Pitchers and catchers report

Hallelujah! Davis moves to 1B!

Good to see some recognition finally being given to CJ for the bang-up job he did last year.

Also good to see that management has realized that Loe is a far better asset as a long reliever than a starter. Here's to hoping that Arlington John fares better than Loe did in the opening innings. Two lefty starters are a must, IMO.

What is the deal with not moving Botts to 1B? Can he just not field the position? With his size, I would have thought this would be an option.

I suppose reading the story on the website would've clued me in that Botts will be playing 1B during Spring Training.

Sure does seem like giving Salty 81 game behind the plate and splitting the others as a RH platoon for our first basemen (at DH and 1B) would open up an extra spot while getting him the work he needs in this *development* year. Then maybe we could keep Botts and Cruz for a true audition period. Much like I always choose the wrong lane in a traffic jam and the wrong checkout at Walmart, I'm afraid the Rangers are going to pull the trade trigger on the wrong player.

Unless my math is wrong, that sure does seem like something JD should look at.

A few rambling comments:

Play Laird enough to get an offer, then move him. I don't dislike him, but I do wish he was a Met right now.

While I don't disagree with letting CJ close, Guardado should have been given the closer job to lose. He's the guy who needs to get some saves in the first half so we can trade him for another Max Ramirez-type prospect. What does it hurt to make CJ wait until the ASB?

I also thought Chris Davis should be headed to RF. 1B is a veteran position IMO - a spot for a guy who has lost some range, but has some power. Seems to me that we should be getting Davis' production from a position that requires more defensive tools. We seem to be developing a crowd of no-defense-playing guys at first, anyway. Finally on this topic, I don't see Bradley sticking around (or staying healthy, for that matter), so why not put Davis in RF? He's certainly got the arm for it.

AJ Murray as a starter in 2008? Let's just say I'm skeptical. Although with his injury history he would fit right in with this brittle rotation. Don't see how he will have the stamina to throw a whole lot of innings this year.

Connor isn't inspiring any confidence from me already this spring.

We do need some outfielders. Why get Broussard if Davis is playing first base? None of their moves make any sense. Are we playing the young guys or are we playing Broussard, Bradley, Cat and Mench? I don't see any room for Cruz and Botts on this team. The numbers are stacked against them. I personally would like to see both of them play every day to see if they can play. It they didn't do it this year then cut them loose. We haven't seen enough of Cruz and or Botts to determine what their capabilities are. We do this every time we bring up a young player. What did Tex hit? How long did it take him to adjust 1 to 1/2 seasons. Adrian wasn't given enough of a chance here, hear. Stop making the same mistakes. I would rather see Murray than McCarthy, aka Alfred E. Newman. Now it is important to have two left handed starters, what happened to that left handed prospect, Danks i believe was his name? Is Murray better than him? So it is Millwood, Gabbard, Padilla, Murray, Jennings. Looks like Mc
Carthy is out. Another fine trade by MR. DANIELS. What a joke. McCarthy lasts less than 1 season as a starter????? Ridiculous!!!!! I heard Sullivan and Daniels are co-writing a book, The working title is: Don't do what i did, a former GM's experience in the trade market. Word is it costs a lot less than Didiers's. Ha Ha.

1. Chris Davis has 109 at bats at AA and needs to work on his selectivity. Broussard is on a 1 year contract.

2. What makes you think that Murray would take the rotation spot of McCarthy specifically? Gabbard is no sure thing either and there are potential injuries to consider. Every club in baseball is going to look at 10+ starters in the spring. How would any reasonable person infer that "McCarthy lasts less than 1 season as a starter?????" I guess that's what all the question marks are about.

To run down my opinions on all those points real quick:

The catching situation is Bu!!$h!!. Salty should start NO MATTER WHAT. Laird is a lousy offesive player, who's 28 and going nowhere. We need to find out if Salty can handle the catchers position NOW, not in 2 or 3 years when Taylor Teagarden is also pushing for at-bats there.

The Closer situation: Now that's what I like to hear. That's the way it should be: CJ's job to lose. But I'm still hoping that's not a bunch of talk, and Eddie Guardado winds up our closer because Ron likes his "experience".

Chris Davis moving: That's the best news yet. Give him another year or two, and he's the next Mark Teixeira.

Loe and Tejeda being stuck in the 'pen: wait, that's even better news.

AJ Murray: I think this is just a case of favoritisim on the part of Mark Connor. This kid has some good stuff, but he needs time in AAA to build up some velocity - with the cheese he was throwing in september last year, he'd never survive a full season in the majors. He needs to build up that arm before we run him out there again. And besides, regardless of velocity, I don't see how Connor thinks he's a better starter than McCarthy or Gabbard - he's not.

Hefe, Connor said Murray would be looked at THIS YEAR as possible rotation. That gives you Jennings, Millwood, Padilla, Gabbard and Murray. If those 5 guys are healthy then that leaves MCCARTHY as the one on the outs. Gabbard pitched better than McCarthy last year. If Jennings is healthy he gets one of the spots. Math alone tells you it is McCarthy who is out. I personally think Mendoza is better than McCarthy. Just like Math teaches us that Botts and Cruz have no chance to make this roster unless their are injuries. Hey Lonestar if Davis is the next Texiera does that mean he gets traded because he wants to win? Teagarden is the future catcher, so why not move Salt to first and Davis to right field. We need some power hitting outfielders with strong arms. Rangers are saying if Salt doesn't win the major league job, then he goes to AAA to learn his trade. What a joke. This interferes with Teagardens growth. Tea is a better catcher now than Salt will ever be. Salt said, "I would have loved first base if they told him to play there." So why didn't they? 1:17 in throwing out runners isn't acceptable, some of that is on the pitcher, but it isn't what we are used to. Laird is a good receiver and probably would hit better if Washington wasn't overbearing.

"Hefe, Connor said Murray would be looked at THIS YEAR as possible rotation."

I'm not sure why you emphasized "this year" when the key words were "looked at." If Murray breaks camp in the big league rotation it will be because he earned it and one of the 5 main candidates is hurt or was innefective in the spring. If Gabbard, McCarthy, Jennings, Millwood, and Padilla all make it through the spring in good health and Gabbard and McCarthy are effective by the end of the Spring then Murray will be in the rotation at AAA alongside guys like Hurley, Harrison, Mendoza and Mathis.

As far as the catching situation goes, if Saltalamacchia doesn't win the job and is put at AAA for the start of the season then why couldn't Teagarden go back to AA? He caught a grand total of 14 games there last year. Why do you feel the need to take our organizational depth at a key position and spin it into a bad thing?

Laird is an immature, entitled brat who doesn't understand why he's got to go out and win a job after hitting .224 for an entire season.

Davis aint going to right field because he doesn't have the necessary range. His future is at first base or DH. He needs to work on drawing more walks and striking out less back at Frisco for a month or two then hopefully he'll have a good enough 300 at bats at AAA to be considered for a starting major league job next year.