In the words of former of former Ranger broadcaster Mark Holtz, “Hello win column”. The Rangers get off to a good start this spring as Yu Darvish looks very dominant and for once actually gets run support. Darvish who went two innings threw 29 pitches, 23 of them were strikes. He also struck out 4 of the 8 hitters he faced. He said, “I just feel really relaxed,”. Darvish also said it was the best spring debut he has had since joining the Rangers. Hopefully for the Rangers and Darvish he is not peaking too soon. He still has 3 or 4 more starts until the real season starts.
Prince Fielder had a solid debut as well. He grounded out in the first, but then hit a solo home run to right field to make it 3-0. He is expected to provide left handed power for the Rangers this season. Hopefully this is just a sign of things to come. The Rangers offense as a whole had 11 runs. The run production was spread throughout the lineup as seven different players drove in runs. Other notable performances included Michael Choice getting two hits against left handed pitching. Tommy Hanson got the first outing of the 5th starter candidates and went 1.1 innings. He was pulled after that, but the Rangers say they were satisfied with his performance. His fastball was sitting at 88-90 mph. JP Arencibia also drove in a run in his first game going 1-3 with a double.
Not a lot else happened for the Rangers. Justin Germano struggled in his first outing of the Spring as he went 1 inning giving up 5 runs. He is competing for a spot in the bullpen, but with performances like that it will be for the Round Rock or Frisco bullpens. Jim Adduci trying out as a first baseman struggled as well when he booted a ball and that led to the Royals getting on the board.
Today the Rangers face the Royals again at 2:05 and Alexi Ogando will be making his Spring Training debut. Ogando this Spring is thought to have one of the rotation spots locked down after finishing 2013 well. His goal this spring is just to get better every start and be ready when the season starts. That process starts today.
In non game news, Harrison had a long toss and said he felt great afterwards, said he felt some ooomph in the ball. Tanner Scheppers threw 30 pitches of live batting practice as he is trying to recover from back soreness. Both have been dealing with lingering injuries early on in camp. Scheppers at this point is probably just pitching for a spot in the bullpen, but hopefully he will ready for opening day. That’s all the Rangers news for today. We are a month away from opening day and I cannot wait.
Finally for highlights of the Fielders home run and Darvish’s performance just click on the picture above.
Yesterday was the last day of just strictly workouts. Today marks the beginning of the Cactus league season for the Rangers as they take on the Kansas City Royals. There were a couple of notable things that happened yesterday. First, … Continue reading →
As a new week starts and the 2014 season draws closer, big news came out of Rangers camp yesterday. They both were good news stories. First, Ron Washington’s contract was extended through 2015. Second, Matt Harrison was declared fit to … Continue reading →
The biggest question for the Rangers this Spring Training will be their starting rotation. The question will be who will be their starting 5 once the season starts? It is a question that fans, writers, and bloggers like myself will … Continue reading →
Last week pitchers and catchers reported, and now we are to the full squad portions of workouts. It is that time when we find out who is healthy and who is not. Unfortunately for the Rangers the who is not … Continue reading →
Day 4 of camp was a pretty big day as all players are now in camp. Prince Fielder and Elvis Andrus were the last two players to arrive. Elvis came in rocking a James Harden-like or Abraham Lincoln-like beard. Prince … Continue reading →
Day 3 of camp saw a few more position players report and the pitchers continuing to get ready for the season. The big story out of camp yesterday though was Jurickson Profar being shutdown with continued shoulder soreness. This comes … Continue reading →
Pitchers and catchers reported to Surprise, Arizona to begin the 2014 season and already there has been plenty of news on the Rangers front. There is news about Jurickson Profar’s tendinitis, how Yu Darvish spent his offseason, updating Derek Hollands’ … Continue reading →
The Texas Rangers 2013 season was an up and down roller coaster. They were in contention for the division into September, and forced a one-game playoff for the wild card game with a 7 game winning streak to end the season. If not for a bad start to September they would have made the playoffs. They came up just short. Most of that is because of what happened in the previous offseason. Going into the 2012 season the Rangers were armed with money and players they were wanting to get. They were aiming to get Justin Upton in a trade from the Diamondbacks and sign Zach Greinke. They were also in the market to resign Josh Hamilton and do about a half-dozen other things. Unfortunately none of it happened. They were left to put a raw Leonys Martin in center. sign A.J. Pierzynski to play catcher, and sign Lance Berkman to play DH. Then when you thought things couldn’t get much worse, the Biogenesis scandal broke in February. It implicated Nelson Cruz as one of the buyers of PED’s from this clinic in Miami. MLB then started their investigation and stated that they were aiming to suspend these players that were buying and using these PED’s. Going into the 2013 season all the question marks revolved around the offense. As the season progressed we got to see that those question marks were well deserved. Leonys Martin did get better as the season progressed and Pierzynski produced offensively, but Berkman was awful. He couldn’t stay healthy and when he was healthy he wasn’t hitting. In August there were even rumors that he was going to retire. He didn’t though, but he also did not play a lot down the stretch. He was replaced at DH by Jurickson Profar for most of the second half. With a disappointing offense and numerous injuries in the pitching staff it was no surprise that they came up short. They just were not good enough. They still did finish with 90 wins for the fourth straight season. That is a Rangers record. It wasn’t a complete disappointment, but Jon Daniels had a mission this offseason and that was to improve the lineup.
The checklist for the Rangers this offseason read like this, improve first base, catcher, settle the middle infield positions, and get a middle of the order DH type hitter. As far as free agents they had decisions to make on Nelson Cruz, Joe Nathan, Pierzynski, and Geovany Soto. They also had to decide what to do with the middle infield combination of Andrus, Profar, and Kinsler. Profar had definitely earned a spot in the 2014 lineup. With all of this and about 30 million to spend the Rangers had the potential to make some big moves.
It started early for the Rangers. On November 1st Joe Nathan declared for free agency and you saw the Rangers pretty much move on from him. Then three weeks later they made one of the biggest trades of the offseason and shocked two fan bases. They traded long-time fan favorite Ian Kinsler for first baseman Prince Fielder and 30 million dollars. That made my mouth drop. I could not believe it. With one trade the Rangers had solved two problems. First, it filled the hole they have had at first base since the Mark Teixiera trade and it resolved the middle infield issue they had last season. The downside was losing Kinsler, but to get something you have to give up something. From there it sent the message that the Rangers were willing to open up their wallet and spend money.
They followed that up by signing J.P. Arencibia to compete for the catching position. They signed him based on what he had shown in the past and they hope that he can recapture that. He certainly is a catcher that can hit for power as evidenced by hitting more than 15 home runs these last seasons and for 1.8 million they might have gotten a steal.
From there is was a pretty quiet December. They were rumored to be in on outfielder Shin Shoo Choo. He was going to replace David Murphy. It was a long wait through December until December 27th it was officially announced that he had agreed to a 7 year/ $130 million deal. It was an enormous deal, but it showed the Rangers ownership was willing to step up and pay the price to help this team get better. Going into the 2014 season the Rangers are hoping that Choo will continue to have a high OBP and provide some pop in the outfield from the left side. He will be the starting left fielder.
Just when you think they are done they make a trade with Oakland A’s to acquire outfielder Michael Choice. In that trade they sent Craig Gentry and Josh Lindblom to the A’s for young outfielder Michael Choice and middle infielder Chris Bostick. Gentry had been a guy who is great defensively and light hitting offensively. Choice is a player that is under control longer and has a higher ceiling. He will certainly be competing in spring training for the fourth outfielder spot, otherwise known as the David Murphy role.
The Rangers then finished off their offseason by signing pitchers Armando Gallaraga and Daniel Bard. Gallaraga is again trying to get his career back on track. Since that perfect game that wasn’t he has really struggled and has been on multiple teams. Bard also is a reclamation project that the Rangers have signed. He is coming back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery on January 2nd. He will not be ready for opening day, but the Rangers hope he can contribute in the second half of the season. If he can get healthy he could be a real asset for the bullpen. Gallaraga will be competing for a spot in the rotation in spring training.
The Rangers after all was said and done accomplished all of their goals. They improved the lineup and found Profar a spot in the infield. After all of these moves the Rangers look poised to make a run at the AL West division title. The A’s are not going to be a pushover and the Angels will be better. The division looks to be up for grabs. The Rangers have done all they could this offseason to give themselves a shot. It is now up to the players to perform. In my opinion I give the Rangers a grade of 9 out of 10 for this offseason.
The Rangers have provided all of us with moments that we will never forget. Moments that we will be telling our kids and grandkids about. Here are my top 5 moments from my time as a Rangers fan. The post for 6-10 is below. Oh and to see video of these moments just click on the pictures. I am sorry, I could not find video of the David Delluci moment anywhere. I guess that will just have to live in my head.
5. -Rangers 3 walkoff wins in succession against the Angels in 2013 season. Soto, Martin, Beltre.
Going into this series in late July both teams were really struggling. Angels suffered through a 2013 season filled with injuries and superstars not playing up to their potential. The Rangers meanwhile had lost 9 of their last 13 games and were struggling just to score runs. The whole pitching staff was keeping the Rangers in games, but the offense just couldn’t deliver. They just needed wins, to help turn the season around. The division still wasn’t lost and they were in the race for the wild card spots as well. In game 1 they faced a one-run deficit heading into the 9th inning. A.J. Pierzynski and then Geovanny Soto hit home runs to tie it up and win the game. The team was ecstatic. One night later they were facing the same situation when Leonys Martin came up with the bases loaded and proceeded to hit a game-winning grand slam. Then on the third night, just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier Adrian Beltre hits another walk-off home run to win 2-1. After that the Rangers turned things around had a great August to get back into the race and then in game 162 they forced a one-game playoff against the Tampa Bay Rays. They would lose that game, but those 3 nights in July will not soon be forgotten.
4. Elvis Andrus’ base running in 2010 playoffs
Elvis Andrus was a revelation in these playoffs. Against the Rays and Yankees he showed what kind of disruptive force he can be on the bases. It started in game 5 against the Rays where he scored from second on an infield ground out. Then he did that again in game 2 against the Yankees to get the Rangers on the board. He was constantly forcing the action on the opposing team. He was stealing bases and taking the extra base whenever he could. Before this he had been known as mainly a defensive guy who was a light hitter. After this series people started seeing what a great baserunner he is. In the 2010 ALCS alone he ended up with four stolen bases and a .333 BA and .378 OBP. He made his name in these playoffs with his base-running and continues it to this day.
3. David Delluci gets game winning hit against the A’s.
2004 was a magical season for the Rangers. They traded Alex Rodriguez right before Spring Training for Alfonso Soriano. Going into the season there really was no expectations for the team. It was expected that they would probably finish fourth behind the Angels, A’s, and Mariners. Driven by a young infield of Mark Teiexiera, Soriano, Michael Young, and Hank Blalock this team refused to believe what was being written about them. They competed all season long and were still in the race come September. Then the chair-throwing incident happens in Oakland at the beginning of the month causing them to lose one of their best relievers in Frank Francisco for the rest of the season. The team doesn’t quit though and rallies instead and is 5 games back going into a series against the A’s at home. They need to take all three to have a chance to win. They take the first two, but the A’s look like they are going to win game 3 when they lead 4-2 going into the bottom of the 9th. The Rangers though refused to die and came back on a Hank Blalock home run and then David Delluci gets the game-winning hit when he pulls it by Jermaine Dye. The Rangers win that game and sweep the series and stayed alive. They would not make the playoffs that season, but it was quite the ride to watch them try.
2.-Cliff Lee beats the Rays in game 5 to send the Rangers to ALCS
July 9th, 2010 is a day I will never forget. It was the day that the Rangers beat the Yankees and acquired Cliff Lee. It was a turning point in not just the Rangers history, but the Yankees as well. Cliff Lee in those few months he was here made a lot of memories for Rangers fan. He struck out 14 in an August start against the Yankees. He was a guarantee to go 7-8 innings everytime out. No memory for me was greater than seeing him pitch Game 5 against the Rays. Up to this point in the Rangers history they had not won a single playoff series. They had been to the playoffs three times, and all resulted in divisional round exits. 2010 looked to be different after the Rangers had won games 1 & 2 in Tampa. Then the Rangers dropped games 3 & 4 at home. It was down to this all-decisive game 5. The Rangers would have Cliff Lee on the mound, while Tampa would counter with David Price. Ace versus ace, it was bound to be a low-scoring game, and it was for Tampa. Cliff Lee was brilliant in this game. He went the complete game striking out 11 and walking none. The Rangers would go on to win 5-1 and advance to play the New York Yankees in the ALCS. None of this would have happened had the Rangers not acquired Cliff Lee in July.
1. -Rangers beat Yankees to make it to the World Series.
The Rangers since even before moving from Washington D.C. to Texas have always been known as a losing franchise. They weren’t even lovable losers though, they were just irrelevant. They had moments here and there where they made a splash. Moments like the 96,98, and 99 seasons where they made the playoffs. Each time they were beat by the Yankees in the divisional round. Then they made a splash when they signed Alex Rodriguez to the biggest contract in sports history. That didn’t really help them win though. It wasn’t till my number one moment that they crossed that threshold from irrelevance to household name. When Neftali Feliz struck out Alex Rodriguez to send the Rangers to the World Series it put the Rangers on the map to stay. That series showed all the fans at home that the Rangers are winners and that they are fun to watch. The win also rewarded all those fans that have stuck with the Rangers through all those years of losing and irrelevance. I will never forget that I was at work when it happened and I just jumped about as high as I could. It was a feeling that I will never forget. That whole night I kept repeating the phrase, “The Rangers are in the World Series”. I never thought I would be able to say that.
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