Category Archives: 2014 Regular Season

Joey Gallo: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

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  Today, I will be starting with my series on the future of the Rangers by looking at minor league phenom Joey Gallo. Gallo has been called everything from, “the most interesting man in the minors” to 2014 Futures Game … Continue reading →

The Future of the Texas Rangers

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The 2014 season is about halfway over and for the Texas Rangers it has turned from a season of promise into a lost season due to all the injuries. In all the Rangers have made 20 DL moves this season, 3/5 of their expected rotation is on the DL, their starting and backup first basemen are gone for the season, and numerous other star players and role players have missed time due to injury. 2014 will always be in my mind “the nightmare season” that as soon as it is over will never be spoken of again. It was the year players started getting hurt in the offseason, it carried over into Spring Training workouts and the games, and extended into the regular season. It has felt like the Rangers have not went more than two weeks without having to make a DL move. It has been a valiant effort by Ron Washington and the team to stay as close to .500 as they have, but as of today they are 11.5 GB of the division, and 4.5 GB of the wild card. They are still in the race right now for one of the wild card spots and so the season isn’t completely over, but I have decided instead of dwelling on the present on this blog I will be focusing the next couple of weeks looking into the future.

In the present it looks bleak, the Rangers have players that are hurt or underperforming, they only have a good chance of winning 1 out of every 5 games, and there really isn’t much in the way of reinforcements coming into the team. Despite all of that though the near future looks bright.  They have prospects such as Joey Gallo, Luke Jackson, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Jorge Alfaro, Nomar Manzaro, Ryan Rua, and others that are still developing and on their way up. On the major league club we have seen the promise and potential that Michael Choice, Roughned Odor, Luis Sardinas, Robinson Chirinos, Nick Martinez, and Nick Tepesch have shown. The future looks promising, but these players are not ready yet. They will have their moments, but not sustained and rarely in the late innings. In some ways this feels a lot like 2008 and 2009 in that there were a lot of players who were good, but they did not know how to win yet. They had to spend those two years learning how to win and then in 2010 it all came together. This group of players has to learn how to win together and in order to become winners a team first has to lose. It happens in every sport, it is called the slow build. For the Rangers that is what 2006-2009 was. It was getting the pieces together and then learning how to win. Before the Dallas Cowboys won their last 3 Super Bowls they had to endure seasons of 1-15, 7-9, 11-5, before going 13-3 and winning the Super Bowl. That is where the Rangers are back to right now.

Over the next two weeks leading into the All Star Break I will be writing 5 parts to our future of the Texas Rangers series. The first part will take a look at Joey Gallo. He has been called the most interesting man in the minors by Grantland and so I will be writing part one about him and the expected impact that he will have on this team, when he will arrive, and what type of player he will likely become. The second part will take a look at the top 10 Rangers prospects and their expected arrival time and what kind of impact they will have on this team. The third part will take a look at the moves the Rangers need to make to win in 2015 and beyond. The fourth part will take a look at the young players on the roster right now and what their ceiling is and if they can become long term contributors to the team. The fifth and final part will be prediction for what the 2016 roster will look like. It will be a compilation of the previous four parts and look toward 2016 when many of these players will have made or will make their debuts. Baseball America does something like this in their prospect handbooks every year where they jump ahead 3 years to make their prediction on the starting lineup and rotation. I will do the same to close out this 5 part series.

In conclusion Rangers fans don’t despair. I know that it may be hard to watch this years team and the season cannot get over quick enough, but enjoy it while it is here. Spend the games watching Roughned Odor hit or Nick Martinez pitch and realize that this is the future and while it may not be great now, they will be once they have some more seasoning under their belt. It takes time to grow for young players such as them, but I would expect that as soon as next season they will be back in the hunt for a playoff berth next season and in 2016 I expect to see them back in contention for another World Series berth. Unfortunately 2014 is not 2015 or 2016. The future will be better I guarantee that.

The Greatness of Yu

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Darvish throws first CG Shutout

Darvish throws first CG Shutout

 

There is a lot that can be said of Yu Darvish, but until last night you couldn’t say complete game shutout for Darvish. He has gotten close to perfect games, no hitters, and shutouts, but had never completed one till last night against the Miami Marlins. The contributing factor always being pitch count. In those games when he would have a chance his pitch count would be above 120 and so to give him a chance would be to risk injury. This season he has found that balance between striking people out and going deeper into games. His first two seasons he averaged 6.2 innings pitched per start, now he averages 7.1 innings pitched per start and 5 times has pitched 8 innings or longer. That is mainly due to adding a more consistent sinking fastball to his arsenal of pitches. Last night he used it to induce 8 groundballs, and 3 double plays. One of those double plays came in the 9th inning after a leadoff single by Giancarlo Stanton. Afer the single there was some movement by Washington like he was considering removing Darvish for Soria, but he allowed Darvish to stay in. Washington said about that, “I put my card down and told [bench coach Tim Bogar], ‘I’m just going to sit here and watch him get a ground ball.’”He did and was able to strike out Garrett Jones to finish it off.

He is truly becoming the Ace the Texas Rangers have been searching for all these years. Those supposed aces included such pitchers as Rick Helling, Ken Park, Aaron Sele, Chan Ho Park, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Millwood, Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, but none of them match what Darvish has been able to provide this team. He has provided stability and stellar performance in his time here. His overall numbers this season are spectacular. He ranks 5th in all of baseball in ERA (2.11), 9th in opponents batting average (.218), and 7th in strikeouts (101). This has been such a tumultuous season for the team with all the injuries and DL moves and players being thrust in the spotlight who may not be ready. The one consistent though has been Yu Darvish.  Every 5 days Darvish gives the Rangers a chance at winning. This team may not win anything, in fact I think they have a better chance of finishing last in the division than making the playoffs, but every 5 days Darvish makes it worth it to watch this team. He is a great pitcher on a flawed team and hopefully one day he might be able to add Cy Young winner next to his name.

The Cost of Competing

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DANIELS

 

In professional sports every team is seeking a window. A window that while open gives them a chance at winning their sports ultimate prize. It could be the Lombardi Trophy, Stanley Cup, World Series, or NBA Finals. General Managers spend their lifetimes trying to acquire enough talent to be able to open that window. Windows normally only stay open for a very short time.  Very few GM’s actually get to open that window. That is why when teams get there they normally overspend in order to maximize that window. They never want to admit that the window is closed or is closing. This takes me to the Rangers and the decisions the front office has made to try to keep the Rangers window open.

Jon Daniels has been the Rangers GM since October of 2005. He spent the first 5 years of his tenure rebuilding the Rangers from the ground up. He rebuilt through shrewd trades, under the radar signings, and through the draft. Instead of moves made to compete immediately he slowly started to acquire more and more talent. He brought in players like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, and Yu Darvish. All along he said that he wanted to get the Rangers to a point where they could compete every season. He didn’t believe in a window of opportunity. The Rangers made it to back-to-back World Series in 2010-2011 and came within an out of winning the 2011 World Series. Since then the Rangers have gotten farther and farther away from making it back to the World Series. They lost a 5 game lead with 7 games remaining in 2012 and then lost the Wild Card playoff game to the Orioles. Then in 2013 in a season full of injuries they lost a one game playoff to the Tampa Bay Rays. This season just shy of Memorial Day they sit 7 games back of division leaders Oakland.

This takes me to the point of the article. In order to stay in contention teams have to make trades that normally they wouldn’t make. Jon Daniels has made several in-season trades and now this season they are seeing that once full minor league system drained by all that talent that was traded away. It started in 2011 with the Koji Uehara trade that sent Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter to the Orioles. It was a sound trade at the time because the Rangers needed bullpen help, but Uehara did not provide anything and was left off of the World Series roster in favor of Mark Lowe.  In 2012 there was the trade for Ryan Dempster that sent Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva to the Chicago Cubs. The team needed a starter after Colby Lewis went down with an injury, Neftali Feliz had Tommy John, Roy Oswalt and Yu Darvish were not pitching well, and so they traded for Dempster. One thing we saw with Dempster is what we see with most NL pitchers who make the transition to the AL. They do not pitch as well. Dempster in his time here did go 7-3, but with a 5.09 ERA, and in September that ballooned to 5.68 ERA in the month.  The big problem now is that Kyle Hendricks has blossomed in the Cubs organization and is on the verge of being called up. Ryan Dempster is no longer in MLB and was not resigned after the season.

In 2013 they made another trade with the Cubs this time for Matt Garza. They gave up Neil Ramirez, C.J. Edwards, Justin Grimm and Mike Olt to complete the trade. That made sure they got him, but while here Garza continued to be the head case he has been throughout his career. He called people out on Twitter, his behavior was unpredictable on the mound, and his performance just wasn’t what the team thought they would get. He ended up 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA, and allowed 5.02 Runs per 9 innings. The Rangers needed to make this trade because Colby Lewis had not come back, Matt Harrison was out for the season, Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm were not able to pick up the slack, and they needed a veteran to help them get back to the playoffs. It just did not work either as the Rangers season ended in game 163 to the Tampa Bay Rays. Then this past offseason Daniels really wanted to shake things up. He traded longtime Ranger Ian Kinsler to the Tigers for Prince Fielder, let Nelson Cruz go without a multi-year contract offer, traded fan favorite Craig Gentry to the A’s for Michael Choice, and signed Shin Shoo Choo. Only one of those has really worked out.

Having to trade prospects is the cost of competing. It is what general managers will call a necessary evil, because the here and now is more important than the future. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out for the team acquiring the veteran. That is what the Rangers have found out as they have had to trade numerous prospects in order to stay in contention. That is what makes a GM’s job very difficult, weighing the question of whether or not to make a trade, and the future consequences of making that trade. Every GM battles with that decision in the offseason and especially during the month of July. Jon Daniels I am sure did not make any of these trades lightly. He knew what could happen, but he wanted to give his team a chance at getting back to the playoffs. The problem has come this year as the team has faced numerous injuries and no longer has the depth to cover up those injuries. Here is a sobering thought, if none of those trades had been made, here is what the Rangers lineup would look like.

LF Shin Shoo Choo

2b Ian Kinsler

1b Chris Davis

3b Adrian Beltre/ Mike Olt

RF Alex Rios

DH Mitch Moreland/ Mike Olt

CF Leonys Martin

C Robinson Chirinos

SS Elvis Andrus

This is the downside of trying to keep the window open. Does it produce exciting pennant race baseball? Yes it does. Does it bring regret later? It does that as well. Every team that competes for a period of time goes through that and now is the Rangers time to go through it. It may lead to a couple of down seasons, but players like Joey Gallo, Luke Jackson, and Jorge Alfaro are just a year or two away from being ready to contribute. That will give the team the shot in the arm that it needs and the ability to compete for the World Series again.

The Curse of the Extension

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Since Jon Daniels has been in charge of the Rangers they have sought to sign younger players to long-term extensions early on in their careers in order to be able to control costs. It also eliminates the possibility of having to go to arbitration with a player. That is certainly a positive, but of late it seems that of late there has been a curse on the team and the players who have signed those extensions. In Jon Daniel’s tenure there has been 5 high profile players sign extensions with the team: Ian Kinsler, Derek Holland, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, and Martin Perez. As you can tell from that list only one of those players is on the current active roster right now.

That is Elvis Andrus. Prior to last season he signed a 8 year and 120 million dollar contract extension. That contract made him one of the highest paid shortstops in the game. He had certainly earned it due to his improved work at the plate and his gold-glove level defense he plays at short. Fortunately for the Rangers he has not gotten hurt, but he has underperformed his contract at times. Last season for example in the first half he hit just .242 and this season he started off so slow that the Rangers had to drop him down to the number 9 spot. Defensively he has been a rock and rarely lets the offense keep him from performing in the field. It is his lack of hitting at times that hurts the team though, especially when he is being counted on to be on base.

The first position player to sign an extension though was Ian Kinsler and as all of us know he is no longer on the team. The Rangers gave him a 5 year/75 million dollar extension prior to the 2012 season. He had just come of a 30/30 season, it was the second of his career. At the time it was thought that he would be here for many years and hopefully the rest of his career, but as we know now it was not quite meant to be. The team ending up collapsing in September losing a 5 game lead with 7 games remaining.  Josh Hamilton left after the 2012 season as well as Michael Young, and in 2013 Ian Kinsler was called upon to be the leader of the team. The Rangers signed him to that extension to play well, but also with the expectation that after being around Michael Young for so long he would be able to pick up and carry that torch that Young had held onto for so long. Kinsler did not want that responsibility. He was quoted in an interview this Spring saying,

“They wanted me to lead these young players, teach them the way to compete, when the only thing I should be worried about is how I’m performing in the game”.

That is not the kind of attitude the team wanted and so after refusing to move to first to make room for Jurickson Profar the team dealt him this past winter to Detroit for Prince Fielder.

The first pitcher to sign an extension was Derek Holland. He signed a 5 year/ 28.5 million dollar extension in March of 2012. He had earned his extension too as he went 16-5 with a 3.95 ERA, and 198 innings pitched in 2011. He also had that unforgettable game 4 World Series start where he shut down the St. Louis Cardinals with 8 1/3 shutout innings and only 2 hits allowed as he helped the Rangers tie up the series. Since then, he has failed to build on the success of that season. It was thought he would continue developing into a number one starter, but in 2012 he went 12-7, but with a 4.67 ERA, and allowed 32 home runs. Then, in 2013 he went 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA. Over the off-season though after chasing his dog up the steps of his home he tore cartilage in his knee and had to have microfracture surgery. He is still rehabbing from that injury and hopefully will be back in June or July.

The next pitcher was Matt Harrison. In January of 2013 he signed a 5 year/ 55 million dollar extension. He was coming off of a career season that saw him win 18 games and have a career low ERA, career high in innings pitched, strikeouts, and his WAR was 6.1. It was a great season and one certainly worthy of the extension he got. Since then though he has made 6 starts and may now be looking at the end of his career. He made two starts in 2013 before coming down with a lower back injury that required multiple surgeries. He rehabbed all season and off-season in order to be ready for this season, but a week into camp the same back injury flared up again. He changed mattresses and took it slowly, but was back on the team in late April. Then, on Monday in his 4th start he had to be taken out with stiffness in his lower back. It was revealed to be displacement of vertebra in his back and significant nerve irritation. The doctors have said that he can either choose to live with the pain or attempt a spinal fusion surgery that would end his season and could end his career. Either way, I would be very surprised if we see Matt Harrison on the mound again this season. It is sad, because he is a good pitcher that has just ran into some very bad luck.

The most recent player to sign an extension is Martin Perez. In November of 2013 the Rangers announced they had agreed to an extension with Perez that was 4 years/ 12.5 million guaranteed and 3 option years added on at the end. All together he can earn 32.5 million through the length of the contract. This came after Perez pitched spectacularly in the second half of 2013. He went 7-4 down the stretch with a 3.87 ERA and helped to stabilize the Rangers rotation amidst all the injuries that were plaguing the team. Then, this season he gets off to a 4-0 start that was highlighted by back-to-back complete game shutouts. The second of those was on the road against the first place Oakland A’s. He had outpitched the A’s ace Sonny Gray in that start. That would be the end of it though as he struggled in his next 4 starts. Then on Wednesday it was revealed that he had a partial tear of his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL). He was placed on the DL and will be making a decision soon to see if it heals itself or he just needs to have Tommy John surgery. If he opts to wait it will be 10-12 weeks, if he opts for surgery he likely would not be back till the second half of 2015.

There you have it the curse of the extension. The Chicago Cubs have the curse of the Billy Goat, the Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino, and now we have the Curse of the Extension. It has affected position players and pitchers alike. I don’t really have an explanation of why it has happened, but it has. Most of it has just been bad luck, but some of it has been how these players have been used. The back-to-back shutouts were great efforts by Perez, but maybe it was not the right thing to do. He still is just 21 and it was still April. I think Washington should have erred on the side of caution. Who can say it was anything but bad luck that Holland wrecked his knee chasing his dog up the stairs? Finally, who would have seen Matt Harrison all of a sudden developing back issues just months after signing his extension. For some reason though these injuries and 13 others have struck the Rangers this season. If they can somehow survive all of this and still get to the playoffs it will be Ron Washington’s greatest coaching job of his career.

 

The Major Issues affecting the Rangers

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The team celebrates Choo's walk to end the game.

The team celebrates Choo’s walk to end the game.

 

The Rangers lost again last night 12-1 to the Colorado Rockies to fall to 17-16 and 2 games back in the division. They have now lost 8 of their last 11 games and are clearly going in the wrong direction. This all comes after the run they went on in the middle of April till late April when they won 4 straight series to surge into first place in the division after sweeping the Oakland A’s. The question becomes what has changed from then to now? Why are they struggling so much? Finally, how do they get it turned around?

Lets start with what has changed from then to now. During that stretch of winning 4 straight series they were mainly relying on getting solid starting pitching, decent bullpen work, and timely hitting. They were not scoring a ton of runs, but they were scoring them at the right time. It was during that stretch also that the starting staff was pitching its best. Martin Perez had thrown those back-to-back shutouts, Robbie Ross was pitching well, Colby had just come back, and Yu was pitching deep into games and being very efficient. Since then though, the league has made adjustments to Perez and he has followed the shutout streak with 2 very underwhelming starts. He has given up 13 runs in his last 9.2 innings pitched. He hasn’t been able to pitch into the sixth in either start. He seems to be pitching the same, but not getting the same results. That is another thing, the starters as a whole are not lasting as deep into games as the teams needs them to. For example, in the A’s series last week in Texas neither Darvish or Perez were able to get through the 5th inning. It also doesn’t help that Colby and Matt seem to have pitch counts put on them. The two of them are both coming back from injuries that kept them out all of 2013, and so it makes sense that the team would be overly cautious in their first few starts. If they are going to do that, then guys like Darvish, Perez, and Ross have to pitch deeper into games. If they don’t it will put a lot more stress on an already thin bullpen. Alexi Ogando has already pitched in 18 of the Rangers 33 games. That is just asking for trouble. He is an arm injury waiting to happen if they keep using him at this rate.  The starters just have to pitch into the 6th and preferably the 7th inning.

Offensively, the lineup is just out of balance. Elvis has been in a slump that has lasted for the last couple of weeks and it has seen him drop in the order to number 9. That happening though has caused Ron Washington to have to experiment with who to hit in the number 2 spot. He has went with Josh Wilson, Dan Robertson, and Leonys Martin. None of them has seemed to work, but even if it did, the middle of the order has been struggling. Alex Rios is still putting up solid numbers, but Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre are hitting with little to no power. Beltre just got his first home run of the season last night and Fielder is still just hitting .233 with just 11 RBI’s. The bottom of the order is really not doing much especially with guys like Donnie Murphy, Josh Wilson, and JP Arencibia hitting down there. They also just are not getting the timely hits that they need. Last night there were several instances of getting runners on base and they couldn’t drive them in. To me it is inexplicable to play two games in Colorado and score only 3 runs. That is a place that with as big of an outfield as they have that they should have been able to score a few runs. Really the only player who seems to be doing his job at the plate is Shin Shoo Choo. He continues to get on base at a ridiculous .500 clip and his average is .370. In his role as a leadoff hitter he is doing his job, but no one else seems to be doing theirs. That is what is holding the offense back is everyone doing their part.

Now the question becomes how do they fix this? How do they get back to playing better baseball and winning games. It has to start with the starting pitcher. The starters must be able to pitch into the 6th or 7th innings. That will take the stress off an already overworked bullpen. Right now it seems the bullpen is running on fumes. Last night Washington even ran Mitch Moreland out there for an inning so he didn’t have to use anybody else in the game. Alexi Ogando will be more effective if he is not being called on to pitch every single day. The big help for the staff will be improved health. Derek Holland and Tanner Scheppers both should be back in the next few weeks. That will allow Robbie Ross and Tanner Scheppers to go back to the bullpen and provide some relief. Robbie I would imagine would take over being the long man and middle relief option and Scheppers would be the 8th inning guy. Then there is that guy Neftali Feliz who is sitting down there in Triple-A still trying to work his way back. He is dealing with soreness and general fatigue right now, but he should be back to pitching soon and hopefully will be option come June. That would provide some serious punch to their bullpen. Having all of those guys come back will certainly help the pitching staff. Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison need to have the shackles taken off of them. Lewis has shown to be as healthy as he has been since probably 2011. The Rangers just need to let him pitch deeper into games. He still has yet to pitch more than 5.2 innings in a game. That will be happening soon though for both of them and that will help the bullpen and the team out as well.

The offense needs Elvis Andrus. They need Andrus to spray line drives all over the field and cause havoc on the basepaths. They need his energy and enthusiasm for the game. The offense has been at their best when Choo and Andrus have been getting on and providing opportunities for Fielder, Beltre, and Rios. If Andrus can go back to just hitting the ball and move back up in the order that should provide a little bit of balance that the offense needs. Once again I say that the offense needs Prince Fielder to produce. They are paying him $24 million this season, and they brought him here to be the major run producer that the team lacked last season. So far he has not been able to be that guy.  This offense is just waiting for him to go on a prolonged streak and when he does it will make the whole lineup look better. Beltre will get better pitches to hit, and Alex Rios will see more runners on base as a result too. Health on offense will also help as well. Jurickson Profar is starting the process of coming back as he is now swinging a bat and throwing, so hopefully he will be back by the beginning of June. Geovanny Soto will be back too come June and so that will mean no more at-bats for Arencibia. Having those guys back will provide some punch to the bottom of the order and less key at-bats for guys like Donnie Murphy and Josh Wilson. The key though is getting Elvis back on track and having Fielder start hitting on a more consistent basis and for more power. If they do that and they get healthy the offense should be fine.

To wrap up, like I said before the season if they could survive these first two months and be at or above .500 they would be fine the rest of the season. That spurt we saw in the middle of April goes to show me that this team can play on that level. For a few days they had the best record in the AL, so they can be as good as any team in the AL. It is just a matter of balance and people doing their jobs. The starters must pitch deep into games, the bullpen must be able to hold onto leads, and the offense must provide timely hitting. In the lineup everyone needs to do their job. Right now they are not doing that and so the team just needs to survive this stretch and hopefully get it turned around starting tonight at home against Colorado in a weird home and home series. Tonight starts a 5 game homestand as it will be Colby Lewis against Jorge De La Rosa. Lewis needs to continue to build off of the success that he had in his last start against the Angels. Note to Colby, don’t give Troy Tulowitzki anything to hit. The guy is a beast right now. Game time is at 7:05 tonight.

Things we Learned from this Road Trip

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The Rangers just finished a 4-2 road trip that saw them go to Oakland and Seattle. They swept Oakland and lost 2 of 3 to Seattle. After the road trip the Rangers find themselves tied for first place and they find themselves starting to get healthier. I will say I did not see a lot of the Saturday and Sunday games. Saturday I was busy watching the Thunder playoff game against the Grizzlies and I wasn’t home to watch the game on Sunday. From what I have read though and what I saw earlier on this trip I think we definitely learned a few things about this team during these last 6 days.

  1. Martin Perez is starting to pitch like the stud pitcher he was projected to be. For several years Perez was this top prospect that the Rangers were carefully nurturing in the minor leagues. They took it slow with him because he was always among the youngest players in his league. Yet, he would go out there and put up great numbers. The Rangers did not rush him though because they knew that he was special and they were willing to wait. That wait ended last year when he became a full-fledged member of the rotation. He struggled at the beginning, but in the second half he figured it out. He went 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA the last two months of the season and was likely their second best starting pitcher. He has carried that momentum into this season. So far he is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA and has thrown back-to-back complete game shutouts. This last one was against the division leading Oakland A’s and helped them complete the sweep. He has been able to do this with a combination of a devastating changeup and an ability to keep the ball down and get ground balls. He is figuring it out and he has been one of the main reasons the Rangers have excelled. If he pitches well again on Tuesday against the A’s he likely will win pitcher of the month for the AL. That is how far he has come. Hopefully he can continue that as the Rangers move forward through this season.
  2. The starting rotation is finally healthy. Nick Martinez did get a start this last week, but with Matt Harrison now back they are as healthy as they will be until Derek Holland gets back. Their rotation is now Darvish, Perez, Ross, Lewis, and Harrison. That is a pretty stout staff. Harrison came back yesterday and looked as sharp as he did in 2012. He was working quick and getting outs. That is what he does. This team so far is 15-10 and tied for first place despite all these injuries. The number I saw yesterday was that they had 15 wins and 12 players that have spent time or still are on the DL. Now that they are getting closer to being healthy it will be interesting to see how this team does. One thing to watch over these next few weeks is the number of innings these starters get, because even though they are pitching well now it is still just April. The Rangers will need these guys healthy come September and October and it will be interesting to see how much Wash rides his guys these next few weeks until the bullpen is fully healthy.
  3. The 8th inning is an issue. The Rangers lost 2 of 3 to the Mariners over the weekend primarily because of 8th inning struggles. On Friday Neal Cotts was called upon to protect a 3-2 lead and get it to Soria in the 9th. Cotts though in 20 pitches did not retire a single hitter and allowed 4 runs and the Mariners ended up winning 6-5. Sunday was worse. The Rangers had a 5-0 lead in the 4th and a 5-3 lead that it handed to Alexi Ogando in the 8th. Ogando proceeded to allow a 2-out rally that concluded with Ranger-killer Kyle Seager hitting a 3-run home run that gave the Mariners the lead. Last year Tanner Scheppers was a dominant 8th inning guy and was almost always able to hand it over to Joe Nathan. This year though it has been a constant struggle. I am sure that once Scheppers is healthy he will resume that role, but until then Cotts and Ogando will have to do a better job of making their pitches and getting people out.

Now the Rangers come back home for a another important series against the A’s. After this series there will only be 13 more games remaining between what looks like the top 2 teams in the AL West. The Rangers really made a statement with that sweep last week. All of those games were very hard-fought and the A’s will try to get some of those wins back in Arlington this week. The matchups will be Yu Darvish vs. Sonny Gray today, Martin Perez vs. Scott Kazmir, and Robbie Ross vs. Jesse Chavez. Should be 3 very competitive games. The games get started tonight at 7:05.

Rangers Homestand Recap and Road Trip Preview

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  The Rangers just concluded a very succesful 10 game homestand. They went 7-3 in the homestand and won all three series. They took 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros, 3 of 4 from the Seattle Mariners, and 2 … Continue reading →

Game 9 Recap

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The Rangers let one get away today. They had an 8th inning lead and a chance for a 3-3 road trip through two of the best teams in the AL and they let it get away from them. It wasn’t a game they played particularly well, but yet they had a 2-1 lead and Neal Cotts on the mound to try to get it to closer Joakim Soria. Just as quick as you snap your fingers it was gone. David Ortiz had sent one down the right field line and around Pesky’s Pole for a game-winning 3-run home run. Instead of 3-3 it became a 2-4 road trip. That still is not bad, it is exactly what I expected. I expected them to win the Yu Darvish and Martin Perez starts, seeing that they are the most experienced starters that they have right now. That is exactly what they did. They won 3-0 on Sunday and 10-7 last night. They sit at 4-5 and are now preparing for a 10 game homestand that starts on Friday against the Astros.

Instead of talking about big picture, lets discuss today’s game. It was Robbie Ross Jr. making his second start of the season going up against veteran Jake Peavy. Early on Robbie struggled with his control. He walked 4 hitters between the 2nd and 3rd innings. That brought out Ron Washington. It wasn’t to take him out of the game, but to give him a stern talking to. Nothing seems to bother Wash more than a pitcher who is not throwing strikes. It was just Wash and Ross out there, no catcher or other infielders. That got through to him as he did give up one run in that third inning, but then he calmly got David Ortiz to ground into a double play to end the inning. That was it as far as the scoring for the middle innings. Ross would only walk two more hitters and make it into the 6th inning. The score was still 1-0 when he was lifted. He did walk 6 hitters, struck out 4, but only gave up 2 hits. He still needs to work on his control, but only giving up one run allowed the Rangers to come back and have the lead late.

They would have to come back late because early on Jake Peavy was spectacular. He was able to control the plate and keep the Rangers off-balance. He ended up striking out 8 and walking 4. The only one who was seemingly having good at-bats against Peavy was Choo. He led off the game with a double and then had two walks against Peavy. Everyone else struggled through 6 innings. In the 7th though things turned around when Mitch Moreland took a 89 mph fastball deep into the right-field bullpen to tie the game. Up to that point it looked like even though they were only down a run that it was not meant to be their day. Moreland changed all of that with one swing. Then it looked like a game that the Rangers could steal. In the 8th they did just that. Elvis led off with a double and was eventually brought home on a sac fly by Alex Rios. All of a sudden the Rangers had a 2-1 lead and were 6 outs away from a victory and a series win.

That leads to today’s questionable decision of the game. It occured in the bottom of the 8th after the Rangers had taken a 2-1 lead. Alexi Ogando had been in since the 6th inning and had pitched very well. It was his best appearance of the season. His fastball velocity was up and he was able to keep it down in the zone and his slider was very filthy. He was able to strike out 4 hitters in those 1.2 innings. Instead of bringing in Cotts to start the inning he let Ogando start the inning. He proceeded to walk Jackie Bradley Jr. At that point the Red Sox decided to pinch hit with A.J. Pierzynski. Washington then had a decision to make go with Ogando or come in with Neal Cotts. Cotts was warm and ready to go, yet Washington stuck with Ogando. He was clearly hoping that Ogando could finish out the inning and that he wouldn’t have to use Cotts. Ogando stayed in and Pierzynski blooped one right down the right field line to put two on and no outs. Ogando would get Pedroia to ground out.Then Cotts would come in to face Ortiz with two runners on and one out. David Ortiz then went yard to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead and the game. I understand why you start the inning with Ogando, but why keep with him even after the Red Sox have pinch-hit with Pierzynski. It just goes back to the problem the Rangers have with the 8th inning. They don’t have one guy who is good enough to assume that role so it leads to confusion late in games about who to bring in. Today it cost them as David Ortiz just did David Ortiz things in helping the Red Sox win the game 4-2.

Notes from the Game

  • Shin Shoo Choo is an on-base machine. That is all he does is aim to get on base. Early on this season he has been hitting and walking a ton. Right now he is in the middle of a stretch that has seen him reach base in 8 of his past 10 plate appearances. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. I love seeing how he is able to work a pitcher and wait till he gets a pitch that he likes. He is also normally in the middle of any Rangers rally, whether he starts it or he keeps it going. I questioned whether he was worth the contract that they gave him, but after seeing him play I would say that he is.
  • -Alexi Ogando was filthy today. This is the Ogando that the Rangers wanted to win a rotation spot. He lacked control though all Spring. Today he was bringing it and in the 6th and 7th innings he was untouchable. He was able to locate his fastball on both corners and the slider was really biting. This Ogando can be a real asset in the bullpen as long as he can bring it on a consistent basis.
  • Adrian Beltre was sent back to Texas to be examined further, but he has not been put on the DL yet. Instead they did bring up Kevin Kouzmanoff to man 3rd and designated Seth Rosin for assignment. Now they have 10 days to either trade or send him back to the Philadephia Phillies. Hopefully the Rangers can find a way to keep  him, because he had shown some potential to be a solid weapon down in the bullpen.

The Rangers will have tomorrow off and will be back on Friday at home to begin a 10 game homestand starting with the Houston Astros. It will be Yu Darvish going up against Scott Feldman at  7:05.

Game 8 Recap

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Last night the Rangers were trying to bounce back from a loss that saw them strand numerous players on base and score only one run against the Red Sox. The players knew that they had to have more timely hits … Continue reading →