Texas Rangers 2016 Thread

It would be nice to have a talented batter like Hamilton to pinch hit, especially against fastball throwing relievers. Is he better at DH than the potent left handed bats of Fielder or Moreland? May depend upon pitching matchups. If he's healed, Hamilton certainly has a lot more speed getting around the bases.

 

FW, I agree with you, but the decision will be in Holland's lap - continue as long relief or move on. However the Rangers probably wants to see how Griffin does in the second go round before pulling the pin on Holland.

 

Colby Lewis is fast becoming a home run giving up machine. As much as we all want him to succeed, his age and his performance thus far may well make him the best option to be removed from the rotation.

 

Yu threw three innings down in Round Rock yesterday. In his 50 pitches he gave up two hits and a run but struck out two and hit 97 mph on his fastball. He has two maybe three more rehab starts before he comes back to Arlington. The debate over who drops out of the rotation really is focused on Lewis and Holland at this point. Griffin has been second best pitcher in rotation and Perez has been a solid three. Holland is such a head case while Lewis is like Gallardo last year, somewhat solid but his age is catching up with him and he is giving home runs at a prodigious rate.

Cole Hamels continues to be worth every penny as last night he stops the losing streak going seven scoreless in Detroit and Rangers get back to winning ways. Seattle seems to have put things together and with Richards getting Tommy John it may be the Mariners and not the Angels that are the real challengers in the west to Texas (and maybe Houston if they ever pull their heads out of their behinds).

Update: AJ injured today and leaves in third, will have to wait and see whether he misses any time and how that affects the decision making. Drew Stubbs re-signed and actually gets in in the ninth today and Josh is headed to 60 day DL so we wont see him before June.

 

Griffin headed to 15 day DL with shoulder stiffness so suddenly the issue is a fifth starter for at least next two rotations and maybe 3. Mariners seem to have finally gotten their stuff together and it looks like it could be a season long battle with them. Rangers finish off sweep of Detroit and go 4-3 on this roadtrip. They sit 1/2 game back of Seattle and are beginning to put real daylight between the top two and the rest of the AL West.

 

If you feel asleep at the end of the 7th inning today you missed the entire game.

 

After taking 2 of 3 from White Sox, the Rangers sit at 20-15, a game and a half back of Mariners. The rest of AL West is 7.5 games or more back of Seattle so this is shaping up to be a summer long two team race. With Griffin injured and Holland a head case, Darvish cant get back soon enough. Look for him around Memorial Day weekend. Fielder has been a gaping hole in the lineup thus far and he has to start hitting for this team to stay with Seattle. Choo returns in next 1-2 weeks and hopefully he is June-September 2015 Choo and not April- May 2015 Choo. Mazara is hands down rookie of year through mid May and if he keeps up this pace we are seeing one of great rookie performances of all time. All in all through 35 games rangers are in great shape and this should be a fun summer.

 

Looks like AJ has a minor shoulder issue and will be back after a few days of rest. Went to The Ballpark last night for the Toronto game - horrible offensive performance, but Dickey had the knuckleball dancing all over the place. Matt Bush pitched the ninth and looked good - he may stick as part of the bullpen. I share the concern about Fielder - he looks awful, and there is a huge hole at DH.

With Beltre signed for two more years to finish his Hall-of-Fame career as a Ranger, Gallo is blocked at 3B. With Moreland approaching free agency, perhaps the Rangers should look at moving Gallo to 1B this year in the minors. Desmond is here for one year only - he is a superb athlete and is performing very well in the outfield, but the farm system is well-stocked with OF prospects ready to move up, and Desmond will command a high price in free agency - a price the Rangers won't want to pay.

It does indeed look like a season-long race with Seattle for the AL West. Need Yu to get back quickly and the bullpen to find their way. And it would help to get some production from the DH slot.

 

Agree on the whole with HHD. Fielder is of concern as right now he looks more like 2014 than 2015 which isn't good. Pitching, as usual with the Rangers (and most clubs), is not performing as expected. Hammels and Lewis are fine; Darvish will struggle, but his struggling is better than Holland; Holland is Holland and really needs to be moved; but the Bullpen is as bad as it was good last year. Lesson learned should be don't count on a bullpen year over year.

 

Stubbs!

 

OK Rangers fans, which American Leaguer would you most like to get hit with a Matt Bush fast ball then knocked down by Rougned Odor punch to the jaw?

 

The irony is that Odor himself is one of the more reckless sliders in baseball

 

Sunday rally and 7-6 win over Toronto!!!

So many heroes but especially Desmond 3 run HR to take the lead!

Wow, what a wild hockey game that turned out to be.

So glad the Good Guys won and settled the score with Bautista and the Jays.

 

Apologies to those who follow both this thread and the Post a Picture that makes you LOL.

 

Crockets picture is a great shot of Bautista missing with a lazy and poorly thrown left jab, and Rougie loading up with a right over the top. To say Rougie was the aggressor I think is wrong. Bautista started towards Rougie. Rougie pushed him away and Bautista came right back at him.

 

Toronto newspaper basically said Bautista is an arrogant SOB and deserved (during the Sunday game) what he got after his bat throwing incident in the October playoff game with the Rangers.

Odor got an 8 game suspension. Have not heard yet what punishment Bautista will get for the illegal slide into second base.

 

IMO, Bautista should have received at least three games (for the illegal takeout slide and for fighting). Bautista is an idoit if he doesn't know that the fastball to his ribs was payback for the bat flip. If he had simply accepted that as evening the score and gone on about his buisness, the fight would not have happened. Instead he felt that he had to "send a message" by taking Odor out on the illegal slide - does this buffoon not know that the score was evened by the beaning?

I assume that the Rangers players will chip in to pay the fines for Odor and Bush.

 

Tolleson blows another save. Time for a new closer - I vote for Dyson (or even Bush).

 

Yup, Tolle giving up that B9th grand slam crushed my soul !!! Agree we need a new closer. Tolle is not the same player he was in 2015.

And the Rangers drop 2 games to the lowly A's who were playing horrible and losing to everyone prior to the Rangers coming to town

 

Angles are still spending money for pitching. Rangers should tell the Halos the payback for taking Hamilton back is a position player plus Choo for Street.

 

So I leave the country for a week and the Rangers go 5-4 while I am away. Even in Bermuda the lead story was Odor's shot at Bautista, which I have to admit I stood up and cheered when I saw that on ESPN International. Bautista's slide was the injury producing type that is a scumbag punk move and he needed to get popped.

Looks like Dyson is new closer and frankly Rangers have been headed to that all year as Tolleson is just too wild. Rangers continue to own the Astros and with Darvish coming back next week, Ramos very solid, and Griffin due back soon there will be 7 legit starters and only 5 spots in rotation. At this point look for Ramos to go back to minors and Holland to go to the pen. Wilson seems to be answer at catcher until Chirinos can come back and Choo is easing his way back in now with a more than capable Mazarra solidly in the lineup henceforth so what could have been devastating early season injuries have been overcome and revealed strengths rather than weaknesses.

Seattle is still on fire but they will cool down and it will be a long summer race.

Incidentally on my way back through Boston I caught my first game at Fenway so one more thing off my baseball bucketlist.

 

Dyson looks like the real thing so far. I like the 7/8/9 lineup of Bush/Diekman/Dyson. Now if the Rangers can (1) get Yu back and up to snuff quickly, (2) get some production from Fielder, and (3) avoid major injuries the rest of the season, they will have a real chance to win the West, the AL, and maybe even the Series. Nice sweep in Houston this weekend. Need to take the series from Anaheim starting tomorrow. Rumor says Yu will return for the Pirates this coming weekend.

 

HHD agree with 1 and 2. The next month will show the true colors of the late inning pitching. Hopefully the 7/8/9 lineup of Bush/Diekman/Dyson is the real deal, but relief pitching is so finicky. I believe Holland's future is the biggest pitching question mark right now. He is at the point that his next failed start should be his last. Finally I was disappointed with Luke Jackson's appearance (both how he pitched and how out of shape he looked - a few too many chicken fried steaks).

Every team will have injuries so each team's support system will be put to a test. This is what I like about baseball - not only is the major league team being tested; the entire organization is being tested at the same time.

 

In a shocking development - Hamilton out for the year!

 

Yep, I guess the question about where to play Josh when he comes back is no longer an issue. Choo also headed back to 15 day DL.

 

Darvish took mound last night for first MLB game since August of 2014 and goes five full with 7K's and 1 earned run. 81 pitches and for most part he showed command and diversity of his stuff as Texas won 5-2. Rangers are 7 games over .500 and if they can get through Odor's suspension and get Choo and Stubbs back along with Chirinos they should be primed for a great summer. Today is 50th game so trends are definitely discernible at this point and the strength of this team is its starting rotation. Fox made point last night that the Texas starting rotation has best ERA in baseball even as bullpen struggles with close to worst. Mazara continues his path to AL rookie of the year but Fielder is still really struggling and so is Moreland though he had a nice homer last night that maybe gets him going. If they can get a few key hitters going its scary how good this team can be.

 

I am not sure that Texas needs Choo back. The Rangers have to be thinking about moving him for something of value, but even if that happens they will be saddled with that horrendous contract. That decision would be easier if Fielder or Moreland were not in the tank. It is beginning to look like the Fielder and Choo deals rival the worst of deals ever for the organization (and they have had some doozy's).

 

Rangers win again over the Bucs today to take the series which is 8th straight series they have won at home. 50 games in they are 29-21. With Seattle getting swept by the Twins, Texas sits in first place by a half game.

What the Rangers do with their outfield will be determined by how strong Choo is when he comes back early in June. His contract is too big to move so much as I agree with Viper that it would be great to move one or both of Choo and Fielder, I don't think either happens without the Rangers eating too much of their contract to make the move worthwhile. I still think the Choo of the second half of 2015 is the real Choo and if he can do that again then he is set in right field and Mazara moves over to left with Desmond being set in CF. That leaves Rua and Stubbs as the subs for rest days and Deshields hopefully refinding himself in the minors. All in all I really think the Rangers outfield is really set. Moreland hit his second jack in as many days today and it was a monster so hopefully he is coming out of his slump. I am interested to see if Profar sticks around after Odor comes back and takes the place of Alberto as the infield sub. Meanwhile there is still the pending issue of the fifth starter. I lean to Griffin over Holland and that decision should be needed in next 5-10 days.

Headed to Cleveland for three then big series with Mariners next weekend coming up.

 

Thanks FW. I forgot about the 5th starter but agree with you. A package of Holland, Luke Jackson and Choo for either a young reliever with closer potential or a couple of low high minor league position players might be worth exploring.

 

After taking two of three in Cleveland, Rangers returned home tonight and Darvish got his second start and second win 7-3 over Seattle. Darvish throws 88 pitches, goes 5 2/3 and gives up 3 runs. The big three hitters of Desmond, Mazara and Beltre continue their hot ways and although there are two gaping holes in the lineup with Fielder and Moreland the Rangers offense is showing potency. Big question tonight is what to do with Profar. He hit his second HR tonight and has a hit in all seven games he has played in. Cant see them sending him down but where do you put him with Rougie back tomorrow. I am guessing super utility and some DH'ing. Fielder is just so bad they could start platooning Profar and Fielder at DH or Fielder at first and Profar at DH and also give Profar 2-3 games a week at second, short and third to give rest days to the infielders. That is 4-5 games a week and maybe enough to justify keeping him up and sending Alberto down.

Rangers have 1 game lead over Seattle with two more in Arlington this weekend and then interestingly, the Astros come in Monday and have won 9 of 11 and are threatening to be relevant in race once again. This six game home stand is big for an early June set of games.