Lee and Cruz Acquired

This week the Rangers traded Coco Cordero, Julian Cordero, Kevin Mench, and Laynce Nix to the Brewers for Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz. This week I will discuss my thoughts on the trade and grade each player from 1-10 (10 being the best).

Carlos Lee:
Lee’s career stats are:
212 HR
747 RBI
.284 AVG.
His stats this year are:
28 HR
81 RBI
.288 AVG.
Carlos was a National League Silver Slugger in 2005 and an all-star in ’05 and ‘06. He started his major league career on May 7, 1999, hitting a home run in his first at-bat. Lee recorded the 1st hit at the Cardinals’ new Busch Stadium. His brother, Carlos, plays in the White Sox minor league system.

Grade of Carlos Lee: 9.8

Nelson Cruz:
Nelson’s career minor league numbers are:
97 HR
431 RBI
.287 AVG.
Nelson was the Brewers' minor league player of the year last year. This year he has been in Triple-A Nashville, where he hit .302 with 22 doubles, 20 home runs, 73 RBI and 17 stolen bases in 104 games.

Grade: 8.7

Francisco Cordero:
This year, Cordero has put up these numbers:
7-4 W-L
4.71 ERA
49.2 IP
55 SO.
Francisco lost his closing job earlier this season, and has blown nine saves already this year. But the Brewers' bullpen is slumping, and their closer, Derrick Turnbow, lost his job to Dan Kolb, so Cordero might become a closer again in Milwaukee.

Grade: 6.3

Kevin Mench:
So far this year, this is Kevin’s stats:
12 HR
50 RBI
.284 AVG.
Mench is on pace to get a career-high 80 RBI’s. His power numbers will probably drop in Milwaukee because he will leave Ameriquest Field.

Grade: 6.9

Laynce Nix:
Laynce’s minor league stats this year are:
10 HR
55 RBI
.269 AVG.
Nix was considered a big prospect a few years ago, but has really struggled in the majors. He is very good defensively but not very good offensively.

Grade: 5.2

Julian Cordero:
Julian’s stats for the LumberKings this year are
2-5 W-L
2.91 ERA
68 IP
49 SO
Julian is a pretty good pitcher but not one of the main prospects.

Grade: 6.1

Trade Evaluation:
To me, this trade is good if we make the playoffs or sign Lee for multiple years. It is also good if Cruz becomes a great player. This trade gives the players more confidence, so it gives us a better chance in two ways of making the playoffs.
Grade: A

Come back next week for a short interview with Tulsa Drillers closer Jim Miller unless the Rangers make another trade.

Steve Rowe Interview

This week I did an interview with Steve Rowe, the Roughriders relief pitcher. He was very nice and did the interview on his birthday as he was walking down the Riverwalk in San Antonio. The interview is below:

1. Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?

He said that it would probably have to be some of his roommates, like Kameron Loe, Sam Narron, Wes Littleton, and Bryan Corey. He ended up picking Jason Andrew, because he was his first roommate and they shared a similar situation, and Dustin Smith, because he’s a great guy on and off the field, they were roommates for a while, and they had a lot of fun together.

2. Can you please rate the ballparks in the Rangers organization that you’ve played in from 1 to 10 (10 being the best) and explain your ratings?

Steve said that the Ballpark in Arlington is the best for obvious reasons. He gave the Oklahoma City ballpark a 9 because it has a great clubhouse, is a nice park and has great fans. He gave the Frisco ballpark an 8 for the park but a 3 for the field because the playing service is ‘hard as a rock’. He gave Bakersfield a 1 and Stockton a 5. He said that the Texas League has very good ballparks.

3. Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?

- Juan Richardson (Springfield Cardinals) – he’s faced him twice and given up two homers.
- Nick Swisher – he hit Steve pretty well in the California League.
- Joseph Koshansky (Tulsa first baseman) – Steve said that he thinks he’ll be in the big leagues soon.

Steve also mentioned Billy Butler of the Wichita Wranglers.

4. Did you notice a difference between single-A and double-A hitters and, if so, what is it?

The hitters are more patient and won’t chase balls out of the zone as much.

5. Did you notice a difference between double-A and triple-A hitters and, if so, what is it?

Same answer – he said that the hitters get more patient as you get higher in the farm system. Guys don’t hit the ball further or harder. The ones who are the most successful have the most plate discipline.

6. What is the toughest thing about minor league life and why?

The road trips, but Steve said they weren’t that bad in the Texas League. He said that being away from his family and the long bus trips are hard.

7. What is the worst injury you’ve had to deal with?

Steve said that he hasn’t been hurt since he’s been a pro so he can’t really say. He tore his ACL in high school.

8. What were your thoughts when you were undrafted out of college?

Steve said that he wasn’t expecting to go high up in the draft so he wasn’t upset.

9. How did you end up in the Rangers organization?

The Rangers called Steve the night of the draft and offered him a contract. He said that he was very excited.

10. How did it feel to dominate the California League in 2003 when you didn’t allow an earned run after June 12?

He didn’t realize that he had that streak going until after the regular season was over, so he didn’t really notice it. He said he had some luck, some good defense, and some good calls. Steve said that it was a fun year because he was on a good team with a lot of guys that were fun to be around, like Dustin Smith.

11. How exciting was it to win a championship in AA in 2004?

Steve said that it was the most fun he’s ever had. The last two months, they felt like they couldn’t lose a game. ‘It was a blast.’ He mentioned that a lot of those guys are in the big leagues now. He had never really won a championship in anything and it was a great feeling.

12. Were you excited to go to the AA All-Star game in 2004 or would you rather have had the days off?

It’s always an honor to be asked to play with the best players and an honor to be seen as one of the best in the league. It was a lot of fun, especially after going undrafted. He said that it gave him a reason to believe that reaching the big leagues wasn’t so far out of reach.

13. Do you still want to become a pilot?

At first Steve thought this was a funny question because he thought I asked him if he still wanted to be a pirate. He said that being a pilot would be cool but he didn’t see himself doing it anytime soon.

14. What was your favorite team growing up?

He had two. He grew up in Houston but his parents are from Ohio and were Reds fans. They would go see the Reds play in the Astrodome when they came to town. But Steve became an Astros fan in high school.

15. What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?

- Football – he was a quarterback in high school
- Baseball – always his favorite
- Basketball – he didn’t play past junior high
- Golf

16. What are your hobbies?

Steve said that he doesn’t really have much free time. He plays golf once or twice per road trip and once every other day in spring training. He also plays Guitar Hero on PlayStation and likes to play cards.

Steve also mentioned at the end of the interview that one of his motivations is to play long enough for his kids to remember seeing him play.

I would like to thank Steve for being so nice and letting me interview him.

Come back next week for a short interview with Tulsa Drillers closer Jim Miller, unless there is a Rangers trade to discuss.

Mid-Season Awards

This week I will give out my mid-season awards. Stats are as of the All-Star break.

Rangers MVP:
Gary Matthews, Jr.: .328 AVG, 10 HR, 47 RBI
Runner-up: Michael Young
Last month: 1st – Hank Blalock, 2nd – Michael Young

Rangers Cy Young:
Vicente Padilla: 8-5 W-L, 4.44 ERA, 107.1 IP, 90 SO
Runner-up: Akinori Otsuka
Last month: 1st – Akinori Otsuka, 2nd – Kevin Millwood

Rangers Rookie of the Year:
Ian Kinsler: .320 AVG, 7 HR, 26 RBI
Runner-up: John Koronka
Last month: 1st – John Koronka, 2nd – Ian Kinsler

Most Disappointing Rangers Hitter:
Mark Teixeira: .275 AVG, 9 HR, 49 RBI, 71 SO
Runner-up: Brad Wilkerson

Most Disappointing Rangers Pitcher:
Kevin Millwood: 8-5 W-L, 4.83 ERA, 110 IP, 75 SO
Runner-up: Robinson Tejeda

AL MVP:
Jim Thome: .298 AVG, 30 HR, 77 RBI
Runner-up: David Ortiz
Last month: 1st – Travis Hafner, 2nd – Jim Thome

AL Cy Young:
Roy Halladay: 12-2 W-L, 2.92 ERA, 129.1 IP, 72 SO
Runner-up: Johan Santana
Last month: 1st – Mike Mussina, 2nd – Scott Kazmir

Most Disappointing AL Hitter:
Richie Sexson: .218 AVG, 16 HR, 59 RBI, 92 SO
Runner-up: Mark Teixeira

Most Disappointing AL Pitcher:
Jeff Weaver: 3-10 W-L, 6.29 ERA, 88.2 IP, 62 SO
Runner-up: Carlos Silva

NL MVP:
David Wright: .316 AVG, 20 HR, 74 RBI
Runner-up: Lance Berkman
Last month: 1st – Albert Pujols, 2nd – Alfonso Soriano

NL Cy Young:
Brad Penny: 10-2 W-L, 2.91 ERA, 108.1 IP, 82 SO
Runner-up: Tom Glavine
Last month: 1st – Brandon Webb, 2nd – Bronson Arroyo

Most Disappointing NL Hitter:
Carlos Delgado: .252 AVG, 22 HR, 56 RBI, 74 SO
Runner-up: Bobby Abreu

Most Disappointing NL Pitcher:
Oliver Perez: 2-10 W-L, 6.63 ERA, 76 IP, 61 SO
Runner-up: Jorge Sosa

Come back nest week for an interview of RoughRiders pitcher Steve Rowe.

Road Trip to the new St. Louis Cardinals Stadium

The week of June 26th, my dad and I went on a road trip to St. Louis to see a Cardinals game and made two stops to see minor league games. In this week’s blog, I’ll describe and analyze the stadiums we visited.

Tulsa:
On the way to St. Louis, we stopped at Tulsa to see the RoughRiders play the Tulsa Drillers at Driller Stadium

Here are my thoughts on Driller Stadium:
Bad – The stadium was very plain and boring.
Bad – The stadium was made of all metal.
Bad – The metal made lots of noise as people walked up and down the aisles.
Bad – There were not many good choices for food.
Bad – The Drillers had no gift shop. They only had a gift stand.
Bad – About half of seats that they have are bleachers.
Good – The stadium has a Wall of Fame behind home plate that includes eight different famous Drillers (players, owners, and coaches) including Pudge, Juan and Sosa.
Interesting – The parking lot was inside an old horseracing track next to the ballpark.

Here is a description of the RoughRiders game in Tulsa that we saw:
– The RoughRiders won 10-4.
– Steve Rowe started for the RoughRiders, giving up 3 earned runs in 4.1 innings pitched with 3 strikeouts.
– Jesse Carlson had great movement and pitched very well, going 1.2 innings with two strikeouts and no runs allowed for the hold.
- Kevin Richardson, Adam Morrissey, Jim Fasano, and Luke Grayson homered for the RoughRiders.
- Adam Morrissey (2 for 5 with 2 RBI) and Luke Grayson (1 for 3 with 3 RBI and a walk) both had great games.


St. Louis:
We saw the Cardinals play the Indians at the new Busch Stadium. We saw the game from a party room suite.

Here are my thoughts on the new Busch Stadium:
Good – The sidewalk outside the ballpark has bricks describing big moments in Cardinals history.
Good – The Cardinals sell individual tickets to suites, called Party Rooms. They are very nice and they come with food and beverages but they cost $90 apiece, which is way too high.
Good – On the outside concourse, they hung the scoreboards from old Busch Stadium, still showing the scores from the last game at that stadium.
Good – The Cardinals have cushioned seats for the more expensive tickets.
Good – The displayed their retired numbers in two different places.
Good – They displayed their World Series and National League pennants on top of the home team and visiting team dugouts.
Good – The Cardinals had nicer bathrooms than most ballparks.
Good – They displayed some old Cardinals logos (from older jerseys) around the stadium.
Good – The Jumbotron was pretty cool.
Good – Above the bullpen, they show the pitcher’s stats for the game and for the season at all times.
Bad – When you’re on the concourse, you can’t see the game.
Bad – The out of town scoreboard doesn’t show inning-by-inning scores.
Bad – The Cardinals hadn’t finished moving the statues over to their new ballpark. They moved Stan Musial but not any of the others.
Bad – The gift shops were lame. They hadn’t finished building their main team store.
Bad – The Cardinals made it extremely hard to get autographs. They won’t let you into the lower-level seating area before the game unless that’s where your tickets are.
Bad – They only had two escalators in the whole ballpark.

Here is the description of the game:
- The Indians won 3-1.
- David Eckstein had a very good game, as he was 3-for-4 with 3 singles and an RBI.
- This was the Cardinals’ 8th loss in a row.
- Sabathia pitched 8 innings, allowing 1 earned run and with 4 strikeouts.
- 2 of the 3 Indians’ runs came off of a homer by Ronnie Belliard in the top of the 1st.
- Travis Hafner was 0-for-2 with 2 walks and a strikeout.
- Pujols was 1-for-4.

The next morning, we took a tour of new Busch Stadium. It was very interesting and we got to go in the Cardinals’ dugout and out on the warning track. There were a lot of bugs in the dugout.

Then we went to the Cardinals Hall of Fame, which is across the street from the future site of Baseball Village (which is next door to the new stadium and on the site of the old stadium). It was very interesting, with replicas of some of the old ballparks, information on all the World Series and playoffs they’ve played in, plaques of everybody in the Cardinals Hall of Fame, memorabilia from Cardinals history, and Cardinals merchandise. The Bowling Hall of Fame is in the same building and they have a real bowling alley in the basement. My dad and I bowled there and I won.

We then went to visit the sites of some of the old Cardinals ballparks.

First we went to the site of Sportsman’s Park, which was the home of the St. Louis Browns from 1902 to 1953 and of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1920 to 1966. Now the site is a Herbert Hoover Boys Club.
Good – The building had a painted sign on the outside of the building, which had very interesting information about the old stadium. The sign had information on World Series that had been played there and great players that had played there.
Bad – All they have there now is a football field even though we had read that the baseball diamond was still there.

Then we went to the site of Robison Field, which was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1893 to 1920. There’s a high school where it used to be. They had a plaque in the yard that was just put up in early June of 2006 that has information about the old ballpark.


Springfield:
On the way back from St. Louis, we went to my dad’s friend’s house and we all went to a Springfield Cardinals game in Springfield, Missouri. The Cardinals played the Wichita Wranglers.

The Springfield Cardinals stadium was very nice and new looking. It’s almost as nice as the RoughRiders but not quite as nice.

Here is a description of the game:
- The Wranglers won 4-3.
- The Wranglers pitcher was Junior Herndon, who was recovering from Tommy John surgery. He went 8 innings, giving up 3 runs and with 6 strikeouts.
- Stuart Pomeranz was the Springfield pitcher and he is a big prospect. He went 5 innings, giving up 3 runs.
- Nick Stavinoha was another big Springfield prospect and he played DH. He was 1-for-3.
- Juan Richardson played 1B and is another big Springfield prospect. He was 0-for-3 with one walk and two strikeouts.
- Alex Gordon played 3B for the Wranglers and is one of their big prospects. He was 0-for-3.

This was a great trip and I really enjoyed all the games.

Come back next week for my mid-season awards.

Newberg Day Summary and Castro Traded

Yesterday was the Newberg Day at the ballpark. It was a great day. I will describe the day and at the end, I will analyze the Fabio Castro trade.

The day started off with a Will Carroll Q&A session at the Legends Museum. Will is a specialist in injuries and steroids for Baseball Prospectus. He won a Sporting News award and has written 2 books, one on avoiding injuries for young pitchers and one on steroids called The Juice. One thing I thought was interesting was that a minor league system does good to produce 2 major league players a year.

Then they had a prize drawing for people who helped in the toy drive. I won a Dennis Quaid autographed picture and a prop from the movie, The Rookie.

After that was a Jon Daniels Q&A session. As usual, Jon was very friendly and did a great job answering questions. Below are some notes I took on what I thought were interesting topics.

Question: Can you please name one player from each position that would be called up to the Rangers if someone gets injured?

Answer:
C: Jamie Burke, Nick Trzesniak, Tom Gregorio
1B: Move DeRosa to 1st
2B: Drew Meyer
3B: Drew Meyer
SS: Drew Meyer (for a short-term need), Joaquin Arias (for a long-term need)
OF: Drew Meyer, Adam Hyzdu, Laynce Nix

Question: What were your thoughts on the Castro trade?

Answer:
- They weren’t 100% sure about Castro.
- Haigwood is a big prospect.
- It’s touch to carry Rule 5 guys. Only 2 or 3 from the last 10 years made it through the whole season.
- They think that they got a guy in Haigwood who is about the same level of prospect as Castro. The difference is that they don’t have to carry Haigwood on the active roster.
- There were 3 serious offers for Castro.

Question: Do you think Kameron Loe’s performance this season is just a fluke and what do you think his long-term role is?

Answer: Jon hopes it is a fluke. He thinks that Loe’s long-term role is in the bullpen.

Question: Who is the next spot starter?

Answer: Edinson Volquez.

Questions: What do you think Enrique Cruz’s role is?

Answer: Jon thinks that Cruz will be an MLB utility player.

At the end of the session, Jamey told us that I was throwing out the first pitch and that I needed to go to suite 32A immediately. We rushed there and met someone who was waiting for us. She took us into the tunnels below the stadium and then we went through the umpire’s tunnel onto the field. We were standing on the infield warning track through all the pre-game ceremonies. After the national anthem, they announced my name over the speakers and I jogged out to the mound. I threw the pitch from the pitcher’s rubber for a strike. It was really exciting and I was glad I threw a strike.

After that, we went up to the suite to watch the game. We watched the game with Jamey Newberg, Will Carroll and Bob Sturm. The Rangers lost 9-5. Once again, there was a bad umpire call against the Rangers that cost them 7 runs. Craig Biggio had a strikeout because he had gone all the way around with his swing. But the home plate umpire called it a foul ball although he clearly did not hit the ball.

It was a really fun and exciting day and I thank Jamey Newberg and Jon Daniels and Will Carroll and the other Newberg volunteers (like Eleanor and Alan) for making it happen.


Castro/Haigwood Trade Evaluation:

The Rangers traded Fabio Castro to the Phillies for Daniel Haigwood. Castro was with the Rangers’ major league club (taken in the Rule 5 draft) until they designated him for assignment and Haigwood was with the Phillies’ AA club (the Reading Phillies).

Daniel Haigwood LHP:
Daniel’s career numbers are:
32-11 W-L
3.36 ERA
332 IP
333 SO.
Daniel started his pro career in 2002, when he was an all-star for the Arizona League White Sox. Haigwood has spent 3 of his 4 seasons with the White Sox (making it to AA in 2005), becoming teammates with Chris Young and Fabio Castro. This year he has a 2-5 record with a 3.54 ERA and 85 strike-outs in 84 IP.

Fabio’s career numbers are:
16-10 W-L
2.40 ERA
195.2 IP
203 SO.
Fabio started his pro career in 2003 and this was his 1st year to get out of A-ball. So far this year his stats at the major league level are a 3.18 ERA with 7 SO in 11.1 IP.

Trade Evaluation:
I think this trade was very good considering that we don’t need to use a spot on the active roster for Haigwood like we did with Castro. Haigwood has a pretty good ERA and strikes out a lot of batters. It’s disappointing to lose Castro but I understand the Rangers’ reasoning.
Grade: B+

Come back next week for a recap of my trip to St. Louis to see the new Cardinals ballpark, with stops for minor league games in Tulsa and Springfield.

All-Time Rangers Team

This week I made an all-time Rangers team and gave my reasons why.

Outfielder: Juan Gonzalez – I chose Juan because he is the Rangers’ all-time leader in home runs, RBI’s, and slugging percentage. Also, he was a two-time MVP and a two-time All-Star.

Outfielder: Rusty Greer – Rusty is 7th on the Rangers all-time list for games played, 5th for RBI’s, 6th for batting average, 4th for walks, 10th for home runs, and 4th for slugging percentage. Rusty was also a great fielder and a .305 career hitter.

Outfielder: Ruben Sierra – Ruben leads the Rangers in triples with 44 and is 4th in home runs, 4th in RBI’s, and 5th in slugging percentage. He was a three-time All-Star for the Rangers.

1B: Rafael Palmeiro – Raffy leads the Rangers in games played, runs, walks, and at-bats. He is also 2nd in home runs and RBI’s. He was a two-time All-Star and one-time Gold Glove winner for the Rangers.

2B: Julio Franco – Julio has a .307 career batting average with the Rangers, which is 3rd on the all-time list. He is also 5th in stolen bases. He was a three-time All-Star for the Rangers (winning the All-Star game MVP once) and won a batting title.

3B: Buddy Bell – Buddy is 8th on the Rangers’ RBI list, 10th in batting average, 9th in walks, and 8th in triples. He was also a four-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner.

SS: Toby Harrah – Toby is 5th on the Rangers’ all-time list for number of games played, 9th in home runs, 2nd in stolen bases, 6th in RBI’s, 6th in runs, 2nd in walks, 7th in hits, and 4th in OBP. He was a two-time All-Star from the Rangers.
Runner-up: Alex Rodriguez

C: Pudge Rodriguez – Pudge is 3rd on the Rangers’ home run list, 3rd in RBI’s, 5th in batting average, and 3rd in triples. Pudge was a ten-time All-Star and ten-time Gold Glove winner with the Rangers. He won the league MVP in 1999.
Runner-up: Jim Sundberg

Starting Pitcher: Charlie Hough – Charlie leads the Rangers in career wins, innings pitched, games started, complete games, and strikeouts.

Starting Pitcher: Kenny Rogers – Kenny is the Rangers’ career leader in games and pick-offs. He is 2nd in wins, innings pitched, games relieved, and win-loss percentage. He was a three-time All-Star for the Rangers and a four-time Gold Glove winner.

Starting Pitcher: Ferguson Jenkins – Fergie leads the Rangers in career shutouts and is 5th in ERA. He is 5th in strikeouts and 2nd in complete games.

Starting Pitcher: Nolan Ryan – Nolan pitched two no-hitters as a Rangers and got his 5000th strikeout. He also is 4th on the Rangers’ ERA list and 4th in strikeouts. He was a one-time All-Star for the Rangers.

Starting Pitcher: Bobby Witt – Bobby is 3rd on the Rangers’ wins list, 2nd in strikeouts, and 5th in complete games.

Closer: John Wetteland – John is the Rangers’ career leader in saves with 150. He also has a 2.95 ERA and two All-Star appearances as a Ranger.
Runner-up: Jeff Russell

This week, my dad and I are going to St. Louis to see a Cardinals game and will also be seeing minor league games in Tulsa (against the RoughRiders) and Springfield. Come back next week for a recap of my St. Louis road trip.

Players Most Likely to be Called Up

This week I looked through all the Rangers minor league teams and found the players at each position that would be the most likely to be called up to the Rangers if there was an injury.

SS Drew Meyer
Why: I think that Drew has the best chance to be called up of any shortstop in the farm system because this is the player the Rangers chose before and there is a better chance that they’ll stick with the original guy than get a new one.

OF Freddy Guzman
Why: I think that Freddy Guzman has one of the three best chances to be called up of an outfielder because he is a real speedy guy and only one of four outfielders in double-A has a batting average over .250 (so there are no good candidates from double-A).

OF Adam Hyzdu
Why: I think Hyzdu has one of the three best chances to be called up of an outfielder because he has more MLB experience than almost all of the other outfielders in the farm system, he has great defense, and he has been swinging the bat O.K. in Oklahoma.

OF Laynce Nix
Why: I think Nix has one of the three best chances to be called up of an outfielder because he has more major league experience than most. He also has great defense. Also, only one outfielder in double-A has a batting average over .250.

C Jamie Burke
Why: I chose Jamie because he is the only catcher in the farm system that has any major league experience.

1B Nate Gold
Why: I chose Gold because he and Jason Hart are the only two 1st baseman in double-A and triple-A put together. If you compare their stats, Gold has a batting average that is .046 points better than Hart’s and Gold has 2 more homers.

2B Aarom Baldiris
Why: I chose Aarom because no 2nd basemen in triple-A or double-A has been more consistent than him. Aarom batted .307 in double-A and .278 in triple-A.

SP Robinson Tejeda
Why: I chose Tejeda because he has some MLB experience and because we know that he can pitch in the majors without struggling because of when he was with the Phillies.

SP Edinson Volquez
Why: I chose Volquez because he is a top prospect. Also, because in 80.1 triple-A innings he has a 3.70 ERA and 85 strike-outs.

SP Thomas Diamond
Why: I chose Thomas because he has pitched very well this year and because spot starts don’t mess him up.

RP Wes Littleton
Why: I chose Wes because he is the reliever that they chose earlier in the year so I have a feeling that they’ll stick with him.

RP Erasmo Ramirez
Why: I chose Ramirez because he has been the lefty pitcher they have called up before, so I think if they need a lefty in the bullpen he would be the go-to guy.

Come back next week for a new entry.

May Awards and Hart Acquired

This week I will give out my May awards. These aren't just awards for the month of May – these are awards for if the season stopped now.

Rangers awards:
MVP: Hank Blalock: 209 AB, 32 R, 64 H, 8 HR, 41 RBI, .306 AVG, .381 OBP, .478 SLG
I chose Hank because he leads the team in RBI, is 3rd in HR and 5th in AVG.
2nd place: Michael Young

Cy Young: Akinori Otsuka: 1-1 W-L, 2.13 ERA, 25.1 IP, 4 BB, 21 SO
I chose Otsuka as my Cy Young because none of the Rangers starters have an ERA below 4.00 and Otsuka has been the most dominant reliever.
2nd place: Kevin Millwood

Rookie of the Year: John Koronka: 4-3 W-L, 4.87 ERA, 64.2 IP, 21 BB, 34 SO
I chose John because the only other choices I have are Ian Kinsler, Jason Botts, John Rheinecker, and Drew Meyer, none of which have played enough games. Plus, he has been a solid fifth starter with only two bad outings.
2nd place: Ian Kinsler

AL awards:
MVP: Travis Hafner: 192 AB, 49 R, 59 H, 15 HR, 50 RBI, .307 AVG, .409 OBP, .620 SLG
2nd place: Jim Thome

Cy Young: Mike Mussina: 8-1 W-L, 2.67 ERA, 87.2 IP, 15 BB, 78 SO
2nd place: Scott Kazmir

NL awards:
MVP: Albert Pujols: 185 AB, 52 R, 57 H, 25 HR, 65 RBI, .308 AVG, .442 OBP, .751 SLG
2nd place: Alfonso Soriano

Cy Young: Brandon Webb: 8-0 W-L, 2.14 ERA, 96.2 IP, 13 BB, 65 SO
2nd place: Bronson Arroyo

Rangers Minor League Trade
The Rangers traded a player to be named later for minor leaguer Jason Hart of the Rochester Red Wings, a AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. With the Red Wings, Hart struggled, batting .225, with 4 home runs and 8 RBI in 30 games. So far, as a RedHawk, he has batted .333, with 1 home run and 2 RBI in 6 games. Last year, Jason was with the Frisco RoughRiders and made the AA Texas League All-Star team. I cannot evaluate this trade because I do not know who the Rangers will be giving up.

Come back next week for who's next in line in the Rangers system to be called up to the majors.

Nevin and LaMacchia Traded

This week the Rangers made 2 trades. I will analyze them both.

Trade 1 - The Rangers traded Phil Nevin to the Cubs for Jerry Hairston Jr.

Phil Nevin:

Phil has struggled the past 2 seasons, and I don’t see him coming back in Chicago. He hit .182 for Texas in 2005 and has hit .216 in ’06 for the Rangers. He has really been slumping and I think it was a good idea to trade him.

In ’04 with San Diego, he hadn’t started his drought yet, as he hit .289.

San Diego:
147 games, 547 AB, 26 HR, 105 RBI, .289 AVG, .368 OBP, .492 SLG

In ’05, he made an unexpected downfall.

San Diego:
73 games, 281 AB, 9 HR, 47 RBI, .256 AVG, .301 OBP, .399 SLG

Texas:
29 games, 99 AB, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .182 AVG, .250 OBP, .323 SLG

Jerry Hairston Jr.:

Jerry has only played in Baltimore and Chicago, with a career .259 AVG and 30 HR. He has OK speed as he has stolen 105 bases in parts of 8 seasons. Also, his dad, Sam Hairston, was the first African-American player for the Chicago White Sox.

In ’04, Jerry had a career year, playing over half the games. It was his only year with a batting average over .300.

Baltimore:
86 games, 287 AB, 2 HR, 24 RBI, .303 AVG, .378 OBP, .397 SLG

In ’05, Hairston played 114 games, batting just over .260.

Chicago:
114 games, 380 AB, 4 HR, 30 RBI, .261 AVG, .336 OBP, .368 SLG

So far in 2006 Hairston has struggled, batting only .207 in 82 AB.

Chicago:
38 games, 82 AB, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .207 AVG, .253 OBP, .244 SLG

Trade Evaluation:
I think this trade works out for both teams because the Cubs need a 1st baseman, which Nevin can be, and the Rangers needed to get Botts and DeRosa more playing time, which they did.

Grade B+

Trade 2 - The Rangers traded Marc LaMacchia to the Marlins for Juan Gonzalez.

Marc LaMacchia:

Marc was drafted by the Rangers in the 21st round of the 2003 draft but had Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch until 2005.

In 2005, he only pitched 62.2 innings but had a pretty good ERA, record, and hit total. He had only allowed 48 hits. Marc’s record was 4-2 and he had a 3.73 ERA

Clinton:
4-2, 3.73 ERA, 32 games, 0 starts, 62.2 IP, 53 SO

So far in 2006, LaMacchia has struggled with a 6.12 ERA in 32.1 innings.

Bakersfield:
1-3, 6.32 ERA, 12 games, 2 starts, 31.1 IP, 27 SO
Greensboro:
0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 game, 0 starts, 1 IP, 0 SO

Juan Gonzalez:

In 2006, Juan has struggled at the plate for the class-A Jupiter Hammerheads, batting .254, with a .333 OBP, a .310 SLG, and one home run. He is a very good defensive player.

Trade Evaluation:
I think this trade was pretty good. I look at it as trading a non-prospect pitcher for a future Adam Hyzdu type player.

Grade B-

Come back next week for my May awards.

Thomas Diamond Interview

I did an interview this week with Thomas Diamond. I have been able to talk to Thomas a few times over the past year and he has always been very friendly to me. He is a great guy and is very open to the fans, especially the kids. Below are the results of my interview.

Question 1: Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?

Answer: It is hard to say, because everyone seems to get along pretty good. John Danks is one, because we can relate to each other. We are both in a similar situation here. Jesse Chavez is another guy, because we hang around a lot at the field and play cards together. Travis Metcalf would have to be my third. He is my roommate on the road, and he is a great teammate.

Question 2: Can you please rate the ballparks in the Rangers organization that you’ve played in from 1 to 10 (10 being the best) and explain your ratings?

Answer: I have been in all of them except Oklahoma City, so they will not be in this. Frisco by far is the best. I give that stadium the 10. Spokane is the second best, receiving probably a 7. Third would probably have to be Bakersfield. That field would get about a 5. Last would be Clinton. The park was just really old and the factories around it were bad. However, every place has extremely great fans that supported me no matter what.

Question 3: Did you notice a difference between single-A and double-A hitters and, if so, what is it?

Answer: There is a difference. Some people say that the single-A to double-A jump is the biggest that a player has to make. The hitters are a lot more disciplined at the plate, and they work more counts.

Question 4: What are three major differences between major league and minor league spring training camps?

Answer: One you get to leave earlier at big league camp. Two the pay is better. Three there are less people doing drills in big league camp than at minor league camp.

Question 5: What is the toughest thing about minor league life and why?

Answer: The constant bus life around the different leagues. It’s tough to play a 7:00 game and then have a bus trip for seven hours after that game. We have to be ready to play no matter how long the trip is.

Question 6: Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?

Answer: So far this year they have been Hunter Pence from Corpus, Alex Gordon from Wichita, and Lahair from San Antonio.

Question 7: What was your favorite team growing up?

Answer: The Atlanta Braves.

Question 8: What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?

Answer: Football, Basketball, and Baseball. I was better at football.

Question 9: What are your hobbies?

Answer: Fishing, golf, and just hanging out.

Question 10: What was the biggest reason that you decided to go to college instead of going to the Devil Rays when you were drafted in 2001?

Answer: I didn't really feel that I was ready to take on pro ball at the age of 18.

Question 11: How did you feel when you dominated the Northwoods League?

Answer: I really didn't feel anything. I just went out every five days and tried to get people out.

Question 12: What is the worst injury you’ve had to deal with?

Answer: I strained my MCL my sophomore year of high school. I was going to be the #3 starter on our team behind two seniors, but when I got hurt I couldn't throw for the rest of the season.


I thank Thomas for doing this interview. I know that he is very busy and it was very nice of him to give me this much time, which just proves how great of a guy he is.

Come back next week for my analysis of the Marc LaMacchia trade. After that will be my May awards, which were postponed because of the interview and the trade.

Rangers Hall of Fame Predictions Part 3 of 3

Two weeks ago I analyzed the 1980’s candidates for the 2006 Rangers Hall of Fame induction. This week, I will look at the players from the 1990’s decade.

Decade 3: Will Clark, Mark McLemore, Dean Palmer, Roger Pavlik, Mickey Tettleton and Bobby Witt.

Will Clark:
Clark played for the Rangers from 1994-98. He holds the Rangers all-time record for the highest OBP for a season for a left-hander at .431 in 1994 and ranks 2nd on the Rangers’ all-time batting average list at .308. Will also ranks 10th on the Rangers all-time walks list with 324. He was an All-Star in 1994. Clark has the popularity and stats to have the best chance of getting into the Rangers Hall of Fame for this decade.
Percentage 65%

Mark McLemore:
Mark played for the Rangers from 1995-99 and in those years he got the highest batting average for a month, for a Ranger, at .472. He is 2nd on the Rangers’ all-time stolen base list with 83 and 8th on the Rangers’ all-time walks list 358. McLemore might have enough popularity to be inducted in his 1st eligible year but probably will have to wait.
Percentage 23%

Dean Palmer:
Palmer played for the Rangers in 1989 and 1991-97. He ranks 6th on the Rangers’ all-time home run list with 154 and 9th on the Rangers’ all-time runs list with 425. He also ranks 6th on the Rangers’ all-time slugging percentage list at .470. Palmer is the 3rd most deserving (behind Will Clark and Bobby Witt) and also the 4th most popular (behind Will Clark, Bobby Witt and Mark McLemore), which isn’t good enough for him to be inducted this year.
Percentage 10%

Roger Pavlik:
Pavlik played for the Rangers from 1992-98. He is tied with 3 for the best record after 10 decisions for a Ranger, going 9-1 in 1996. He was an All-Star in 1996. Pavlik isn’t very popular and didn’t have a very good career as a Ranger so he probably won’t be inducted this year.
Percentage 3%

Mickey Tettleton:
Tettleton was a Ranger from 1995-97, having his best year in ’95 when he batted .238 with 32 HR and 78 RBI’s. He didn’t do well enough for the Rangers, didn’t play long enough for the Rangers and isn’t popular enough to be inducted this year.
Percentage 0%

Bobby Witt:
Witt played for the Rangers from 1986-92 and 1995-98. He is tied with 3 players for the best start for a Rangers starting pitcher at 6-0 in 1997 and has the most consecutive wins as a Ranger with 12 in 1990. Bobby ranks 4th on the Rangers’ all-time games list at 276 and 5th on the Rangers’ all-time complete games list with 33. He also ranks 3rd on the Rangers’ all-time wins list with 104, is tied for 9th with 4 others on the Rangers’ all-time shutouts list with 5 and is 2nd on the Rangers’ all-time strikeouts list with 1,405. Witt is the most deserving player in this decade and the 2nd most popular in this decade, which I think gives him the 2nd best chance.
Percentage 42%

Come back next week for my May awards.

Shouse, Hudgins, and Sinisi Traded

I’m delaying the third part of the Rangers Hall of Fame ballot review to analyze the two trades that happened this week.

Trade 1 - The Rangers traded John Hudgins and Vincent Sinisi to the Padres for Freddy Guzman and Cesar Rojas.

John Hudgins:

John was a third round pick for the Rangers in 2003 after pitching in the College World Series.

In ’04 (his first full season), John looked great and like he might be a real prospect. He had his career year and pitched best in Stockton. Here are his lines for the 2004 season.

2004:
Oklahoma:
0-1, 7.50 ERA, 3 games, 2 starts, 12 IP, 8 SO
Frisco:
5-3, 3.13 ERA, 12 games, 12 starts, 69 IP, 64 SO
Stockton:
3-1, 2.35 ERA, 15 games, 11 starts, 65 IP, 73 SO
Combined:
8-5, 3.14 ERA, 30 games, 25 starts, 146 IP, 145 SO

In ’05, he had a major downfall and had to go back down to Frisco before getting injured with a sore right forearm, which had to have surgery.

2005:
Oklahoma:
3-7, 5.87 ERA, 19 games, 19 starts, 102.2 IP, 77 SO
Frisco:
1-2, 4.67 ERA, 3 games, 2 starts, 17.1 IP, 11 SO
Combined:4-9, 5.70 ERA, 22 games, 21 starts, 120 IP, 88 SO

So far in 2006, he has really struggled with a 6.38 ERA in 7 games. He has pitched more in relief than as a starter but looks like he will become a starter in the Padres organization.

2006:
Oklahoma:
1-1, 6.38 ERA, 7 games, 2 starts, 18.1 IP, 16 SO


Vincent Sinisi:

The Rangers selected Sinisi in the second round in 2003.

In 2004, Vincent got off to a great start and put up these numbers:

2004:
Stockton:63 games, 248 AB, 7 HR, 40 RBI, .310 AVG, .383 OBP, .472 SLG

During the 2004 season, Sinisi ran into Joaquin Arias on a short fly ball and broke his forearm. It required seven surgeries and he was out until May 2005.

Sinisi started off the year in Bakersfield and played great, earning a promotion to Frisco where he was on fire for the 1st week but then fell apart for the rest of the season.

2005:
Frisco:
65 games, 248 AB, 4 HR, 29 RBI, .258 AVG, .300 OBP, .343 SLG
Bakersfield:
35 games, 135 AB, 6 HR, 22 RBI, .363 AVG, .438 OBP, .600 SLG

So far in 2006, Sinisi has struggled in Oklahoma but played well in Frisco, even though he has hit for almost no power.

2006:
Oklahoma:
14 games, 50 AB, 0 HR, 7 RBI, .220 AVG, .298 OBP, .300 SLG
Frisco:
18 games, 68 AB, 0 HR, 9 RBI, .309 AVG, .373 OBP, .368 SLG


Freddy Guzman:

In 2004, Guzman hit .283 with a .359 OBP for the Padres’ AA team and was promoted to AAA, where he batted .292 with a .365 OBP. This earned him his major league debut.

In 2005, he was competing for the starting center field job before he blew out the elbow on his throwing arm, making him undergo Tommy John surgery to end his season.

So far this year, he struggled in April but has really performed well so far in May.

Here are his career stats.

Minor league career stats prior to this year:
5 seasons, 369 games, 1434 AB, 7 HR, 106 RBI, .272 AVG, .355 OBP, .352 SLG, 253 stolen bases

Major league stats:
1 season (2004 with San Diego), 20 games, 76 AB, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .211 AVG, .250 OBP, .250 SLG, 5 stolen bases

2006 AAA stats:
30 games, 124 AB, 2 HR, 14 RBI, .274 AVG, .348 OBP, .411 SLG, 11 stolen bases


Cesar Rojas:

Cesar signed with the Padres out of Venezuela in 2002. He is only 19 years old. He has pitched one year in the US (2005) and struggled in the Arizona Rookie League with the following stats:
2-4, 6.75 ERA, 13 games, 11 starts, 49.1 IP, 33 SO


Trade Evaluation:

John Hudgins looked like a great prospect in 2004 but then started struggling and does not seem likely to make the majors anytime soon.

Vincent Sinisi would have good potential if he was a center fielder, second baseman, or shortstop but since he plays first base and left field, his potential is limited because he doesn’t have enough power for those positions. If he can move to those positions and field them well enough, he might be able to make a starting lineup someday.

Freddy Guzman seems to be a pretty good prospect with a lot of speed that could become the Rangers’ center fielder in a couple of years and may make the Rangers as a fourth outfielder and pinch runner this year.

Cesar Rojas looks like he might be a good pitching prospect if he can get his ERA down.

Overall, I think we gave up two players who probably won’t do much in the majors for a player that will probably help us soon and a player that might help us in a few years.

Grade: A-


Trade 2 - The Rangers traded Brian Shouse to the Brewers for Enrique Cruz and a player to be named later.

Brian Shouse:

Shouse made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 1993 but didn’t pitch in the majors again until ’98 with the Red Sox.

Major League career stats prior to 2006:
6 seasons, 5-4, 3.98 ERA, 215 games, 185.1 IP, 128 SO

He joined the Rangers in 2003 and put up the following stats last year:

2005:
Texas:
3-2, 5.23 ERA, 64 games, 53.1 IP, 35 SO

Shouse made the team out of Spring Training but got injured early in the year and has been on rehab since. Here are his 2006 stats.

2006:
Texas:
0-0, 4.15 ERA, 6 games, 4.1 IP, 3 SO
Oklahoma:
0-1, 5.40 ERA, 5 games, 5.0 IP, 3 SO
Frisco:
0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 games, 2.0 IP, 1 SO


Enrique Cruz:

Enrique has spent one year in the majors and that was in 2003 with the Brewers, but it was only because he was taken in the rule 5 draft from the Mets.

Here are his major league totals:
60 games, 71 AB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .085 AVG, .145 OBP, .099 SLG

In 2005 at AA, he hit .300 with a .354 OBP and .466 SLG, with 14 HR.


Trade Evaluation:

Brian Shouse has performed well in the past but has struggled lately. He might be struggling because he is becoming a veteran and his arm might be thrown out from throwing underhanded so much. I think that it was good to trade him now before his value drops even more. Brian is a situational lefty, so he usually only pitches to one batter at a time, making it hard to keep him on the roster.

Enrique Cruz seems to be one of those players who would surprise you if he ever bats over .280 in the majors and probably does not have a great chance of making the MLB.

This sounds worse than it is because Shouse had been designated for assignment so it’s good that we got anything for him.

Grade: B+


Come back next week for the last part of the Rangers Hall of Fame ballot analysis.

Rangers Hall of Fame Predictions Part 2 of 3

Two weeks ago I analyzed the 1970’s candidates for the 2006 Rangers Hall of Fame induction. This week, I will look at the players from the 1980’s decade.

Decade 2: Steve Buechele, Danny Darwin, Pete O’Brien, Larry Parrish, Jeff Russell and Mickey Rivers.

Steve Buechele:
Steve played for the Rangers from 1985-91 and 1995. Buechele ranks 10th on the Rangers’ all-time number of games list. Steve set a MLB record with a .991 fielding percentage at third base in 1991. I think he is the least deserving on this list but the most popular which makes me think that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.
Percentage 55%

Danny Darwin:
Danny played with the Rangers from 1978-1984 and in 1995. The “Bonham Bullet” is tied with 3 players for the best Rangers record after 10 decisions at 9-1 in 1980. He’s 8th on the Rangers’ all-time games list at 224. Danny is 7th on the Rangers’ all-time loss list with 52 but is also 8th on their all-time wins list with 55. Darwin is tied for 9th with 4 others on the Rangers’ all-time shutouts list with 5 and 10th on their all-time strikeouts list with 566. He is also 7th on their all-time ERA list at 3.71. Darwin is definitely close to the top half for the most deserving but also is the least popular in the ‘80’s, so I think that he will not make it this year.
Percentage 3%

Pete O’Brien:
Pete was a 1st baseman for the Rangers from 1982-88 and ranks 9th on their all-time # of games. He’s 9th on the Rangers’ all-time RBI list with 487 and also is 10th on their all-time runs list with 419 (tied with Larry Parrish). Pete is 6th on the Rangers’ all-time walks list 444, 8th on their all-time slugging percentage list at .432, and 9th on their all-time hits list at 914. Pete also ranks 6th on the Rangers’ all-time OBP list with .348. He is decently popular and decently deserving which I think gives him a decent chance of winning.
Percentage 32%

Larry Parrish:
Larry played for the Rangers from 1982-88 just like Pete O’Brien. He is tied for the AL record for the most grand slams in a week with 3 other players at 3 in 1982 and ranks 7th on the all-time Rangers’ home run list with 149. Parrish is 7th on the Rangers’ all-time RBI list with 522 and also is 10th on their all-time runs list tied with Pete O’Brien with 419. He also ranks 7th on their all-time slugging percentage list at .454 and 10th on their all-time hits list at 852. He was an All-Star in 1987 for the Rangers. Larry isn’t that popular but is very deserving as he played very well for the Rangers. He is probably not going to be inducted this year.
Percentage 10%

Jeff Russell:
Jeff played with the Rangers from 1985-92 and 1995-96. He is tied with 3 players for the best start for a Rangers starting pitcher at 6-0 in 1988. Jeff ranks 2nd on the Rangers’ all-time games list at 445 and 2nd on their all-time saves list with 134. He also ranks 8th on their all-time ERA list at 3.73. During his career as a Ranger he was an All-Star in 1988 and 1989. I think Jeff is very deserving but isn’t popular enough to win this year.
Percentage 12%

Mickey Rivers:
Mickey played with the Rangers from 1979-84. He holds the highest batting average in a season for a Rangers’ left-hander at .333 and the most singles in a season by a Ranger at 165 in 1980. Rivers also ranks 7th on the Rangers’ all-time batting average list at .303. Mickey is probably the 3rd most popular player (after O’Brien and Buechele) in this decade and the 2nd most deserving (after Russell) in this decade, which gives him a pretty good chance.
Percentage 38%

Come back next week for the conclusion of my Hall of Fame analysis series.

April Awards

This week I will give out my awards for the month.

Rangers awards:

MVP:
Hank Blalock: 93 AB, 18 R, 31 H, HR, 19 RBI, .333 AVG, .398 OBP, .527 SLG.
I chose Blalock because he has been good in all the categories instead of just one.
Contenders: Michael Young, Phil Nevin, Kevin Mench.

Cy Young:
Vicente Padilla: 2-1 W-L, 3.64 ERA, 29.2 IP, 13 BB, 22 SO.
Vicente was the player I chose because he leads the team in ERA, and is 2nd in strike-outs. Also, he has been the most consistent pitcher in the rotation.
Contenders: John Koronka.

Rookie of the Year:
John Koronka: 3-1 W-L, 4.25 ERA, 29.2 IP, 10 BB, 20 SO.
I decided to go with John because the only other 2 rookies on the team are Ian Kinsler (injured) and Drew Meyer (only 11 AB). Plus, he has had a pretty good year.

AL awards:

MVP: Chris Shelton: 89AB, 16 R, 30 H, 10 HR, 20 RBI, .337 AVG, .410 OBP, .809 SLG.
Contenders: Jim Thome, Miguel Tejeda.

Cy Young: Jose Contreras: 4-0 W-L, 1.45 ERA, 37.1 IP, 8 BB, 17 SO.
Contenders: Mike Maroth, Brad Halsey, Curt Schilling

NL awards:

MVP: Albert Pujols: 80 AB, 26 R, 28 H, 14 HR, 32 RBI, .350 AVG, .495 OBP, .925 SLG.
Contenders:

Cy Young: Greg Maddux: 5-0 W-L, 1.35 ERA, 33.1 IP, 6 BB, 24 SO
Contenders: Bronson Arroyo

Come back next week for an analysis of the ‘80’s decade on the Rangers Hall of Fame ballot.

Rangers Hall of Fame Predictions Part 1 of 3

The ballots for the 2006 Rangers Hall of Fame induction are out and I will describe and analyze each player on the ballot in three different blog entries. This year, fans are allowed to vote for one player from each of three decades. If you think nobody from one decade is deserving but two people from another are, you can still only choose one player per decade.

This week, I will look at the players from the 1970’s decade.

Decade 1 (1970’s) candidates: Jeff Burroughs, Tom Grieve, Mike Hargrove, Toby Harrah, Al Oliver, and Gaylord Perry.

Jeff Burroughs:
Burroughs played for the Rangers from 1972-1976 and won the AL MVP and all-star starter in ’74. He is tied for the Rangers record for most grand slams in a season with 3 other players at 3 in 1973. Jeff had his career year in 1974 batting .301 but in the rest of his career in a Rangers uniform he never batted .280 or higher. Three of those below .280 batting averages were .185, .226 and .237. Also, he never had an on-base percentage over .400. I don’t think he will make the Rangers Hall of Fame because he only had 1 great year and other than that he wasn’t very good. But I do think he’ll make it within the next 5 years because he’s very popular because he got the AL MVP.
Percentage chance of being voted into the Rangers Hall of Fame 6%

Tom Grieve:
Grieve played for the Rangers from 1972-1977 before moving on to the Mets. He was the Senators’ first pick of the ’66 draft and was the Rangers player of the year in 1976, when he hit .255, slugging 20 home runs and driving in 81. He joined the Rangers’ front office in 1980 and became GM in 1984. He ended his GM career after the 1994 season and since then has been the Rangers’ TV analyst. I think Tom will be inducted this year because of his incredible popularity. Not only did he play for the Rangers but he has been the GM and a broadcaster. For all but two years of their existence, he has been involved with the Rangers. He also is a really great guy and is always willing to talk to the fans.
Percentage 75%

Mike Hargrove:
Hargrove played for the Rangers from 1974-1978. In ’74, he was called up from A ball and was the AL Rookie of the Year when he hit .323. He led the Rangers in hits in 1976 (155) and 1977 (160) and led the team in average from 1975-77. He is 9th on the Rangers all-time batting average list at .292 and 5th on their all-time walks list at 435. Hargrove is 10th on the Rangers all-time slugging percentage list at .409 and 1st on their all-time on-base percentage list with .399. Hargrove was an All-Star in 1975. I think Mike would be one of the most deserving players on the ballot if he had been here more than 5 years. I don’t think that he has enough popularity to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.
Percentage 4%

Toby Harrah:
Harrah played for the Rangers from 1972-1978 and 1985-1986. He has the highest on-base percentage for a season at .432 in 1985. He’s 5th on the Rangers all-time list for number of games played. Harrah ranks 9th on the Rangers all-time home run list with 122 and 2nd on their all-time stolen base list with 143. He is 6th on the Rangers all-time RBI list with 546 and is also 6th on their all-time runs list with 582. Toby ranks 2nd on the Rangers all-time walks list with 668 and 7th on their all-time hits at 1086. He also is 4th on the Rangers all-time OBP list at .361. He was an All-Star in 1975 and 1976. Toby has a lot of Rangers records and probably is the most deserving player in the decade but doesn’t have the popularity to have a good chance of being inducted this year because of Tom Grieve and Gaylord Perry.
Percentage 9%

Al Oliver:
Oliver played with the Rangers from 1978-1981. He is the Rangers all-time leader in career batting average, hitting .319 as a Ranger. He led the team in batting average in 1978, ’79, and ’81 and finished in the league’s top 8 in hitting all of his 4 years with Texas. He hit .324 in 1978, 2nd in the AL. He was an All-Star in 1980 and 1981. Once again, I don’t think he was here long enough or has the popularity to be inducted in 2006.
Percentage 5%

Gaylord Perry:
Perry played with the Rangers from 1975-1977 and 1980 (1975 and 1980 were not full seasons here). Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry ranks 2nd on the Rangers all-time shutouts list with 12 and 2nd on their all-time ERA list at 3.26. In 1976, 21 of his 32 starts were complete games. I think that he didn’t play enough years here to be a no-brainer for the Rangers Hall of Fame. He had good stats here but was not a pitcher that could mow down every hitter. I think it is between him and Tom Grieve to be inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame this year from the 1970’s decade but only because of their popularity.
Percentage 38%

Come back next week for my Rangers awards of the month. Soon after that, I’ll continue this Hall of Fame analysis.

Interview with Jon Daniels and Buck Showalter

On April 1st, 2006, I was named the Texas Rangers Fan of the Year at the Rangers Welcome Home Luncheon. It was very exciting and I got to do an interview session with Jon Daniels and Buck Showalter. My questions and their answers are below.

1. What players have the best chance of being put on the 40-man roster at the end of the season to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft and why?

Jon: “Grant, you’re about seven months ahead of us right now. Buck and I have a deadline at 11 o’clock tonight we’re trying to figure out still. But two guys I’d put on your radar screen are John Danks and Thomas Diamond.”

Buck: “Travis Metcalf.”

2. Jon, during this off-season, which trade that wasn’t finished was the most disappointing and why?

Jon: “Certainly the one that was the most public and went down the line the farthest was the Josh Beckett trade. In hindsight, looking back on it, we signed Millwood, traded for Vicente Padilla, and obviously traded for Eaton and were able to keep Hank Blalock and keep our young pitching. In the end, it probably worked out best for us but that was the one we really went back and forth on the most.”

3. Buck, can you please describe the perfect player to manage and why?

Buck: “Probably a Mike Young type of guy. Self starters. We’re kind of at the mercy of the mothers and fathers of the world. By the time I get them at 24 or 25 years old, they’ve pretty much formulated how they treat people, go about their business, and handle things. We’ve got a lot of guys on the team that way. The word ‘sincere’ comes to mind. They have a lot of character. It’s important to them to please their teammates and be part of something special. You have to have a certain amount of skill to play at this level but I think the other attributes you bring push you to the next level, which makes you near and dear to other people because of the way they go about their business and Michael is one of those guys.”

4. Jon, what are your 3 proudest transactions as GM or assistant GM and why?

Jon said that number one was the Brad Wilkerson trade, partly because we also got Armando Galarraga in the minors and it was a good chance to get Ian Kinsler in the lineup. Number two was putting together the leadership team, including Thad Levine, Scott Servais, Mark Connors, and Dom Chiti. Number three was signing Kevin Millwood because he brings a lot of leadership along with his pitching skills.

5. Jon, what were your thoughts on the Juan Dominquez trade?

Jon: “One of the questions we’ve gotten is how do you factor in the idea that you’re trading within the division? There are some teams and some management groups that don’t want to do it at all and some guys that are a little more willing to. I was concerned first and foremost with our end of the deal. We got two left-handed pitchers that we like quite a bit, and John Koronka is probably the leading candidate to pitch for us here in Arlington in a week. Great makeup and good attitude. I talked to him on the phone last night and he’s ecstatic to be a Ranger, ecstatic to be back. Hopefully if we do see Juan Dominguez in the big leagues in Oakland, it will mean that Zito, Blanton, and Harden all got hurt.”

6. What is your prediction on who the Rangers will face in the World Series this October and why?

Buck: “I guess it should be Japan. They’re supposed to be the best team in the world now. But that would be a cop-out to say Japan since we can’t play them. I like the Cardinals a lot. I think they’re pretty special. I think Tony does a great job. They don’t have many holes and the ones they do, I think Walt Jocketty and them do a great job with.”

Jon: “I’ll go with the Braves. Fourteen straight division titles, it’s hard to argue with, and they’re building from within like us.”

7. Which players surprised you the most this spring and why?

Buck: “I’m not supposed to be surprised. I’m trying not to be. We had a lot of pitchers in camp that we didn’t know and hadn’t seen throw before. I think Fabio Castro from the Rule 5 Draft with the White Sox in A ball last year went to winter ball and cut it up down there. There was a lot of unknown about what we were going to get there. I thought he was very impressive for a 21-year old young man that, as we speak, we’re trying to figure out how to keep. I say Fabio just because it was an unknown as much as anything. Also, not knowing if Alfonseca was going to be able to get back where he was physically before having arm trouble. I think Coco probably had his best spring in his time as a Ranger. He handled everything from Day 1. I think that bodes real well. I was real ecstatic with the way Otsuka went about his business. He came to Texas when he didn’t have to, came to our camp when he didn’t have to before he went to Japan. It was very important for him. I’m very happy with him.”

Jon: “I was real encouraged by the way Kam Loe came into camp and didn’t let up from where he was last year. And two younger players I held in high regard before camp but really put themselves farther on the map. John Danks at age 20, who got serious consideration to come up here. He was that impressive staring down Barry Bonds in Scottsdale one day and not backing down from him. And Travis Metcalf, who was our player of the year last year in the minor leagues, but was in his first year in big league camp and he more than held his own.”

8. What was your biggest disappointment of the spring (other than Adam Eaton’s injury) and why?

Jon: “I think it was probably that Roger Clemens said he was going to wait until July to decide if he was going to play.”

Buck: “I agree.”

I would like to thank Buck and Jon for allowing me to interview them. I really enjoyed doing the interview and had a great day at the luncheon.

Dellucci and Dominguez Traded

Last Friday, the Rangers traded pitcher Juan Dominguez to the A’s for pitcher John Rheinecker and infielder Freddy Bynum. Then they immediately traded Freddy Bynum to the Cubs for pitcher John Koronka.

John Koronka
Koronka is pitching his first game for the Rangers tonight. He has pitched one season in the majors (for the Cubs in 2005) and had a 7.47 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched. In his 8-year minor league career, he has a 4.39 ERA in 905 innings pitched. But what’s surprising is he’s still only 26 years old. Koronka was drafted by Cincinnati when he was 18 and stayed there until he was 23 years old. He then moved to the Cubs organization. His best season was with Stockton (the Reds high-A team) in 2002 when he posted a 3.07 ERA and struck out 69 in 73.1 innings pitched. I think Koronka can do well if he can do a good job of changing speeds.

John Rheinecker
Rheinecker was off to a great start last year in triple-A with a 1.77 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 45.2 innings pitched. In late May, he tore a tendon and didn’t return for the rest of the season. If he can recover, he can be a decent major league pitcher because he has performed consistently well at triple-A over the last three years. According to cbssportsline.com, he could be the number 5 starter for the Rangers if he can do well in triple-A.

This trade could just be depressing if Juan Dominguez goes on and is a great major leaguer, which he has the potential to do. But he has a bad attitude and he’s not very dependable. Also, if Dominguez had been given the number 5 spot in the Rangers rotation, it might have made the players feel like they could get away with anything. It was good to get rid of Dominguez for two guys that have good potential.

Last Saturday, the Rangers traded outfielder David Dellucci to the Phillies for pitcher Robinson Tejeda and outfielder Jake Blalock.

Robinson Tejeda
Tejeda had a good spring, posting a 3.86 ERA. He has pitched one year in the majors and went 4-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 85.2 innings pitched. He struck out 72 and threw 51 bases on balls. He allowed 67 hits, 5 of which were homers. In the minors he has been decent throughout his 7 years, posting a career 27-46 record along with a 4.13 ERA in 597.2 IP. He has struck out 523 batters and walked 256. Overall this pitcher looks pretty decent and is a pretty good pick-up.

Jake Blalock
Jake is Hank Blalock’s brother and was drafted as the #5 pick in the 2002 draft out of high school. He has never played in the major leagues and his highest level is class-A. He has a career .268 batting average and a .420 SLG. Blalock has a .345 OBP. I think he might make it to the major leagues but if he does, it will probably be as a role player.

I hate losing a good guy like Dellucci but right now, his value is the highest it will probably ever be. Also, we need starting pitching more than another outfielder. This trade could be really good if Tejeda can become a good major league pitcher.

News Flash
R.A. Dickey was optioned and Rick Bauer was called up. The Rangers also re-signed Erubiel Durazo.

Come back next week for a summary of my interview with Jon Daniels and Buck Showalter at the Rangers Welcome Home lunch.

2006 MLB Season Predictions

In this week’s entry, I am predicting the final standings for the teams in the major leagues as well as the playoffs. Listed below are teams in each division along with my predictions for what place they’ll finish in.

AL West

1. Angels

Rotation:
Bartolo Colon
John Lackey
Jeff Weaver
Kelvim Escobar
Ervin Santana

Comments: The Angels have O.K. hitting to go along with one of the best rotations in the league. That should get them in 1st place unless the veterans’ skills start to wear off.


2. Rangers

Rotation:
Kevin Millwood
Vicente Padilla
Kameron Loe
R.A. Dickey
John Koronka

Other Potential Rotation Candidates:
Robinson Tejeda
John Rheinecker

Comments: The Rangers have the best pitcher in the A.L. as part of their good starting rotation. As long as the pitchers hold the opposing team to 5 runs or less, we should win the games because of our great hitting.


3. Athletics

Rotation:
Barry Zito
Rich Harden
Joe Blanton
Danny Haren
Esteban Loaiza

Comments: The A's don't have a good offense and their pitching has a downfall at the #3 spot.


4. Mariners

Rotation:
Jamie Moyer
Felix Hernandez
Jarrod Washburn
Joel Pineiro
Gil Meche

Comments: The Mariners hitting is O.K. but plays in a major pitcher's stadium to decrease the amounts of runs they score. Also, Seattle's pitching isn't very good and gets hit around plenty.


AL Central

1. White Sox

Rotation:
Mark Buehrle
Freddy Garcia
Jon Garland
Jose Contreras
Javier Vazquez

Comments: The White Sox won the World Series last year and might even have a better team this year.


2. Indians

Rotation:
C.C. Sabathia
Cliff Lee
Paul Byrd
Jake Westbrook
Jason Johnson

Comments: The Indians came on strong at the end of last year and didn't lose any big playmakers besides Kevin Millwood.


3. Twins

Rotation:
Johan Santana
Brad Radke
Carlos Silva
Kyle Lohse
Scott Baker

Comments: Even though Minnesota has good pitching, they will need to get good hitting if they want to win this tough division.


4. Tigers

Rotation:
Kenny Rogers
Jeremy Bonderman
Mike Maroth
Nate Robinson
Justin Verlander

Comments: The Tigers have Kenny and Pudge but other than that they don't have any stars. They struggle at offense and pitching, which will take a few years to overcome.


5. Royals

Rotation:
Scott Elarton
Joe Mays
Jeremy Affeldt
Denny Bautista
Runelvys Hernandez

Comments: The Royals only have 4 players I can name off the top of my head (David DeJesus, Angel Berroa, Desi Relaford, and Mike Sweeney) because the others haven’t made a name for themselves.


AL East

1. Blue Jays

Rotation:
Roy Halladay
A.J. Burnett
Ted Lilly
Gustavo Chacin
Josh Towers

Comments: I think with the additions of A.J. Burnett, James Baldwin, B.J. Ryan, Jason Phillips, and Benjie Molina, it will be enough to get them past the Yankees.


2. Yankees

Rotation:
Randy Johnson
Mike Mussina
Shawn Chacon
Jared Wright
Chien-Ming Wang/ Carl Pavano

Comments: Even with the signing of Johnny Damon I don't think they will do good enough to beat Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays.


3. Red Sox

Rotation:
Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Matt Clement
Tim Wakefield
David Wells

Comments: The Red Sox still have a good team but they lost a lot of good players: Johnny Damon, Chad Bradford, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, and Matt Mantei.


4. Devil Rays

Rotation:
Scott Kazmir
Mark Hendrickson
Casey Fossum
Seth McClung
Doug Waechter

Comments: The D'Rays finished their season last year on a good note and if they can keep that going for part of the year that should be enough


5. Orioles

Rotation:
Rodrigo Lopez
Erik Bedard
Kris Benson
Daniel Cabrera
Bruce Chen

Comments: The Orioles now have Leo Mazzoni but it still might not help this team enough to get back into 4th with the way the D'Rays finished last year.


NL West


1. Dodgers

Rotation:
Derek Lowe
Brad Penny
Odalis Perez
Brett Tomko
Jae Seo

Comments: The Dodgers have great pitching. The ERA for the pitchers last year were 3.61 (Lowe), 3.90 (Penny), 4.56 (Perez), 4.48 (Tomko for the Giants), and 2.59 (Seo). In hitting, they made several improvements, so they probably will finally be able to get 5-8 runs in their pitcher-friendly stadium. They added Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Kenny Lofton, and Bill Mueller, but they lost Milton Bradley. The Dodgers have a very good team that I think is better than the others in the division.


2. Padres

Rotation:
Jake Peavy
Chris Young
Woody Williams
Chan Ho Park
Dewon Brazelton
Comments: The Padres surprisingly struggle at pitching. They also struggle at hitting, leaving their only strength to be at defense.


3. Giants

Rotation:
Jason Schmidt
Matt Morris
Noah Lowry
Matt Cain
Jamey Wright

Comments: The Giants have a good first couple of starters. Their offense is about average if you take away Barry Bonds. They probably need to get a little more hitting and a little more pitching to get up to second place.


4. Rockies

Rotation:
Jason Jennings
Aaron Cook
Jeff Francis
Josh Fogg/Zach Day/Sunny Kim

Comments: The Rockies are in a major hitting ballpark but I think this year, the pitching is just good enough to get in front of the Diamondbacks.


5. Diamondbacks

Rotation:
Brandon Webb
Russ Ortiz
Orlando Hernandez
Miguel Batista
Claudio Vargas

Comments: The Diamondbacks struggle in all areas. They have two good pitchers (Webb and Ortiz) but other than that, there are no players that put up big numbers.


NL Central

1. Cardinals

Rotation:
Chris Carpenter
Mark Mulder
Jeff Supan
Jason Marquis
Sidney Ponson

Comments: The Cardinals aren’t the team they were last year but they are still a great team in a division that I think will struggle.


2. Cubs

Rotation:
Carlos Zambrano
Shawn Marshall
Greg Maddux
Glendon Rusch
Jerome Williams

Comments: The Cubs have very good pitching and decent hitting but I think that they will just slimly pass the .500 mark.


3. Astros

Rotation:
Roy Oswalt
Andy Pettite
Brandon Backe
Wandy Rodriguez
Ezequiel Astacio

Comments: The Astros still have good starting pitching, but it is not as good as the great starting pitching that they had last year. Losing Clemens will probably take their confidence down a notch. I think that they are about 1 game down from the Cubs.


4. Reds

Rotation:
Aaron Harang
Eric Milton
Bronson Arroyo
Brandon Claussen
Dave Williams

Comments: The Reds have better starting pitching than last year because they got Bronson Arroyo and Dave Williams. But they still struggle at pitching and will probably be under the .500 mark.


5. Brewers

Rotation:
Ben Sheets
Doug Davis
Chris Capuano
Tomo Ohka
Dave Bush

Comments: The Brewers struggle at pitching and offense and are around the middle in overall skill in the league.


6. Pirates

Rotation:
Zach Duke
Oliver Perez
Ian Snell
Paul Maholm
Sean Burnett

Comments: This team struggles very much at all cylinders. They are one of the worst teams in the league if not the worst.


NL East

1. Braves

Rotation:
John Smoltz
Tim Hudson
John Thomson
Jorge Sosa
Horacio Ramirez

Comments: The Braves still have great starting pitching and I just can’t go against them after they’ve won 14 straight division titles.


2. Phillies

Rotation:
Jon Lieber
Brett Myers
Cory Lidle
Ryan Franklin
Ryan Madson

Comments: The Phillies have a good offense and finally started to come through last year. I think with a lot of the National League teams going down in skills that the Phillies will finally make the playoffs again.


3. Mets

Rotation:
Pedro Martinez
Tom Glavine
Brian Bannister
Steve Trachsel
Victor Zambrano

Comments: The Mets have put together good teams but haven’t had a breakthrough year in a long time. I think this year they will do better but will still not meet their potential.


4. Nationals

Rotation:
Livan Hernandez
John Patterson
Ramon Ortiz
Pedro Astacio
Tony Armas

Comments: The Nationals have decent starting pitching to go along with a very good power hitter in Alfonso Soriano.


5. Florida

Rotation:
Dontrelle Willis
Scott Olsen
Jason Vargas
Sergio Mitre
Brian Moehler

Comments: The Marlins once again ruined a very good team and will go from a pretty good winning record to an awful losing record.


AL Playoffs

Round 1:
White Sox beat Angels 3 games to 2
Blue Jays beat Indians 3 games to 0

Round 2:
Blue Jays beat White Sox 4 games to 2


NL Playoffs

Round 1:
Cardinals beat Phillies 3 games to 0
Dodgers beat Braves 3 games to 1

Round 2:
Dodgers beat Cardinals 4 games to 3


World Series:
Dodgers beat Blue Jays 4 games to 2


Come back soon (early this week) for my thoughts on the Juan Dominguez and David Dellucci trades.

Jim Sundberg Interview

On Thursday, I interviewed former Ranger Jim Sundberg. I met Jim at an autograph event in Frisco and asked if I could interview him for my blog. He was nice and said that I could interview him. Here are the results of the interview.

Q: Who were the 3 toughest pitchers to hit?
A: Roger Clemens, Jim Palmer, and Catfish Hunter

Q: Who were the 3 toughest pitchers to catch?
A: Charlie Hough, Danny Jackson, and Kevin Brown

Q: Who was the favorite manager you ever played for?
A: Dick Howser (Kansas City 1985-86)

Q: Who were your top 3 favorite teammates?
A: Don Sutton, Buddy Bell, and Scott Sanderson

Q: What is your biggest regret from your baseball career?
A: At first, Jim said he didn’t have one because he played in such a way that he didn’t have one. After that, he said that it was not being able to play in the hitter-friendly Ballpark in Arlington.

Q: How does it feel to be in the Rangers Hall of Fame?
A: He said it was a pretty big privilege to be in the same group as Nolan Ryan, Charlie Hough, and Johnny Oates.

Q: What was your favorite moment as a Texas Ranger?
A: His favorite moment as a Texas Ranger was his first major league game versus the Oakland A’s in 1974. He caught Fergie Jenkins, who he watched when he was growing up (when Fergie was a Cub). The Rangers won and Jim had a couple of hits. Jim also threw out Bert Campaneris.

Q: What are your favorite ballparks?
A: Baltimore, Boston, Toronto, and Kansas City

Q: What are your least favorite ballparks?
A: Anaheim, Oakland, and Philadelphia

Q: Which stadiums have the worst facilities for broadcasters?
A: Oakland

Q: Who do you think the next Rangers retired number should be?
A: Jim said that this was a good question. He also said that it wouldn’t be his because Michael Young is wearing his old number.

Q: Who do you think should be the next Rangers Hall of Fame inductee?
A: Toby Harrah

Q: Who was your favorite player growing up and why?
A: Ernie Banks as a Cub because Jim saw most of his games as a kid in Illinois. Ernie seemed to always be friendly and was a good player.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the baseball camps for kids that you sponsor?
A: He enjoys seeing the excitement of kids.

Q: Can you please describe your current job? (Jim is Executive Director to the President for the Rangers)
A: Jim works 60 hours a week in an intense job. He’s involved with all departments and he enjoys it.

Jim was really nice. I know how busy he is and it was really generous of him to take some time for this interview with me.

Come back next week for my predictions of what will happen in the regular season and playoffs.

Spring Training Trip Report Part 2 of 2

Last week, I did a play-by-play analysis of the March 7th Rangers Spring Training game. This week, I will summarize my Spring Training trip as part 2 of 2.

Day 1, Monday, March 6th:
1. My dad, my granddad and I went straight from the airport to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to see the Cubs @ A’s game.
2. The stadium was very plain and boring and the bleachers were very uncomfortable.
3. There were more Cubs fans than A’s fans which surprised me even though the Cubs have die-hard fans because it was at the A’s stadium.
4. The weather that day was very nice for baseball.
5. It was also awesome to be watching baseball in March.
6. Chicago won the game 12-3.
7. After the game we went to our hotel, Embassy Suites.
8. For dinner we went to IHOP. They probably had the worst service of any IHOP I’ve ever been to because it took about 45 minutes for them to get the food to us and our waitress only checked on us one time.

Day 2, Tuesday, March 7th:
1. We went to the Rangers @ Cubs game at Hohokam Park in Mesa early the next morning to get autographs which are so easy to get in Spring Training.
2. The autographs that I got and the details of the game are in my previous blog.
3. Jon Daniels introduced us to Scott Servais and Thad Levine after the game.
4. After that we went to Scottsdale to see the World Baseball Classic Canada @ South Africa game at Scottsdale Stadium.
5. The stadium at the game was empty.
6. If you ever go to Spring Training check both sides of the stadium for parking because at that game there was $15 parking on one side and free parking on the other.
7. Canada had a lot of MLB players while South Africa had none.
8. The crowd was on Canada’s side as I had thought.
9. When we left halfway through the game the score was 1-0 in Canada’s favor.
10. Canada ended up winning the game 11-8.

Day 3, Wednesday, March 8th:
1. We went to the Rangers workout to get autographs. These are the players I got: Jose Silva, Adam Eaton, D’Angelo Jimenez, Kameron Loe, Marshall McDougall, Kevin Walker, Chris Baker, Phil Nevin, John Wasdin, Rick Bauer, and Jamie Burke.
2. Workouts are great. They are right beside the stadium in Surprise. You get to walk right by the players as they move from field to field. You also get to get autographs and watch them workout. For the autographs, you have to wait until a break in the workout. But when you ask them during their workout if they’ll sign after they’re done, they do a great job of remembering.
3. At the end we talked to Thomas Diamond and he invited us to dinner. Thomas is a great guy with a great personality.
4. The way the workouts work is this: They stretch just before 10:00, then they split up into pitchers and hitters to do their workouts.
5. On fun days (once every two weeks) the pitchers play a game on their knees. There are two teams. One team hits while the other fields. The fielders are on their knees around the base paths with none in the outfield. Somebody tosses a ball to a hitter who tries to hit a grounder. If the fielder gets it, the hitter’s out. If the hitter completely misses the ball, he’s out. If it’s a liner to the outfield or a pop fly, the hitter’s out and has to go get it. If it is gettable and no one gets it, the hitter’s not out but the person who made the error is out of the game. The way you score is by hitting a grounder that gets by everyone. Usually when that happens, it’s a high chopper that the fielders can’t reach because it’s too far over their heads
6. By the batting cage I talked to Buck Showalter and Evan Grant. I also talked to a Newberg Report reader named Thomas, who said he had read my blog.
7. The workouts ended at 11:30 and then we went to the stadium to see the A’s @ Rangers at Surprise Stadium.
8. That stadium was probably the nicest one we saw.
9. In the game we got to see Edinson Volquez pitch awesome, just mowing down hitters.
10. Later in the game Jon Daniels came and sat with us for an inning (another great guy).
11. While Jon was sitting with us Adam Hyzdu hit a homer.
12. The Rangers won 10-3.
13. After the game I got Laynce Nix’s autograph.
14. Since we had about an hour to spare before dinner we went to Barnes & Noble.
15. When it came time for dinner we went to Red Robin to eat with Thomas Diamond. It was really fun!!! We all had burgers and fries.
16. After dinner we went to Peoria Stadium to see Japan face off against the Mariners in a WBC exhibition game.

Day 4, Thursday, March 9th:
1. We went back to the Rangers workouts and I got these autographs: Brian Anderson, Kevin Milwood, Frank Francisco, Ryan Bukvich, Vicente Padilla, Phil Nevin, Kameron Loe, Armando Gallaraga, D’Angelo Jimenez.
2. At the end of the trip, the only players that were on the 65-man Spring Training roster that I didn’t get (either on this trip or sometime in the past) are: Aarom Baldiris, Jesse Carlson, Antonio Alfonseca, Omar Beltre (wasn’t even there), Akinori Otsuka (at WBC), and Erubiel Durazo (at WBC).
3. After the workouts we went to Tempe Diablo Stadium to see the Giants @ Angels.
4. The Angels Spring Training stadium was great on the outside but was nothing special on the inside.
5. That game was the 1st game Barry Bonds was back. Barry struck-out and singled. Barry left after the third inning.
6. The Angels were the victors by the score 6-5.
7. After the game, we went straight to the airport so we could fly home.

This trip was awesome and is definitely in the top 10 trips I’ve taken. Come next week for my predictions on what will happen during the regular season.