back in the rotation until sometime in August.
* Basically I'm starting over," Harrison said.
* David Murphy has a sprained ring finger on his right hand but Washington said he expects him back in the lineup on Saturday.
*I'm with him on giving Ian some time off. But, what's wrong with Vizquel? Is he about to be traded?
*Once again, what's wrong with Vizquel? Going somewhere?
*Hey, they tried with El Duque and it didn't work. No harm done.
*Better to be safe with Harrison, but I hope he's not going down the McCarthy road.
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Yes, what's wrong with Vizquel? Why not Arias? Arm not there yet? German's not going to get any real time, why bring him up? Go with swh Vizquel.
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Check out the stats of German and Arias and the answer is quite simple! But you are quite right, whoever fills in for Kinsler will not get much playing time, hopefully. Actually, I do not think that Kinsler's problem at the plate was his playing time on the field. It appears that going deeper into the count might help instead of swinging on the first pitch, and trying to get a base hit instead of a home run each time up.
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I agree with you trngr about Kinsler. He has fallen in love with the home run and I believe that cost him the spot on the all star team. Not saying that was all that important, but he needs to think like a leadoff hitter and be the spark plug he was in the beginning. I am really interested in the Vizquel thing. I know German has speed and is hitting well, but Vizquel has exceeded my expectations at the plate and he has been himself in the field. Are they going to trade him or just squeeze his playing time from the little it is now? I don't know about trading him even if it is a flip for prospects. He is a great insurance policy and we can't take for granted what he has done in the clubhouse and for Elvis.
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Hamilton 3 for 3 with 3 rbi's so far tonight. Yes!
Am I getting too suspicious? Where's Salty tonight? Salty not in the lineup for the first game back from break, talk of bringing up German. Is something brewing with Salty, Vizquel and prospects? Or, am I overreacting because I haven't been paying attention? Maybe there is a simple explanation for this and I missed it because I haven't been keeping up during the past week. Maybe I'm just trying to be a spoon and stir something up.
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Explain to me why they released Hernandez. This seems to be a pattern that the Rangers needs to correct. I'll give Kinsler this. He sure can hit a mean pop-up. Move Omar over and let Kinsler go hit with Davis for a while and get rid of the pop-up.
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I, too, am perplexed by the release of Hernandez...other than running out of time before having to grant him his release, his numbers looked very good. Now, another team, maybe even the Angels, can pick him up at the Rangers' expense. You'd think that if all they needed was a little more time to shake off rust before calling him up, they could have worked that out with him.
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