All-Star Teams and Molina Acquired

This week I will give my All-Star Teams and analyze the recent Rangers trade to acquire Bengie Molina. The actual All-Star teams get announced tomorrow at 11:00 AM on TBS, and I can’t wait to see what Rangers there are.

On Thursday, the Texas Rangers traded RHP Chris Ray and RHP Michael Main to the San Francisco Giants for C Bengie Molina.

I am not a big fan of this trade. Bengie is definitely an improvement at catcher defensively, and somewhat offensively, but he hasn’t been all that great with the stick this year, as he was hitting just .257 with 3 home runs and 17 RBIs before the trade. But the repercussions in the future could be huge. Chris Ray was very good in the 7th inning for us this year, and we will really miss him, but we could miss him even more in the future. Chris was a dominant closer for the Orioles before he got injured a few years ago, and could be again. With him gone, that leaves us with no reliable closing options if we decided to make both Neftali Feliz and Tanner Scheppers starters, which really handcuffs us from putting both of them in the rotation, which is what I would want to do. Michael Main could also be a big loss in the future, as he is a first-rounder, and, in my opinion, will be a very solid middle-of-the-rotation guy in the future, and we basically just gave him up so that the Giants would pay the remaining $2 million dollars of Molina’s contract. I would much rather have Main than two million dollars. This is an example of the bad situation Daniels has been put in by the Rangers’ ownership situation. If Greenberg owned the Rangers already, I think Main would still be with the team.
Grade: B-, the gain takes away from the loss just enough to keep it from being a C

NL: Stats as of July 2nd

Starters:
C: Miguel Olivo, COL (.312 AVG 1st, 11 HR t-1st, 39 RBI 1st) – Miguel is either first or tied for first in each of the three major hitting categories among National League catchers, so for me, this is a no-brainer.

1B: Joey Votto, CIN (.314 AVG 1st, 18 HR t-2nd, 55 RBI t-3rd) – Joey is in the top three among first basemen in the NL and is a serious MVP candidate. His batting average is the best, and his power numbers are incredible.

DH: Albert Pujols, STL (.309 AVG 2nd, 19 HR 1st, 58 RBI 1st) – Albert is no worse than second among NL first basemen in batting average (.309), home runs (19), or RBIs (58), which is amazing, so I have him starting as my National League DH.

2B: Martin Prado, ATL (.333 AVG 1st, 7 HR 6th, 34 RBI 6th) – Martin has gotten a hit in one out of every three at-bats this year, and that is something that no other NL 2B can even come close to saying, as Brandon Phillips is 2nd, and is .025 points below that.

SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (.296 AVG t-3rd, 12 HR t-1st, 51 RBI 1st) – Hanley is third at the shortstop position in the National League with an average just below .300, but leads that category in both major power numbers, home runs and RBIs.

3B: Scott Rolen, CIN (.302 AVG 4th, 17 HR 2nd, 54 RBI 2nd) – Scott isn’t first in any of the three major categories among NL 2B, but is solid in all three. He his hitting over .300, with incredible power numbers.

OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.295 AVG 10th, 11 HR t-12th, 49 RBI 4th) - Ryan’s batting average isn’t all that great, but his power numbers are, with 11 HR and 49 RBIs.

OF: Carlos Gonzalez, COL (.299 AVG 6th, 13 HR t-6th, 48 RBI 5th) – Carlos is only one point away from hitting .300, is on pace to hit close to 30 home runs and have 100 RBIs over the course of the season, and is in the top six among NL outfielders in all three of those categories.

OF: Corey Hart, MIL (.281 AVG 16th, 18 HR 1st, 60 RBI 1st) – Corey’s batting average is just mediocre, but his power numbers make up for that, as he leads NL outfielders in home runs with 18, and RBIs with 60.

SP: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (14-1, 1.83 ERA, 102 K) – Ubaldo is leading all of baseball in wins, is tied for the major league lead in ERA, and has over 100 strikeouts. That’s a pretty obvious choice, even with Josh Johnson pitching so well of late.

Reserves:

C: Ronny Paulino, FLA (.306 AVG 2nd, 3 HR t-11th, 28 RBI t-5th)
Ramon Hernandez, CIN (.292 AVG 4th, 3 HR t-11th, 19 RBI t-10th)

1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.297 AVG 4th, 16 HR 5th, 51 RBI 7th)
Ryan Howard, PHI (.294 AVG 5th, 15 HR 6th, 55 RBI t-3rd)

2B: Brandon Phillips, CIN (.308 AVG 2nd, 9 HR 5th, 25 RBI 8th, 60 R 1st in NL, 10 SB 2nd)
Rickie Weeks, MIL (.273 AVG 8th, 13 HR t-2nd, 47 RBI 1st)

SS: Rafael Furcal, LAD (.333 AVG 1st, 3 HR t-11th, 25 RBI 9th)
Troy Tulowitzki, COL (.306 AVG 2nd, 9 HR 3rd, 34 RBI 3rd)

3B: David Wright, NYM (.307 AVG 2nd, 14 HR 3rd, 63 RBI 1st)
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.283 AVG 6th, 13 HR t-4th, 40 RBI 6th)
Casey McGehee, MIL (.276 AVG 7th, 13 HR t-4th, 51 RBI 3rd)

OF: Marlon Byrd, CHC (.306 AVG 3rd, 9 HR t-22nd, 35 RBI t-28th)
Matt Holliday, STL (.302 AVG t-4th, 11 HR t-12th, 38 RBI t-20th)
Chris Young, ARI (.261 AVG t-31st, 14 HR t-3rd, 52 RBI t-2nd)
Jay Bruce, CIN (.283 AVG t-13th, 10 HR t-18th, 36 RBI t-23rd)
Andre Ethier, LAD (.312 AVG 2nd, 12 HR t-10th, 47 RBI t-6th)

SP: Josh Johnson, FLA (8-3, 1.83 ERA, 107 K)
Adam Wainwright, STL (11-5, 2.34 ERA, 114 K)
Jaime Garcia, STL (7-4, 2.27 ERA, 70 K)
Tim Hudson, ATL (8-3, 2.37 ERA, 51 K)
Chris Carpenter, STL (9-1, 2.90 ERA, 100 K)
Yovani Gallardo, MIL (8-3, 2.56 ERA, 120 K)

RP: Matt Capps, WAS (22 SV, 3.28 ERA, 31 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (19 SV, 2.97 ERA, 28 K)
Heath Bell, SD (21 SV, 1.87 ERA, 44 K)
Brian Wilson, SF (21 SV, 2.18 ERA, 45 K)
Evan Meek, PIT (0.98 ERA, 46 IP, 42 K)
Arthur Rhodes, CIN (1.09 ERA, 33 IP, 32 K)

Players per Team:
Cincinnati Reds – 6
St. Louis Cardinals – 5
Milwaukee Brewers – 5
Colorado Rockies – 4
Florida Marlins – 3
Los Angeles Dodgers – 2
San Diego Padres – 2
Atlanta Braves – 2
Washington Nationals – 2
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1
San Francisco Giants – 1
Houston Astros – 1
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1
Chicago Cubs – 1
New York Mets – 1
Philadelphia Phillies – 1

AL: Stats as of July 3rd

Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.297 AVG 1st, 3 HR t-11th, 34 RBI t-4th) – Joe hasn’t hit for the kind of power that he did last year, but the catching position hasn’t been that good in the AL this year, and Joe is still hitting almost .300.

1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.337 AVG 2nd, 20 HR t-1st, 68 RBI 1st) – Miguel Cabrera leads American League first basemen in both home runs and RBIs, and also has a .337 average, which is second in that group.

2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.347 AVG 1st, 16 HR 1st, 54 RBI 1st) – Robinson Cano is the obvious choice to be the starter for this position, since he leads AL 2B in all three major categories.

SS: Elvis Andrus, TEX (.292 AVG 1st, 0 HR t-15th, 24 RBI 8th, 22 SB 1st) – Elvis hasn’t hit any home runs this year, but he still has a good number of RBIs for a lead-off man, and leads AL SS in both batting average and stolen bases by a good amount.

3B: Adrian Beltre, BOS (.346 AVG 1st, 12 HR t-1st, 53 RBI 3rd) – Adrian is first by .032 points in batting average for American League third basemen, is tied for first in that group in home runs, and is third in RBIs.

DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.334 AVG 1st, 18 HR 1st, 70 RBI 1st) – Vladimir leads all DHs in all three major categories, and leads all of baseball in RBIs. This one isn’t even close.

OF: Josh Hamilton, TEX (.340 AVG t-1st, 19 HR t-2nd, 59 RBI 1st) – Josh is in the top two among AL outfielders in batting average (.340), home runs (19), and RBIs (59).

OF: Brandon Boesch, DET (.340 AVG t-1st, 12 HR t-9th, 46 RBI 9th) – The AL Rookie of the Year choice is going to be very hard this year, since there should be two rookie All-Stars, with Boesch and Neftali Feliz.

OF: Alex Rios, CWS (.312 AVG 7th, 13 HR t-4th, 44 RBI t-10th) – Alex has been solid all-around this year, with a batting average well over .300, and power numbers well above average.

SP: David Price, TB (11-4, 2.42 ERA, 90 K) – David leads the American League in wins with 11, in ERA at 2.42, and has 90 strikeouts, which isn’t too shabby. He’s had a great year.

Reserves:

C: Victor Martinez, BOS (.289 AVG 2nd, 9 HR t-4th, 38 RBI 2nd) (can’t play due to injury)
John Buck, TOR (.266 AVG 5th, 13 HR 2nd, 40 RBI 1st)

1B: Justin Morneau, MIN (.343 AVG 1st, 16 HR t-3rd, 52 RBI 1st)
Paul Konerko, CWS (.294 AVG 5th, 20 HR t-1st, 57 RBI 2nd)
Billy Butler, KC (.320 AVG 3rd, 8 HR t-9th, 42 RBI 7th)

2B: Dustin Pedroia, BOS (.292 AVG 4th, 12 HR 3rd, 41 RBI 4th) (can’t play due to injury)
Ian Kinsler, TEX (.301 AVG 3rd, 3 HR t-9th, 26 RBI 7th)
Mike Aviles, KC (.326 AVG 2nd, 2 HR t-11th, 13 RBI 16th) (D. Pedroia injury replacement)

SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (.282 AVG 3rd, 8 HR 2nd, 39 RBI 2nd)
Alex Gonzalez, TOR (.263 AVG 8th, 14 HR 1st, 41 RBI 1st)

3B: Michael Young, TEX (.314 AVG 2nd, 11 HR 4th, 51 RBI 4th)
Evan Longoria, TB (.292 AVG 3rd, 12 HR t-1st, 55 RBI 2nd)
Alex Rodriguez (.278 AVG 5th, 12 HR t-1st, 57 RBI 1st) (V. Martinez injury replacement)

DH: Jose Guillen, KC (.276 AVG 2nd, 14 HR 3rd, 50 RBI 3rd)

OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET (.313 AVG 6th, 10 HR t-11th, 49 RBI t-5th)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.286 AVG 18th, 13 HR t-4th, 43 RBI 12th)
David DeJesus, KC (.327 AVG 4th, 5 HR t-29th, 35 RBI t-20th)
Nick Markakis, BAL (.303 AVG t-10th, 4 HR t-33rd, 26 RBI t-30th)

SP: Clay Buchholz, BOS (10-4, 2.45 ERA, 64 K)
Cliff Lee, SEA (7-3, 2.45 ERA, 78 K)
Andy Pettite, NYY (9-2, 2.72 ERA, 74 K)
Trevor Cahill, OAK (8-2, 2.74 ERA, 56 K)
Jered Weaver, LAA (8-3, 2.82 ERA, 124 K)
Jon Lester, BOS (9-3, 2.86 ERA, 111 K)

RP: Joakim Soria, KC (21 SV, 2.35 ERA, 37 K)
Neftali Feliz, TEX (21 SV, 3.06 ERA, 38 K)
Rafael Soriano, TB (19 SV, 1.57 ERA, 26 K)
Jon Rauch, MIN (18 SV, 2.53 ERA, 23 K)
Mariano Rivera, NYY (18 SV, 0.86 ERA, 31 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (18 SV, 0.53 ERA, 32 K)

Players per Team:
Texas Rangers – 6
Kansas City Royals – 5
New York Yankees – 5
Detroit Tigers – 4
Boston Red Sox – 3
Minnesota Twins – 3
Tampa Bay Rays – 3
Toronto Blue Jays – 2
Chicago White Sox – 2
Baltimore Orioles – 1
Cleveland Indians – 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1
Oakland Athletics – 1
Seattle Mariners – 1

I’ll be taking next week off. Come back in two weeks.

June Awards

This week I will post my June Awards. The All-Star post will be moved to next week, since my computer crashed, and that will work out well, since the All-Star teams will be announced next weekend.

Rangers:

MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX (.348 AVG, 17 HR, 54 RBI) – Josh leads the team in both home runs and batting average, and is second in RBIs. He really has carried the team on his shoulders in the month of June.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.326 AVG, 15 HR, 60 RBI)

Cy Young: Colby Lewis, TEX (7-5, 3.28 ERA, 94 K) – Colby has been the best Rangers starter by far this year, as he leads the team in both wins and strikeouts, while he leads the rotation in ERA. He has been amazing.
Runner-up: CJ Wilson, TEX (6-3, 3.35 ERA, 69 K)

Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz, TEX (20 SV, 2.78 ERA, 37 K) – Neftali leads the American League in saves as a rookie, and the Rangers’ second best rookie is hitting .227.
Runner-up: Justin Smoak, TEX (.227 AVG, 8 HR, 34 RBI)

AL:

MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.330 AVG, 20 HR, 63 RBI) – Miguel leads the American League in RBIs with 63, is 6th in batting average at .330, and is tied for 1st in HR with 20.
Runner-up: Josh Hamilton, TEX (.348 AVG, 17 HR, 54 RBI)

Cy Young: David Price, TB (11-3, 2.44 ERA, 84 K) – David has been dominant so far this season for the Rays, and he leads the AL in wins, is second in ERA, and has thrown almost 100 innings.
Runner-up: Clay Buchholz, BOS (10-4, 2.45 ERA, 64 K)

Rookie of the Year: Brandon Boesch, DET (.337 AVG, 11 HR, 40 RBI) – Brandon is hitting well over the century mark at .337, and leads AL rookies in average, home runs, and RBIs.
Runner-up: Neftali Feliz, TEX (20 SV, 2.78 ERA, 37 K)

Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland, DET (39-34, t-2nd place) – Jim has taken a Tigers team that wasn’t expected to do much all the way up to 2nd place in the AL Central, and they are only 1.5 games back of the Twins.
Runner-up: Joe Madden, TB (44-30, 2nd place)

NL:

MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.313 AVG, 16 HR, 49 RBI) – Adrian is in the top of the NL in batting average (5th), home runs (t-4th), and RBIs (11th), so he’s just had an all-around solid year.
Runner-up: Albert Pujols, STL (.306 AVG, 15 HR, 50 RBI)

Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (13-1, 1.60 ERA, 95 K) – Ubaldo had a bad outing last time on the mound to balloon his ERA to a huge 1.60. But his 13 wins, which lead baseball, make up for his lackluster ERA, and so do his 95 Ks.
Runner-up: Josh Johnson, FLA (8-3, 1.83 ERA, 107 K)

Rookie of the Year: Jaime Garcia, STL (7-3, 1.79 ERA, 70 K) – Jaime has the 2nd lowest ERA in the National League behind Ubaldo Jimenez, and if you’re one of the three best pitchers in the league as a rookie, you should get the Rookie of the Year Award.
Runner-up: Mike Leake, CIN (5-1, 2.92 ERA, 58 K)

Manager of the Year: Bud Black, SD (44-30, 1st place) – Bud has led a Padres team that was supposed to be a last place bottom-feeder at the beginning of the year into a team with the best record in the National League.
Runner-up: Bobby Cox, ATL (44-31, 1st place)

Come back next week for my All-Star teams.

Computer Crash

Our computer completely died today. I had spent hours writing this week's post and was almost done when it happened and lost the whole thing. So I won't be able to do a post this weekend. I was going to post my June All-Star teams, and by the way, there were five Rangers. They were Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Vladimir Guerrero, Colby Lewis, and Neftali Feliz.

Come back next week for (hopefully) my June awards.

First-Third Recap

This week I will post my recap of the first third of the major league baseball season (all stats as of the morning of June 12th).

Recap:

1st place teams (and keys to 1st place so far):
AL East: Rays 39-22 (22-8 road record)
AL Central: Twins 36-25 (17-9 in division)
AL West: Rangers 33-28 (23-11 home record)
NL East: Braves: 35-27 (24-17 vs. right-handed starting pitchers)
NL Central: Reds 35-27 (22-14 in division)
NL West: Padres 36-25 (13-9 in one-run games) and Dodgers 36-25 (15-6 in one-run games)

Wild Cards (and keys to wild card so far):
AL: Yankees 38-23 (20-7 home record)
NL: Padres 36-25 (see division) and Dodgers 36-25 (see division)

AL East:

The Rays got off to a hot start this year, going 17-7 in the month of April, but have somewhat cooled off since then, going 22-15 in May and June so far. Tampa has had great hitting and pitching so far, with the 3rd most runs in the AL, and the least amount of runs against in the AL.

The Yankees are just one game back, but still own the second best record in all of baseball. They have also gotten contributions from both the hitting and the pitching staff, scoring the 2nd most runs in the AL, and allowing the 3rd fewest.

The Red Sox struggled through April, with an 11-13 record, but have picked it up since then, and are now nine games over .500.

The Blue Jays have hit the most home runs in all of baseball, and have gotten homers from surprising people (Jose Batista has 18, Alex Gonzalez has 13, John Buck has 9, Edwin Encarnacion has 8, and so on). They are just 5.5 games out of first place, and have the same record at home (17-14) as on the road.

The Orioles are in last place, already 22 games out, with a 17-44 record, and a .279 winning percentage. No other team is even 15 games out of first place, no other team has less than 23 wins, and no other team has a winning percentage below .375, so the Orioles are the worst team in baseball by far at this point of the season.

AL Central:

Minnesota has a 4.5 game lead over the Tigers for first place in the AL Central. They have done exactly what you’re supposed to do so far this year, go .500 on the road (15-15), and win two out of three at home (21-10). They have scored the most runs in their division (290), and given up the least (235).

The Tigers are two games over .500, but that is because of what they have done at home, as they are 18-10 in Detroit, but a terrible 13-19 on the road. Detroit has pretty much split even between the Central and the West, going 24-25 against those two divisions, but has played well against Eastern division teams, going 5-2.

Chicago is 27-33, and shouldn’t even be that good, since they have been outscored by 29 runs on the year, and don’t even have a winning record at home (15-18). The Sox are only two games up on Kansas City, who is 26-36 on the year.

The Royals have actually been better on the road (14-18), than at home (12-18). They have been respectable against the Central and the East, just three games under .500 against those two divisions, but are 3-10 against the AL West. They have also had problems against lefties, with a 3-9 record when the opposition’s starter is a southpaw.

At 24-36, the Indians are terrible, being outscored by 50 runs so far, and without a winning record in any of these categories: vs. the East, vs. the Central, vs. the West, home, road, vs. RHP, vs. LHP, or in one-run games. You simply just can’t win like that.

AL West:

The Rangers are in first place, but only lead the Angels by half a game. Despite the Rangers’ 10-17 record on the road this year, Texas is still five games over .500, due to their 23-11 record at home. Part of the reason for that is the fact that the Rangers hit so much better at home, and Vlad signifies that, hitting .381 at home, but only .272 on the road. The Rangers have also been very successful in their own division, with a 13-5 record against Western division teams.

The Angels have made up a lot of ground on the Rangers ever since Kendry Morales went down with an injury. Despite their winning record, the Angels have been outscored by their opponents, and have allowed the 3rd most runs in the American League.

The A’s are only one game over .500, despite being in first place for much of the year. They have been able to withstand the run differential of -12 for the year, by their 11-4 record in one-run games. They have a record of 11-18 on the road.

If there’s one stat to show how bad the Mariners have been this year, it’s this: the Mariners have the same winning percentage as the Pirates. The Mariners are 23-38, 10 games out of the worst division in baseball. Seattle is a horrendous 7-21 against teams in the West, and an awful 8-21 on the road. Those are not great keys to success.

NL East:

The Braves have been able to rebound from their 10-14 record in April, and their last place positioning into the month May, and are now 8 games over .500. The Braves have been terrific at home, going 19-6, which makes the 16-21 road record not so big of a deal.

The Mets have been able to take advantage of the Phillies’ offensive struggles (more like incompetence), and are now in 2nd place, just 1.5 games out of first place. They are 24-10 at home, but really need to pick it up on the road, with just a 9-18 record outside of Citi Field. The Mets also have another thing to celebrate, besides only being 1.5 games back: they only have 7 current injuries (that’s probably an all-time low for them).

The Phillies are in 3rd place, 1 game behind the Mets, which is mostly because they haven’t even scored as many runs as the Nationals. They have been very successful against right-handed pitchers, though, with a 26-19 record against righties.

The Marlins have been a disappointment, but are just 4.5 games back despite their losing record. The Marlins have been shut down against right-handers, going 17-23 in that category, including one perfect game by Roy Halladay.

Washington, at 30-32, is only 5 games behind the Braves, and is in last place. That is a pretty close division. They have been much better at home (18-12) than on the road (12-20). They have been outscored by 18 runs so far this year.

NL Central:

The Reds are up half a game on the Cardinals in the NL Central, mostly due to how solid they are all-around. They are 21-14 at home, 14-13 on the road, have winning records against both righties and lefties, and are 13-11 in one-run games. They have scored the most runs in the National League so far with 313.

At 34-27, the Cardinals are in second place, but if they could improve on the road, they wouldn’t be. Away from Busch Stadium, they have a losing record (15-17). They also need to improve in one-run games, as they are just 10-12 in those situations.

The Cubs are a full 7.5 games out of first place with a 27-34 record, which is only so bad because of intra-divisional games (13-20 vs. the NL Central), and because of righties (17-26 vs. RHP), but neither of those is going away, so they can wait ‘till next year again.

The Brewers are only a game worse than the Cubs, but the pitching has been much worse, as only the Pirates and the Diamondbacks have given up more runs than them in all of baseball, and that’s not very good company. Even though only two NL teams have outscored them this year, over the course of the season so far, the Brewers have given up 45 more runs than they have scored, which can explain their 26-35 record.

The Astros are terrible. They can’t even win at home (14-20), and they don’t make up for that on the road (11-17), they can’t hit righties (19-30), and they have a losing record against lefties, too. Those aren’t even the worst stats. The worst one is the stat that mentions how they’ve been outscored by 81 runs so far.

As bad as the Astros are, the Pirates are even worse. They haven’t even scored 200 runs this year, and everyone else (besides the Astros, Orioles, and Mariners) has scored at least 250. They haven’t even pitched well, giving up the 4th most runs in the National League. They have been outscored by 100 runs. I’m looking forward to them coming to Arlington.

NL West:

The Padres are tied with the Dodgers for the NL West lead at 36-25. Part of the reason they’ve been able to do that is because they have a winning record against all three divisions, both home and away, vs. RHP and LHP, and in one-run games. Their pitching has been spectacular, giving up only 198 runs, best in major league baseball.

The Dodgers have been able to work their way up to a tie with the Padres because of how good they’ve been in their division, and how good they’ve been at home. In NL West play, the Dodgers are 18-5, and at home they are 23-11. They are also very good in close games, with a 15-6 record when the game is decided by one run.

The Giants, although they’ve had the second best pitching in all of baseball, are 2.5 games out of the division lead. They have had problems winning against the teams in their division, which can come back to bite you later in the year, with an 8-14 record against the Dodgers, Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks.

The Rockies are 5 games out of first place, and just one game over .500. Their pitching has been fine, and their hitting has been, too, as they are right in the middle of the pack in both runs scored and runs allowed, but you can’t be like that in both categories, because then your record will be just what theirs is, in the middle of the pack.

The Diamondbacks have given up the most runs in major league baseball by far, giving up 363 runs in just 62 games. That is an average of 5.85 runs a game. When your pitching is that bad, it doesn’t matter if you’ve scored the 4th most runs in the NL, which is what the D-Backs are finding out.

The Rangers had the draft this past week, and their two first-rounders were OF Jake Skole and C Kellin Deglan. Jake was drafted out of high school, and Deglan was drafted out of a Canadian secondary school. I am worried that the Rangers drafted them for signability reasons and drafted them too high.

Come back next week for my June All-Stars.

250th Post

This week will be my 250th post on Texas Rangers Trades.

The first post was on December 30th, 2005, and thanks to Jamey Newberg, people knew about my blog. The post was about the trades that the Rangers made during the 2005-2006 offseason (the Rangers had traded for Jon Leicester, Brad Wilkerson, Termel Sledge, Armando Galarraga, Fabio Castro, Vicente Padilla, Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and Billy Killian to that point in the offseason).

I’ve had a lot of fun writing this blog over the years and want to thank everyone who’s read and supported it.

I would like to thank Eleanor Czajka, Evan Grant, Scott Lucas, Jamey Newberg, Ted Price, Mike Hindman and TR Sullivan for advertising my blog, and for always being so nice to me about it.

I would also like to thank Anthony Andro, Blake Beavan, Will Carroll, Jon Daniels, Thomas Diamond, Scott Feldman, Brennan Garr, Tom Grieve, Josh Hamilton, Derek Holland, Ian Kinsler, Kea Kometani, Josh Lewin, Kameron Loe, Doug Mathis, Travis Metcalf, Jim Miller, Tim Murphy, Eric Nadel, Jamey Newberg, Victor Rojas, Steve Rowe, Buck Showalter, TR Sullivan, Jim Sundberg, Taylor Teagarden, CJ Wilson, Michael Young, and Jeff Zimmerman for doing interviews for my blog.

Some quick notes about the interviews I’ve done:
• Taylor Teagarden was the first face-to-face in-person interview
• Josh Hamilton’s interview took place in the clubhouse
• The Jon Daniels and Buck Showalter interview took place on the stage at the banquet where I was awarded 2005 Rangers Fan of the Year
• Steve Rowe’s interview took place as he walked along the Riverwalk in San Antonio on his birthday
• Kameron Loe’s interview took place as he rode the subway in Oakland on the way to the A’s stadium
• Jim Miller’s interview took place in the visitors’ bullpen at a RoughRiders game while he played for the Drillers, using information from the back of a baseball card

I would like to thank all the Rangers’ players and staff who have been so nice to me, which is almost all of them (except for Milton Bradley), but most notably Blake Beavan, Court Berry-Tripp, Brad the Photographer, Jeremy Cleveland, Jon Daniels, Kurt Daniels, Chris Davis, Thomas Diamond, Gregg Elkin, Scott Feldman, Brennan Garr, Tom Grieve, Josh Hamilton, Jason Hart, Derek Holland, Judy and Cynthia in Customer Service, Ian Kinsler, Kea Kometani, Josh Lewin, Kameron Loe, Thad Levine, Jenny Martin, Doug Mathis, Mickey McGovern, Chuck Morgan, Tim Murphy, Eric Nadel, Eleno Ornelas, Rich Rice, Ron the Usher, Victor Rojas, Steve Rowe, Buck Showalter, Jim Sundberg, Taylor Teagarden, Justin Thompson, CJ Wilson, Michael Young, and Jeff Zimmerman. I’m sure there’s someone I forgot.

Last, I would like to thank the people who have read and commented on my blog over the years. Thanks to Mrs. Lynn, Ken Pittman, Landon and Eleanor Czajka for being frequent commenters.

Also, the Rangers made one trade this week.

The Rangers traded Jailen Peguero to the Houston Astros for cash considerations.

Jailen, who the Rangers acquired last year, was not a big prospect for the Rangers, but with the Astros’ farm system, he’ll probably be a top 10 prospect (the Astros have the worst farm system in the majors). Jailen was 2-1 with a 4.09 ERA in 22 innings with Oklahoma City this year, and is in Double-A Corpus Christi with the Astros’ organization right now.

Grade: C, it really doesn’t matter

Come back next week for the start of the next 250 posts.

May Awards

This week I will post my May Awards. This is who I think should get the awards if the season ended today.

Rangers:

MVP: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.332 AVG, 12 HR, 42 RBI) – Vlad is second in all of baseball in RBIs, has one of the top five home run totals in the American League, and has one of the top ten batting averages in the AL.
Runner-up: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.327 AVG, 10 HR, 34 RBI)

Cy Young: Colby Lewis, TEX (4-3, 3.41 ERA, 59 K) – Colby leads the team in ERA by 0.07 over CJ Wilson, leads the team in strikeouts, and has 4 wins, which isn’t easy with the number of leads the bullpen has blown this season.
Runner-up: CJ Wilson, TEX (3-3, 3.48 ERA, 47 K)

Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz, TEX (13 SV, 2.96 ERA, 25 K) – Neftali is tied for 2nd in saves in the American League with 13, and out of the two rookies the Rangers have, he’s definitely had the better year.
Runner-up: Justin Smoak, TEX (.175 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI)

AL:

MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.352 AVG, 14 HR, 48 RBI) – Miggy has had a great year for the Tigers, leading all of major league baseball in RBIs. He is also up there in both batting average and home runs, hitting well over the century mark at .352.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.332 AVG, 12 HR, 42 RBI)

Cy Young: David Price, TB (7-2, 2.57 ERA, 50 K) – David has been incredible, as he is tied for the American League lead in wins with 7, and is 3rd in the AL in ERA with a 2.57 ERA, with Doug Fister (3 wins) and Jeff Niemann (5 wins) being the only two pitchers in the AL with better ERAs, but both have significantly less wins.
Runner-up: Doug Fister, SEA (3-2, 2.03 ERA, 26 K)

Rookie of the Year: Mitch Talbot, CLE (6-3, 3.73 ERA, 24 K) – Mitch has six wins for Indians, which is impressive by itself, but also has a 3.73 ERA, which is best among all AL rookies that have at least 25 innings pitched.
Runner-up: Reid Brignac, TB (.311 AVG, 2 HR, 20 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Cito Gaston, TOR (30-22, 3rd place) – Cito has taken a team without much talent to just a game back of the wild card two months into the season. The Blue Jays were expected to be a fourth place team in the AL East, but have played very, very well, and might even make the playoffs.
Runner-up: Ken Macha, OAK (27-24, 1st place)

NL:

MVP: Andre Ethier, LAD (.392 AVG, 11 HR, 38 RBI) – Andre is the obvious leader for this award at this point, in my opinion, as he leads all of baseball in batting average, and is tied for 3rd in the NL in RBIs, with home runs toward the top of the league.
Runner-up: Albert Pujols, STL (.310 AVG, 12 HR, 38 RBI)

Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (9-1, 0.88 ERA, 61 K) – Ubaldo leads the majors in two of the three major categories pitching-wise, with 9 wins and a miniscule 0.88 ERA. His ERA is incredible, because it rises even if he throws a complete game and only allows one run. He is obviously the Cy Young at this point.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay, PHI (7-3, 1.99 ERA, 70 K)

NL Rookie of the Year: Mike Leake, CIN (4-0, 2.45 ERA, 45 K) – This award at this point is really between Mike Leake and Jason Heyward, and I really think that good pitching is much more rare than good hitting, and so I think that Leake deserves the award. He is undefeated so far, and has an ERA of 2.45. That’s incredible, especially for a guy that never even played minor league ball.
Runner-up: Jason Heyward, ATL (.301 AVG, 10 HR, 38 RBI)

NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, CIN (30-21, 1st place) – Even though I picked the Reds to win the division, the overall consensus was that the Cardinals would, but the Reds are in first place at this point of the season at 30-21, and have been dominating.
Runner-up: Bud Black, SD (30-20, 1st place)

Come back next week for my 250th post.

May All-Star Teams

This weekend I got to write the Rangers Farm Reports in place of Scott Lucas for the Newberg Report. It was a lot of fun, and I would like to thank both Jamey Newberg and Scott Lucas for letting me write those reports.

This week I will give my AL and NL All-Star teams. These are as if the All-Star game was today, and who I think it should be (which is completely hypothetical, since with the fan vote there will be about 8 Yankees starting, and possibly one player from a team outside the Bronx).

AL:

Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.348 AVG, 2 HR, 21 RBI) – Joe has one of the top batting averages in the American League at almost .350, and also has plenty of RBIs, especially for his position.

1B: Justin Morneau, MIN (.377 AVG, 11 HR, 33 RBI) – Justin leads all balloted American League first basemen in batting average, is second in home runs, and is tied for second in RBIs. I think that pretty obviously makes him the starter.

2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.337 AVG, 9 HR, 28 RBI) – Robinson leads all balloted American League second basemen in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. There is nothing else he could do to make himself more deserving of this spot.

SS: Elvis Andrus, TEX (.312 AVG, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 17 SB) – Elvis leads AL shortstops in batting average by a lot, as no one else is even above .290, and only one is above .280. He also leads shortstops in stolen bases by 11.

3B: Evan Longoria, TB (.319 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI) – Evan is second among AL third basemen in batting average, and nobody else’s power numbers are close to his, as he leads them in both home runs and RBIs.

DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.341 AVG, 10 HR, 37 RBI) – Vlad has obviously been the best DH in the American League this year, as nobody else with significant time is even hitting .280, none have as many RBIs as Guerrero, and Jose Guillen is the only other one with 10+ home runs.

OF: Vernon Wells, TOR (.302 AVG, 11 HR, 32 RBI) – Vernon has had a great year, hitting over .300 again, and is 2nd behind teammate Jose Batista among AL outfielders in home runs. He’s also third in RBIs.

OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.337 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI) – Nelson is second among AL outfielders in RBIs (even though he’s been on the DL for much of the year), is third in home runs, and is tied for first in batting average.

OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET (.312 AVG, 5 HR, 28 RBI) – Maggs has come back strong this year after a major down-year in 2009, hitting well over .300 with plenty of RBIs.

SP: David Price, TB (6-1, 1.81 ERA, 44 K) – David is leading the American League in both wins and ERA, so I don’t know what else he could do, and I don’t think anyone can possibly be more deserving than a person who leads those two categories.

Reserves:
C: John Buck, TOR (.269 AVG, 8 HR, 24 RBI)
1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.333 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI)
Kendry Morales, LAA (.294 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI)
2B: Orlando Hudson, MIN (.298 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
SS: Alex Gonzales, TOR (.275 AVG, 10 HR, 30 RBI)
3B: Adrian Beltre, BOS (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 24 RBI)
Michael Young, TEX (.315 AVG, 4 HR, 25 RBI)
Alberto Callaspo, KC (.308 AVG, 7 HR, 28 RBI)
OF: Carl Crawford, TB (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 20 RBI, 11 SB)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.297 AVG, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 9 SB)
Josh Hamilton, TEX (.290 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI)
Austin Jackson, DET (.337 AVG, 1 HR, 11 RBI)
Alex Rios, CWS (.303 AVG, 8 HR, 21 RBI, 13 SB)
Nick Markakis, BAL (.305 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI)
SP: Doug Fister, SEA (3-2, 1.96 ERA, 25 K)
Jon Danks, CWS (3-3, 2.26 ERA, 45 K)
Matt Garza, TB (5-2, 2.37 ERA, 54 K)
CJ Wilson, TEX (3-1, 2.55 ERA, 39 K)
James Shields, TB (5-1, 3.08 ERA, 66 K)
Jered Weaver, LAA (4-2, 3.40 ERA, 60 K)
RP: Neftali Feliz, TEX (12 SV, 3.22 ERA, 23 K)
Kevin Gregg, TOR (12 SV, 3.26 ERA, 22 K)
Rafael Soriano, TB (12 SV, 1.42 ERA, 16 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (11 SV, 0.48 ERA, 13 K)
Andrew Bailey, OAK (7 SV, 1.08 ERA, 10 K)

Players by Team:
Texas Rangers – 7(3 starters)
Tampa Bay Rays – 6(2)
Detroit Tigers – 4(1)
Toronto Blue Jays – 4(1)
Minnesota Twins – 3(2)
Chicago White Sox – 2(0)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 2(0)
Baltimore Orioles – 1(0)
Boston Red Sox – 1(0)
Cleveland Indians – 1(0)
Kansas City Royals – 1(0)
New York Yankees – 1(1)
Oakland Athletics – 1(0)
Seattle Mariners – 1(0)

NL:

Starters:
C: Ivan Rodriguez, WAS (.325 AVG, 1 HR, 16 RBI) – Pudge leads all National League catchers in batting average at .325, and it’s not even that close, as Carlos Ruiz is the next closest at .300, at .025 points behind Pudge.

1B: Joey Votto, CIN (.313 AVG, 10 HR, 32 RBI) – Joey leads balloted NL first basemen in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. That’s all three categories, and Votto is also the leader in stolen bases with six.

2B: Chase Utley, PHI (.299 AVG, 10 HR, 23 RBI) – Chase is second behind Martin Prado in NL 2B batting average, and is second behind Dan Uggla in both NL 2B power numbers, but has the most balanced numbers of the three, and is very solid in all three categories.

SS: Stephen Drew, ARI (.301 AVG, 4 HR, 19 RBI) – Stephen is one of the National League shortstops in batting average, and has the best power numbers out of the three NL SS with at least 100 at-bats and are hitting .300 or above.

3B: Casey McGehee, MIL (.317 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI) – Casey is one of the leaders in batting average among NL 3B, and has the most RBIs out of that group of players.

DH: Alfonso Soriano, CHC (.319 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI) – Alfonso definitely isn’t on the team for his defense (note that he’s in the DH spot), but he has been one of the better-hitting outfielders in the National League, and earned a starting spot on my team.

OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.325 AVG, 7 HR, 30 RBI) – Ryan has had a great year, and surprisingly hasn’t gotten all that much help from Prince Fielder in the middle of that Brewers lineup, and has had to produce much of Milwaukee’s offense.

OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.392 AVG, 11 HR, 38 RBI) – Andre Ethier is a triple crown contender, with a batting average just below .400, 11 home runs, and 38 RBIs. Anybody that is way up there in all three major categories deserves to be an All-Star starter.

OF: Jayson Werth, PHI (.322 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI) – Jayson is hitting way over .300, at .322, with very good power numbers (2nd among NL outfielders in home runs, 2nd in RBIs). Those are very solid numbers, and deserving of an All-Star starts.

SP: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (8-1, 0.99 ERA, 58 K) – Ubaldo leads all of the major leagues with 8 wins and a 0.99 ERA, which is miniscule, at less than a run a game. He also has plenty of strikeouts at 58.

Reserves:
C: Rod Barajas, NYM (.260 AVG, 10 HR, 24 RBI)
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.309 AVG, 8 HR, 29 RBI)
Ryan Howard, PHI (.305 AVG, 8 HR, 32 RBI)
James Loney, LAD (.300 AVG, 4 HR, 28 RBI)
2B: Dan Uggla, FLA (.280 AVG, 11 HR, 28 RBI)
Martin Prado, ATL (.315 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (.296 AVG, 7 HR, 22 RBI)
Troy Tulowitzki, COL (.304 AVG, 3 HR, 20 RBI)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.318 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI)
Scott Rolen, CIN (.287 AVG, 10 HR, 27 RBI)
OF: Marlon Byrd, CHC (.315 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI)
Johnny Gomes, CIN (.292 AVG, 6 HR, 27 RBI)
Jason Heyward, ATL (.290 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI)
Andrew McCutchen, PIT (.319 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 12 SB)
SP: Jaime Garcia, STL (4-2, 1.28 ERA, 42 K)
Livan Hernandez, WAS (4-2, 1.62 ERA, 19 K)
Roy Halladay, PHI (6-2, 1.64 ERA, 58 K)
Tim Hudson, ATL (5-1, 2.09 ERA, 26 K)
Tim Lincecum, SF (5-0, 2.35 ERA, 75 K)
Roy Oswalt, HOU (2-6, 2.66 ERA, 60 K)
RP: Matt Capps, WAS (16 SV, 2.01 ERA, 20 K)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (14 SV, 4.09 ERA, 18 K)
Heath Bell, SD (12 SV, 0.95 ERA, 24 K)
Jonathon Broxton, LAD (10 SV, 1.45 ERA, 29 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (10 SV, 1.40 ERA, 15 K)

Players by Team:
Cincinnati Reds – 4(1 starter)
Philadelphia Phillies – 4(2)
Washington Nationals – 4(1)
Atlanta Braves – 3(0)
Los Angeles Dodgers – 3(1)
Chicago Cubs – 2(1)
Colorado Rockies – 2(1)
Florida Marlins – 2(0)
Houston Astros – 2(0)
Milwaukee Brewers – 2(0)
St. Louis Cardinals – 2(0)
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1(1)
New York Mets – 1(0)
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1(0)
San Diego – 1(0)
San Francisco – 1(0)

Come back next week for my May Awards.

Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4 and GM Comparison

This week I will post the fourth part of my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis series, giving each trade from August 18th of 2009 through the present a win, loss, or draw. Please see the 4/18/10 post for the last entry in this series. I will also compare Jon to Doug Melvin, Jon Hart, and Tom Grieve.

One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.

8/18/09 Acquired C Ivan Rodriguez from the Houston Astros for RHP Matt Nevarez and SS Jose Vallejo.

Win – Neither Nevarez or Vallejo have made it to the majors yet (although Nevarez is on Houston’s 40-man roster), while Pudge was a good contributor for the Rangers last year. He hit just .245 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI’s in his 98 at-bats with Texas, but that was better than the Rangers were getting from the catching position before that. Plus it was awesome having Pudge as a Ranger again.

Record: 18-6-11

9/4/09 Acquired RHP Danny Gutierrez from the Kansas City Royals for LF Tim Smith and C Manuel Pina.

Draw – This trade could easily end up being a win or a loss, as nobody has made it to the majors in this deal yet. Manny Pina is the only one of the three on a 40-man roster.

Record: 18-6-12

12/7/09 Acquired RHP Clay Rapada from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations.

Draw – Although the Rangers gave up nothing, they haven’t gotten anything in return. I could definitely see this one being a win by the end of the year, as Rapada has a good ERA at Triple-A, at 3.00.

Record: 18-6-13

12/9/09 Acquired RHP Chris Ray and Ben Snyder from the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Kevin Millwood and cash.

Loss – This move was basically Kevin Millwood for Chris Ray and Rich Harden, because the trade was to get enough money to sign Harden. Harden has a 4.93 ERA, while Millwood has a 3.69 ERA, and although Chris Ray has been very good this year, with a 2.76 ERA, it’s still not worth it, because Millwood has been significantly better than Harden and we could use Millwood’s presence in the rotation. Snyder hasn’t played in the majors for the Rangers yet.

Record: 18-7-13

1/26/10 Traded Greg Golson to the New York Yankees for Mitch Hilligoss and cash.

Draw – Golson is currently on the Yankees’ major league roster but has only had 5 at-bats so far, so this is still a draw for the moment.

Record: 18-7-14

3/22/10 Acquired C Matt Treanor from the Milwaukee Brewers for SS Ray Olmedo.

Win – Ray Olmedo hasn’t played for the Brewers yet, and although Treanor hasn’t been very good (.200 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBI), the most important thing he did was that he allowed the Rangers to send both Salty and Teagarden down to figure it out. This win isn’t about performance, it’s about what it allowed the Rangers to do.

Record: 19-7-14

3/24/10 Acquired SS Gregorio Petit from the Oakland Athletics for RHP Edwar Ramirez.

Draw – Even though Petit hasn’t played for the Rangers, and Ramirez has pitched for the A’s, Ramirez has allowed 7 runs in 11 innings, and has walked 10, so he’s been terrible, and he’s not in the majors anymore.

Record: 19-7-15

3/27/10 Acquired SS Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.

Win – Blanco is hitting just .222, and his on-base percentage would only be an okay batting average, and that’s horrible. But I give this a win because Blanco is providing some contribution at the major league level and helped us fill a gap while Kinsler was out, while so far we haven’t given up anything in return.

Record: 20-7-15

4/2/10 Traded RHP Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash.

Draw – A change of scenery did nothing for Luis Mendoza, unless you look at the ERA differential from last year and not the actual ERA’s. His ERA is down 13.50 from last year, but is still at 22.50. After just four innings the Royals sent him down to the minors, so the Rangers aren’t missing anything.

Record: 20-7-16

Finally, I accidentally skipped a trade I should have covered last week:
11/28/08 Traded Wes Littleton to the Boston Red Sox for cash. The Boston Red Sox sent Beau Vaughan (December 11, 2008) to the Rangers to complete the trade.

Draw – Neither player has appeared in the majors since the trade.

Record: 20-7-17

Comparison:

Tom Grieve:
Record: 10-13-28
Winning percentage: 43%
Number of trades: 51 in 11 years (average of 4.6 trades per year)

Doug Melvin:
Record: 15-14-16
Winning percentage: 52%
Number of trades: 45 in 7 years (average of 6.4 trades per year)

John Hart:
Record: 7-11-18
Winning percentage: 39%
Number of trades: 36 in 4 years (average of 9 trades per year)

Jon Daniels:Record: 20-7-17
Winning percentage: 74%
Number of trades: 44 in 4.5 years (average of 9.8 trades per year)

Come back next week for my May All-Star Teams.

Weekend Recap

This week will be a short post because I had an all-weekend baseball tournament in Grand Prairie and I’m worn out. We were out there for about 7 hours Saturday and about 8 hours Sunday.

We got to know the nearby McDonald’s very well over the weekend.

Between games on Saturday in Grand Prairie, me and my dad headed over to the AirHogs stadium (the AirHogs are an independent league team) to kill some time at the team store. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they were having a free exhibition game. We got to see a couple innings before heading back over to my games.

On Saturday night my dad, my sister, and I went to the RoughRiders game and got to see Martin Perez pitch against the Midland Rockhounds. He only went four innings, allowing one run. That wasn’t surprising, though, because he hasn’t gone over five innings in a start all year. He looked pretty good and Brennan Garr did a good job after him in relief.

Next week I will have a full article. Come back for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.

April Awards

This week I will do my April Awards. The awards are as if the season ended today.

Rangers:

MVP: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.323 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI) – Nelson is 2nd on the team in batting average, leads the team in home runs, and leads the team in RBIs. That makes him the obvious choice.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.326 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)

Cy Young: CJ Wilson, TEX (2-1, 1.75 ERA, 21 K) – Even though Colby Lewis leads the AL in strikeouts, CJ Wilson is third in the AL in ERA, and I value ERA much more than strikeouts, because, in my mind, it doesn’t matter how you get the outs (although strikeouts are the coolest).
Runner-up: Colby Lewis, TEX (3-0, 2.76 ERA, 38 K)

Rookie of the Year: Joaquin Arias, TEX (.321 AVG, 0 HR, 3 RBI) – Even though Joaquin has no power numbers, his batting average is still very, very good, and the only other two rookies on the team are Smoak and Feliz.
Runner-up: Neftali Feliz, TEX (4 SV, 5.40 ERA, 13 K)

AL:

MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.343 AVG, 5 HR, 26 RBI) – Miguel leads the major leagues in RBIs with 26, and in my opinion, that’s way more important than home runs, although 5 isn’t too bad. He is also 7th in the AL in batting average.
Runner-up: Justin Morneau, MIN (.347 AVG, 5 HR, 17 RBI, .490 OBP)

Cy Young: Francisco Liriano, MIN (3-0, 0.93 ERA, 27 K) – Francisco leads the American League in ERA. He is tied for 2nd in the AL in wins with three, and he has just been dominant. He is one of just three pitchers, along with Ubaldo Jimenez and Livan Hernandez, that have an ERA under 1.00.
Runner-up: Matt Garza, TB (4-1, 2.06 ERA, 34 K)

Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET (.356 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI) – Austin is the only American League rookie with an average above .300 or an ERA below 3.50, so I think he pretty obviously deserves it.
Runner-up: Reid Brignac, TB (.283 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Joe Madden, TB (17-7, 1st place) – The Rays have a very good team, but they are still overachieving at a .708 winning percentage. They are also 9-1 on the road, which is incredible.
Runner-up: Bob Geren, OAK (13-12, 1st place)

NL:

MVP: Ryan Braun, MIL (.361 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI) – Ryan is tied for 6th in the NL in RBIs with 20 of them, and he has also hit 5 home runs on the year. His .361 batting average is second in the National League.
Runner-up: Andre Ethier, LAD (.350 AVG, 7 HR, 22 RBI)

Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (5-0, 0.79 ERA, 31 K) – Ubaldo leads major league baseball in ERA, and in wins. If that doesn’t make you a Cy Young Award winner, I don’t know what will.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay, PHI (5-1, 1.47 ERA, 39 K)

Rookie of the Year: Jon Niese, NYM (1-1, 3.10 ERA, 25 K) – Jon is just one of five Mets starting pitchers that are pitching lights-out, with a 3.10 ERA. That said, though, if Jason Heyward had a better batting average, he would have this spot.
Runner-up: Jason Heyward, ATL (.256 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Bud Black, SD (15-9, 1st place) – Coming into the year I thought that the Padres might be the worst team in baseball, but after the month of April San Diego is in first place with a .625 winning percentage.
Runner-up: Jim Riggleman, WAS (13-11, 3rd place)

Come back next week for my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.

April All-Star Teams

I think it’s crazy that three weeks into the season, the All-Star ballot is already online, but since it is I will do my first monthly All-Star team. I will say who I think the All-Star team should be if the game was today.

AL: stats as of April 24th

Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.333 AVG, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – Joe leads all Al catchers on the ballot in RBIs and batting average. He is hitting .333, and even though he has just one home run so far this year, he is still the best of the catchers.

1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.353 AVG, 4 HR, 21 RBI) – Miguel is hitting .353 so far this year, which is 2nd among AL first basemen, and he is also second in home runs with four. But Miguel’s best stat this season is RBIs, as he leads all of major league baseball with 21.

2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI) – Robinson leads all AL second basemen on the ballot with a sufficient number of at-bats in batting average by a lot, as no one else is even hitting .300. He also is second in both home runs and RBIs.

SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (.328 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI) – Derek has a great batting average, and, like Cano, he is leading AL shortstops in batting average at .328. His power numbers aren’t too shabby, either, with 3 homers and 10 RBIs.

3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY (.322 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI) – Alex has had a great year so far this April, leading AL third basemen in batting average, and is tied for second in RBIs. Alex rounds out the 75% Yankee starting infield, which was painful to make, since it’s the Yankees.

DH: Jose Guillen, KC (.354 AVG, 6 HR, 13 RBI) – Jose leads the American League DHs in batting average, home runs, and RBIs, so I really don’t think there’s much to argue about in this spot in the lineup, although Vlad is the closest to catching him.

OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.327 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 5 SB) – Nelson is tied for the major league lead in home runs, leads AL outfielders in RBIs, and is hitting well over .300, with is batting average at .327. That doesn’t even mention his 5 stolen bases, 6th among balloted AL outfielders.

OF: Vernon Wells, TOR (.344 AVG, 7 HR, 13 RBI) – Vernon is tied with Nelson for the major league lead in home runs, and also has a batting average way above .300, at .344. The only thing that he has going against him is that he’s driven in himself more than he has his teammates.

OF: Scott Podsednik, KC (.415 AVG, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 7 SB) – Scott leads the American League in batting average at .415, so he obviously leads the outfielders. Even though he has poor power numbers, anybody hitting .400 or above with 7 stolen bases deserves to start.

SP: Jon Danks, CWS (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 21 K) – Jon leads the American League in ERA, and has a plethora of strikeouts (that’s a good vocab word). At 2-0, he is tied for 3rd in the AL in wins, so he is toward the top of all three major categories.

Reserves:
C: Jorge Posada, NYY (.320 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI)
Matt Wieters, BAL (.311 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
1B: Kendry Morales, LAA (.303 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Justin Morneau, MIN (.356 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
2B: Dustin Pedroia, BOS (.271 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
SS: Alex Gonzalez, TOR (.292 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Elvis Andrus, TEX (.286 AVG, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB)
3B: Alberto Callaspo, KC (.302 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI)
Evan Longoria, TB (.297 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI)
DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.345 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
OF: Michael Cuddyer, MIN (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 15 RBI)
Carl Crawford, TB (.328 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 SB)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.286 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
Franklin Gutierrez, SEA (.391 AVG, 0 HR, 10 RBI)
SP: Matt Garza, TB (3-1, 2.17 ERA, 25 K)
Justin Duchscherer, OAK (2-0, 1.82 ERA, 15 K)
Doug Fister, SEA (2-1, 1.42 ERA, 9 K)
Francisco Liriano, MIN (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 17 K)
Andy Pettite, NYY (2-0, 1.35 ERA, 14 K)
CJ Wilson, TEX (1-1, 1.37 ERA, 16 K)
Ricky Romero, TOR (1-1, 1.57 ERA, 22 K)
RP: David Aardsma, SEA (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 7 K)
Jon Rauch, MIN (6 SV, 1.29 ERA, 5 K)
Mariano Rivera, NYY (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 6 K)
Kevin Gregg, TOR (5 SV, 1.17 ERA, 9 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (5 SV, 1.29 ERA, 4 K)

Players by Team:
New York Yankees – 6
Minnesota Twins – 5
Toronto Blue Jays – 4
Texas Rangers – 4
Tampa Bay Rays – 3
Kansas City Royals – 3
Seattle Mariners – 3
Detroit Tigers – 2
Boston Red Sox – 1
Baltimore Orioles – 1
Chicago White Sox – 1
Cleveland Indians – 1
Oakland Athletics – 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1

NL: stats as of April 25th

Starters:
C: Ivan Rodriguez, WAS (.434 AVG, 0 HR, 8 RBI) – Pudge leads the major leagues in batting average at .434, and I really wish he was still a Ranger, especially with our catching struggles this year. He is also tied second among National League balloted catchers in RBIs.

1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.322 AVG, 5 HR, 12 RBI) – Adrian leads NL first basemen in batting average, is 2nd in home runs, and is 3rd in RBIs. He in the top three in all three categories, and is the only NL first baseman to do that.

2B/DH: Kelly Johnson, ARI (.327 AVG, 6 HR, 10 RBI) – Kelly is tied with Chase Utley among balloted second basemen in home runs, but he has a 30-point edge in batting average on him. Kelly has made a very good first impression with his new team.

2B/DH: Martin Prado, ATL (.409 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI) – Martin is hitting over .400 this year, which obviously leads NL second basemen, but with the strength at the NL second base position, he needed a DH spot to be a starter.

SS: Rafael Furcal, LAD (.329 AVG, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 8 SB) – Rafael leads all NL shortstops in batting average and stolen bases, which makes up for his lack of power numbers, especially with how weak the shortstops have been in the National League.

3B: Casey McGehee, MIL (.338 AVG, 4 HR, 14 RBI) – Casey has been incredible for the Brewers this year, as he is 4th among NL 3B in batting average, is tied for 2nd in home runs, and is tied for 3rd in RBIs. Those are some pretty good stats.

OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.382 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 4 SB) – Ryan has been incredible this year, and is much deserving of the number one starting outfield spot in the NL. He is 1st among NL outfielders with at least 45 at-bats in batting average, is tied 2nd in home runs, and is tied 1st in RBIs, and he also has four stolen bases. If that’s not an All-Star starter, I don’t know what is.

OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.362 AVG, 5 HR, 16 RBI) – Andre is 2nd in batting average among outfielders with 45 or more at-bats, behind only Ryan Braun. He is also tied with Ryan in home runs with 5, and is tied 3rd in RBIs in the NL outfield.

OF: Matt Kemp, LAD (.319 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI) – Matt is tied for the major league lead in home runs with 7, and even though his batting average doesn’t quite match up with Braun’s or Ethier’s, it’s still very good, and he leads the NL outfield in RBIs along with Ryan Braun.

SP: Roy Halladay, PHI (4-0, 0.82 ERA, 28 K) – Roy is tied for the major league lead with Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez in wins with four, is 2nd in the majors in ERA behind Livan Hernandez, and is towards the top in the MLB in strikeouts, too.

Reserves:
C: Bengie Molina, SF (.313 AVG, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.275 AVG, 6 HR, 16 RBI)
Joey Votto, CIN (.290 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 SB)
2B: Rickie Weeks, MIL (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI)
Dan Uggla, FLA (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
SS: Orlando Cabrera, CIN (.254 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
3B: Jorge Cantu, FLA (.278 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
Ian Stewart, COL (.322 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.341 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBI)
Chase Headley, SD (.379 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 SB)
OF: Jayson Werth, PHI (.333 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
Josh Willingham, WAS (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB)
Marlon Byrd, CHC (.338 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI)
Brad Hawpe, COL (.357 AVG, 3 HR, 7 RBI)
SP: Livan Hernandez, WAS (2-1, 0.75 ERA, 9 K)
Mike Pelfrey, NYM (3-0, 0.86 ERA, 16 K)
Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (4-0, 0.95 ERA, 25 K)
Carlos Silva, CHC (2-0, 0.95 ERA, 12 K)
Tim Lincecum, SF (4-0, 1.00 ERA, 32 K)
Barry Zito, SF (3-0, 1.32 ERA, 19 K)
Brad Penny, STL (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 13 K)
RP: Matt Capps, WAS (7 SV, 0.87 ERA, 12 K)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (6 SV, 3.12 ERA, 10 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (6 SV, 3.00 ERA, 10 K)
Leo Nunez, FLA (4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 10 K)
Brendan Donnelly, PIT (1-0, 0 SV, 2.25 ERA, 9 K)

Players by Team:
Washington Nationals – 5
Cincinnati Reds – 3
Colorado Rockies – 3
Florida Marlins – 3
Los Angeles Dodgers – 3
Milwaukee Brewers – 3
San Francisco Giants – 3
Chicago Cubs – 2
Philadelphia Phillies – 2
San Diego Padres – 2
St. Louis Cardinals – 2
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1
Atlanta Braves – 1
Houston Astros – 1
New York Mets – 1
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1

Come back next week for my April Awards.

Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 3

It’s been a while since I did a summary of Jon Daniels’ trades. The last time I did it was in October of 2007, at which time I had given him a 16-4-7 record for all of his trades up to that point. This week I continued my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis, taking up where I left off, and gave each trade a win, loss, or a draw, and analyzed them.

One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.

12/6/07 - Acquired 1B Chris Shelton from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for OF Freddy Guzman

Draw – Chris was terrible as a Ranger. In his 97 at-bats as a Ranger, Chris hit just .216, and had a terrible .330 slugging percentage. Not only did he hit .216, Chris struck out 33 times, 34% of his at-bats. Freddy Guzman has just 10 at-bats and one hit since the trade.

Record: 16-4-8

12/21/07 - Acquired OF Josh Hamilton from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Edinson Volquez and Minor League LHP Danny Herrera.

Loss – Josh and Volquez have basically done the same so far, they both had All-Star years in 2008, and then were injured for much of the year in 2009. So they cancel each other out. But the Reds also got a very solid relief pitcher in the trade. Danny Ray Herrera had a 3.06 ERA in 61.2 innings pitched in 2009. Herrera is a very valuable left-handed specialist in the Reds bullpen. There is a great chance when it’s all said and done this trade will be a win, but as of today, it’s slightly in the Reds’ favor.

Record: 16-5-8

2/5/08 - Acquired OF Michael Hernandez from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for RHP Armando Galarraga.

Loss – Armando had a great year in 2008 with the Tigers, as he had a 13-7 record and a 3.73 ERA in 178.2 innings pitched. He had a .226 opponents batting average. He didn’t have anywhere near as good a year in ’09 as he did in ’08, with a 5.64 ERA in 143.2 innings pitched. That is in exchange for Michael Hernandez, who has never made it to the majors.

Record: 16-6-8

3/28/08 - Acquired RHP Dustin Nippert from the Arizona Diamondbacks for non-roster RHP Jose Marte.

Win – Dustin Nippert has been a very good contributor to the Rangers, while Jose Marte has never made it to the big league for the Diamondbacks or for any other team. Dustin had a 3.88 ERA in 69.2 innings for the Rangers in 2009 and is very valuable, as he can be used as a long reliever or a spot starter.

Record: 17-6-8

8/25/08 - Acquired RHP Mark Hamburger from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for LHP Eddie Guardado

Draw – Eddie pitched only 7 innings for the Twins in ’08 after the trade before coming back to the Rangers for the ’09 season. Mark Hamburger has not yet made it to the Rangers (and is currently with the High-A team), but the Rangers only gave up 7 innings to get him. This trade made no difference to either team to this point, but has the chance to become a win for the Rangers depending on what Hamburger does.

Record: 17-6-9

11/20/08 - Acquired OF Greg Golson from the Philadelphia Phillies for OF John Mayberry.

Draw – Neither player has played significant time in the majors since the trade, although John Mayberry, Jr. did get 57 at-bats with the Phillies last year (and also got a World Series ring). But he hit just .211, even though he did hit four home runs. Golson got just one at-bat as a Ranger. Even though Mayberry has been better, it’s not significant enough to make it a loss at this point. That could change in the future, though, as Mayberry is still with the Phillies while Golson is out of the Rangers’ organization.

Record: 17-6-10

12/8/08 - Acquired RHP Guillermo Moscoso and RHP Carlos Melo from the Detroit Tigers for C Gerald Laird.

Draw – Even though the Rangers really struggled at the catcher position offensively last year, and Salty got injured, Gerald Laird didn’t have a good season either. He hit just .225 with four home runs and 33 RBI’s in 413 at-bats for the Detroit Tigers last season. Moscoso has pitched 14 innings in the majors for the Rangers (3.21 ERA), which obviously isn’t significant time, and Carlos Melo has not yet made it to the major leagues (and it looks like he’ll be on one of the short season clubs this year).

Record: 17-6-11

Come back next week for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4 and a GM Comparison.

Rangers Week 1 Recap

I will have a short post this week because I had an all-weekend baseball tournament out in Mansfield. There’s an amazing baseball complex in Mansfield called Big League Dreams. Each of the eight fields is a replica of a classic major league ballpark. The attention to detail is incredible. This weekend, our games are in replicas of the Polo Grounds and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. They also have replicas of Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Sportsman’s Park, and Crosley Field. They have two pretty nice restaurants too (one called the Diamond Club and one called the Stadium Club), each overlooking four of the fields. Even if you don’t have a game there, you can tour the complex for $3, eat at the restaurant, and watch whatever games are being played. It was the coolest place I’ve ever played at.

This week I will give a brief recap of the week’s Rangers games.

Opening Day vs. Toronto (1-0):
Scott Feldman pitched really well other than just a couple of bad pitches (he went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs). Neftali Feliz came on in the eight and he really struggled, allowing one run and walking two while getting just one out. Darren Oliver and Frankie Francisco came in to pitch after him, and got the job done. The Rangers got no-hit through six and a third innings before Vlad singled (following a Josh Hamilton walk), followed by a Nelson Cruz home run to tie the game at 3 in the seventh. After Feliz gave the Blue Jays the lead back in the 8th, the Rangers got the bases loaded with one out in the ninth when Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up and hit a walk-off single to win the ballgame. They won 5-4. We were at this game and it couldn’t have been a better day.

Wednesday, April 7th vs. Toronto (1-1):
Rich Harden started for the Rangers and really struggled. He went just 3 and two-thirds innings, allowed just one hit, three runs (one earned), and struck out eight, but he walked five batters. 8 of his 11 outs were strikeouts. Dustin Nippert came in after Harden, and didn’t do any better, allowing three runs and walking four in 2 and two-thirds innings. Darren O’Day came in after him and threw 1.1 scoreless innings, but Darren Oliver gave up a solo home run to Vernon Wells. Chris Ray got the final two outs for the Rangers and allowed no runs. Borbon, Young, Hamilton, Arias, Murphy, Salty, Andrus, and Teagarden combined to go 1-22, (a .045 batting average) and Josh struck out in all four of his at-bats. Nelson Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back home runs, but they were basically the Rangers’ whole offense, and they lost 7-4.

Thursday, April 8th vs. Toronto (1-2):
CJ Wilson pitched great, and he went 7 shutout innings, striking out 9 and allowing only 7 batters to get on base. After CJ, Feliz came in and threw a perfect 8th inning, but after him Frankie Francisco came in to pitch, and he was terrible. He got just two outs, allowed four hits, three runs (all earned), and walked one, to make his ERA 16.20. Darren Oliver got the last out of the 9th inning. The Rangers hit just as bad in this game as they did on Wednesday, as Borbon, Young, Garko, Arias, Teagarden, Blanco, Hamilton, and Andrus combined to go 0-for-21, while Cruz and Guerrero went 4-for-7. The Rangers lost the game 3-1.

Friday, April 9th vs. Seattle (2-2):
Colby Lewis started this game and picked up the win, going 7 innings, and allowing just one run. Chris Ray pitched the 8th inning, and allowed a solo home run to Casey Kotchman. Doug Mathis then pitched a perfect ninth inning, and struck out two. Nelson Cruz hit his third home run of the season, and him and Guerrero combined to go 5-for-8 in this game. After Cruz’ fourth inning home run, the Rangers scored four runs in the 6th inning, and one run in the 7th. The Rangers won 6-2.

Saturday, April 10th vs. Seattle (2-3):
Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and pitched really well, giving up just one run in six innings of work. Dustin Nippert and Neftali Feliz both followed that up with scoreless innings of their own. But then, once again, Frankie Francisco came in to pitch the ninth, and got one out, allowing three runs. And the out was on a sac bunt, so he didn’t really even get that one, either. Darren O’Day then came in to finish off the inning for the Rangers. Besides Joaquin Arias, the Rangers combined to go 4-for-29 (a .138 batting average). Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer in the sixth, but due to Frankie’s poor pitching, the Rangers lost 4-3.

Sunday, April 11th vs. Seattle (3-3):
Scott Feldman had 7 strong innings once again on Sunday against the Mariners. He allowed just two runs (one earned) in his 7 innings of work, and picked up the win. Doug Mathis and Chris Ray each pitched scoreless innings after him. The Rangers hit much better on Sunday, as everyone got a hit except for David Murphy, and he became the first player ever to get on base by two catcher interference calls in the same game. Michael Young hit his first home run of the year in the first inning off Ian Snell, and, once again Vlad and Cruz both had really good games. Josh Hamilton also doubled twice and walked in the game. The Rangers won 9-2.

Through one week, the Rangers should be 5-1, but their “closer” has made them 3-3. The Rangers’ hitting besides Guerrero, Cruz, Arias, and Hamilton has got to pick up. I’m starting to get a little worried about Chris Davis, but the starting rotation is looking great.

Come back next week for more analysis on the Rangers.

Recent Rangers Moves

This week I’ll catch up on all of the Rangers’ trades and acquisitions from the last few weeks, and analyze them.

On March 9th, the Rangers acquired Edwar Ramirez from the New York Yankees for cash considerations:
I like this trade, because we basically got a major league relief pitcher for nothing. Edwar had a good year with the Yankees in 2008, going 55.1 innings with 3.90 ERA, but then struggled in ’09, going only 22 innings with a 5.73 ERA. But he pitched well in Triple-A, as he had a 3.18 ERA in 51 innings with Scranton Wilkes-Barr (that’s a long name for a city). Cash considerations means that the Yankees might get some cash from the Rangers depending on how Ramirez performs. The Rangers ended up trading Ramirez to the A’s right after that, though.
Grade: C, it isn’t meaningful enough for a high grade

Then, on March 13th, the Rangers claimed Hernan Iribarren off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. This was a good move, as the Rangers needed more infielders since Khalil Greene couldn’t make it with his social anxiety disorder, and when the Rangers claimed him he actually had a shot to make the team. But he didn’t perform well in Spring Training, as in his 19 total at-bats (Brewers and Rangers) he had just three hits, all of them singles. He has 27 career major league at-bats, and has five hits, a .185 batting average.

On March 22nd, the Rangers traded Ray Olmedo to the Milwaukee Brewers for Matt Treanor:
I like this trade, also, because Ray Olmedo was not going to make the team, and the Rangers needed another catcher in case Salty wasn’t ready to go at the start of the season. Matt has a career .232 batting average in 736 major league at-bats. He is a good defensive catcher, with a career .988 fielding percentage. Like Iribarren, Treanor did not end up making the team, but could be an option to fill in during the season if they need temporary help.
Grade: B-, Matt could still end up being helpful if Salty gets injured again

On March 24th, the Rangers traded Edwar Ramirez to the Oakland Athletics for Gregorio Petit:
I’ve already covered Edwar Ramirez, so I’ll just cover Petit for this trade. Gregorio Petit had 54 major league at-bats for the A’s between ’08 and ’09, and hit .278. Last year with Triple-A Sacramento, Petit hit .244 with five home runs and 32 RBI’s in 357 at-bats. Petit had a very good chance of being the Rangers’ utility infielder until they traded for Andres Blanco, who eventually ended up getting the job.
Grade: C+, Petit could have been valuable, while Ramirez probably wasn’t going to make the team. Ramirez may have had more long-term value though.

On March 27th, the Rangers acquired Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for either a player to be named later or cash:
This is a very good trade, as even though Blanco isn’t the nicest guy (I found that out at the Rangers Spring Training game in Frisco on Saturday), he still will be a solid utility infielder for the Rangers. He is a very good defensive player, and hit well with Triple-A Iowa last year, with a .304 batting average. The Rangers gave up almost nothing to get him, and he should help the team throughout the year. I don’t see any way this ends up being a bad trade. Unless the player to be named later is a legitimate prospect, which is doubtful, even if Blanco doesn’t perform, we didn’t give up anything for him.
Grade: A-, it’s not a big enough trade to go above an A-

On April 1st, the Rangers traded Edwin Escobar to the San Francisco Giants to keep Ben Snyder:
Ben Snyder was the Rangers’ Rule-5 draft pick that they received from the Orioles as part of the Kevin Millwood trade. Snyder didn’t make the team, so he would have gone back to the Giants had the Rangers not made this trade. Ben did not have a good spring (9.00 ERA), but has good stats in the minors, with his ERA not rising above 3.75 in his minor league career. Edwin Escobar went 2-5 with a 5.00 ERA in 13 games with the Arizona League Rangers last year. Escobar has some potential but I think Snyder’s is higher and he’s much closer to contributing to a major league team.
Grade: B-, once again this wasn’t a big enough trade to go much higher

On April 1st, the Rangers claimed Ryan Garko off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. This is a great move. The Rangers have been trying to get Garko since last summer, and he will be the backup corner infielder for the Rangers to start the season. The Mariners waived him after he had a bad spring, batting in the low .200s. Ryan will be a big addition, and I’d much rather have him than Matt Brown or Max Ramirez.

On April 2nd, the Rangers traded Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash:
Luis was out of options and wasn’t going to make the Rangers’ roster. The Rangers got nothing for him (not surprising). In his career, Luis has a 7.73 major league ERA in 80 innings, and personally, I’m happy to get rid of the guy. He just wasn’t performing, but was still in the mix for a bullpen job early this spring.
Grade: C, it doesn’t matter at all

Also, on the day that I left Surprise, news broke that Ron Washington took cocaine last season. It was a stupid thing to do, and I can’t believe he would do it. I really still don’t know what to think of it, and I’m hoping that it will make the players more determined, so that they can show that their manager is a good one.

I enjoyed spring training, but I’m glad it’s over. I can’t wait for opening day tomorrow.

Come back next week for a breakdown of week 1 of the season.

Spring Training Trip Report

My dad, my granddad, and I went on a trip to Spring Training last week. We got there on Sunday, March 14th and left on Wednesday, March 17th. It was a great trip and I had a blast. This week I’ll give a recap of my trip and a report on how the players looked.

Sunday, March 14th:

We had a very early flight on Sunday morning (7:25), so I had to wake up at 4:45 AM so we could leave the house at 5:15. I was tired. Our plane was on time, though, so we landed in Phoenix at about 8:00 AM Arizona time. On Sunday morning we went straight to the workouts, which were fun as always, and got to talk to Jamey Newberg, Anthony Andro, TR Sullivan, Ryan Tatusko, and CJ Wilson. CJ was especially nice throughout the whole trip, and took time to talk to me a lot after both the Sunday and Monday workouts. At the workouts, we got to see Tanner Scheppers throw a bullpen session. I noticed that Tanner has a good change in his velocity.

The game was in Surprise, so we had time to go eat lunch at Red Robin before heading over to the game. Red Robin had good food as always, and I was happy to be able to watch some of the ACC Championship game as we ate.

We then went over to the Rangers/Diamondbacks game at Surprise Stadium. Colby Lewis was pitching and got out of the first inning quickly, with a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts, and he looked really good. But after that he started to leave his fastball up, and in the next three innings he gave up six runs, not even finishing the fourth inning. He lost his control and just got pounded. In the third inning alone, he left four fastballs right at the letters, and even the outs were hard hit balls. He ended up going 3.1 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, six hits (including one homer), and striking out four. One thing I noticed about him is how quickly he works. It’s just one pitch after another, no Padilla-like stalking around the mound five times before each pitch. Ben Snyder came in to finish the 4th inning and didn’t fare much better. He gave up a home run to his first batter, and then gave up two more hits and another run in the 5th. He got hit hard by almost every batter and gave up two runs in 1.2 innings. Chris Ray gave up a run and three hits in his only inning, but he actually looked really good. All of his pitches had really good movement, and he seemed to have pretty good command of his pitches. Kasey Kiker, Zach Phillips, and Frankie Francisco pitched scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, respectively. Hamilton looked very good at the plate, as on the day he went 2-for-3 with one home run and two RBI’s. He homered in the first on a ball he got way under, and ended up hitting it over the right-field bullpen. In the third inning he hit a double off the wall in the gap. Vlad hit it solidly in each at-bat, but went just 1-for-3, and Michael Young was 1-for-3 also. Craig Gentry went 0-for-4 and Justin Smoak went 1-for-3. The Rangers lost the game to the Diamondbacks 9-3 with Colby Lewis picking up the loss.

When we got back to the hotel I checked the computer to see what the NCAA brackets were, and I couldn’t have been happier. Texas A&M (my favorite college) was a 5 seed, and were positioned great. They play an easy team in both the first and second rounds before playing the Sweet 16 in Houston, which would be a home game. I was extremely excited about their chances. For dinner we went to NYPD Pizza. They have great pizza there, and we gobbled it up. We got back to the hotel, and both my granddad and I were asleep by 7:30 PM, leaving my dad unable to make any noise until he went to sleep (that’s never fun, I’m just glad it wasn’t me).

Monday, March 15th:

The Rangers had a night game on Monday, so only the minor leaguers had their workouts in the morning, since the major league workouts didn’t start until 2:30 PM. We went to the minor league workouts and saw a few pitchers pitching to live hitters who weren’t allowed to swing. I got to see Martin Perez pitch, and he looked very good, with excellent command of his pitches, as almost every pitch was at the knees. He had a really good curveball. I got to talk to Blake Beavan, Tim Murphy, Rich Rice, and Court Berry-Tripp. They are all incredibly nice people and I would like to especially thank Rich Rice for helping us out while we were in Arizona.

We went to the Reds game in Goodyear and saw them play the A’s. My dad grew up in Cincinnati, so we are also Reds fans (nowhere close to the Rangers, though). We got to see Ben Sheets pitch for the A’s, and that was a lot of fun because he allowed 10 runs and got 0 outs. He got pulled before he even got an out, raising his Spring ERA to 31.15. The A’s defense was horrible, too. On the very first play, Jake Fox, the left fielder, fell down while tracking down a fly ball, then Sheets muffed a grounder on the next play. Later in the inning, the shortstop made an error, and then let the ball lay on the ground as the runner on second took third. The Reds won the game 13-5.

We went back to Surprise for the major league workouts after the Reds game and got to talk to Scott Lucas and also to Court Berry-Tripp and CJ again. CJ talked to me for a long time again. He is such a nice guy.

We went to the Rangers/Giants night game in Surprise at 6:00, and Rich Harden was pitching. He was bad at the beginning and at the end, but was pretty good in between. He allowed two in the first and two in the fourth, but just one other. He needed 80 pitched to get through 3.2 innings, and he allowed 5 runs, all earned, on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out three. Like Colby, Harden works quickly, and there’s not much time between pitches. Doug Mathis came in to finish the fourth, and then he also pitched the 5th and two outs in the 6th. His stats aren’t too bad, as he gave up no earned runs in his two innings of work, but his control was off. He walked four batters but only gave up one hit. The box score shows that he gave up two hits and one earned run, but they credited a San Francisco batter a hit on an obvious error by Elvis Andrus. On the play, Elvis muffed a line drive, and on the throw to the plate after catching the outfielder’s throw, he bounced it in about five feet to the left of the plate, letting the run score. Edwar Ramirez came in next, and gave up one run in 1.1 innings, and then Darren O’Day gave up one run in 2 innings. Nelson Cruz hit a moon shot to straightaway center on the first pitch he saw in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, both Vlad and Matt Brown had RBI’s. Josh got hit by a pitch on the hand, and that was scary, but he’s fine. The Rangers offense really didn’t do anything again until the 8th inning when Max Ramirez and Justin Smoak both drove in runs. The Rangers lost to the Giants 8-5.

Also, I got the chance to talk with Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, and Scott Lucas during the game, which was fun.

Tuesday, March 16th:

Since the Rangers were playing the Cubs in Mesa, which is over an hour away, the major leaguers weren’t doing workouts when we got to the Rangers’ backfields. But the minor leaguers were, so we went to see them. I saw Wilmer Font pitch. He had a good fastball, but his curveball was a little wild, and he couldn’t really control it.

The Rangers were playing a B-game over at the Royals’ complex, so we went over to see that. Esteban German was very impressive in the game, as he made a couple of very good defensive plays at short and also doubled. Luis Mendoza was the opposite of German, as he did not do well at all. Brandon Boggs hit a home run in the game, too.

After that, Ted Price was nice enough to let me be on his podcast to talk to me about what I had seen in camp. His podcasts are always great, and his site is http://rangerspodcast.blogspot.com. It’s called Rangers Podcast in Arlington. Ted does the podcasts with Jamey, and Adam Morris, and sometimes with a guest. It was so much fun to do, and I would like to thank Ted for having me on. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The video should still be available on his site. It’s the March 16th entry.

We then headed out to Mesa to see the Rangers play the Cubs. It was a sold out game, and the traffic was terrible. The Cubs’ ballpark is built in a residential neighborhood, so the streets weren’t meant for thirteen thousand people. The traffic was so bad that Ron Washington missed the first inning. Neftali Feliz started the game, and looked really good in his first two innings, but then really struggled in the third. He was scheduled to go four innings, but he ended up going just three. He allowed 6 hits, 3 runs (all earned), and struck out 4 in his three innings of work. Omar Beltre came on to pitch the fourth, and he used some kind of wacky half-sidearm, half-overhand delivery. He allowed no runs and struck out two in his inning, but a lot of his pitches were low. CJ Wilson came in after Beltre, and he was dominant. He got five strikeouts in his first three innings, and there was not a single hard-hit ball. He was making the Cubs batters look silly. Jeff Baker hit a home run off him in the third, though. In the fourth inning, the first two Cubs batters got hits, to make it second and third with no outs. And CJ didn’t allow either of the runners to score, as he got three straight weak groundouts. He allowed one run in four innings, and he struck out four. The Rangers only got three hits in the game, a David Murphy single, a Taylor Teagarden single, and a Justin Smoak home run (which was the Rangers’ only run in the game). The Rangers lost 4-1. This made the Rangers 0-3 while I was in Arizona.

For dinner, we went to Outback, and I ordered a burger, but I ended up having just four bites, due to an overload of cheese fries.

On Wednesday, we left Surprise to fly back to Dallas, pick up my mother, little sister, and grandmother and then fly to Orlando for 6 nights at Disney World. We stayed in one of the cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort. We managed to catch a Grapefruit League game while we were there, seeing the Braves play the Tigers on Friday night. This was my first-ever Grapefruit League game. I was impressed with the Braves stadium (it’s on Disney property). We had a great trip, with basically back-to-back vacations.

Come back next week for my analysis of recent Rangers news and events.

2010 Season Predictions

This week the Rangers acquired relief pitcher Edwar Ramirez from the New York Yankees for cash considerations. Edwar had a 3.55 ERA in 55.1 innings for the Yankees in 2008, but followed up that good year by struggling in 2009, with a 5.73 ERA in 22 innings with the Yankees. Basically, the Rangers get Ramirez for nothing, and I like trades where you get possible contributors and give up nothing in return.
Grade: A-

This week I’ll provide my predictions for the 2010 season.

AL East:

1. New York Yankees: New York won the World Series last year, and as much as it pains me to say it, they’ll probably win the AL East again this year. They have six players starting for the Yankees this year that had 20 or more home runs in 2009. Their pitching is amazing, with CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37), AJ Burnett (13-9, 4.04), Andy Pettite (14-8, 4.16), and Javier Vazquez (15-10, 2.87). They also have Mariano Rivera as their closer. Even though they lost Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Brian Bruney over the offseason, they still improved in my opinion, as they added both Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez from trades.

2. Boston Red Sox (Wild Card): The Red Sox are also very good, and would probably win any division other than the AL East. They have a pitching staff that is just as good, if not better, than the Yankees, with Jon Lester (15-8, 3.41), Josh Beckett (17-6, 3.86), John Lackey (11-8, 3.83), and Clay Buchholz (7-4, 4.21). I think that the Red Sox will be the American League Wild Card this year.

3. Tampa Bay Rays:
4. Baltimore Orioles:
5. Toronto Blue Jays:

AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins: The Twins’ pitching is not very good, as their #1 starter had a 4.27 ERA, which is high for a #3 starting pitcher in a good rotation, but their hitting is incredible, and they just somehow figure out ways to win. The Twins have Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Hudson, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel in their lineup. If Joe Nathan doesn’t play this year, which it looks like he won’t, it will be much harder for the Twins to win this year, but I still think they will because the AL Central is so weak.

2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

AL West:
1. Texas Rangers: The Rangers have a good young team, and a very good chance to win the AL West. Their rotation is very good, with Scott Feldman, Rich Harden, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, and Tommy Hunter. I really think that Derek Holland will have an All-Star year this year and will be dominant. The Rangers also have a chance to have a very good offense, if Chris Davis has a comeback year, Josh Hamilton can stay healthy, and the rest of the team doesn’t decline.

2. Seattle Mariners
3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (otherwise known as the team with the dumbest name ever)
4. Oakland Athletics

NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies made it to the World Series for the second straight year last year. They have a very good team this year, too, as they have almost all their players returning this year from last year. Cliff Lee got replaced by Roy Halladay in the starting rotation, which might actually be a slight downgrade for this year, but in the future it will be for the better since Lee is a free agent after this year. Placido Polanco is the only new starting position player on the team, and he is an upgrade at third base from Pedro Feliz, who was the starter there last year. And the Phillies closing situation will be better this year, just because it couldn’t have been any worse, so it has to get better.

2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets (who I think should change their stadium name from Citi Field to Injury Field)
5. Washington Nationals

NL Central:
1. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals have what may be the best 1-2 punch in all of major league baseball with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Wainwright had a 19-8 record with a 2.63 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 233 innings pitched, while Carpenter had a 17-4 record with a 2.24 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 192.2 innings pitched. And those two have Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday behind them in the field, and that may also be the best group of two hitters in the middle of the order. Just those four players plus Franklin, Molina, and Ludwick are good enough to make up for the somewhat mediocre remainder of the team.

2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Houston Astros

NL East:
1. San Francisco Giants: The Giants pitching staff is amazing and will probably be even better this year with Jonathon Sanchez having another year under his belt. Cy Young Award winner for the past two seasons Tim Lincecum (15-7, 2.48) is the ace of the staff and Matt Cain (14-8, 2.89) would be the ace on most team’s staffs. Barry Zito (10-13, 4.03) improved last year, and actually was a decent pitcher. Jonathon Sanchez (8-12, 4.24) has a lot of potential and could be really good this year, while Madison Bumgarner (9-1, 1.93 in AA and 3-1, 1.48 in High-A) was dominant in the minors last year, and can have a very good season in the majors. The Giants signed Mark DeRosa in the offseason, and that will help the Giants horrible offense, which was basically just Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina, along with a little bit of Freddy Sanchez, and then a few hits sprinkled in from everybody else.

2. Colorado Rockies (Wild Card): The Rockies have a very good young team, with Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Stewart, Chris Iannetta, and Carlos Gonzalez all starting for them. Tulowitzki (.297, 32, 92) really led the offense last season, and finished in the top 25 in the NL in batting average, home runs, RBI’s, slugging percentage, on base percentage, OPS, stolen bases, runs, and hits. Brad Hawpe also had a good season last year, hitting .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI’s while making his first All-Star appearance. Ubaldo Jimenez leads the rotation, and had a solid year last year, with a 15-12 record and a 3.47 ERA.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres

AL Awards:

AL MVP: Joe Mauer, MIN
Runner-up: Evan Longoria, TB

Al Cy Young: Cliff Lee, SEA
Runner-up: Zack Grienke, KC

AL Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET
Runner-up: Carlos Santana, CLE

AL Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, TEX
Runner-up: Ron Gardenhire, MIN

NL Awards:

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
Runner-up: Joey Votto, CIN

NL Cy Young: Adam Wainwright, STL
Runner-up: Tommy Hanson, ATL

NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, ATL
Runner-up: Madison Bumgarner, SF

NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy, COL
Runner-up: Bruce Bochy, SF

Playoffs:

ALDS:

Texas Rangers vs. Boston Red Sox: Rangers in 5

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: Yankees in 4

NLDS:

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies: Cardinals in 4

San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Giants in 5

ALCS:

New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers: Yankees in 7

NLCS:

St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 5

World Series:

New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 6

I will be taking next week off. Come back in two weeks for a spring training report.

Spring Training Infielders Analysis

The Rangers have 10 infielders and 6 catchers in major league camp. I did an analysis of all the infielders and catchers in big league camp, gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training, and predicted the infield and catching roster.

Elvis Andrus – Elvis Andrus is obviously going to be on the team as the starting shortstop after he won the Rookie of the Year Award last year. Oh, wait, that went to a guy who got 26 saves, which is less than the number of stolen bases Andrus had. That makes no sense. Anyways, Elvis hit .267 last year with six home runs, 40 RBI’s, and 33 stolen bases. But his biggest addition to the team was his defense, which was incredible, and saved so many runs over the course of the year.
Percentage of making the team out of Spring Training: 100%

Joaquin Arias – Arias was a huge prospect when the Rangers traded for him as part of the deal that sent A-ROD to the Yankees, but now has become just another guy fighting for the utility spot that wouldn’t have even been up for competition if not for Khalil Greene not being able to come to camp. Last year Arias had just eight major league at-bats, and didn’t get on base once, and struck out three times. And he looked even worse than the stats show. He hit .266 with a .295 OBP with Oklahoma City last year and, really, I don’t see why he deserves to be on the team, or even in the race to be on the team.
Percentage: 46.9%

Matthew Brown – Brown is being looked at to be on the Opening Day roster to be a backup corner infielder for the Rangers. Last year with the Angels Triple-AAA team in Salt Lake, Matthew hit .245 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI’s. He has 24 major league at-bats (all with the Angels) and has just one hit, while striking out 11 times.
Percentage: 23.4%

Chris Davis – After having a great rookie year in 2008 (.285 AVG, 17 HR, 55 RBI), Davis struggled at the beginning of last year before being sent down to the minors where he hit .327 with six home runs and 30 RBI’s in just 165 at-bats. When he got called back up he hit much better, and his stats at the end of the year were: .238 AVG, 21 HR, 59 RBI. He will almost surely be the Rangers starting first baseman out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 97.6%

Esteban German – Esteban is going to have a chance to play his way into the utility infield spot on the team’s roster to start off the year. But being a non-roster invitee will make it harder for him to make the team. Last year with the Rangers, German hit .304 and looked really good in his 46 at-bats. With OKC, he hit .319 (.053 better than Arias in Oklahoma) with a .419 OBP (.124 better than Arias in Oklahoma), which is incredible. He also had 35 stolen bases, and I think that he deserves the utility infield spot more than Arias.
Percentage: 50.2%

Ian Kinsler – Ian will be the starting second baseman for the Rangers, and there is no chance that he won’t be. He had a down year for him last year, as he hit just .253, but he was also a 30-30 guy as he hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases. In 2008, he had hit .319, but with just 18 home runs and 26 stolen bases. If he can combine last year’s power numbers with ‘08’s batting average, he will have a great chance at AL MVP.
Percentage: 100%

Marcus Lemon – Marcus was invited to big league camp after Khalil Greene’s situation. He doesn’t really have a chance to make the team. Last year with Frisco, Lemon hit just .262 and had 25 extra-base hits, as 93 of his 118 hits on the year were singles. That gives him a .333 slugging percentage, which is extremely low.
Percentage: 2.3%

Ray Olmedo – Ray is a non-roster invitee and does not have a good chance to make the team, but does have some major league experience. In his 403 major league at-bats split over five seasons (’03-’07) and two teams (Reds and Blue Jays), Ray has a .228 batting average, two home runs, 26 RBI’s, and six stolen bases. He last played in the majors with the Blue Jays in 2007. With AAA-Durham last year, Ray hit .250 with six home runs and 47 RBI’s.
Percentage: 7.5%

Justin Smoak – Justin probably won’t be on the team to start the year out of Spring Training, although he does have a very good chance to be called up to the team at some point this year, despite not being on the 40-man roster. Last year in Frisco, Justin hit .328 with six home runs and 29 RBI’s, and with Oklahoma City, he hit .244 with four home runs and 23 RBI’s.
Percentage: 17.9%

Michael Young – Michael had another great year last year, hitting .322 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI’s, and if not for a late-season injury, he would have gotten another 200-hit season. Last year Michael showed the power to hit 20 home runs in a season that he hadn’t shown since 2005. He will obviously be the starting third baseman, and there will not be any competition for that position as long as he’s still around and playing well.
Percentage: 100%

Emerson Frostad – Emerson does not have much of a chance to make the team out of Spring Training. Emerson spent most of his year last year with Oklahoma City, and hit just .226 with only one home run and 20 RBI’s. That average is bad even for Frostad, a career .256 minor league hitter. He actually hit more home runs in Frisco (3) in 44 at-bats than he did in OKC (1) in 208 at-bats.
Percentage: 1.2%

Toby Hall – Toby is more for insurance than he is for competing for the Opening Day roster. He is still recovering from right shoulder surgery last May, but is almost fully recovered. Last year was the first year that Hall did not play in the majors since 1999. In his career Toby is a .262 hitter with 46 HR’s and 269 RBI’s, and has spent most of his time with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but has also had stints with the Dodgers and the White Sox. He has a chance at the team, but it is a minor one.
Percentage: 12.1%

Max Ramirez – Max doesn’t seem to be in a good position to be on the Rangers Opening Day roster, but he definitely has a chance at it. He had a horrible year last year, though, hitting .234, well below his .299 career average, with just 5 home runs and 43 RBI’s with Triple-AAA Oklahoma. In his only major league experience in 2008, Max hit .217 with two homers and 9 RBI’s.
Percentage: 21.4%

Kevin Richardson – Kevin finally got a chance to get a taste of major league ball after many years of minor league play, and being great at working with the pitchers. He only got six at-bats, but he got three hits, so he made the most of his opportunity. His hitting is not his strong suit though, as in his minor league career his average is .239. He probably will not be on the team, and probably won’t be up this year at all.
Percentage: 15.4%

Jarrod Saltalamacchia – It looks as if Salty will be battling for the starting catching position will Taylor Teagarden this spring, with the loser of that battle backing up the other. Salty had a bad year last year, even without the injuries, hitting .233 with nine home runs and 34 RBI’s. He’ll almost surely be on the team, and my guess is he’ll be starting, but his numbers have to improve from last year to be able to keep that starting spot.
Percentage: 92.7%

Taylor Teagarden – Taylor has a great chance at being the starting catcher this year, but needs to perform better than he did in ’09. Even though he was solid defensively, as always, he hit just .217, and struck out 76 times in 198 at-bats. That means that he struck out in 38% of his at-bats, which is way too high. His OBP was just .270, which is not just an okay number for a batting average. I think that he’ll do much better this year, especially if he starts.
Percentage: 93.1%

Predicted Infield and Catching Roster:
First Base: Chris Davis
Second Base: Ian Kinsler
Third Base: Michael Young
Shortstop: Elvis Andrus
Utility Infielder: Esteban German

Catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Back-up Catcher: Taylor Teagarden

Next in Line:
Joaquin Arias

Come back next week for my 2010 season predictions.