Texas Rangers 2016 Thread

Getting to be the time in the season where a 2017 plan should be past the formulation stage. I would think something like FW's analysis of the Profar situation up to the trading deadline will be the plan and will depend on how the season is going. They probably want to make sure he can keep somewhat healthy. The one who is chosen to be traded could be packaged with Choo (unlikely due to the contract) or Holland for either another #2 or 3 pitcher with at least a year remaining on his contract; an outfield bat; or the next third baseman (Beltre is going to run out of gas one of these seasons). (Of course they might experiment with Odor and Profar at third just to see.)

If Desmond continues to perform do they try to resign him for many multiples of what he is making this season? It would help if Fielder was hitting.

 

Viper, from out of nowhere Desmond has become the team MVP thus far and his terrible decision to turn down a 100 million dollar guaranteed contract not too long ago may end up being a good one as he could be in line for a monster contract at end of this season. If that happens then the Fielder/Choo decisions will hurt even more because I dont think the Rangers can afford all three contracts and who is going to take Fielder or Choo without the Rangers paying a huge tax. Profar will definitely be trade bait though he is also a long term solution at short stop if the Rangers can move Elvis. Bannister had good point in his post game last night that Profar is still coming back from two years off and that a small seven game sample is not enough to make major moves but it does make things interesting. Mark Mclemore said Profar will go back to triple A in post game and if they cant find a way to get him 5 games a week then maybe that is best decision. I would sit one or both of Fielder and Moreland for a week (let them platoon 1B) to get their heads straight and keep Profar to DH and get day or two at various infield positions for another week at least but we shall see.

 

Don't trade Profar! Put him or Odor at first base and do a lottery every night to select a fan to bat DH. Both changes would improve the offense.

 

Profar does DH tonight in place of Fielder and gets two more hits as Rangers win 10-4. Alberto gets sent down to Round Rock and Profar will get that extended look. Rangers go for sweep tomorrow.

 

Made it out to Globe Life this afternoon for my second game of season and but for one mistake pitch Holland was locked in and it was lucky he was as Iwakuma was equally dominating for Seattle. The Rangers take advantage of Holland's performance and score three in a fifth inning that included two errors and a complete brain fart by the left fielder to win 3-2. Rangers sweep Mariners and sit three games atop the AL West with the best record in American League. The suddenly red hot Astros come to town for four this week all of which should be fun to watch.

 

Unfortunately, I've come to expect Holland to give up at least one dinger per outing. No surprise that Cruz was the guy on Sunday.

 

Rangers take first two from Astros but Dyson made the ninth inning exciting last night striking out two with tying run on third. Hamels continues to be an inning eating machine as he goes seven but gets no decision. Profar plays first base and does a more than serviceable job. He can fill any of 5 positions (all four infield spots and DH) and with hits in all 11 games it seems the Rangers are going to find a way to get him in the lineup. Choo is finishing his rehab in Round Rock so he will be back soon, Chirinos is going through his rehab starts and Griffin begins his rehab starts this week as well. That means decisions about left, catcher and the five hole in the starting rotation are pending. Two more games with Houston to come before a 10 game road trip.

 

Last night saw Darvish and Beltre leave the game early with possible injuries. Darvish pitched 5 complete but seemed to tweak his shoulder and in full on caution mode the Rangers took no chances even though he was only at 76 pitches. Beltre seemed to have a hamstring issue running to second and he was pulled for Profar who got an inning at third in the ninth.

Bannister really appeared to not be in this is a must win game mode (and why should he be in June) so he rests his bullpen and runs out Tolleson in the sixth and Wilhelmson in the seventh of a tie game and not surprisingly Wilhelmson gave up two runs as Rangers lose 3-1. Wilhelmson did pitch eighth too and then Luke Jackson got another inning of work in the ninth before being sent back to Round Rock. One of those games that the loss hurts far less than the potential injuries. Today the news is better as Darvish throws catch and says he is fine (as do the docs) and he will throw bullpen tomorrow and all signs are make his next start on schedule Monday in Oakland. No word on Beltre either way and hopefully he was just a precautionary move too and he hasnt down anything significant to his hamstring.

Profar gets start at third this afternoon (which he was scheduled for anyway) and another 2-4 day at the plate continues his torrid pace as he is hitting .389. If Beltre is out for any period of time Profar will be slotted at third. Hell freezes over as Prince gets a home run and the Rangers win 5-3 to take their tenth straight series this year at home and continue their absolute ownership of Houston (9-1 on the season).

Rangers sit 3.5 games up on Seattle and up next is a ten game road trip as Rangers continue their 20 games in 20 days tour with visits to Seattle, Oakland and St. Louis.

 

Beltre day-to-day; Darvish will try to pitch on regular rest; Chinos back with Jackson sent down (and hopefully out of the Texas System).

 

After dropping the opener in Seattle using the same Wilhlemson-Tolleson duo to pitch the last three innings (which just has the feel of total give up), the Rangers come back to win 2-1 in 11 last night and 6-4 today to take the series. Fielder gets a two out homer last night in the ninth to extend the game and Odor with game winning HR in 11th, while today Hamels was great through 7 but bullpen was wild turning a 6-1 romp into a way too dramatic win that ended with Mazara gunning out Cano at second on what looked like it would be a standup double to put tying run at plate but amazing throw by the runaway leader for league rookie of the year ends the game and preserves the win. Moreland with a great weekend and Fielder with huge HR yesterday so their bats are starting to wake up. Profar is cooling off a little but that was to be expected after his ridiculously hot 15 game start.

Meanwhile, Beltre hasnt played since last Wednesday but doesnt appear to be headed to DL so we will see how long this medical break goes on for Adrian and Darvish will not make his scheduled start tomorrow as he see doc instead for shoulder tightness. Rangers just keep shrugging off injuries and chugging along at 5 games up on Seattle and 10 on the Astros. 99 more games to go this year so everything is still in front of this fun team to watch.

 

Unbelievable throw by Mazara.

 

Absolutely agree. It made the highlight reel on Sports Center (as it should have). I would love to hear Cano's thoughts on that throw!

 

Colby Lewis took a no-hitter into the ninth, then gave up a couple of doubles today. Still the Rangers won easily, taking 3 of 4 from the As. Nice comeback last night with Chorinos and Odor each homering twice after the Rangers fell 4 or 5 runs behind, but won 7-5.
This is the best depth the Rangers have ever had ... the youngsters are really coming through. I keep hearing the Rangers need to trade for a front line catcher, yet the waiver wire guys Daniels rotates in there seem as productive as any catching duo I remember here since Pudge left.

 

^Agree totally on the catchers. The catchers currently on the team are doing quite nicely. And the Rangers need to find a way to trade one of them, since they're both out of options. If they expose either to waivers, he would be picked up in a heartbeat.

As for trades, I'd be more interested in acquiring a reliable starter. I'm about ready to givr up on Holland - too erratic. One more top-notch starter with a young arm and a frinedly contract (such as Sonny Gray?) would really solidify the rotation.

 

Trade Holland, one of the catchers, Choo and Jackson for a proven starter whit at least 2 years remaining on his contract and the Rangers pick of a AA player.

 

Outstanding performance today by Colby. Though prone to give up the long ball, it's amazing how well he has pitched and even more amazing that he continues to pitch well after so many injuries.

 

Liked Colby's postgame comment after being asked abt losing a perfect game in the 7th and a no-no in the 9th:
"It sucks."

 

Rangers take three of four in their house of horrors in Oakland and Colby comes so close today to no hitter but two hard hit balls in the ninth find the ground in the outfield. Mazara is in an 0-21 funk so he may be hitting a bit of a rookie wall but Beltre comes back strong and Moreland has been in a week long groove that seems to be sticking. Cannot say enough about team mvp to this point Desmond, who saw that coming?

Darvish rejoins the team this weekend but no schedule for his next start yet. Griffin is still doing his rehab too so at least one to two more Ramos starts. Rangers sit at 42-25, best ever start and best record in AL.

Three games in St. Louis this weekend to end the 10 game road trip. I already sense how often I will want to hit the tv every time we see those highlights and you know what I mean by those highlights which will be played interminably tomorrow on the national broadcast.

 

Normally I would expect a tough series coming up with the Cardinals, but Houston just sweep them so they might still be figuring things out.

 

Lol, you don't seem to understand the value of a proven starter. You propose to trade away:

• Choo. Despite being barely better than a waiver-wire player (WAR of 0.4), he is the most expensive right fielder in all of MLB, with 5 more years at $20MM+ per year (all guaranteed). By the end of his contract, he'll be a 37-year-old albatross.
• Holland. A decent but erratic starter who is not old but not young either. He has a $10MM cap number this year, which makes him the 43rd highest paid pitcher in baseball. This should slot him in as a solid #2 starter, which he is not.
• Jackson. An unproven pitcher with a decent career so far, but not worth all that much.
• One of several solid but unspectacular catchers.

The value that a team would get out of Jackson and one of the waiver-wire catchers may be enough to justify taking the hit of Choo's and Holland's salaries, i.e. you may find a team willing to take those 4 off of your hands straight up. Hell, if a team is desperate enough, they might even through something in. But that something would be negligible. A top AA prospect seems realistic, but a top AA prospect and a "proven starter"??? Uh, no way.

Maybe the Rangers could get this deal if they turned it around and threw in a top AA prospect instead of getting one. Maybe.

 

I'd say Choo and Fielder are analogous to putting a $100 bill on the dash of an old car with the keys and saying, take it, it's yours. AS IS including all future liabilities.

Choo is capable of causing some damage in my view but I don't know for how long. Fielder appears to be working through it but I just think his long-term is very dim.

 

I fully understand that Holland is the weakest starter with some value and has a knack of throwing a dinger at the most opportune time. His value is needed to lure someone to take Choo (acknowledging Texas will have to eat a large part of the contract going forward) who is no longer needed.

Jackson seemingly has leveled out as a AAA pitcher.

 

Cole Hamels with a gem of his own going 7 2/3 scoreless and Rangers win the opener in St. Louis 1-0 on Rouggie solo shot. They are 6-2 on this 10 game road trip and now sit at 43 wins. Best start in franchise history continues. Just .500 ball the rest of year gets Rangers to 90 wins which is almost surely enough to win west.

The one worry with all these close games that the Rangers are winning is that the back end of bullpen is being called on a lot to preserve those wins and I worry that the Bush-Diekman-Dyson combination will get worn out by September if the Rangers continue to play close games all the time and keep relying on BDD to pitch such a heavy load. In the last several games Bannie has twice gone with Wilhelmson (who was optioned yesterday and chose to be released so he is gone) and Tolleson and in both cases a close game either stopped being close or a tie became a loss. The middle of the bullpen is going to need to be more consistent and if all these close games continue then from time to time Tolleson or someone else needs to pitch in 7th 8th or 9th to cut down on huge number of games that the big three relievers are pitching in. Every inning saved on those three in June-July-August is an inning in September and hopefully well into October.

As for above debate, trading takes two to tango and I am afraid there isnt a GM foolish enough to take Fielder or Holland at price that works. Choo is a good right fielder and a solid hitter but is being payed superstar money for a spectacular hitter and that is the real problem, those two deals from 2014 for Fielder and Choo (just a horrific year all around) are like an albatross on this team. But things tend to even out because they have Desmond, Hamels, Diekman from deals that have turned out to be much better than expected. Daniels seems to be a homer or strike out kind of deal maker and you take the good with the bad. He has gotten Bannie a lineup that has best starting rotation ERA in MLB and second most wins to Cubs so he must be doing something right.

 

That's a real concern. I can imagine two things that would help a bunch - (1) getting Kela back and effective, and (2) getting some big leads early in games so the other bullpen guys can finish up and save wear and tear on BDD.

JD may also find a way to pull another rabbit out of the hat and trade for a good relief pitcher at the trading deadline.

 

^^^ Agree with both. The only bright light seems to be Kela has started throwing and should be back within a month.

 

Two outs and nobody on in top of 8th and it looked for all the world like this just wasnt Texas' day but the baseball gods have a sense of humor and Texas gets just a little revenge today as the Rangers come back to score 2 in 8th and 2 in ninth to win 4-3. Unfortunately, a blown 3-0 lead by the Cards in the last two innings in a game in June doesnt begin to make up for 2011 so I take only small comfort in it. Still, Rangers win their ninth straight series and Tolleson, yes TOLLESON gets the win. Ramos was real hero as he cleaned up Nick Martinez's mess in the fifth keeping the damage at 3-0 and then pitched scoreless 6 and 7 to keep Rangers close. Diekman with his second save of year.

Going for sweep tomorrow and an amazing 8th win on this ten game road trip. Rangers playing with house money tomorrow as Perez takes mound.

 

Another late comeback this afternoon and Rangers sweep the Cardinals with a 5-4 win. They finish road trip 8-2. Rangers are an incredible 16-4 in one run games and are now 20 games over .500 at 45-25. They also sit 8 1/2 games up on Seattle and 11 on Houston. I know it is only June and there are 92 games left in the season but its hard not to start forecasting ahead and how this team sets up for September and October. Way too soon for that but its fun to start playing lineups and staffs for various possibilities.

It is amazing where the Rangers are when you consider holes in the lineup caused by the suckitude that has been Prince Fielder and an under performing though starting to get hot Mitch Moreland. Imagine if one or both of those guys starts to go off or if Choo can find what he did the second half of last year. Mazara and Profar will cool off (Mazara has already started to) but this lineup is so deep that when 1 or 2 hitters get in funks someone else steps up to fill the gap. Daniels gets a lot of heat for the Fielder and Choo deals but he is the one who chose Banister which was an inspired selection, made the move to get Hamels and Diekman last year and earlier this year brought in Desmond. He also oversees a Ranger a system giving us Odor, Mazara and Profar with Gallo, Jackson and some other top prospects also in pipeline. Have to respect what he has done since the disaster that was 2014.

 

7 straight!

Rangers now sit 9.5 games up on Seattle.

 

and 14.5 games ahead of the Angles [yes 11 over the Astros, but the Angles have a history of finishing strong plus they will be getting one SP back (Wilson) and Huston].

 

I'm not sure the Angels would consider getting CJ back as a "plus" for them. In reading between the lines, I get the impression they think he is one of the "wasted big-dollar contracts."