This week I will do my August awards. These are the awards that would be given if the season ended today.
Rangers Awards:
Rangers MVP: Marlon Byrd: .310 AVG., 7 HR, 56 RBI: Since Marlon has come up he has surpassed most Ranger players’ RBI totals and batting averages.
Runner-up: Michael Young
Rangers CY Young: CJ Wilson: 2.52 ERA, 58 K, 2-1, 9 SV: CJ has had an incredible year and has put himself in position to be the closer next year.
Runner-up: Joaquin Benoit
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Jarrod Saltalamacchia: .275 AVG, 9 HR, 27 RBI
Runner-up: David Murphy
AL Awards:
AL MVP: A-ROD: .308 AVG, 45 HR, 129 RBI
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez
AL Cy Young: Josh Beckett: 3.29 ERA, 158 K, 16-6
Runner-up: John Lackey
AL Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedrioa: .322 AVG, 6 HR, 42 RBI
Runner-up: Hideki Okajima
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge Cleveland Indians 78-57
Runner-up: Mike Scioscia
NL Awards:
NL MVP: Matt Holliday: .336 AVG, 24 HR, 106 RBI
Runner-up: Ryan Howard
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb: 2.83 ERA, 170 K, 14-9
Runner-up: Jake Peavy
NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun: .325 AVG, 25 HR 68 RBI, 13 SB
Runner-up: Chris Young ARI
NL Manager of the Year: Bob Melvin Arizona Diamondbacks 76-61
Runner-up: Clint Hurdle
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think was the best player that the Rangers acquired in 1997?
Rick Helling – 55%
Aaron Sele – 37%
Tom Goodwin – 5%
Jim Leyritz – 3%
Everybody else – 0%
Come back next week for part 4 of the Doug Melvin trade analysis.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Doug Melvin Trade Analysis Part 3
This is part 3 of an analysis of the trades Doug Melvin made while he was Rangers GM. This week I will cover 1997. Each trade will be scored a win, loss, or tie. The score is based on how each player contributed to the Rangers at the major league level.
18. 7/25/97 The Kansas City Royals traded Tom Goodwin to the Texas Rangers for Dean Palmer.
Loss – Even though Dean only played one full year with the Royals he had his career high for home runs with 34 and his second best in batting average (for full years) batting .278. Tom had one good year for the Rangers batting .290, but the other two years he hit .237 and .259.
Record: 5-4-9
19. 7/29/97 The Anaheim Angels traded a player to be named later and Jim Leyritz to the Texas Rangers for Ken Hill. The Angels sent Rob Sasser (October 31, 1997) to the Rangers to complete the trade.
Loss – the Angels got 2 and a half decent years out of Ken including one 9-6 year. The Rangers got 86 total at-bats out of the two players they received put together.
Record: 5-5-9
20. 7/29/97 The San Francisco Giants traded Chad Hartvigson (minors) to the Texas Rangers for Cory Bailey.
Tie – The Giants got about 15 innings out of Bailey while Hartvigson never made it to the majors.
Record: 5-5-10
21. 8/12/97 The Florida Marlins traded Rick Helling to the Texas Rangers for Ed Vosberg.
Win – Vosberg only pitched 12 innings for the Marlins, and the Rangers got 4 and a half solid years out of Rick, his record being 64-45, including one 20 win season.
Record: 6-5-10
22. 10/31/97 The Anaheim Angels traded Matt Perisho to the Texas Rangers for Mike Bell.
Loss – Mike Bell never made it to the majors with Anaheim, while Matt lost us so many games (with a Rangers ERA well over seven) that it would have been better for him to not be on the team.
Record: 6-6-10
23. 11/6/97 The Boston Red Sox traded Mark Brandenburg, Bill Haselman, and Aaron Sele to the Texas Rangers for Damon Buford and Jim Leyritz.
Win – Mark Brandenburg never played for us after the trade and we only got 105 at-bats out of Haselman (during this stint with the Rangers), but out of the two years Aaron Sele played for us, he had a 37-20 record and was an All-Star. Neither Buford or Leyritz did much of anything with Boston.
Record: 7-6-10
24. 12/19/97 The Chicago White Sox traded Alan Levine and Larry Thomas to the Texas Rangers for Benji Gil.
Loss – Alan Levine and Larry Thomas pitched 58 innings total for the Rangers, and Benji Gil had three solid years as a back-up for the Angels.
Record: 7-7-10
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think Kea Kometani's role should be?
Closer – 33%
Starter – 29%
Set-up – 29%
Other Reliever – 8%
Come back next week for my August Awards.
18. 7/25/97 The Kansas City Royals traded Tom Goodwin to the Texas Rangers for Dean Palmer.
Loss – Even though Dean only played one full year with the Royals he had his career high for home runs with 34 and his second best in batting average (for full years) batting .278. Tom had one good year for the Rangers batting .290, but the other two years he hit .237 and .259.
Record: 5-4-9
19. 7/29/97 The Anaheim Angels traded a player to be named later and Jim Leyritz to the Texas Rangers for Ken Hill. The Angels sent Rob Sasser (October 31, 1997) to the Rangers to complete the trade.
Loss – the Angels got 2 and a half decent years out of Ken including one 9-6 year. The Rangers got 86 total at-bats out of the two players they received put together.
Record: 5-5-9
20. 7/29/97 The San Francisco Giants traded Chad Hartvigson (minors) to the Texas Rangers for Cory Bailey.
Tie – The Giants got about 15 innings out of Bailey while Hartvigson never made it to the majors.
Record: 5-5-10
21. 8/12/97 The Florida Marlins traded Rick Helling to the Texas Rangers for Ed Vosberg.
Win – Vosberg only pitched 12 innings for the Marlins, and the Rangers got 4 and a half solid years out of Rick, his record being 64-45, including one 20 win season.
Record: 6-5-10
22. 10/31/97 The Anaheim Angels traded Matt Perisho to the Texas Rangers for Mike Bell.
Loss – Mike Bell never made it to the majors with Anaheim, while Matt lost us so many games (with a Rangers ERA well over seven) that it would have been better for him to not be on the team.
Record: 6-6-10
23. 11/6/97 The Boston Red Sox traded Mark Brandenburg, Bill Haselman, and Aaron Sele to the Texas Rangers for Damon Buford and Jim Leyritz.
Win – Mark Brandenburg never played for us after the trade and we only got 105 at-bats out of Haselman (during this stint with the Rangers), but out of the two years Aaron Sele played for us, he had a 37-20 record and was an All-Star. Neither Buford or Leyritz did much of anything with Boston.
Record: 7-6-10
24. 12/19/97 The Chicago White Sox traded Alan Levine and Larry Thomas to the Texas Rangers for Benji Gil.
Loss – Alan Levine and Larry Thomas pitched 58 innings total for the Rangers, and Benji Gil had three solid years as a back-up for the Angels.
Record: 7-7-10
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think Kea Kometani's role should be?
Closer – 33%
Starter – 29%
Set-up – 29%
Other Reliever – 8%
Come back next week for my August Awards.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Kea Kometani Interview
This week I interviewed Frisco RoughRiders pitcher Kea Kometani. Kea was drafted by the Rangers in 2005 and spent that year as a starter with Spokane and Clinton. He started 2006 in Bakersfield and was called up to Frisco after 10 starts. He started the 2007 season in Frisco as a starter but was converted to a reliever early in the season. Since then he’s had 28 relief appearances with 8 saves.
I got to know Kea last summer when he got called up to Frisco. He’s always friendly and happy to talk and volunteers to sign autographs for kids a lot. He agreed to let me interview him and spoke with me this weekend from Wichita.
1. Which achievement from last year are you most proud of: tying for 1st in wins in all the Rangers minor leagues, coming in 5th for strikeouts, or being 6th in ERA?
Kea said that he hadn’t thought about it too much but that it was probably the wins. He lost his first five starts in double-A and didn’t have much confidence after that. He was proud that he came back from that rough start.
2. What was the key to your success during your last year at Pepperdine, when you went 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA after going 11-9 with a 4.59 ERA your first three years?
Kea said that it was mostly having more experience and using those experiences. He was also more confident starting. He became a starter for the first time in his junior year.
3. What were your 1st thoughts when you broke Pepperdine’s school record with 32 appearances in a year?
“It was cool.” Kea thought it was cool to be able to accomplish something that others before him didn’t. It showed durability and allowed him to help his team.
4. What was the key to being named your conference’s best control pitcher?
Pitching is a lot about repetition. It showed that his practice and workouts were paying off and showing on the field.
5. Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
- Doug Mathis because he lives with him and has played with him all three years in the organization.
- Michael Schlact because they lived together in Clinton and they’ve played on a lot of teams together.
- Emerson Frostad because he’s played with him all three years and they hung out last winter in the winter league.
6. 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?
- Spokane: 6 or 7 – it’s older but there are a lot of fans and it has a good atmosphere.
- Clinton: 4 – it’s old. He said that they’ve redone the stadium recently and he’s heard it’s nicer.
Bakersfield: 4.5
Frisco: 9
7. Who are the toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
- Billy Butler because he’s a great hitter and had tough at-bats against him.
- Alex Gordon: “He was successful against me.”
He mentioned that both of them were tough because they were consistent.
8. What is the worst injury you’ve had to deal with and why?
“Luckily I’ve been pretty healthy.” In college he had a shoulder injury where it hurt to warm up but he only missed one game.
9. What’s the biggest difference between college and minor league hitting?
Kea said it was the talent level. You have to work on location a lot more in the minors. You can get guys out on bad pitches in college.
10. What are the biggest differences between starting and closing?
Starting is definitely different. You will face each batter three of four times. You only face each batter once when closing. As a starter, giving up a run or two in an inning is no big deal as long as you recover. But as a reliever, you aim for no runs. One mistake as a reliever can ruin your whole outing. Relieving is tough because every pitch is a big deal. You have to be locked in from the beginning. If you’re brought in for three outs and strike out the first two guys and then give up a homer to the third guy, you didn’t do your job.
11. What do you think has been your best professional game and why?
During a start last year Kea gave up five runs in the first inning. But he came back and got through eight innings with no more runs and the team won.
12. Did you notice a difference between single-A and double-A hitters and, if so, what is it?
“Plate discipline.” Guys in double-A won’t chase pitches as much so you have to get it over the plate. Plus there are more guys with power in the lineup.
13. What is the toughest thing about minor league life and why?
Being on the road and being away from family.
14. Do you see yourself using your economics degree from Pepperdine someday and, if so, how?
Kea said that if he weren’t in baseball he’d want to be in business. He worked at Morgan Stanley in the offseason as a financial advisor. He would also be interested in real estate. Kea had a 3.8 GPA in college.
15. What are the three biggest differences between living in Hawaii and living in the continental US?
- There’s not much ocean in Texas. You only see the ocean in Corpus Christi in the Texas League.
- The weather’s cold early in the season and then gets really hot. In Hawaii it’s 75-90 degrees all of the time.
- There are no mountains in Texas.
16. What was your favorite team growing up?
The Braves. They won the division every year and he liked watching Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine.
17. What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?
Kea played football for one year as a freshman in high school but was too skinny. He’s played baseball since he was 7. He was a first baseman until his junior year in high school. He played volleyball in high school. He said he was actually better at volleyball than baseball.
18. What are your hobbies?
Going to the ocean, fishing, hanging out at the beach and playing Xbox.
I would like to thank Kea for taking time out from his road trip to do this interview.
Results of last week’s poll:
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington – 31%
AT&T Park - 17%
Fenway Park - 14%
Wrigley Field – 14%
Camden Yards – 6%
Miller Park – 6%
Other – 6%
PNC Park – 6%
Yankee Stadium – 3%
All others – 0%
Come back next week for part 3 of the Doug Melvin trade analysis.
I got to know Kea last summer when he got called up to Frisco. He’s always friendly and happy to talk and volunteers to sign autographs for kids a lot. He agreed to let me interview him and spoke with me this weekend from Wichita.
1. Which achievement from last year are you most proud of: tying for 1st in wins in all the Rangers minor leagues, coming in 5th for strikeouts, or being 6th in ERA?
Kea said that he hadn’t thought about it too much but that it was probably the wins. He lost his first five starts in double-A and didn’t have much confidence after that. He was proud that he came back from that rough start.
2. What was the key to your success during your last year at Pepperdine, when you went 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA after going 11-9 with a 4.59 ERA your first three years?
Kea said that it was mostly having more experience and using those experiences. He was also more confident starting. He became a starter for the first time in his junior year.
3. What were your 1st thoughts when you broke Pepperdine’s school record with 32 appearances in a year?
“It was cool.” Kea thought it was cool to be able to accomplish something that others before him didn’t. It showed durability and allowed him to help his team.
4. What was the key to being named your conference’s best control pitcher?
Pitching is a lot about repetition. It showed that his practice and workouts were paying off and showing on the field.
5. Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
- Doug Mathis because he lives with him and has played with him all three years in the organization.
- Michael Schlact because they lived together in Clinton and they’ve played on a lot of teams together.
- Emerson Frostad because he’s played with him all three years and they hung out last winter in the winter league.
6. 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?
- Spokane: 6 or 7 – it’s older but there are a lot of fans and it has a good atmosphere.
- Clinton: 4 – it’s old. He said that they’ve redone the stadium recently and he’s heard it’s nicer.
Bakersfield: 4.5
Frisco: 9
7. Who are the toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
- Billy Butler because he’s a great hitter and had tough at-bats against him.
- Alex Gordon: “He was successful against me.”
He mentioned that both of them were tough because they were consistent.
8. What is the worst injury you’ve had to deal with and why?
“Luckily I’ve been pretty healthy.” In college he had a shoulder injury where it hurt to warm up but he only missed one game.
9. What’s the biggest difference between college and minor league hitting?
Kea said it was the talent level. You have to work on location a lot more in the minors. You can get guys out on bad pitches in college.
10. What are the biggest differences between starting and closing?
Starting is definitely different. You will face each batter three of four times. You only face each batter once when closing. As a starter, giving up a run or two in an inning is no big deal as long as you recover. But as a reliever, you aim for no runs. One mistake as a reliever can ruin your whole outing. Relieving is tough because every pitch is a big deal. You have to be locked in from the beginning. If you’re brought in for three outs and strike out the first two guys and then give up a homer to the third guy, you didn’t do your job.
11. What do you think has been your best professional game and why?
During a start last year Kea gave up five runs in the first inning. But he came back and got through eight innings with no more runs and the team won.
12. Did you notice a difference between single-A and double-A hitters and, if so, what is it?
“Plate discipline.” Guys in double-A won’t chase pitches as much so you have to get it over the plate. Plus there are more guys with power in the lineup.
13. What is the toughest thing about minor league life and why?
Being on the road and being away from family.
14. Do you see yourself using your economics degree from Pepperdine someday and, if so, how?
Kea said that if he weren’t in baseball he’d want to be in business. He worked at Morgan Stanley in the offseason as a financial advisor. He would also be interested in real estate. Kea had a 3.8 GPA in college.
15. What are the three biggest differences between living in Hawaii and living in the continental US?
- There’s not much ocean in Texas. You only see the ocean in Corpus Christi in the Texas League.
- The weather’s cold early in the season and then gets really hot. In Hawaii it’s 75-90 degrees all of the time.
- There are no mountains in Texas.
16. What was your favorite team growing up?
The Braves. They won the division every year and he liked watching Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine.
17. What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?
Kea played football for one year as a freshman in high school but was too skinny. He’s played baseball since he was 7. He was a first baseman until his junior year in high school. He played volleyball in high school. He said he was actually better at volleyball than baseball.
18. What are your hobbies?
Going to the ocean, fishing, hanging out at the beach and playing Xbox.
I would like to thank Kea for taking time out from his road trip to do this interview.
Results of last week’s poll:
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington – 31%
AT&T Park - 17%
Fenway Park - 14%
Wrigley Field – 14%
Camden Yards – 6%
Miller Park – 6%
Other – 6%
PNC Park – 6%
Yankee Stadium – 3%
All others – 0%
Come back next week for part 3 of the Doug Melvin trade analysis.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
My Baseball Trip to Cleveland and Pittsburgh
This week I will describe my annual baseball trip with my dad.
Wednesday August 1st:
On Wednesday my dad and I flew to Cleveland to see the Rangers play two games against the Indians. There were four flight delays (weather, mechanical, flight in front delayed, and then a plane with a broken wheel in front of us on the runway). There were also two gate changes. We were on a small plane (American Eagle) and our flight took off two hours late.
When we got to Cleveland we got our bags and checked into our hotel, which was a Hampton Inn in walking distance of Jacobs Field. Almost immediately after we dropped our bags off in our room we went to the ballpark.
We got there when the gates opened at 4:30, but you could not leave the outfield area until 6:00 so by then batting practice was just wrapping up. And when they did let us out of the outfield you couldn’t go by the dugout or the first aisle next to it, which made it almost impossible to get autographs.
The Rangers ended up winning the game in 10 innings. Rheinecker pitched poorly allowing 6 earned runs on 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He ended up throwing 89 pitches. Rheinecker also gave up 2 home runs, one to Casey Blake and one to Jason Michaels. The Indians’ Paul Byrd didn’t do well either, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 throwing 107 pitches. Frank Catalanotto had a big game going 2-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two RBI’s in his 1st game as a Ranger. Even though the Rangers scored 9 runs, they stranded 12 runners. After 9 innings the game was tied 6-6. The Rangers scored 3 runs in the top of the tenth (1 on a throwing error, 1 on Botts’ sac fly, and one on a Byrd single) and CJ Wilson shut the Indians down 1, 2, 3 to get his second save of the year. The game lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes.
Thursday August 2nd:
On Thursday my dad and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the morning. It was really cool and my three favorite things about it were:
- The walkway with all the people in the Hall Of Fame
- The Beach Boys exhibit
- Giant guitars that they had inside and all around downtown, each painted different
My two least favorite things were:
- The all-clothes display
- The Doors exhibit
After that we went to the noon Rangers-Indians game. Before the game I got Salty’s autograph. Kason Gabbard didn’t do too well in his 1st game as a Ranger getting the loss allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched. After Gabbard was pulled, Wes Littleton came in and allowed 2 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. Wes gave up a solo shot to Victor Martinez. The Indians’ Jake Westbrook pitched great, improving his record to 2-6 and allowed 0 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings lowering his ERA to a terrible 5.40. The Rangers only got men on base 8 times all game, one of the times on an intentional walk (the Rangers’ only walk of the game). The Rangers only got two extra base hits. The Rangers eventually lost 5-0. This game only took 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Right after the game it poured and hailed. This was while we were driving to Canton to see the football Hall of Fame two days before the inductions. The Hall of Fame was awesome and while we were there I got one of the Hall of Famers’ autographs (Charlie Sanders, who was getting inducted that weekend). I liked everything in the Hall of Fame except the video, but my three favorite things were:
- the Super Bowl room
- getting Charlie Sanders’ autograph and
- the room with the busts of all the Hall of Famers
Afterwards we ate at a restaurant called Damon’s Grill near Canton. It had good food and it had a trivia game that was really fun. My dad and I came in 4th place both times we played and about 25 people played it both times. Afterwards we drove back to Cleveland.
Friday August 3rd:
On Friday my dad and I took a tour of Jacobs Field, but we couldn’t go onto the field or into the dugout because of the rain the day before. Instead they took us to the visitors’ clubhouse, which was pretty cool.
My three favorite things at Jacobs Field are:
- Heritage Park, which is a new area they built this year. It has plaques for all the members of the Indians Hall of Fame, plaques on the ground describing great moments in Indians history, and a wall showing the 100 best Indians players of the Indians’ first 100 years.
- The Bob Feller statue and
- How it’s open to downtown
My least favorite things at Jacobs Field are:
- The gate times (you can only be in the outfield seats until an hour before the game)
- The jumbotron (it’s junky with a lot of ads) and
- The out-of-town scoreboard doesn’t show all the games at once. It rotates between them.
Afterwards we went to the site of old League Park, where the Indians played from 1910 to 1946. The ticket office and part of the stadium wall are still there but are very run down. It’s also in a bad area of town. There’s nothing where the field was except a field of grass.
After that, we drove to Pittsburgh. At the Pittsburgh Hilton, our room wasn’t ready until 90 minutes after check-in time and when we got to our room there was only one bed even though we asked for two, there was no chest to put your clothes in, and you couldn’t see out the windows. I wouldn’t recommend it, even though it’s in walking distance of PNC Park.
At the Reds-Pirates game that evening they were giving out Josh Gibson statues, so my dad and I both got one. The gates opened at 5:00 PM, but you can’t get to any seats until 5:30. I got two autographs (Bobby Livingston and Javier Valentin).
The Reds hit four home runs during the game, including Ken Griffey’s 589th career home run and Adam Dunn’s 29th home run of the year. The Reds’ Matt Belisle pitched well, getting the win, improving his record to 6-8, allowing three runs in six innings pitched. Ian Snell of the Pirates got the loss (7-10) allowing 6 earned runs in 5 innings, throwing 104 pitches, including over 30 in the 1st. The Pirates’ reliever, Jonah Bayliss allowed 6 runs in 3 innings, throwing 63 pitches. Both Jeff Keppinger and Scott Hatteberg had three RBI’s in the game for the Reds. Ken Griffey and Alex Gonzalez both had three hits in the game. Only two of the Reds starters didn’t get at least one RBI in the game (Matt Belisle and Norris Hopper). The Reds won the game 13-4.
Saturday August 4th:
On Saturday we took a tour of PNC Park. Their Club Level is amazing, much better than the Rangers’. The concourse of the Club Level is all enclosed, carpeted, and air-conditioned. My three favorite things of PNC Park are:
- The openness – you can see the river and downtown from most seats
- The out-of-town scoreboard, which shows all games including the inning, number of outs, and runners on base, and
- The statues – they have statues of Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Honus Wagner outside the stadium and seven Negro League players (including Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige) inside the stadium.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the bullpen placement. One bullpen is right in front of the other.
Afterwards, we saw the Exposition Park base paths in a parking lot. The Pirates played there from 1891 to 1909 and they have the location of home plate and the bases painted in one of the parking lots between the Pirates and Steelers stadiums. Then we went to the location of Forbes Field, where the Pirates played from 1909 to 1970. It was awesome. They still have Forbes Fields’ outfield wall standing, the flag pole that was in play in front of the wall, and home plate (in the floor of a building that’s where the infield used to be). There’s also a plaque in the ground showing where Bill Mazeroski’s home run went out in the 1960 World Series.
They were giving away Homestead Grays T-shirts at the Pirates game, which was Matt Morris’ Pittsburgh debut. He pitched well but his stats don’t show it. He allowed 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings. He also went 2-for-3 with a home run. Bobby Livingston pitched really well for the Reds allowing only 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings, but he went 0-for-2. Adam Dunn, Javier Valentin, and Edwin Encarnacion all had 2 RBI’s for the Reds while Nate McLouth had three RBI’s and Jason Bay had 2 for the Pirates. Ken Griffey struck out three times. Jack Wilson, Adam Dunn, Jeff Keppinger, Ronny Paulino, Edwin Encarnacion, Nate McLouth, Jason Bay, and Matt Morris all had a home run in this game. Going into the bottom of the ninth,, the Pirates were winning 7-6, so they brought their closer Matt Capps in for his 1st save opportunity since July 5th and he allowed a solo shot to the 1st batter he faced, which made it go to extras. Capps came out again and allowed a 2-run homer by Adam Dunn. In the bottom of the tenth the Pirates got one run, but lose 9-8.
Sunday August 5th:
On Sunday, we flew home with no problems. We had a great trip.
If you go out to the ballpark this month, there’s a nice article about me on page 9 of the August Rangers game program.
Results of last week’s poll:
Which player that the Rangers got has the most potential?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 44%
Engel Beltre – 24%
Kason Gabbard – 12%
Elvis Andrus – 9%
Neftali Perez – 6%
Matt Harrison – 3%
Beau Jones – 3%
David Murphy – 0%
Come back next week for part three of the Doug Melvin trade analysis series.
Wednesday August 1st:
On Wednesday my dad and I flew to Cleveland to see the Rangers play two games against the Indians. There were four flight delays (weather, mechanical, flight in front delayed, and then a plane with a broken wheel in front of us on the runway). There were also two gate changes. We were on a small plane (American Eagle) and our flight took off two hours late.
When we got to Cleveland we got our bags and checked into our hotel, which was a Hampton Inn in walking distance of Jacobs Field. Almost immediately after we dropped our bags off in our room we went to the ballpark.
We got there when the gates opened at 4:30, but you could not leave the outfield area until 6:00 so by then batting practice was just wrapping up. And when they did let us out of the outfield you couldn’t go by the dugout or the first aisle next to it, which made it almost impossible to get autographs.
The Rangers ended up winning the game in 10 innings. Rheinecker pitched poorly allowing 6 earned runs on 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He ended up throwing 89 pitches. Rheinecker also gave up 2 home runs, one to Casey Blake and one to Jason Michaels. The Indians’ Paul Byrd didn’t do well either, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 throwing 107 pitches. Frank Catalanotto had a big game going 2-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two RBI’s in his 1st game as a Ranger. Even though the Rangers scored 9 runs, they stranded 12 runners. After 9 innings the game was tied 6-6. The Rangers scored 3 runs in the top of the tenth (1 on a throwing error, 1 on Botts’ sac fly, and one on a Byrd single) and CJ Wilson shut the Indians down 1, 2, 3 to get his second save of the year. The game lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes.
Thursday August 2nd:
On Thursday my dad and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the morning. It was really cool and my three favorite things about it were:
- The walkway with all the people in the Hall Of Fame
- The Beach Boys exhibit
- Giant guitars that they had inside and all around downtown, each painted different
My two least favorite things were:
- The all-clothes display
- The Doors exhibit
After that we went to the noon Rangers-Indians game. Before the game I got Salty’s autograph. Kason Gabbard didn’t do too well in his 1st game as a Ranger getting the loss allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched. After Gabbard was pulled, Wes Littleton came in and allowed 2 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. Wes gave up a solo shot to Victor Martinez. The Indians’ Jake Westbrook pitched great, improving his record to 2-6 and allowed 0 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings lowering his ERA to a terrible 5.40. The Rangers only got men on base 8 times all game, one of the times on an intentional walk (the Rangers’ only walk of the game). The Rangers only got two extra base hits. The Rangers eventually lost 5-0. This game only took 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Right after the game it poured and hailed. This was while we were driving to Canton to see the football Hall of Fame two days before the inductions. The Hall of Fame was awesome and while we were there I got one of the Hall of Famers’ autographs (Charlie Sanders, who was getting inducted that weekend). I liked everything in the Hall of Fame except the video, but my three favorite things were:
- the Super Bowl room
- getting Charlie Sanders’ autograph and
- the room with the busts of all the Hall of Famers
Afterwards we ate at a restaurant called Damon’s Grill near Canton. It had good food and it had a trivia game that was really fun. My dad and I came in 4th place both times we played and about 25 people played it both times. Afterwards we drove back to Cleveland.
Friday August 3rd:
On Friday my dad and I took a tour of Jacobs Field, but we couldn’t go onto the field or into the dugout because of the rain the day before. Instead they took us to the visitors’ clubhouse, which was pretty cool.
My three favorite things at Jacobs Field are:
- Heritage Park, which is a new area they built this year. It has plaques for all the members of the Indians Hall of Fame, plaques on the ground describing great moments in Indians history, and a wall showing the 100 best Indians players of the Indians’ first 100 years.
- The Bob Feller statue and
- How it’s open to downtown
My least favorite things at Jacobs Field are:
- The gate times (you can only be in the outfield seats until an hour before the game)
- The jumbotron (it’s junky with a lot of ads) and
- The out-of-town scoreboard doesn’t show all the games at once. It rotates between them.
Afterwards we went to the site of old League Park, where the Indians played from 1910 to 1946. The ticket office and part of the stadium wall are still there but are very run down. It’s also in a bad area of town. There’s nothing where the field was except a field of grass.
After that, we drove to Pittsburgh. At the Pittsburgh Hilton, our room wasn’t ready until 90 minutes after check-in time and when we got to our room there was only one bed even though we asked for two, there was no chest to put your clothes in, and you couldn’t see out the windows. I wouldn’t recommend it, even though it’s in walking distance of PNC Park.
At the Reds-Pirates game that evening they were giving out Josh Gibson statues, so my dad and I both got one. The gates opened at 5:00 PM, but you can’t get to any seats until 5:30. I got two autographs (Bobby Livingston and Javier Valentin).
The Reds hit four home runs during the game, including Ken Griffey’s 589th career home run and Adam Dunn’s 29th home run of the year. The Reds’ Matt Belisle pitched well, getting the win, improving his record to 6-8, allowing three runs in six innings pitched. Ian Snell of the Pirates got the loss (7-10) allowing 6 earned runs in 5 innings, throwing 104 pitches, including over 30 in the 1st. The Pirates’ reliever, Jonah Bayliss allowed 6 runs in 3 innings, throwing 63 pitches. Both Jeff Keppinger and Scott Hatteberg had three RBI’s in the game for the Reds. Ken Griffey and Alex Gonzalez both had three hits in the game. Only two of the Reds starters didn’t get at least one RBI in the game (Matt Belisle and Norris Hopper). The Reds won the game 13-4.
Saturday August 4th:
On Saturday we took a tour of PNC Park. Their Club Level is amazing, much better than the Rangers’. The concourse of the Club Level is all enclosed, carpeted, and air-conditioned. My three favorite things of PNC Park are:
- The openness – you can see the river and downtown from most seats
- The out-of-town scoreboard, which shows all games including the inning, number of outs, and runners on base, and
- The statues – they have statues of Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Honus Wagner outside the stadium and seven Negro League players (including Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige) inside the stadium.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the bullpen placement. One bullpen is right in front of the other.
Afterwards, we saw the Exposition Park base paths in a parking lot. The Pirates played there from 1891 to 1909 and they have the location of home plate and the bases painted in one of the parking lots between the Pirates and Steelers stadiums. Then we went to the location of Forbes Field, where the Pirates played from 1909 to 1970. It was awesome. They still have Forbes Fields’ outfield wall standing, the flag pole that was in play in front of the wall, and home plate (in the floor of a building that’s where the infield used to be). There’s also a plaque in the ground showing where Bill Mazeroski’s home run went out in the 1960 World Series.
They were giving away Homestead Grays T-shirts at the Pirates game, which was Matt Morris’ Pittsburgh debut. He pitched well but his stats don’t show it. He allowed 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings. He also went 2-for-3 with a home run. Bobby Livingston pitched really well for the Reds allowing only 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings, but he went 0-for-2. Adam Dunn, Javier Valentin, and Edwin Encarnacion all had 2 RBI’s for the Reds while Nate McLouth had three RBI’s and Jason Bay had 2 for the Pirates. Ken Griffey struck out three times. Jack Wilson, Adam Dunn, Jeff Keppinger, Ronny Paulino, Edwin Encarnacion, Nate McLouth, Jason Bay, and Matt Morris all had a home run in this game. Going into the bottom of the ninth,, the Pirates were winning 7-6, so they brought their closer Matt Capps in for his 1st save opportunity since July 5th and he allowed a solo shot to the 1st batter he faced, which made it go to extras. Capps came out again and allowed a 2-run homer by Adam Dunn. In the bottom of the tenth the Pirates got one run, but lose 9-8.
Sunday August 5th:
On Sunday, we flew home with no problems. We had a great trip.
If you go out to the ballpark this month, there’s a nice article about me on page 9 of the August Rangers game program.
Results of last week’s poll:
Which player that the Rangers got has the most potential?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 44%
Engel Beltre – 24%
Kason Gabbard – 12%
Elvis Andrus – 9%
Neftali Perez – 6%
Matt Harrison – 3%
Beau Jones – 3%
David Murphy – 0%
Come back next week for part three of the Doug Melvin trade analysis series.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Teixeira and Gagne Traded
This week I will analyze the Mark Teixeira and Eric Gagne trades.
Also, last week my blog was mentioned on www.bleacherbloggers.com, which is a new website that has an online talk show discussing current sports topics and referencing sports blogs. You can see the video that mentions my blog at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99UK9CCtnc.
On 7/30/07 the Rangers acquired C/1B Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus, LHP Matt Harrison, LHP Beau Jones and RHP Neftali Feliz from the Braves in exchange for 1B Mark Teixeira and LHP Ron Mahay
Mark Teixeira:
Even though Mark is a great player and has done great for the Rangers, he was going to be gone after next year and so they had to trade him. With Atlanta he has been moved to the cleanup spot following Franco Harris, Kelly Johnson, and Chipper Jones. I’m sure he’ll continue to be a great player but the Rangers weren’t going to be able to keep him.
Ron Mahay:
Ron had pitched 4 really good years for us in the AL and should do even better in the NL since there is no DH. Ron had been with the Rangers since 2003, with ERA’s of 3.18, 2.55, 6.81, 3.95, and 2.77.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
Jarrod can be the back-up catcher while being the starting 1st baseman at the same time. He can hit for power, but is better when nobody is on base. Jarrod has tended to hit better in day games this year, hitting .300 in 20 day games with 2 of his 4 home runs, while in night games he is batting just .245 in 32 night games with the other two of his home runs. Jarrod was doing great in May and June, hitting .313 in May and .327 in June, but hit .228 in July and is hitting .143 in the 5 August games. Jarrod was ranked the 36th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year and was also ranked the best prospect in the NL East.
Elvis Andrus:
I saw Elvis Andrus play in Myrtle Beach in May and he made one great play after another. He made a couple of diving plays, a couple of tough plays, and one sliding play. He’s only hitting .241 this year but he probably is the best fielder in all of the Rangers minor league system, possibly including the majors. Elvis was also ranked the 65th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year
Matt Harrison:
Some people have compared Matt to Tom Glavine as he has an 89-92 MPH fastball and an above-average change-up. He also likes to keep the ball low in the zone. This year Harrison is 5-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 116.2 IP and last year he was 11-8 with a 3.35 ERA in 158.2 IP. Matt was ranked the 90th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year.
Beau Jones:
Beau has a good fastball and a very good curveball but awful control as he has walked 125 in just over 200 innings. In 2005 Beau was taken in the first supplemental round.
Neftali Feliz:
Neftali was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 26.1 innings this year with the Danville Braves. Neftali was ranked the 14th best prospect in all of the Rangers minor league system by Baseball America.
Trade Evaluation:
This trade was very good since we had to trade Teixeira and we got the three best prospects in the Braves minor league system (all three in Baseball America’s top 100) plus two other good prospects.
Grade: A+
On 7/31/07 the Rangers acquired LHP Kason Gabbard, OF David Murphy and OF Engel Beltre from the Red Sox for RHP Eric Gagne and cash.
Eric Gagne:
Eric was doing really well this year with 16 saves and a 2.16 ERA, but he was going to be a free agent at the end of the year so there was no point in keeping him.
Kason Gabbard:
Kason has done really well this year going 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA for the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA) this year, and then going 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA between the Boston Red Sox and the Rangers this year (after his first Rangers start). He was 4-0 with a 3.73 ERA with Boston before the trade. In 2006 he went 1-3 with a 3.51 ERA for Boston.
David Murphy:
David is at most a 4th outfielder and in 24 career major league at-bats only has 6 hits. David is batting .280 with 9 HR and 47 RBI this year in 400 at-bats in Pawtucket. David is a lefty originally from Texas.
Engel Beltre:
Engel was ranked the 20th best Rangers prospect but is only in the Rookie League and is only batting .203 on the season with 5 HR and 14 RBI. Engel is very raw but has great potential. Engel is also a lefty. He has struck out 48 times in 148 at-bats this year.
Trade Evaluation:
We didn’t need Gagne for the rest of this year and we still got a very good major league ready pitcher, a back-up outfielder, and a great prospect for him.
Grade: A+
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: What position do you think the Rangers need to trade for the most?
Starting pitcher: 88%
Outfield: 10%
First baseman: 2%
All other positions: 0%
Come back next week for a description of the road trip I just took to see the Rangers in Cleveland and to see the Reds in Pittsburgh.
Also, last week my blog was mentioned on www.bleacherbloggers.com, which is a new website that has an online talk show discussing current sports topics and referencing sports blogs. You can see the video that mentions my blog at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99UK9CCtnc.
On 7/30/07 the Rangers acquired C/1B Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus, LHP Matt Harrison, LHP Beau Jones and RHP Neftali Feliz from the Braves in exchange for 1B Mark Teixeira and LHP Ron Mahay
Mark Teixeira:
Even though Mark is a great player and has done great for the Rangers, he was going to be gone after next year and so they had to trade him. With Atlanta he has been moved to the cleanup spot following Franco Harris, Kelly Johnson, and Chipper Jones. I’m sure he’ll continue to be a great player but the Rangers weren’t going to be able to keep him.
Ron Mahay:
Ron had pitched 4 really good years for us in the AL and should do even better in the NL since there is no DH. Ron had been with the Rangers since 2003, with ERA’s of 3.18, 2.55, 6.81, 3.95, and 2.77.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
Jarrod can be the back-up catcher while being the starting 1st baseman at the same time. He can hit for power, but is better when nobody is on base. Jarrod has tended to hit better in day games this year, hitting .300 in 20 day games with 2 of his 4 home runs, while in night games he is batting just .245 in 32 night games with the other two of his home runs. Jarrod was doing great in May and June, hitting .313 in May and .327 in June, but hit .228 in July and is hitting .143 in the 5 August games. Jarrod was ranked the 36th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year and was also ranked the best prospect in the NL East.
Elvis Andrus:
I saw Elvis Andrus play in Myrtle Beach in May and he made one great play after another. He made a couple of diving plays, a couple of tough plays, and one sliding play. He’s only hitting .241 this year but he probably is the best fielder in all of the Rangers minor league system, possibly including the majors. Elvis was also ranked the 65th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year
Matt Harrison:
Some people have compared Matt to Tom Glavine as he has an 89-92 MPH fastball and an above-average change-up. He also likes to keep the ball low in the zone. This year Harrison is 5-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 116.2 IP and last year he was 11-8 with a 3.35 ERA in 158.2 IP. Matt was ranked the 90th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America at the beginning of the year.
Beau Jones:
Beau has a good fastball and a very good curveball but awful control as he has walked 125 in just over 200 innings. In 2005 Beau was taken in the first supplemental round.
Neftali Feliz:
Neftali was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 26.1 innings this year with the Danville Braves. Neftali was ranked the 14th best prospect in all of the Rangers minor league system by Baseball America.
Trade Evaluation:
This trade was very good since we had to trade Teixeira and we got the three best prospects in the Braves minor league system (all three in Baseball America’s top 100) plus two other good prospects.
Grade: A+
On 7/31/07 the Rangers acquired LHP Kason Gabbard, OF David Murphy and OF Engel Beltre from the Red Sox for RHP Eric Gagne and cash.
Eric Gagne:
Eric was doing really well this year with 16 saves and a 2.16 ERA, but he was going to be a free agent at the end of the year so there was no point in keeping him.
Kason Gabbard:
Kason has done really well this year going 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA for the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA) this year, and then going 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA between the Boston Red Sox and the Rangers this year (after his first Rangers start). He was 4-0 with a 3.73 ERA with Boston before the trade. In 2006 he went 1-3 with a 3.51 ERA for Boston.
David Murphy:
David is at most a 4th outfielder and in 24 career major league at-bats only has 6 hits. David is batting .280 with 9 HR and 47 RBI this year in 400 at-bats in Pawtucket. David is a lefty originally from Texas.
Engel Beltre:
Engel was ranked the 20th best Rangers prospect but is only in the Rookie League and is only batting .203 on the season with 5 HR and 14 RBI. Engel is very raw but has great potential. Engel is also a lefty. He has struck out 48 times in 148 at-bats this year.
Trade Evaluation:
We didn’t need Gagne for the rest of this year and we still got a very good major league ready pitcher, a back-up outfielder, and a great prospect for him.
Grade: A+
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: What position do you think the Rangers need to trade for the most?
Starting pitcher: 88%
Outfield: 10%
First baseman: 2%
All other positions: 0%
Come back next week for a description of the road trip I just took to see the Rangers in Cleveland and to see the Reds in Pittsburgh.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Lofton Traded and July Awards
This week I will analyze the Kenny Lofton trade and give my July awards.
On Friday, the Rangers traded Kenny Lofton to the Cleveland Indians for Max Ramirez.
Kenny Lofton – Even though Kenny Lofton did a good job for the Rangers this year, he was going to be gone after this season and since the Rangers are out of the race, he wasn’t going to do anything for the club. With the Indians he will be moved to left field and down to the two spot in the batting order.
Max Ramirez – This year with the Kinston Indians he hit .303 with 12 HR and 62 RBI’s. He’s in the top ten in his league in all of those stats including tied for third in RBI’s. He’s also tied for 1st in walks with Kala Kaaihue of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with 53 and 2nd in OBP with a .418 on-base percentage. In 2006 he hit .292 with 13 HR and 63 RBI’s and going into last year had career minor league numbers of .311/21/125. So far he has made it into 2 minor-league all-star games and has been the Appalachian League player of the year twice. Max is a great hitting catcher who tends to hit the ball on the ground to the left (40.5% of the time this year) or in the air to center (19.1% of the time this year). He is only 22 years old. Max has incredible potential.
Evaluation:
We didn’t need Kenny at all and we got probably one of the best catching prospects in all of baseball for him. This is a great trade as this guy might be the next Victor Martinez someday. Victor is who I would compare him to.
Grade: A+
July Awards (these are the awards that would be given if the season ended today):
Rangers MVP: Michael Young: .300, 4 HR, 57 RBI: Michael is the only person on the team other than Marlon Byrd batting .300 and he’s also 2nd on the team in RBI’s.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young: Eric Gagne: 2.16 ERA, 2-0, 16 SV, 29 K: Gagne has the most saves of anyone on the Rangers, the 2nd lowest ERA, 5th most strikeouts of Rangers relievers.
Runner-up: Ron Mahay
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart: .243, 0 HR, 3 RBI: Stewart is the only rookie who has played a decent amount of time this year.
Runner-up: Kevin Mahar
AL MVP: A-ROD NYY: .307, 35 HR, 102 RBI: A-ROD leads the league in HR and RBI, and is still batting over .300.
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez DET
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia CLE: 3.70 ERA, 13-5, 153.1 IP, 134 K: Sabathia has a good ERA, a great record, a great amount of innings pitched, and great strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Fausto Carmona CLE
AL ROY: Hideki Okajima BOS: 0.89 ERA, 2-0, 50.2 IP, 43 K: Hideki has one of the best bullpen ERA’s in baseball and has good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up Dustin Pedrioa BOS
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge, Cleveland, 60-43, .583
Runner-up: Mike Scioscia, Anaheim
NL MVP: Prince Fielder MIL: .283, 30 HR, 75 RBI: Prince leads the NL in homers and has a good average.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard PHI
NL Cy Young: Chris Young SD: 1.82 ERA, 9-3, 118.2 IP, 114 K: Chris leads all of baseball in ERA with a good record and good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Brad Penny LAD
NL ROY: Ryan Braun MIL: .356, 18 HR, 49 RBI: Braun has 18 HR in less than 60 games and has a great batting average and good RBI numbers.
Runner-up: Hunter Pence HOU
NL Manager Of the Year: Ned Yost, Milwaukee, 57-47, .538
Runner-up: Clint Hurdle, Colorado
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think was the best player that the Rangers acquired via trade in 1996?
John Burkett – 60%
Mike Stanton – 33%
Damon Buford – 7%
Cory Bailey – 0%
Bryan Eversgerd – 0%
Dwayne Hosey -0%
Come back next week for an analysis of all the Rangers trades that will be made this week. Next week’s entry will probably be a little later than usual (probably on Monday the 6th).
On Friday, the Rangers traded Kenny Lofton to the Cleveland Indians for Max Ramirez.
Kenny Lofton – Even though Kenny Lofton did a good job for the Rangers this year, he was going to be gone after this season and since the Rangers are out of the race, he wasn’t going to do anything for the club. With the Indians he will be moved to left field and down to the two spot in the batting order.
Max Ramirez – This year with the Kinston Indians he hit .303 with 12 HR and 62 RBI’s. He’s in the top ten in his league in all of those stats including tied for third in RBI’s. He’s also tied for 1st in walks with Kala Kaaihue of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with 53 and 2nd in OBP with a .418 on-base percentage. In 2006 he hit .292 with 13 HR and 63 RBI’s and going into last year had career minor league numbers of .311/21/125. So far he has made it into 2 minor-league all-star games and has been the Appalachian League player of the year twice. Max is a great hitting catcher who tends to hit the ball on the ground to the left (40.5% of the time this year) or in the air to center (19.1% of the time this year). He is only 22 years old. Max has incredible potential.
Evaluation:
We didn’t need Kenny at all and we got probably one of the best catching prospects in all of baseball for him. This is a great trade as this guy might be the next Victor Martinez someday. Victor is who I would compare him to.
Grade: A+
July Awards (these are the awards that would be given if the season ended today):
Rangers MVP: Michael Young: .300, 4 HR, 57 RBI: Michael is the only person on the team other than Marlon Byrd batting .300 and he’s also 2nd on the team in RBI’s.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young: Eric Gagne: 2.16 ERA, 2-0, 16 SV, 29 K: Gagne has the most saves of anyone on the Rangers, the 2nd lowest ERA, 5th most strikeouts of Rangers relievers.
Runner-up: Ron Mahay
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart: .243, 0 HR, 3 RBI: Stewart is the only rookie who has played a decent amount of time this year.
Runner-up: Kevin Mahar
AL MVP: A-ROD NYY: .307, 35 HR, 102 RBI: A-ROD leads the league in HR and RBI, and is still batting over .300.
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez DET
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia CLE: 3.70 ERA, 13-5, 153.1 IP, 134 K: Sabathia has a good ERA, a great record, a great amount of innings pitched, and great strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Fausto Carmona CLE
AL ROY: Hideki Okajima BOS: 0.89 ERA, 2-0, 50.2 IP, 43 K: Hideki has one of the best bullpen ERA’s in baseball and has good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up Dustin Pedrioa BOS
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge, Cleveland, 60-43, .583
Runner-up: Mike Scioscia, Anaheim
NL MVP: Prince Fielder MIL: .283, 30 HR, 75 RBI: Prince leads the NL in homers and has a good average.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard PHI
NL Cy Young: Chris Young SD: 1.82 ERA, 9-3, 118.2 IP, 114 K: Chris leads all of baseball in ERA with a good record and good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Brad Penny LAD
NL ROY: Ryan Braun MIL: .356, 18 HR, 49 RBI: Braun has 18 HR in less than 60 games and has a great batting average and good RBI numbers.
Runner-up: Hunter Pence HOU
NL Manager Of the Year: Ned Yost, Milwaukee, 57-47, .538
Runner-up: Clint Hurdle, Colorado
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think was the best player that the Rangers acquired via trade in 1996?
John Burkett – 60%
Mike Stanton – 33%
Damon Buford – 7%
Cory Bailey – 0%
Bryan Eversgerd – 0%
Dwayne Hosey -0%
Come back next week for an analysis of all the Rangers trades that will be made this week. Next week’s entry will probably be a little later than usual (probably on Monday the 6th).
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Doug Melvin Trade Analysis Part 2
This is part 2 of an analysis of the trades Doug Melvin made while he was Rangers GM. This week I will cover 1996. Each trade will be scored a win, loss, or tie. The score is based on how each player contributed to the Rangers at the major league level.
13. 1/25/96 The New York Mets traded Damon Buford to the Texas Rangers for Terrell Lowery.
Win – Terrell Lowry never played for the Mets while Damon Buford gave the Rangers one solid season batting .283 (and also one poor season when he batted .224).
Record: 4-2-7
14. 4/18/96 The Boston Red Sox traded Bryan Eversgerd to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Rudy Pemberton (April 24, 1996) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.
Tie – Bryan Eversgerd pitched 1.3 innings for the Rangers and Rudy Pemberton played 40 games for the Red Sox.
Record: 4-2-8
15. 7/31/96 The Boston Red Sox traded a player to be named later and Mike Stanton to the Texas Rangers for Mark Brandenburg and Kerry Lacy. The Boston Red Sox sent Dwayne Hosey (November 4, 1996) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.
Win – nobody pitched more than 70 innings for their team but Mike Stanton was a key part of the bullpen down the stretch for the 1996 Rangers playoff team (3.22 ERA in 22 games). Hosey never appeared for the Rangers. Brandenburg pitched decent for the Red Sox in 1996 (3.81 ERA in 29 games) but poorly in 1997 (5.49 ERA in 31 games). Lacy had a 5.59 ERA in 44 games over two seasons for the Red Sox.
Record: 5-2-8
16. 8/8/96 The Florida Marlins traded John Burkett to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later and Ryan Dempster. The Texas Rangers sent Rick Helling (September 3, 1996) to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade.
Loss – Even though John Burkett helped the Rangers to their first division title (5-2, 4.06 ERA plus a playoff win), he had an ERA over 5.00 and a record of 32-35 as a Ranger. Ryan Dempster went on to become a good, solid relief pitcher and Helling pitched 100 good innings for the Marlins.
Record: 5-3-8
17. 12/16/96 The St. Louis Cardinals traded Cory Bailey to the Texas Rangers for David Chavarria (minors).
Tie – Bailey never played for the Rangers and Chavarria never played in the majors.
Record: 5-3-9
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think was the best Rangers GM out of the last four?
Melvin: 61%
Grieve: 26%
Daniels: 9%
Hart: 4%
Come back next week for part 3 of this series unless the Rangers make a trade.
13. 1/25/96 The New York Mets traded Damon Buford to the Texas Rangers for Terrell Lowery.
Win – Terrell Lowry never played for the Mets while Damon Buford gave the Rangers one solid season batting .283 (and also one poor season when he batted .224).
Record: 4-2-7
14. 4/18/96 The Boston Red Sox traded Bryan Eversgerd to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Rudy Pemberton (April 24, 1996) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.
Tie – Bryan Eversgerd pitched 1.3 innings for the Rangers and Rudy Pemberton played 40 games for the Red Sox.
Record: 4-2-8
15. 7/31/96 The Boston Red Sox traded a player to be named later and Mike Stanton to the Texas Rangers for Mark Brandenburg and Kerry Lacy. The Boston Red Sox sent Dwayne Hosey (November 4, 1996) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.
Win – nobody pitched more than 70 innings for their team but Mike Stanton was a key part of the bullpen down the stretch for the 1996 Rangers playoff team (3.22 ERA in 22 games). Hosey never appeared for the Rangers. Brandenburg pitched decent for the Red Sox in 1996 (3.81 ERA in 29 games) but poorly in 1997 (5.49 ERA in 31 games). Lacy had a 5.59 ERA in 44 games over two seasons for the Red Sox.
Record: 5-2-8
16. 8/8/96 The Florida Marlins traded John Burkett to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later and Ryan Dempster. The Texas Rangers sent Rick Helling (September 3, 1996) to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade.
Loss – Even though John Burkett helped the Rangers to their first division title (5-2, 4.06 ERA plus a playoff win), he had an ERA over 5.00 and a record of 32-35 as a Ranger. Ryan Dempster went on to become a good, solid relief pitcher and Helling pitched 100 good innings for the Marlins.
Record: 5-3-8
17. 12/16/96 The St. Louis Cardinals traded Cory Bailey to the Texas Rangers for David Chavarria (minors).
Tie – Bailey never played for the Rangers and Chavarria never played in the majors.
Record: 5-3-9
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think was the best Rangers GM out of the last four?
Melvin: 61%
Grieve: 26%
Daniels: 9%
Hart: 4%
Come back next week for part 3 of this series unless the Rangers make a trade.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Doug Melvin Trade Analysis Part 1
This is part 1of an analysis of the trades Doug Melvin made while he was Rangers GM. Each trade will be scored a win, loss, or tie. The score is based on how each player contributed to the Rangers at the major league level.
1. 12/9/1994 The Boston Red Sox traded Otis Nixon and Luis Ortiz to the Texas Rangers for Jose Canseco.
Loss – Canseco gave the Red Sox two good years (.306AVG/24HR and .289AVG/28 HR), while Nixon gave the Rangers 1 solid year, and Ortiz hit .231 for us 1 year and 7 at-bats the next.
Record: 0-1-0
2. 12/22/1994 The San Francisco Giants traded John Burkett to the Texas Rangers for Rich Aurilia and Desi Wilson.
Loss – Rich Aurilia was an All-Star for the Giants and played there for 9 years. Desi Wilson gave the Giants one good bench year, batting .271 in 41 games. Burkett didn’t play for the Rangers until they traded for him again in 1996.
Record: 0-2-0
3. 4/14/1995 Milwaukee Brewers traded Scott Taylor to the Texas Rangers for David Hulse.
Tie - It was a trade that didn’t really matter, because Scott Taylor pitched 15.3 innings for the Rangers and David Hulse played two bad bench seasons for the Brewers (averages of .251 and .222).
Record: 0-2-1
4. 5/16/1995 The Baltimore Orioles traded Jack Voigt to the Texas Rangers for John Dettmer.
Tie – This was also a trade that didn’t really matter, because Voigt had 71 AB for the Rangers and Dettmer never played for the Orioles.
Record: 0-2-2
5. 5/18/1995 The Houston Astros traded Domingo Jean to the Texas Rangers for Roger Luce (minors).
Tie – Neither of these players played for either team.
Record: 0-2-3
6. 6/22/1995 The Cleveland Indians traded Dennis Cook to the Texas Rangers for Guillermo Mercedes (minors).
Win – The Rangers got two solid years out of Cook (ERA’s of 4.00 and 4.09) while Mercedes never made it to the majors.
Record: 1-2-3
7. 7/30/1995 The Montreal Expos traded Lou Frazier to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Hector Fajardo (August 5, 1995) to the Montreal Expos to complete the trade.
Win – The Rangers got one decent (.260) and one awful (.212) bench year from Frazier while Hector never made it to the majors with Montreal.
Record: 2-2-3
8. 8/8/1995 The Florida Marlins traded Bobby Witt to the Texas Rangers for players to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Wilson Heredia (August 11, 1995) and Scott Podsednik (October 8, 1995) to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade.
Win – The Rangers traded away someone who never played outside of the Rangers organization and Scott Podsednik, who has had two good years, for Bobby Witt, who gave the Rangers two seasons where he had winning records and one .500 year. Witt went 16-12 and pitched almost 200 innings in the Rangers 1996 playoff season.
Record: 3-2-3
9. 8/16/1995 The Cincinnati Reds traded Craig Worthington to the Texas Rangers for Stephen Larkin and cash.
Tie – This trade means absolutely nothing because these players combined for 90 at-bats after being traded.
Record: 3-2-4
10. 8/31/1995 The Toronto Blue Jays sent Candy Maldonado to the Texas Rangers as part of a conditional deal.
Tie – This trade doesn’t mean much either as Candy only had 30 at-bats in a Ranger uniform.
Record: 3-2-5
11. 8/31/1995 The Boston Red Sox traded Chris Howard to the Texas Rangers for Jack Voigt.
Tie – Chris Howard pitched four innings for the Rangers and Jack Voigt never pitched for the Red Sox.
Record: 3-2-6
12. 12/1/1995 The San Francisco Giants sent Rikkert Faneyte to the Texas Rangers as part of a conditional deal.
Tie – Faneyte only had 8 career games.
Record: 3-2-7
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should have been the AL All-Star Final Vote winner?
Jeremy Bonderman – 27%
Roy Halladay – 27%
Hideki Okajima – 27%
Kelvim Escobar – 13%
Pat Neshek – 7%
Come back next week for part 2 of this series unless the Rangers make a trade.
1. 12/9/1994 The Boston Red Sox traded Otis Nixon and Luis Ortiz to the Texas Rangers for Jose Canseco.
Loss – Canseco gave the Red Sox two good years (.306AVG/24HR and .289AVG/28 HR), while Nixon gave the Rangers 1 solid year, and Ortiz hit .231 for us 1 year and 7 at-bats the next.
Record: 0-1-0
2. 12/22/1994 The San Francisco Giants traded John Burkett to the Texas Rangers for Rich Aurilia and Desi Wilson.
Loss – Rich Aurilia was an All-Star for the Giants and played there for 9 years. Desi Wilson gave the Giants one good bench year, batting .271 in 41 games. Burkett didn’t play for the Rangers until they traded for him again in 1996.
Record: 0-2-0
3. 4/14/1995 Milwaukee Brewers traded Scott Taylor to the Texas Rangers for David Hulse.
Tie - It was a trade that didn’t really matter, because Scott Taylor pitched 15.3 innings for the Rangers and David Hulse played two bad bench seasons for the Brewers (averages of .251 and .222).
Record: 0-2-1
4. 5/16/1995 The Baltimore Orioles traded Jack Voigt to the Texas Rangers for John Dettmer.
Tie – This was also a trade that didn’t really matter, because Voigt had 71 AB for the Rangers and Dettmer never played for the Orioles.
Record: 0-2-2
5. 5/18/1995 The Houston Astros traded Domingo Jean to the Texas Rangers for Roger Luce (minors).
Tie – Neither of these players played for either team.
Record: 0-2-3
6. 6/22/1995 The Cleveland Indians traded Dennis Cook to the Texas Rangers for Guillermo Mercedes (minors).
Win – The Rangers got two solid years out of Cook (ERA’s of 4.00 and 4.09) while Mercedes never made it to the majors.
Record: 1-2-3
7. 7/30/1995 The Montreal Expos traded Lou Frazier to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Hector Fajardo (August 5, 1995) to the Montreal Expos to complete the trade.
Win – The Rangers got one decent (.260) and one awful (.212) bench year from Frazier while Hector never made it to the majors with Montreal.
Record: 2-2-3
8. 8/8/1995 The Florida Marlins traded Bobby Witt to the Texas Rangers for players to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Wilson Heredia (August 11, 1995) and Scott Podsednik (October 8, 1995) to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade.
Win – The Rangers traded away someone who never played outside of the Rangers organization and Scott Podsednik, who has had two good years, for Bobby Witt, who gave the Rangers two seasons where he had winning records and one .500 year. Witt went 16-12 and pitched almost 200 innings in the Rangers 1996 playoff season.
Record: 3-2-3
9. 8/16/1995 The Cincinnati Reds traded Craig Worthington to the Texas Rangers for Stephen Larkin and cash.
Tie – This trade means absolutely nothing because these players combined for 90 at-bats after being traded.
Record: 3-2-4
10. 8/31/1995 The Toronto Blue Jays sent Candy Maldonado to the Texas Rangers as part of a conditional deal.
Tie – This trade doesn’t mean much either as Candy only had 30 at-bats in a Ranger uniform.
Record: 3-2-5
11. 8/31/1995 The Boston Red Sox traded Chris Howard to the Texas Rangers for Jack Voigt.
Tie – Chris Howard pitched four innings for the Rangers and Jack Voigt never pitched for the Red Sox.
Record: 3-2-6
12. 12/1/1995 The San Francisco Giants sent Rikkert Faneyte to the Texas Rangers as part of a conditional deal.
Tie – Faneyte only had 8 career games.
Record: 3-2-7
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should have been the AL All-Star Final Vote winner?
Jeremy Bonderman – 27%
Roy Halladay – 27%
Hideki Okajima – 27%
Kelvim Escobar – 13%
Pat Neshek – 7%
Come back next week for part 2 of this series unless the Rangers make a trade.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Newberg Night Summary
This week I will write about Newberg Night at the Ballpark (Friday night July 6th).
Newberg Night started at 4:30 in the Legends of the Game Museum with a Q&A session with Will Carroll. Will does a column called ‘Under the Knife’ for Baseball Prospectus (http://www.baseballprospectus.com) where he describes and analyzes different baseball injuries. He has also written a couple of books, including ‘The Juice’. For the last few Newberg Days at the Ballpark, Will has flown to Dallas to do Q&A sessions and is always very interesting.
The year, Will answered questions for about 30 minutes, including these:
Q: Out of all the current Rangers injuries, are there any that might effect the players long-term?
A: Will mentioned Mark Teixeira, just because he’s never been injured before, so we don’t know how he’ll recover. He also mentioned Thomas Diamond, Vicente Padilla, and Brandon McCarthy. He said that Hank Blalock’s injury is common, so he should have an easy comeback.
Q: Are there some teams that are better at preventing injuries than others and if so, what do they do differently?
A: Will said that there is a difference. Some teams are significantly better because they care and put money into it. Some teams don’t care and are injury plagued. He mentioned Tampa Bay and Arizona as two teams that have done it right. He said that Texas is in the middle. Minnesota was an example of a team that has put almost no money into this area.
At 5:00 Jeff and Cindy Kuster did a presentation on the Hello Win Column Fund. Cindy is the daughter of Mark Holtz, who used to broadcast for the Rangers. They have a charity to help people with cancer. They showed some information about what the charity is for and told some stories about some of the people they helped. They then gave away a bunch of prizes to people who had donated money to the fund (you could donate money as you entered the museum). The best prize was having Will Carroll on the phone during your fantasy draft. I got to meet Jeff and Cindy later in the evening and they were both very friendly.
At 5:30, Jon Daniels came to start his Q&A session. Here are some of the highlights.
Q: Who in the Rangers minor league system do you think has the best potential at each position?
A:
P: Eric Hurley (he also mentioned Kasey Kiker)
1B: Jon said that the answer is probably a person who’s not playing first base right now. So he asked me who I thought it should be. I said Nate Gold and he said we’d go with that answer.
2B: German Duran
3B: John Whittleman
SS: Marcus Lemon (he also mentioned Joaquin Arias)
OF: John Mayberry (he also mentioned Jason Botts)
C: Taylor Teagarden (he also mentioned Kevin Richardson)
Q: What is the deepest position in the minor leagues?
A: Catcher or 3rd base
Q: What happened to Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando?
A: They were paid money by an organized group of Dominican Republic criminals to marry women so that those women could get into the US. The US government found out about it and banned Beltre and Ogando from getting into the US. Jon said that he though the punishment was too much for the crime.
Q: What do you think have been the three best trades you’ve made so far in your career?
A: Jon said that he doesn’t like to grade himself and would leave it up to the fans to decide.
Q: When you’re thinking about making a trade, what are the criteria you consider?
A: You need to know where you are as a club, be comfortable with what you’re losing, and know what you’re getting.
Q: Who do you think are the most likely September call-ups?
A: Botts, Cruz, and Hurley.
Other interesting comments:
- Jon said that Eric Gagne was signed to a short-term deal with hopes for a long-term fit.
- Jason Botts is not in the majors yet because they’re not ready to give him full-time at-bats.
- Eric Hurley might be a September call-up because he’s rule-5 eligible after this year. But after the Q&A session he sent Jamey a correction that Eric is not rule 5 eligible until after next season, so maybe that would change Jon’s answer.
- Trade rumors are almost never true, but they’re usually based on some truth.
- Edinson Volquez has a decent chance of being back in the majors this year.
- When asked about the Danks/McCarthy trade, Jon said that he thought McCarthy was both closer to being ready to be a big major league contributor and also had more upside.
- He said that the media reports about a player rebellion against Ron Washington weren’t true. He seemed irritated by some of the media who reported the problems. He called the reports ‘ridiculous’ and thought there were some irresponsible reports.
- Padilla will make 1 or 2 rehab starts before coming back.
- Blalock won’t be back for 4-6 weeks.
- Teixeira may be back for the first game after the All-Star break.
- Once some people come back from injury, there’s a good change Metcalf will be sent back down so that he can have regular playing time.
- When asked to name some players he’s excited about, Jon mentioned Wilmer Font (rookie league RHP) and Eric Fry (rookie league OF).
- Benoit is responding to Washington’s management style as well as anyone.
- The Rangers considered signing Bonds but fan reaction was part of the consideration when making a decision.
- He sees Kasey Kiker as a starter because he has three pitches.
At about 6:45, after the interviews, we went to our suites to watch the game. I was in the same suite as Scott Lucas and his wife Courtney, Jamey Newberg, Will Carroll, and Eleanor Czajka. I enjoyed talking to all of them and they were all really nice. It was really good to meet Scott in person and we talked for a long time.
During the middle of the game, I was on TV, thanks to Jamey. Jim Knox was going to interview Jamey and asked him what the best question was from the Daniels Q&A. Jamey pointed at me and said that I had the best question and that they should get me on. So Jim agreed and I was on TV. I read my question about who had the best potential in the minor leagues at each position and Jim asked me to give the answer for pitcher (Eric Hurley and Kasey Kiker).
It was a close game and great for the Rangers. In the bottom of the 3rd Metcalf doubled and later got moved over to 3rd. Then Ramon Vazquez got a sac fly and the Rangers took a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Marlon Byrd walked with two outs. The next batter, Brad Wilkerson homered into the home run porch, so the Rangers took a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 7th the Orioles had two runs of there own. Going into the top of the 9th the Rangers had a 3-2 lead. Then Gagne got his 1st blown save of the year and it went to extras, tied at 3. In the bottom of the 10th Travis Metcalf got a single to start the inning. Jerry Hairston then bunted him over. Ramon Vazquez would then walk, bringing up Michael Young. Then, on the 1st pitch of the at-bat Michael Young singled past the 3rd baseman for a walk-off single.
My best friend Reid Stovall has started a blog mainly about sports and just interviewed me. You can check it out at http://reidreport123.blogspot.com.
Last week’s poll results:
Who do you think should be the Rangers MVP?
Michael Young – 38%
Marlon Byrd – 23%
Sammy Sosa – 14%
Kenny Lofton – 5%
Mark Teixeira – 5%
Other – 5%
Jerry Hairston – 2%
Ian Kinsler -2%
Gerald Laird – 2%
Ramon Vazquez -2%
Brad Wilkerson – 2%
Frank Catalanotto – 0%
Victor Diaz – 0%
Chris Stewart -0%
Come back next week for part 1 of a series analyzing all of Doug Melvin’s trades unless the Rangers make a trade that I need to analyze.
Newberg Night started at 4:30 in the Legends of the Game Museum with a Q&A session with Will Carroll. Will does a column called ‘Under the Knife’ for Baseball Prospectus (http://www.baseballprospectus.com) where he describes and analyzes different baseball injuries. He has also written a couple of books, including ‘The Juice’. For the last few Newberg Days at the Ballpark, Will has flown to Dallas to do Q&A sessions and is always very interesting.
The year, Will answered questions for about 30 minutes, including these:
Q: Out of all the current Rangers injuries, are there any that might effect the players long-term?
A: Will mentioned Mark Teixeira, just because he’s never been injured before, so we don’t know how he’ll recover. He also mentioned Thomas Diamond, Vicente Padilla, and Brandon McCarthy. He said that Hank Blalock’s injury is common, so he should have an easy comeback.
Q: Are there some teams that are better at preventing injuries than others and if so, what do they do differently?
A: Will said that there is a difference. Some teams are significantly better because they care and put money into it. Some teams don’t care and are injury plagued. He mentioned Tampa Bay and Arizona as two teams that have done it right. He said that Texas is in the middle. Minnesota was an example of a team that has put almost no money into this area.
At 5:00 Jeff and Cindy Kuster did a presentation on the Hello Win Column Fund. Cindy is the daughter of Mark Holtz, who used to broadcast for the Rangers. They have a charity to help people with cancer. They showed some information about what the charity is for and told some stories about some of the people they helped. They then gave away a bunch of prizes to people who had donated money to the fund (you could donate money as you entered the museum). The best prize was having Will Carroll on the phone during your fantasy draft. I got to meet Jeff and Cindy later in the evening and they were both very friendly.
At 5:30, Jon Daniels came to start his Q&A session. Here are some of the highlights.
Q: Who in the Rangers minor league system do you think has the best potential at each position?
A:
P: Eric Hurley (he also mentioned Kasey Kiker)
1B: Jon said that the answer is probably a person who’s not playing first base right now. So he asked me who I thought it should be. I said Nate Gold and he said we’d go with that answer.
2B: German Duran
3B: John Whittleman
SS: Marcus Lemon (he also mentioned Joaquin Arias)
OF: John Mayberry (he also mentioned Jason Botts)
C: Taylor Teagarden (he also mentioned Kevin Richardson)
Q: What is the deepest position in the minor leagues?
A: Catcher or 3rd base
Q: What happened to Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando?
A: They were paid money by an organized group of Dominican Republic criminals to marry women so that those women could get into the US. The US government found out about it and banned Beltre and Ogando from getting into the US. Jon said that he though the punishment was too much for the crime.
Q: What do you think have been the three best trades you’ve made so far in your career?
A: Jon said that he doesn’t like to grade himself and would leave it up to the fans to decide.
Q: When you’re thinking about making a trade, what are the criteria you consider?
A: You need to know where you are as a club, be comfortable with what you’re losing, and know what you’re getting.
Q: Who do you think are the most likely September call-ups?
A: Botts, Cruz, and Hurley.
Other interesting comments:
- Jon said that Eric Gagne was signed to a short-term deal with hopes for a long-term fit.
- Jason Botts is not in the majors yet because they’re not ready to give him full-time at-bats.
- Eric Hurley might be a September call-up because he’s rule-5 eligible after this year. But after the Q&A session he sent Jamey a correction that Eric is not rule 5 eligible until after next season, so maybe that would change Jon’s answer.
- Trade rumors are almost never true, but they’re usually based on some truth.
- Edinson Volquez has a decent chance of being back in the majors this year.
- When asked about the Danks/McCarthy trade, Jon said that he thought McCarthy was both closer to being ready to be a big major league contributor and also had more upside.
- He said that the media reports about a player rebellion against Ron Washington weren’t true. He seemed irritated by some of the media who reported the problems. He called the reports ‘ridiculous’ and thought there were some irresponsible reports.
- Padilla will make 1 or 2 rehab starts before coming back.
- Blalock won’t be back for 4-6 weeks.
- Teixeira may be back for the first game after the All-Star break.
- Once some people come back from injury, there’s a good change Metcalf will be sent back down so that he can have regular playing time.
- When asked to name some players he’s excited about, Jon mentioned Wilmer Font (rookie league RHP) and Eric Fry (rookie league OF).
- Benoit is responding to Washington’s management style as well as anyone.
- The Rangers considered signing Bonds but fan reaction was part of the consideration when making a decision.
- He sees Kasey Kiker as a starter because he has three pitches.
At about 6:45, after the interviews, we went to our suites to watch the game. I was in the same suite as Scott Lucas and his wife Courtney, Jamey Newberg, Will Carroll, and Eleanor Czajka. I enjoyed talking to all of them and they were all really nice. It was really good to meet Scott in person and we talked for a long time.
During the middle of the game, I was on TV, thanks to Jamey. Jim Knox was going to interview Jamey and asked him what the best question was from the Daniels Q&A. Jamey pointed at me and said that I had the best question and that they should get me on. So Jim agreed and I was on TV. I read my question about who had the best potential in the minor leagues at each position and Jim asked me to give the answer for pitcher (Eric Hurley and Kasey Kiker).
It was a close game and great for the Rangers. In the bottom of the 3rd Metcalf doubled and later got moved over to 3rd. Then Ramon Vazquez got a sac fly and the Rangers took a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Marlon Byrd walked with two outs. The next batter, Brad Wilkerson homered into the home run porch, so the Rangers took a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 7th the Orioles had two runs of there own. Going into the top of the 9th the Rangers had a 3-2 lead. Then Gagne got his 1st blown save of the year and it went to extras, tied at 3. In the bottom of the 10th Travis Metcalf got a single to start the inning. Jerry Hairston then bunted him over. Ramon Vazquez would then walk, bringing up Michael Young. Then, on the 1st pitch of the at-bat Michael Young singled past the 3rd baseman for a walk-off single.
My best friend Reid Stovall has started a blog mainly about sports and just interviewed me. You can check it out at http://reidreport123.blogspot.com.
Last week’s poll results:
Who do you think should be the Rangers MVP?
Michael Young – 38%
Marlon Byrd – 23%
Sammy Sosa – 14%
Kenny Lofton – 5%
Mark Teixeira – 5%
Other – 5%
Jerry Hairston – 2%
Ian Kinsler -2%
Gerald Laird – 2%
Ramon Vazquez -2%
Brad Wilkerson – 2%
Frank Catalanotto – 0%
Victor Diaz – 0%
Chris Stewart -0%
Come back next week for part 1 of a series analyzing all of Doug Melvin’s trades unless the Rangers make a trade that I need to analyze.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Midseason Awards
This week I will do my midseason awards.
Rangers:
Rangers MVP: Michael Young: .295 AVG 4 HR 48 RBI
Runner-up: Kenny Lofton
Rangers CY Young: Akinori Otsuka: 2-1 W-L 2.64 ERA 23 K 4 S
Runner-up: CJ Wilson
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart (in Oklahoma): .243 AVG 0 HR 3 RBI
Runner-up: Travis Metcalf
AL:
AL MVP: A-ROD: .334 AVG 28 HR 79 RBI
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez
AL CY Young: Dan Haren: 9-2 W-L 1.91 ERA 93 K
Runner-up: CC Sabathia
AL ROY: Dustin Pedrioa: .321 AVG 3 HR 23 RBI
Runner-up: Reggie Willits
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge: Cleveland Indians 47-32 +0.5
Runner-up: Mike Hargrove: Seattle
NL:
NL MVP: Matt Holliday: .348 AVG 13 HR 61 RBI
Runner-up: Ken Griffey
NL CY Young: Brad Penny: 10-1 W-L 2.04 ERA 70 K
Runner-up: Cole Hamels
NL ROY: Hunter Pence: .336 AVG 8 HR 35 RBI
Runner-up: Troy Tulowitzki
NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost: Milwaukee Brewers +6.5
Runner-up: Bob Melvin: Arizona
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should be the Rangers minor league MVP out of my team MVPs and runner-ups?
Duran – 43%
Botts – 13%
Teagarden – 13%
Whittleman – 13%
Hulett – 10%
Davis – 7%
Manriquez – 0%
Tracy – 0%
Come back next week for a write-up of Newberg Night at the Ballpark.
Rangers:
Rangers MVP: Michael Young: .295 AVG 4 HR 48 RBI
Runner-up: Kenny Lofton
Rangers CY Young: Akinori Otsuka: 2-1 W-L 2.64 ERA 23 K 4 S
Runner-up: CJ Wilson
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart (in Oklahoma): .243 AVG 0 HR 3 RBI
Runner-up: Travis Metcalf
AL:
AL MVP: A-ROD: .334 AVG 28 HR 79 RBI
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez
AL CY Young: Dan Haren: 9-2 W-L 1.91 ERA 93 K
Runner-up: CC Sabathia
AL ROY: Dustin Pedrioa: .321 AVG 3 HR 23 RBI
Runner-up: Reggie Willits
AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge: Cleveland Indians 47-32 +0.5
Runner-up: Mike Hargrove: Seattle
NL:
NL MVP: Matt Holliday: .348 AVG 13 HR 61 RBI
Runner-up: Ken Griffey
NL CY Young: Brad Penny: 10-1 W-L 2.04 ERA 70 K
Runner-up: Cole Hamels
NL ROY: Hunter Pence: .336 AVG 8 HR 35 RBI
Runner-up: Troy Tulowitzki
NL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost: Milwaukee Brewers +6.5
Runner-up: Bob Melvin: Arizona
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should be the Rangers minor league MVP out of my team MVPs and runner-ups?
Duran – 43%
Botts – 13%
Teagarden – 13%
Whittleman – 13%
Hulett – 10%
Davis – 7%
Manriquez – 0%
Tracy – 0%
Come back next week for a write-up of Newberg Night at the Ballpark.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Rangers Minor League Report
This week for every team in the Rangers farm system (except for Spokane and the Arizona League Rangers who just started their seasons), I will give the team’s record, their players who are in the top 15 in stat categories, and the percentage that every player on the 40-man roster who’s in the minors has of being called up to the majors this season. I will also give my opinion on who I think should be each team’s award winners and who I think should be their League’s award winners.
Oklahoma Redhawks:
Right now the Redhawks are 4.0 games back (GB) with a 35-38 record
Redhawks league leaders:
- Jason Botts leads the league in walks with 53
- Freddy Guzman is tied for 1st in stolen bases with 21
- Mike Wood is 1st in WHIP with 0.83
- Mike Wood leads the league in ERA with a 2.28 ERA
- Jason Botts is tied for 10th in RBI’s with 50
- Nate Gold is 12th in the league in RBI’s with 48
- Tug Hulett is 12th in the league in walks with 35
Redhawks MVP: Jason Botts (.303 AVG, .907 OPS, 7 HR, 52 RBI)
Runner-up: Tug Hulett
Redhawks Cy Young: Mike Wood (6-1, 2.28 ERA)
Runner-up: John Koronka
League MVP: Micah Hoffpauir IOW
Runner-up: Val Pascucci ALB
League Cy Young: Kasey Olenberger SLC
Runner-up: Yovani Gallardo NAS (now in majors)
Redhawks on the 40-man roster:
Jason Botts:
Botts will be one of the 1st people they call up after a trade and will definitely be a September call-up if he’s not already up.
Percentage chance of being called up: 100%
Nelson Cruz:
Nelson Cruz will probably be called up before September, but if not is a September call-up so that he can get more major league experience.
Percentage: 100%
Scott Feldman:
He’s been called up and sent down all year and it will happen again and if not, he’s a definite September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Freddy Guzman:
Freddy has a good chance of being called up because he’s a former major league outfielder.
Percentage: 54.3%
John Koronka:
John is probably going to make a few more spot starts, but if not, he’ll be a sure September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Wes Littleton:
Wes is doing well in the minors and has already pitched in the majors this year. He’ll be a sure September call-up if not earlier.
Percentage: 100%
Kevin Mahar:
Kevin will probably be called up in September for some more experience.
Percentage: 87.6%
AJ Murray:
AJ is doing decent in the minors and will probably get called up in September for more experience.
Percentage: 94.3%
John Rheinecker:
John is doing decent and will probably be a September call-up.
Percentage: 72.4%
Chris Stewart:
Since Stewart was already up he’ll probably be a September call-up.
Percentage: 79.6%
Mike Wood:
Mike will make more spot starts and will be a September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Frisco RoughRiders:
The RoughRiders won the 1st half so they are in the playoffs. Right now they are 1.0 GB with a 3-2 record in the second half.
RoughRiders league leaders:
- Eric Hurley leads the league in WHIP with 1.11
- Anthony Webster leads the league in stolen bases with 15
- Eric Hurley, Doug Mathis and Luis Mendoza are tied for 1st in wins with 7
- German Duran is 2nd in HR’s with 14
- Eric Hurley is 2nd in K’s with 76
- German Duran is tied for 2nd in AVG, batting .327
- Jesse Ingram is 3rd in saves with 14
- German Duran is tied for 3rd in RBI’s with 43
- Eric Hurley is 4th in IP with 88.2.
- Eric Hurley is tied for 4th in ERA with a 3.25 ERA
- Salomon Manriquez is tied for 5th in HR’s with 12
- Steve Murphy is 6th in AVG, batting .318
- Edinson Volquez is tied for 6th in wins with 6
- Casey Bejamin is 7th in walks with 36
- Kevin Richardson is tied for 8th in HR’s with 10
- Doug Mathis is 9th in ERA with a 3.66 ERA
- Kea Kometani is tied for 10th in saves with 4
- Armando Galarraga is tied for 10th in wins with 5
- Brandon Boggs is tied for 12th in HR’s with 9
- Salomon Manriquez is tied for 12th in RBI’s with 39
- Casey Benjamin and Steve Murphy are tied for 14th in RBI’s with 37
- Armando Galarraga is tied for 14th in K’s with 55.
RoughRiders MVP: German Duran (.327 AVG, .951 OPS, 14 HR, 44 RBI)
Runner-up: Salomon Manriquez
RoughRiders CY Young: Eric Hurley (7-2, 3.25 ERA)
Runner up: Doug Mathis
League MVP: German Duran, Frisco
Runner-up: Joe Mather SPR
League Cy Young: Eric Hurley, Frisco
Runner-up: Chance Douglass COR
RoughRiders on the 40-man roster:
Armando Galarraga:
Armando probably won’t be called up this year.
Percentage: 0%
Edinson Volquez:
Edinson might get a September call-up if does really well the rest of this season.
Percentage: 46.9%
Bakersfield Blaze:
The Blaze lost in the 1st half. Right now they are 3.0 GB with a 0-3 record in the second half.
Blaze league leaders:
- John Mayberry is 3rd in home runs with 16 and leads the Rangers system
- Taylor Teagarden is 8th in walks with 41
- Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden are tied for 9th in homeruns with 12
- Taylor Teagarden is 10th in batting average, batting .313
- Ronald Bay is tied for 10th in strikeouts with 64
- Kendy Batista is 11th in WHIP with a 1.23 WHIP
- Chris Davis is tied for 11th in RBI’s with 48
- Andrew Walker is 12th in IP, pitching 82.1 innings
- Kendy Batista is tied for 13th in strikeouts with 60
- Truan Mehl is tied for 14th in stolen bases with 11
- John Mayberry is 15th in runs with 47
- Andrew Walker is tied for 15th in WHIP with a 1.36 WHIP
- Ryan Knippschild and Scott Shoemaker are tied for 15th in saves with 3
Blaze MVP: Taylor Teagarden (.311 AVG, 1.052 OPS, 12 HR, 39 RBI)
Runner-up: Chris Davis
Blaze Cy Young: Kendy Batista (3-1, 4.23 ERA)
Runner-up: Michael Schlact
League MVP: Bubba Bell LNC
Runner-up: Kyle Blanks LAK
League Cy Young: Manny Ayala LAK
Runner-up: Brandon Hynick MOD
Clinton Lumberkings:
The Lumberkings were a wildcard in the 1st half so they are in the playoffs. Right now they are 0.0 GB with a 2-1 record in the second half.
Lumberkings league leaders:
- Chad Tracy leads the league in RBI’s with 58
- Michael Ballard is tied for 1st for wins with 9
- John Whittleman is 2nd in walks with 45
- Craig Gentry is 3rd in stolen bases with 21
- John Whittleman is tied for 3rd in homeruns with 13
- John Whittleman is tied for 4th in runs with 45
- Jose Vallejo is tied for 4th in stolen bases with 20
- Zachary Phillips and Omar Poveda are tied for 5th in the league for wins with 5
- Zachary Phillips is 6th in strikeouts with 79
- KC Herren is 6th in batting average, batting .325
- John Whittleman is 6th in RBI’s with 46
- Omar Poveda is tied for 7th in WHIP with a 1.06 WHIP
- John Whittleman is 9th in batting average, batting .317
- Jose Vallejo is 9th in runs with 42
- Zachary Phillips is tied for 10th in ERA with a 2.62 ERA
- Omar Poveda is 11th in IP, pitching 78.2 innings
- Omar Poveda is tied for 12th in ERA with a 2.63 ERA
- Marcus Lemon is 13th in walks with 30
- Omar Poveda is tied for 13th in strikeouts with 68
- Chad Tracy is tied for 13th in homeruns with 8
- Glenn Swanson is tied for 15th in wins with 6
Lumberkings MVP: John Whittleman (.317 AVG, .992 OPS, 13 HR, 46 RBI)Runner-up: Chad Tracy
Lumberkings Cy Young: Omar Poveda (7-2, 2.63 ERA)
Runner-up: Zachary Phillips
League MVP: Brandon Buckman QC
Runner-up: John Whittleman BAK
League Cy Young: Rafael Gonzalez DAY
Runner-up: Brett Anderson SOU
Last week’s poll results:
Question: Who do you think is the Rangers best draft pick out of the top 5?
Blake Beaven – 45%
Michael Main – 36%
Julio Borbon – 13%
Neil Ramirez – 6%
Tommy Hunter – 0%
Come back next week for my mid-season awards.
Oklahoma Redhawks:
Right now the Redhawks are 4.0 games back (GB) with a 35-38 record
Redhawks league leaders:
- Jason Botts leads the league in walks with 53
- Freddy Guzman is tied for 1st in stolen bases with 21
- Mike Wood is 1st in WHIP with 0.83
- Mike Wood leads the league in ERA with a 2.28 ERA
- Jason Botts is tied for 10th in RBI’s with 50
- Nate Gold is 12th in the league in RBI’s with 48
- Tug Hulett is 12th in the league in walks with 35
Redhawks MVP: Jason Botts (.303 AVG, .907 OPS, 7 HR, 52 RBI)
Runner-up: Tug Hulett
Redhawks Cy Young: Mike Wood (6-1, 2.28 ERA)
Runner-up: John Koronka
League MVP: Micah Hoffpauir IOW
Runner-up: Val Pascucci ALB
League Cy Young: Kasey Olenberger SLC
Runner-up: Yovani Gallardo NAS (now in majors)
Redhawks on the 40-man roster:
Jason Botts:
Botts will be one of the 1st people they call up after a trade and will definitely be a September call-up if he’s not already up.
Percentage chance of being called up: 100%
Nelson Cruz:
Nelson Cruz will probably be called up before September, but if not is a September call-up so that he can get more major league experience.
Percentage: 100%
Scott Feldman:
He’s been called up and sent down all year and it will happen again and if not, he’s a definite September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Freddy Guzman:
Freddy has a good chance of being called up because he’s a former major league outfielder.
Percentage: 54.3%
John Koronka:
John is probably going to make a few more spot starts, but if not, he’ll be a sure September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Wes Littleton:
Wes is doing well in the minors and has already pitched in the majors this year. He’ll be a sure September call-up if not earlier.
Percentage: 100%
Kevin Mahar:
Kevin will probably be called up in September for some more experience.
Percentage: 87.6%
AJ Murray:
AJ is doing decent in the minors and will probably get called up in September for more experience.
Percentage: 94.3%
John Rheinecker:
John is doing decent and will probably be a September call-up.
Percentage: 72.4%
Chris Stewart:
Since Stewart was already up he’ll probably be a September call-up.
Percentage: 79.6%
Mike Wood:
Mike will make more spot starts and will be a September call-up.
Percentage: 100%
Frisco RoughRiders:
The RoughRiders won the 1st half so they are in the playoffs. Right now they are 1.0 GB with a 3-2 record in the second half.
RoughRiders league leaders:
- Eric Hurley leads the league in WHIP with 1.11
- Anthony Webster leads the league in stolen bases with 15
- Eric Hurley, Doug Mathis and Luis Mendoza are tied for 1st in wins with 7
- German Duran is 2nd in HR’s with 14
- Eric Hurley is 2nd in K’s with 76
- German Duran is tied for 2nd in AVG, batting .327
- Jesse Ingram is 3rd in saves with 14
- German Duran is tied for 3rd in RBI’s with 43
- Eric Hurley is 4th in IP with 88.2.
- Eric Hurley is tied for 4th in ERA with a 3.25 ERA
- Salomon Manriquez is tied for 5th in HR’s with 12
- Steve Murphy is 6th in AVG, batting .318
- Edinson Volquez is tied for 6th in wins with 6
- Casey Bejamin is 7th in walks with 36
- Kevin Richardson is tied for 8th in HR’s with 10
- Doug Mathis is 9th in ERA with a 3.66 ERA
- Kea Kometani is tied for 10th in saves with 4
- Armando Galarraga is tied for 10th in wins with 5
- Brandon Boggs is tied for 12th in HR’s with 9
- Salomon Manriquez is tied for 12th in RBI’s with 39
- Casey Benjamin and Steve Murphy are tied for 14th in RBI’s with 37
- Armando Galarraga is tied for 14th in K’s with 55.
RoughRiders MVP: German Duran (.327 AVG, .951 OPS, 14 HR, 44 RBI)
Runner-up: Salomon Manriquez
RoughRiders CY Young: Eric Hurley (7-2, 3.25 ERA)
Runner up: Doug Mathis
League MVP: German Duran, Frisco
Runner-up: Joe Mather SPR
League Cy Young: Eric Hurley, Frisco
Runner-up: Chance Douglass COR
RoughRiders on the 40-man roster:
Armando Galarraga:
Armando probably won’t be called up this year.
Percentage: 0%
Edinson Volquez:
Edinson might get a September call-up if does really well the rest of this season.
Percentage: 46.9%
Bakersfield Blaze:
The Blaze lost in the 1st half. Right now they are 3.0 GB with a 0-3 record in the second half.
Blaze league leaders:
- John Mayberry is 3rd in home runs with 16 and leads the Rangers system
- Taylor Teagarden is 8th in walks with 41
- Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden are tied for 9th in homeruns with 12
- Taylor Teagarden is 10th in batting average, batting .313
- Ronald Bay is tied for 10th in strikeouts with 64
- Kendy Batista is 11th in WHIP with a 1.23 WHIP
- Chris Davis is tied for 11th in RBI’s with 48
- Andrew Walker is 12th in IP, pitching 82.1 innings
- Kendy Batista is tied for 13th in strikeouts with 60
- Truan Mehl is tied for 14th in stolen bases with 11
- John Mayberry is 15th in runs with 47
- Andrew Walker is tied for 15th in WHIP with a 1.36 WHIP
- Ryan Knippschild and Scott Shoemaker are tied for 15th in saves with 3
Blaze MVP: Taylor Teagarden (.311 AVG, 1.052 OPS, 12 HR, 39 RBI)
Runner-up: Chris Davis
Blaze Cy Young: Kendy Batista (3-1, 4.23 ERA)
Runner-up: Michael Schlact
League MVP: Bubba Bell LNC
Runner-up: Kyle Blanks LAK
League Cy Young: Manny Ayala LAK
Runner-up: Brandon Hynick MOD
Clinton Lumberkings:
The Lumberkings were a wildcard in the 1st half so they are in the playoffs. Right now they are 0.0 GB with a 2-1 record in the second half.
Lumberkings league leaders:
- Chad Tracy leads the league in RBI’s with 58
- Michael Ballard is tied for 1st for wins with 9
- John Whittleman is 2nd in walks with 45
- Craig Gentry is 3rd in stolen bases with 21
- John Whittleman is tied for 3rd in homeruns with 13
- John Whittleman is tied for 4th in runs with 45
- Jose Vallejo is tied for 4th in stolen bases with 20
- Zachary Phillips and Omar Poveda are tied for 5th in the league for wins with 5
- Zachary Phillips is 6th in strikeouts with 79
- KC Herren is 6th in batting average, batting .325
- John Whittleman is 6th in RBI’s with 46
- Omar Poveda is tied for 7th in WHIP with a 1.06 WHIP
- John Whittleman is 9th in batting average, batting .317
- Jose Vallejo is 9th in runs with 42
- Zachary Phillips is tied for 10th in ERA with a 2.62 ERA
- Omar Poveda is 11th in IP, pitching 78.2 innings
- Omar Poveda is tied for 12th in ERA with a 2.63 ERA
- Marcus Lemon is 13th in walks with 30
- Omar Poveda is tied for 13th in strikeouts with 68
- Chad Tracy is tied for 13th in homeruns with 8
- Glenn Swanson is tied for 15th in wins with 6
Lumberkings MVP: John Whittleman (.317 AVG, .992 OPS, 13 HR, 46 RBI)Runner-up: Chad Tracy
Lumberkings Cy Young: Omar Poveda (7-2, 2.63 ERA)
Runner-up: Zachary Phillips
League MVP: Brandon Buckman QC
Runner-up: John Whittleman BAK
League Cy Young: Rafael Gonzalez DAY
Runner-up: Brett Anderson SOU
Last week’s poll results:
Question: Who do you think is the Rangers best draft pick out of the top 5?
Blake Beaven – 45%
Michael Main – 36%
Julio Borbon – 13%
Neil Ramirez – 6%
Tommy Hunter – 0%
Come back next week for my mid-season awards.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Draft Analysis and Melhuse Trade
I just got back from a vacation in Myrtle Beach so am posting for the first time this month. My grandparents have a condo in Myrtle Beach and we go there every year. We had a great trip which included one baseball game. We saw the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (an Atlanta Braves class high-A team) play the Lynchburg Hillcats (Pittsburgh Pirates) and beat them 5-3. The Pelicans were down 3-2 but scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th to get the win.
If you’re interested in reading any of my past interviews, I’ve created links to all of them on the left-hand side of my blog, under the Rangers Links section.
This week I will provide information on the Rangers top 5 draft picks and analyze the Adam Melhuse trade.
Earlier this month, the Rangers had their 2007 draft. Here are the Rangers’ first 5 picks, along with their scouting information.
Blake Beaven SP:
Beaven has a great fastball that goes up to 96 MPH, but a below average slider and change-up. He’s got good control and is good in pressure situations. Also, he beat Cuba in Cuba for Team USA last summer.
Michael Main SP, OF:
Michael’s fastball gets up on you quick and he can control it pretty well. His slider is more like a great slurve and he’s got a great change-up. He also has pretty good control.
Julio Borbon OF:
Borbon has good bat control and is more of a singles and doubles guy. He’s very fast and has great baserunning skills going 34-43 in stolen bases in his college career. He has a below average arm, but great range and great fielding skills. He’s also got a great instinct. Julio is kind of like Kenny Lofton and Johnny Damon.
Neil Ramirez SP:
Neil’s fastball, like Blake’s reaches 96 MPH. He’s also got a great curveball, but a below average change-up. Neil has average control.
Tommy Hunter SP:Tommy has an average fastball along with a below average change-up, slider, and control.
I think all of these players have good potential except for Tommy Hunter.
The Rangers traded future considerations to the A’s for Adam Melhuse on June 9th.
Adam Melhuse:
Adam is a good back-up catcher who could be a starter with a weak catching team or an a team with an injury to the starting catcher. He’s got good power for a catcher and 1 out of every 2 ½ hits is for extra bases.
Career:
.241 AVG
23 HR
90 RBI
276 G
643 AB
1 SB
Adam first appeared in the major leagues in 2000 for the Rockies. He has also appeared with the Dodgers and the A’s.
Adam Melhuse is a good back-up catcher and is definitely worth future considerations. He’s a big upgrade from Chris Stewart and if we end up giving the A’s anything at all, it will be very little.
Grade: A+
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: What do you think Kameron's long-term role with the team should be?
Bullpen: 51%
Starter: 32%
Set-up: 15%
Closer: 1%
Come back next week for an analysis of the Rangers minor league teams’ first half.
If you’re interested in reading any of my past interviews, I’ve created links to all of them on the left-hand side of my blog, under the Rangers Links section.
This week I will provide information on the Rangers top 5 draft picks and analyze the Adam Melhuse trade.
Earlier this month, the Rangers had their 2007 draft. Here are the Rangers’ first 5 picks, along with their scouting information.
Blake Beaven SP:
Beaven has a great fastball that goes up to 96 MPH, but a below average slider and change-up. He’s got good control and is good in pressure situations. Also, he beat Cuba in Cuba for Team USA last summer.
Michael Main SP, OF:
Michael’s fastball gets up on you quick and he can control it pretty well. His slider is more like a great slurve and he’s got a great change-up. He also has pretty good control.
Julio Borbon OF:
Borbon has good bat control and is more of a singles and doubles guy. He’s very fast and has great baserunning skills going 34-43 in stolen bases in his college career. He has a below average arm, but great range and great fielding skills. He’s also got a great instinct. Julio is kind of like Kenny Lofton and Johnny Damon.
Neil Ramirez SP:
Neil’s fastball, like Blake’s reaches 96 MPH. He’s also got a great curveball, but a below average change-up. Neil has average control.
Tommy Hunter SP:Tommy has an average fastball along with a below average change-up, slider, and control.
I think all of these players have good potential except for Tommy Hunter.
The Rangers traded future considerations to the A’s for Adam Melhuse on June 9th.
Adam Melhuse:
Adam is a good back-up catcher who could be a starter with a weak catching team or an a team with an injury to the starting catcher. He’s got good power for a catcher and 1 out of every 2 ½ hits is for extra bases.
Career:
.241 AVG
23 HR
90 RBI
276 G
643 AB
1 SB
Adam first appeared in the major leagues in 2000 for the Rockies. He has also appeared with the Dodgers and the A’s.
Adam Melhuse is a good back-up catcher and is definitely worth future considerations. He’s a big upgrade from Chris Stewart and if we end up giving the A’s anything at all, it will be very little.
Grade: A+
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: What do you think Kameron's long-term role with the team should be?
Bullpen: 51%
Starter: 32%
Set-up: 15%
Closer: 1%
Come back next week for an analysis of the Rangers minor league teams’ first half.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Kameron Loe Interview
This week I did an interview with Rangers pitcher Kameron Loe.
1. Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
Kameron mentioned Justin Morneau, Vladimir Guerrero, and Jim Thome because all three have excellent recognition of the strike zone, are very strong, and have long arms that allow them to reach balls out of the strike zone.
2. Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
- CJ Wilson – they’ve been roommates for three years, are very good friends, have a lot of common interests (like martial arts and video games), and talk baseball a lot.
- Brandon McCarthy – they’re good friends mostly because they have the same sense of humor.
- Nick Masset – Nick is a real good friend. They lived together in spring training and instructional camp. Kameron said that Nick is very kind hearted.
3. Why did you decide not to sign with Philadelphia when they drafted you in 1999 and why did you decide to sign with the Rangers when they drafted you in 2002?
Kameron said that he was drafted by Philadelphia out of high school but really wanted to go to college. He told the scouts that if he wasn’t drafted in the first 2-3 rounds, he would go to college. It was going to take a certain amount of money for him to give up college. Philadelphia drafted him low anyway to see if he was bluffing but Kameron did what he said he would. After three years of college, he knew he was ready. He didn’t care about the money. He just wanted to play baseball.
4. What was the key to your success in 2003, when you went 7-3 with a 1.67 ERA between Clinton and Stockton, after going 4-4 with a 4.47 ERA in rookie ball the year before?
The biggest difference was experience pitching against wood bats. In college, he was taught not to pitch inside because aluminum bats don’t break and hitters can still get power on inside pitches. So he pitched away from hitters in the rookie leagues. After learning that he could pitch inside, he had more success. Also he read ‘The Mental Game of Baseball’, which he says really helped him. He thinks the book helped him get to the big leagues quicker.
5. What was it like to be called up to the Rangers for the first time in September 2004 in the middle of a pennant race?
Kameron said that it was ‘awesome for a number of reasons’. He didn’t expect a call-up. He finished the triple-A season and was sent home. He was in the car with his mom in LA and got a call. The Rangers were playing in Anaheim and they invited him to the field to work out with the team and said they might activate him. Since it was in his home town, he was able to pitch in front of his friends and family.
6. What is the best thing about being a major league ballplayer and why?
‘You get to spend half of the year just focusing on baseball.’
7. What is the biggest adjustment you had to make when you started facing major-league hitting?
Kameron said it was learning to throw off-speed pitches more. In the minors, he could just throw his fastball.
8. What was the recovery process for your injury in 2006 like?
‘Frustrating.’ They didn’t really know what was wrong with his elbow. First they tried to rehab it with no medications. After a month with no improvement, he got a cortisone shot and his arm was better in three days. But he needed to get his arm strength and location back. That took a long time, longer than the healing process.
9. What did you work on last offseason that led to you having such a dominant spring training?
Kameron said that he felt challenged and had to rise to the challenge to win a spot. He had to show that he was the best guy for the job. Also, he was in better condition because his offseason conditioning was more baseball specific. He also thought having more experience made a difference.
10. What did you think when you started the season in the bullpen this year?
He was a little disappointed. But he had been in the bullpen before and decided he’d be the best bullpen guy he could.
11. What do you think is working well for you this season and what are you still working on?
Working well: Fastball, slider, and changeup. He thinks he’s having much better success with his changeup.
Still working on: Pitching inside to lefties and holding runners.
12. What’s it like to room with CJ Wilson?
Kameron said that CJ is a smart guy. They’re good friends and he’s a good roommate. He’s fairly clean and they don’t crowd each other. Also, both are from California so they have that in common.
13. Do you take your pet snake with you on road trips?
No, he just feeds her one rat before a road trip and makes sure her water is full.
14. What is your best pitch and how was it developed?
He thinks his best pitch is his sinking (two-seam) fastball. He learned it at 13 years old when a coach taught it to him. He started pitching at 11 but only threw a four-seam fastball. With the two-seam fastball he started to get a lot of grounders.
15. What do you think your long-term role with the team will be and why? What would you prefer your long-term role to be and why?
He thinks he will be a starter and that’s what he wants to be. His entire career until the majors was as a starter. His body is conditioned to go deep into games and his arm can take it. His cardiovascular system is good and he has enough pitches to be a starter. He said ‘I love to have my own game’.
16. What’s been the best game so far of your professional career andwhy?
Kameron mentioned two games. The first was one of his starts in 2005 against the Twins in Minnesota. He pitched 8 innings, allowed no runs, and got the win. The second was this year against Toronto. He said he really battled in that game, giving up 1 run in 5 and 2/3 inning. He didn’t get the win but kept the team in the game and they won.
17. What was your favorite team growing up?
The Dodgers because he grew up in LA.
18. What are your hobbies?
Martial arts, kick boxing, playing video games, reading, talking to friends, camping, going to the beach, and taking vacations.
I would like to thank Kameron for giving me so much of his time to do this interview. I’ve gotten to talk to Kameron a lot at different Rangers events and games and he is always very friendly and willing to spend time with fans. For this interview Kameron was very nice and talked to me on the phone for half an hour in Oakland while he was taking the train to the game.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you should be the MVP of all of baseball out of my league MVPs and runner-ups?
A-Rod – 75%
Prince Fielder – 13%
JJ Hardy – 13%
Jorge Posada – 0%
I’m taking a week off. Come back in two weeks for my next column.
1. Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
Kameron mentioned Justin Morneau, Vladimir Guerrero, and Jim Thome because all three have excellent recognition of the strike zone, are very strong, and have long arms that allow them to reach balls out of the strike zone.
2. Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
- CJ Wilson – they’ve been roommates for three years, are very good friends, have a lot of common interests (like martial arts and video games), and talk baseball a lot.
- Brandon McCarthy – they’re good friends mostly because they have the same sense of humor.
- Nick Masset – Nick is a real good friend. They lived together in spring training and instructional camp. Kameron said that Nick is very kind hearted.
3. Why did you decide not to sign with Philadelphia when they drafted you in 1999 and why did you decide to sign with the Rangers when they drafted you in 2002?
Kameron said that he was drafted by Philadelphia out of high school but really wanted to go to college. He told the scouts that if he wasn’t drafted in the first 2-3 rounds, he would go to college. It was going to take a certain amount of money for him to give up college. Philadelphia drafted him low anyway to see if he was bluffing but Kameron did what he said he would. After three years of college, he knew he was ready. He didn’t care about the money. He just wanted to play baseball.
4. What was the key to your success in 2003, when you went 7-3 with a 1.67 ERA between Clinton and Stockton, after going 4-4 with a 4.47 ERA in rookie ball the year before?
The biggest difference was experience pitching against wood bats. In college, he was taught not to pitch inside because aluminum bats don’t break and hitters can still get power on inside pitches. So he pitched away from hitters in the rookie leagues. After learning that he could pitch inside, he had more success. Also he read ‘The Mental Game of Baseball’, which he says really helped him. He thinks the book helped him get to the big leagues quicker.
5. What was it like to be called up to the Rangers for the first time in September 2004 in the middle of a pennant race?
Kameron said that it was ‘awesome for a number of reasons’. He didn’t expect a call-up. He finished the triple-A season and was sent home. He was in the car with his mom in LA and got a call. The Rangers were playing in Anaheim and they invited him to the field to work out with the team and said they might activate him. Since it was in his home town, he was able to pitch in front of his friends and family.
6. What is the best thing about being a major league ballplayer and why?
‘You get to spend half of the year just focusing on baseball.’
7. What is the biggest adjustment you had to make when you started facing major-league hitting?
Kameron said it was learning to throw off-speed pitches more. In the minors, he could just throw his fastball.
8. What was the recovery process for your injury in 2006 like?
‘Frustrating.’ They didn’t really know what was wrong with his elbow. First they tried to rehab it with no medications. After a month with no improvement, he got a cortisone shot and his arm was better in three days. But he needed to get his arm strength and location back. That took a long time, longer than the healing process.
9. What did you work on last offseason that led to you having such a dominant spring training?
Kameron said that he felt challenged and had to rise to the challenge to win a spot. He had to show that he was the best guy for the job. Also, he was in better condition because his offseason conditioning was more baseball specific. He also thought having more experience made a difference.
10. What did you think when you started the season in the bullpen this year?
He was a little disappointed. But he had been in the bullpen before and decided he’d be the best bullpen guy he could.
11. What do you think is working well for you this season and what are you still working on?
Working well: Fastball, slider, and changeup. He thinks he’s having much better success with his changeup.
Still working on: Pitching inside to lefties and holding runners.
12. What’s it like to room with CJ Wilson?
Kameron said that CJ is a smart guy. They’re good friends and he’s a good roommate. He’s fairly clean and they don’t crowd each other. Also, both are from California so they have that in common.
13. Do you take your pet snake with you on road trips?
No, he just feeds her one rat before a road trip and makes sure her water is full.
14. What is your best pitch and how was it developed?
He thinks his best pitch is his sinking (two-seam) fastball. He learned it at 13 years old when a coach taught it to him. He started pitching at 11 but only threw a four-seam fastball. With the two-seam fastball he started to get a lot of grounders.
15. What do you think your long-term role with the team will be and why? What would you prefer your long-term role to be and why?
He thinks he will be a starter and that’s what he wants to be. His entire career until the majors was as a starter. His body is conditioned to go deep into games and his arm can take it. His cardiovascular system is good and he has enough pitches to be a starter. He said ‘I love to have my own game’.
16. What’s been the best game so far of your professional career andwhy?
Kameron mentioned two games. The first was one of his starts in 2005 against the Twins in Minnesota. He pitched 8 innings, allowed no runs, and got the win. The second was this year against Toronto. He said he really battled in that game, giving up 1 run in 5 and 2/3 inning. He didn’t get the win but kept the team in the game and they won.
17. What was your favorite team growing up?
The Dodgers because he grew up in LA.
18. What are your hobbies?
Martial arts, kick boxing, playing video games, reading, talking to friends, camping, going to the beach, and taking vacations.
I would like to thank Kameron for giving me so much of his time to do this interview. I’ve gotten to talk to Kameron a lot at different Rangers events and games and he is always very friendly and willing to spend time with fans. For this interview Kameron was very nice and talked to me on the phone for half an hour in Oakland while he was taking the train to the game.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you should be the MVP of all of baseball out of my league MVPs and runner-ups?
A-Rod – 75%
Prince Fielder – 13%
JJ Hardy – 13%
Jorge Posada – 0%
I’m taking a week off. Come back in two weeks for my next column.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
May Awards
I went to two baseball games last week. On Wednesday, I went to see the RoughRiders play Wichita in Frisco. It was a great game. Eric Hurley pitched a complete game shutout and the Riders won 8-0. The Riders had a 5-run 5th and Manriquez and Duran homered. On Friday, I went to see the Rangers play Boston. It was my first day off from school and my dad and I spent the day in Arlington, going to Six Flags and then the Rangers game. Before the game, I arranged an interview with Kameron Loe and got autographs from Robinson Tejeda, Joaquin Benoit, and Frank Francisco. It rained for a long time and the game was delayed by two hours. McCarthy really struggled and only lasted two innings. Once again, the Rangers fielded poorly. The Rangers lost 10-6.
This week I will give my May Awards. The awards are for if the season ended now.
Rangers:
Rangers MVP: Mark Teixeira: Teixeira is one of only two Rangers batting over .300 and has 8 homers.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young: C.J. Wilson: Wilson has a 2.35 ERA, 23 IP and great WHIP.
Runner-up: Akinori Otsuka
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart
Runner-up: Kevin Mahar
AL:
AL MVP: A-ROD NYY: A-ROD has 19 home runs already.
Runner-up: Jorge Posada NYY
AL Cy Young: Dan Haren OAK: Haren is the AL ERA leader and has 5 wins.
Runner-up: John Lackey LAA
NL:
NL MVP: JJ Hardy MIL: He is tied for 1st in the National League for home runs, leads the NL in RBI’s and is batting .314.
Runner-up: Prince Fielder MIL
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy SD: Peavy leads baseball in ERA, is tied for 2nd in the NL for wins, and is 2nd in the NL for strikeouts.
Runner-up: John Smoltz
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Which team do you think will have the most starting All-Stars?
Yankees – 42%
Red Sox – 25%
Cardinals – 17%
Tigers – 17%
Come back next week for a possible Kam Loe interview.
This week I will give my May Awards. The awards are for if the season ended now.
Rangers:
Rangers MVP: Mark Teixeira: Teixeira is one of only two Rangers batting over .300 and has 8 homers.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young: C.J. Wilson: Wilson has a 2.35 ERA, 23 IP and great WHIP.
Runner-up: Akinori Otsuka
Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart
Runner-up: Kevin Mahar
AL:
AL MVP: A-ROD NYY: A-ROD has 19 home runs already.
Runner-up: Jorge Posada NYY
AL Cy Young: Dan Haren OAK: Haren is the AL ERA leader and has 5 wins.
Runner-up: John Lackey LAA
NL:
NL MVP: JJ Hardy MIL: He is tied for 1st in the National League for home runs, leads the NL in RBI’s and is batting .314.
Runner-up: Prince Fielder MIL
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy SD: Peavy leads baseball in ERA, is tied for 2nd in the NL for wins, and is 2nd in the NL for strikeouts.
Runner-up: John Smoltz
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Which team do you think will have the most starting All-Stars?
Yankees – 42%
Red Sox – 25%
Cardinals – 17%
Tigers – 17%
Come back next week for a possible Kam Loe interview.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Analysis of All-Star Ballot
This week I will analyze the All-Star ballot and say who I think will be the starter and who I think should be the starter.
NL:
1st base:
Should be: Prince Fielder, Brewers
Will be: Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2nd base:
Should be: Chase Utley, Phillies
Will be: Craig Biggio, Astros
Shortstop:
Should be: J.J. Hardy, Brewers
Will be: David Eckstein, Cardinals
3rd base:
Should be: Chipper Jones, Braves
Will be: Chipper Jones, Braves
Catcher:
Should be: Russell Martin, Dodgers
Will be: Yadier Molina, Cardinals
Outfielders:
Should be: Matt Holliday, Carlos Lee, Ken Griffey, Jr
Will be: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Edmonds
AL:
1st base:
Should be: David Ortiz, Red Sox
Will be: David Ortiz, Red Sox
2nd base:
Should be: Ian Kinsler, Rangers
Will be: Robinson Cano, Yankees
Shortstop:
Should be: Johnny Peralta, Indians
Will be: Derek Jeter, Yankees
3rd base:
Should be: A-ROD, Yankees
Will be: A-ROD, Yankees
Catcher:
Should be: Jorge Posada, Yankees
Will be: Pudge, Tigers
Outfielders:
Should be: Vladamir Guerrero, Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson
Will be: Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield, Ichiro
Also, I went back to Barry Newberg’s Mooyah Burgers yesterday. Their burgers are still great, plus now their fries are much better than they were when they first opened. They’re crispier and have more seasoning now.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think will show the biggest improvement the rest of the year off of my Going Up list?
Yankees – 61%
Phillies – 17%
Padres – 11%
Rangers – 6%
Blue Jays – 6%
Mets – 0%
Reds – 0%
Come back next week for my May Awards.
NL:
1st base:
Should be: Prince Fielder, Brewers
Will be: Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2nd base:
Should be: Chase Utley, Phillies
Will be: Craig Biggio, Astros
Shortstop:
Should be: J.J. Hardy, Brewers
Will be: David Eckstein, Cardinals
3rd base:
Should be: Chipper Jones, Braves
Will be: Chipper Jones, Braves
Catcher:
Should be: Russell Martin, Dodgers
Will be: Yadier Molina, Cardinals
Outfielders:
Should be: Matt Holliday, Carlos Lee, Ken Griffey, Jr
Will be: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Edmonds
AL:
1st base:
Should be: David Ortiz, Red Sox
Will be: David Ortiz, Red Sox
2nd base:
Should be: Ian Kinsler, Rangers
Will be: Robinson Cano, Yankees
Shortstop:
Should be: Johnny Peralta, Indians
Will be: Derek Jeter, Yankees
3rd base:
Should be: A-ROD, Yankees
Will be: A-ROD, Yankees
Catcher:
Should be: Jorge Posada, Yankees
Will be: Pudge, Tigers
Outfielders:
Should be: Vladamir Guerrero, Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson
Will be: Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield, Ichiro
Also, I went back to Barry Newberg’s Mooyah Burgers yesterday. Their burgers are still great, plus now their fries are much better than they were when they first opened. They’re crispier and have more seasoning now.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think will show the biggest improvement the rest of the year off of my Going Up list?
Yankees – 61%
Phillies – 17%
Padres – 11%
Rangers – 6%
Blue Jays – 6%
Mets – 0%
Reds – 0%
Come back next week for my May Awards.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Team Projections
Last week I went to two baseball games and played one. On Tuesday, my dad took my little sister and me to the RoughRiders stadium to see a game. But when we got there, the traffic was really bad and we noticed that more people were leaving the ballpark’s parking lot than were coming in. It turns out that they forgot to cover the field the night before when it rained and the field was too muddy to play. So we went back the next night and saw them play. Doug Mathis pitched and he was great. He allowed no runs in 7 innings. Frisco won 2-1. Before the game, I tried to get autographs of the three players who joined the team since the last time I was there (Brandon Boggs, Bill White, and Jorge Vazquez). I got Boggs and White but a security guard wouldn’t let me ask for Vazquez’ for some reason.
On Saturday, I played a baseball game. I played third base the whole game. I caught two outs, tagged out a base stealer, and made no errors. I had two plate appearances. The first time I walked on 4 pitches with the bases loaded. The second time, I swung and hit the catcher in the arm with my bat, so I got to go to first base on catcher’s interference. So far this season, I have a 1.000 on base percentage. We won and are 2-0.
After the game, my dad and I went straight to the Rangers game. We got there during the first inning. It was Ian Kinsler bobblehead day and fortunately they still had a few left when we got there. Kameron Loe pitched well but the defense was very bad (3 errors) and we lost 6-3.
This week, I examined all of the teams in baseball and based on their current record and the strength of the rest of their schedule, I decided which teams I thought would improve their records, which would do worse, and which would stay the same. Below are the results of my analysis.
Going Up:
1. New York Yankees: The Yankees’ pitchers have gotten injured so much that it’s left their rotation a mess until the pitchers come back, and with the Yankees they’re not going to stay under .500 a whole season.
2. New York Mets: The Mets have one of the easiest schedules in baseball, along with maybe the best hitting in baseball. With a team that good combined with their schedule, there’s nowhere to go but up.
3. Philadelphia Phillies: You can’t have a team fighting for the wild card one year and not make many changes in the offseason with this good an offense do this bad the very next year.
4. Cincinnati Reds: Aaron Harang hasn’t been doing as well as he will yet and Adam Dunn isn’t hitting for much power. There’s no chance they’ll struggle this bad a whole year, and with the Pirates in their division they won’t stay in last place long.
5. Texas Rangers: A team can’t make three errors a game throughout a whole year. Plus, our hitters are coming out of their slump already.
6. Toronto Blue Jays
7. San Diego Padres
Going Down:
1. Kansas City Royals: The Royals have the hardest schedule in baseball, in my opinion, and are probably the worst team in baseball. If possible the way they’re playing they’ll plummet with that combination.
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates have one of the hardest schedules in baseball, probably because they can’t play themselves, and are one of the worst teams in baseball. Like in the Royals case, that’s one of the worst combinations to have.
3. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: The Devil Rays have the same combination as the Pirates and Royals, and are in a tough division.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have one of the toughest schedules in baseball and aren’t as good as their record shows.
5. Washington Nationals: The Nats have the same combination as the top three.
6. Boston Red Sox
7. San Francisco Giants
8. Baltimore Orioles
9. Chicago White Sox
10. Atlanta Braves
11. Los Angeles Angels
Staying the Same:
1. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers are probably the best team in the AL, and have an average schedule. There’s no way they go down, but they probably won’t go up with how good their division is.
2. Houston Astros: The Astros players are performing to the expectations and they still can’t win. They have a better chance of going down than up, but will probably keep playing like this.
3. Chicago Cubs: The Cubs have tried getting all these big stars in, but just can’t win with anybody. They’re probably not going to go anywhere but stay right where they are.
4. Florida Marlins: The Marlins aren’t good enough to do any better than they are now, but not bad enough to go behind the Nats. They’ve got an average schedule so unless the GM makes another decision that isn’t understandable, they won’t go down, but the GM isn’t good enough to get them players that will bring them up.
5. Oakland Athletics: The A’s talent is right where their record shows - around .500. Unless they get somebody good at the trade deadline they’ll stay just behind the Angels and just in front of the Mariners.
6. Milwaukee Brewers
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Cleveland Indians
9. Seattle Mariners
10. Minnesota Twins
11. Arizona Diamondbacks
12. Colorado Rockies
Result of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should be the Rangers Cy Young winner so far?
Tejeda – 37%
Otsuka – 26%
Wilson – 16%
Benoit, Eyre, Loe, and Padilla – 5% each
Everyone else – 0%
Come back next week for an analysis of the All-Star ballot.
On Saturday, I played a baseball game. I played third base the whole game. I caught two outs, tagged out a base stealer, and made no errors. I had two plate appearances. The first time I walked on 4 pitches with the bases loaded. The second time, I swung and hit the catcher in the arm with my bat, so I got to go to first base on catcher’s interference. So far this season, I have a 1.000 on base percentage. We won and are 2-0.
After the game, my dad and I went straight to the Rangers game. We got there during the first inning. It was Ian Kinsler bobblehead day and fortunately they still had a few left when we got there. Kameron Loe pitched well but the defense was very bad (3 errors) and we lost 6-3.
This week, I examined all of the teams in baseball and based on their current record and the strength of the rest of their schedule, I decided which teams I thought would improve their records, which would do worse, and which would stay the same. Below are the results of my analysis.
Going Up:
1. New York Yankees: The Yankees’ pitchers have gotten injured so much that it’s left their rotation a mess until the pitchers come back, and with the Yankees they’re not going to stay under .500 a whole season.
2. New York Mets: The Mets have one of the easiest schedules in baseball, along with maybe the best hitting in baseball. With a team that good combined with their schedule, there’s nowhere to go but up.
3. Philadelphia Phillies: You can’t have a team fighting for the wild card one year and not make many changes in the offseason with this good an offense do this bad the very next year.
4. Cincinnati Reds: Aaron Harang hasn’t been doing as well as he will yet and Adam Dunn isn’t hitting for much power. There’s no chance they’ll struggle this bad a whole year, and with the Pirates in their division they won’t stay in last place long.
5. Texas Rangers: A team can’t make three errors a game throughout a whole year. Plus, our hitters are coming out of their slump already.
6. Toronto Blue Jays
7. San Diego Padres
Going Down:
1. Kansas City Royals: The Royals have the hardest schedule in baseball, in my opinion, and are probably the worst team in baseball. If possible the way they’re playing they’ll plummet with that combination.
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates have one of the hardest schedules in baseball, probably because they can’t play themselves, and are one of the worst teams in baseball. Like in the Royals case, that’s one of the worst combinations to have.
3. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: The Devil Rays have the same combination as the Pirates and Royals, and are in a tough division.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have one of the toughest schedules in baseball and aren’t as good as their record shows.
5. Washington Nationals: The Nats have the same combination as the top three.
6. Boston Red Sox
7. San Francisco Giants
8. Baltimore Orioles
9. Chicago White Sox
10. Atlanta Braves
11. Los Angeles Angels
Staying the Same:
1. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers are probably the best team in the AL, and have an average schedule. There’s no way they go down, but they probably won’t go up with how good their division is.
2. Houston Astros: The Astros players are performing to the expectations and they still can’t win. They have a better chance of going down than up, but will probably keep playing like this.
3. Chicago Cubs: The Cubs have tried getting all these big stars in, but just can’t win with anybody. They’re probably not going to go anywhere but stay right where they are.
4. Florida Marlins: The Marlins aren’t good enough to do any better than they are now, but not bad enough to go behind the Nats. They’ve got an average schedule so unless the GM makes another decision that isn’t understandable, they won’t go down, but the GM isn’t good enough to get them players that will bring them up.
5. Oakland Athletics: The A’s talent is right where their record shows - around .500. Unless they get somebody good at the trade deadline they’ll stay just behind the Angels and just in front of the Mariners.
6. Milwaukee Brewers
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Cleveland Indians
9. Seattle Mariners
10. Minnesota Twins
11. Arizona Diamondbacks
12. Colorado Rockies
Result of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should be the Rangers Cy Young winner so far?
Tejeda – 37%
Otsuka – 26%
Wilson – 16%
Benoit, Eyre, Loe, and Padilla – 5% each
Everyone else – 0%
Come back next week for an analysis of the All-Star ballot.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
April Awards
This week I went to two Rangers games. The first one was the first game of the Yankees series on Tuesday. It was a bad game. The Rangers couldn’t pitch, hit, or field. They lost 10-1. The second one was the first game of the Blue Jays series. It was the exact opposite. The Rangers got great pitching from Brandon McCarthy and Willie Eyre, great hitting, and great fielding. They won 7-1. Also, before the game, I got autographs from Frank Thomas and Royce Clayton. I was the only one to get Royce. Frank signed for a long line of people and I was the last one he signed for. I now have a streak of 4 players where I was the last person to get an autograph (Mike Piazza, Nick Swisher, Royce Clayton, and Frank Thomas). Also, today my baseball season started. I’m on the Durham Bulls. I played third base and went 1-for-1 at the plate with a walk and a run scored. We won 8-7.
This week I will give my April awards. All the stats and explanations are as of April 30th.
Rangers MVP:
Ian Kinsler: .298 AVG., 9 HR, 22 RBI: He’s tied for second in baseball and is the only Rangers hitter batting over .260.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young:
Robinson Tejeda: 3-1, 3.82 ERA, 21 SO, 30.2 IP: He’s been the only consistent starter.
Runner-up: Akinori Otsuka/Ron Mahay
Rangers Rookie of the Year:
Chris Stewart: .214 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI: He’s the only rookie on the team.
Runner-up: No other rookies
Rangers Biggest Underachiever:
Michael Young: .215 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI: a .300 hitter shouldn’t be batting .215 through April.
Runner-up: Mark Teixeira
AL MVP:
A-ROD: .355 AVG, 14 HR, 34 RBI: He tied the baseball record for the most home runs in one April.
Runner-up: Ian Kinsler
Last year’s MVP award: My pick – Frank Thomas, Actual – Justin Morneau
AL Cy Young:
Josh Beckett: 5-0, 2.48 ERA, 28 SO, 32.2 IP
Runner-up: Roy Halladay
Last year: My pick – Johan Santana, Actual – Johan Santana
NL MVP:
Adrian Gonzalez: .309 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI: He’s got over a .300 AVG and is on pace to hit 42 HR’s.
Runner-up: Jimmy Rollins
Last year: My pick – Ryan Howard, Actual – Ryan Howard
NL Cy Young:
John Maine: 4-0, 1.35 ERA, 30 SO, 33.1 IP: He’s leading the MLB in ERA and is getting plenty of strike-outs.
Runner-up: Aaron Harang
Last year: My pick – Derek Lowe, Actual – Chris Carpenter
AL Biggest Underachiever:
Paul Konerko: .198 AVG, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 22 SO: Konerko is hitting .198 and only has 3 HR’s.
Runner-up: Johan Santana
NL Biggest Underachiever:
Trevor Hoffman: 6.23 ERA, 1-2, 5 saves, 2 blown saves, 4 BB: Hoffman has a 6.23 ERA, 2 losses and 29 percent of the time he has blown the save.
Runner-up: Carlos Zambrano/Carlos Delgado
Results of last week’s poll:
Questions: Who do you think is the nicest hitter on the Rangers team?
Kinsler – 46%
Teixeira – 12%
Young – 12%
Sosa – 8%
Hairston – 4%
Laird – 4%
Stewart – 4%
Wilkerson – 4%
Come back next week for my predictions for each team for the rest of the year.
This week I will give my April awards. All the stats and explanations are as of April 30th.
Rangers MVP:
Ian Kinsler: .298 AVG., 9 HR, 22 RBI: He’s tied for second in baseball and is the only Rangers hitter batting over .260.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa
Rangers Cy Young:
Robinson Tejeda: 3-1, 3.82 ERA, 21 SO, 30.2 IP: He’s been the only consistent starter.
Runner-up: Akinori Otsuka/Ron Mahay
Rangers Rookie of the Year:
Chris Stewart: .214 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI: He’s the only rookie on the team.
Runner-up: No other rookies
Rangers Biggest Underachiever:
Michael Young: .215 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI: a .300 hitter shouldn’t be batting .215 through April.
Runner-up: Mark Teixeira
AL MVP:
A-ROD: .355 AVG, 14 HR, 34 RBI: He tied the baseball record for the most home runs in one April.
Runner-up: Ian Kinsler
Last year’s MVP award: My pick – Frank Thomas, Actual – Justin Morneau
AL Cy Young:
Josh Beckett: 5-0, 2.48 ERA, 28 SO, 32.2 IP
Runner-up: Roy Halladay
Last year: My pick – Johan Santana, Actual – Johan Santana
NL MVP:
Adrian Gonzalez: .309 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI: He’s got over a .300 AVG and is on pace to hit 42 HR’s.
Runner-up: Jimmy Rollins
Last year: My pick – Ryan Howard, Actual – Ryan Howard
NL Cy Young:
John Maine: 4-0, 1.35 ERA, 30 SO, 33.1 IP: He’s leading the MLB in ERA and is getting plenty of strike-outs.
Runner-up: Aaron Harang
Last year: My pick – Derek Lowe, Actual – Chris Carpenter
AL Biggest Underachiever:
Paul Konerko: .198 AVG, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 22 SO: Konerko is hitting .198 and only has 3 HR’s.
Runner-up: Johan Santana
NL Biggest Underachiever:
Trevor Hoffman: 6.23 ERA, 1-2, 5 saves, 2 blown saves, 4 BB: Hoffman has a 6.23 ERA, 2 losses and 29 percent of the time he has blown the save.
Runner-up: Carlos Zambrano/Carlos Delgado
Results of last week’s poll:
Questions: Who do you think is the nicest hitter on the Rangers team?
Kinsler – 46%
Teixeira – 12%
Young – 12%
Sosa – 8%
Hairston – 4%
Laird – 4%
Stewart – 4%
Wilkerson – 4%
Come back next week for my predictions for each team for the rest of the year.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
My Experiences with the Rangers Hitters
This week I will give my experiences with all of the Rangers hitters.
Hank Blalock:
I’ve met Hank a few times. The first time was after the 2003 season, when he was doing autographs at the RoughRiders ballpark. I asked him what it was like to hit a home run in the All-Star game and he told me it was awesome. He also signed for me before a game once. Before a Spring Training game in 2006, he signed a card for me and then gave me a pair of his batting gloves. Hank doesn’t really talk very much but is nice.
Frank Catalanotto:
I only met Frank once and it was a long time ago, during his first time with the Rangers. He was signing autographs in the Gold Club. He seemed really nice. I also saw him once at a Q&A ‘Meet the Ranger’ Junior Rangers session.
Nelson Cruz:
I only met Nelson once, and he didn’t seem to like giving autographs. I was trying to get his autograph from behind the dugout last season. He said that he would sign after batting practice. I reminded him when he was walking back in and he signed my ball. He didn’t respond when I tried to talk to him and rolled the ball back over the top of the dugout and disappeared when he was done so he wouldn’t have to sign for anyone else. Still, I was glad he was willing to sign.
Jerry Hairston:
I haven’t met Jerry much, but when I have he’s always very friendly. I got his autograph before a game last year when he signed for a line of people. In Spring Training this year, I saw him at a Diamondbacks Spring Training game. He was there to see his brother Scott Hairston. My dad, granddad, and I talked to him for 5-10 minutes. He was great and seemed really happy to talk. The next day at workouts, he recognized me, and came over to say hello. I told him that Victor Diaz was the last autograph I needed to get to have the whole Spring Training roster. He told Victor, and I got Victor’s autograph. Then, about a week ago, he signed for me and my friend at a Ranger game.
Matt Kata:
I’ve only met Matt once, and he was kind of rude. Before a Spring Training game this year, I asked for an autograph and he said he would sign after he warmed up. After he warmed up, I asked again and he said he would sign after the game. After the game, I asked again and he walked right past me. I reminded him that he had said he would sign, and then he sighed, rolled his eyes, came over, signed, and ignored me when I thanked him.
Ian Kinsler:
Ian is a great guy. He has done an interview for my blog, and is always willing to sign for kids. He does a lot of autograph events too. Whenever I call out to him, he always comes over and talks to me. He is the nicest hitter on the team, although Michael Young and Jerry Hairston are both very nice too.
Gerald Laird:
I’ve met him three times, and he was nice every time. One time it was at a Redhawks game in Oklahoma City, and he came over and signed for me. Another time, he was at a Rangers autograph event at the RoughRiders stadium and the last time it was at a Rangers’ Spring Training game in Frisco.
Kenny Lofton:
I’ve only met Kenny twice, and I’ve learned that he’s nice until you ask for autographs. At Spring Training I talked to him after warm-ups on the backfields and he was really nice, asking me how I was. But when I asked him for his autograph, he seemed unhappy and said ‘just one’. He didn’t sign for anyone else at Spring Training that day and we noticed during the week that he basically never signed. At a Rangers game this year, he was nice and came over to sign for me and my friends when I asked. He seemed to get mad because he took a ball from my hand, when I wanted him to sign my card, so he had to stop, take the card, and give me the ball back. He then gave the card back, saying that he had already signed it. It was one of those cards that has a preprinted autograph on it. My dad told him that it wasn’t an autograph and was just printed on the card. He took the card back and signed it but that somehow made him so grumpy he walked off on one of my friends. So, Kenny seems like he can be nice but gets unhappy easily.
Sammy Sosa:
I’ve gotten Sammy’s autograph twice this year. Once during Spring Training, when he signed for me when he was walking between stations during workouts. Like with what happened with Kenny, I was the only one to get his autograph that day. Then at a game earlier this year, he signed for a long time for a huge line of people and I was able to get his autograph again. He doesn’t talk to you when he signs. During Spring Training, I saw him tell people he would sign for them after the game but then leave after the 5th or 6th inning without signing.
Chris Stewart:
I’ve only met Chris once and it was at Spring Training this year. He was one of the last two players at the game. I tossed a ball down to him when he said he would sign, and when I talked to him he seemed friendly.
Mark Teixeira:
I met Mark at an autograph event his rookie year at a sports card shop. They were selling 500 autograph tickets for $5 each and I got number 498. He was really friendly and when I told him that I thought he should be rookie of the year, he agreed. At the end of that season, I saw him and told him that I was going to go as him for Halloween. He told me he thought that was really cool. I got his autograph again before a game last year, when he was signing for a line of people. At Spring Training this year, he was really nice when I asked him to answer a poll question for my blog. This year, I came within one person of getting his autograph before a game, but he stopped when I was second in line. Mark doesn’t like to sign much but when he does, he seems pretty nice. He seems to basically like to only sign for kids.
Brad Wilkerson:
The first time I met Brad was at the Rangers Winter Awards Banquet in 2006. He was very nice and he signed an autograph for me. The next time I met him was at a Rangers Spring Training game in Frisco that same year. My friend and I asked him for an autograph and he said he had to go do an interview but would come back. After the interview, he came straight back to sign for me and my friend. It was really good that he kept his word. As I’ve said, either keep your word or don’t give a word.
Michael Young:
Michael Young is really nice. I’ve met him 5 times. Four times I got an autograph and the fifth time he was really nice and gave me a bat. The first time I met him was in 2001 on Fan Appreciation Day, when Rangers were giving out autographed cards. I also have gotten his autograph at two other autograph events and he came over to sign for me before a game a couple of years ago. At Spring Training this year, he was nice about answering a poll question for my blog and gave me a bat.
Results of last week’s poll.
Question: Who do you think is the nicest pitcher on the team?
Feldman – 13%
Gagne – 4%
Loe – 17%
McCarthy – 4%
Millwood – 4%
Otsuka – 22%
Wilson – 35%
Everyone else – 0%
Come back next week for my April awards.
Hank Blalock:
I’ve met Hank a few times. The first time was after the 2003 season, when he was doing autographs at the RoughRiders ballpark. I asked him what it was like to hit a home run in the All-Star game and he told me it was awesome. He also signed for me before a game once. Before a Spring Training game in 2006, he signed a card for me and then gave me a pair of his batting gloves. Hank doesn’t really talk very much but is nice.
Frank Catalanotto:
I only met Frank once and it was a long time ago, during his first time with the Rangers. He was signing autographs in the Gold Club. He seemed really nice. I also saw him once at a Q&A ‘Meet the Ranger’ Junior Rangers session.
Nelson Cruz:
I only met Nelson once, and he didn’t seem to like giving autographs. I was trying to get his autograph from behind the dugout last season. He said that he would sign after batting practice. I reminded him when he was walking back in and he signed my ball. He didn’t respond when I tried to talk to him and rolled the ball back over the top of the dugout and disappeared when he was done so he wouldn’t have to sign for anyone else. Still, I was glad he was willing to sign.
Jerry Hairston:
I haven’t met Jerry much, but when I have he’s always very friendly. I got his autograph before a game last year when he signed for a line of people. In Spring Training this year, I saw him at a Diamondbacks Spring Training game. He was there to see his brother Scott Hairston. My dad, granddad, and I talked to him for 5-10 minutes. He was great and seemed really happy to talk. The next day at workouts, he recognized me, and came over to say hello. I told him that Victor Diaz was the last autograph I needed to get to have the whole Spring Training roster. He told Victor, and I got Victor’s autograph. Then, about a week ago, he signed for me and my friend at a Ranger game.
Matt Kata:
I’ve only met Matt once, and he was kind of rude. Before a Spring Training game this year, I asked for an autograph and he said he would sign after he warmed up. After he warmed up, I asked again and he said he would sign after the game. After the game, I asked again and he walked right past me. I reminded him that he had said he would sign, and then he sighed, rolled his eyes, came over, signed, and ignored me when I thanked him.
Ian Kinsler:
Ian is a great guy. He has done an interview for my blog, and is always willing to sign for kids. He does a lot of autograph events too. Whenever I call out to him, he always comes over and talks to me. He is the nicest hitter on the team, although Michael Young and Jerry Hairston are both very nice too.
Gerald Laird:
I’ve met him three times, and he was nice every time. One time it was at a Redhawks game in Oklahoma City, and he came over and signed for me. Another time, he was at a Rangers autograph event at the RoughRiders stadium and the last time it was at a Rangers’ Spring Training game in Frisco.
Kenny Lofton:
I’ve only met Kenny twice, and I’ve learned that he’s nice until you ask for autographs. At Spring Training I talked to him after warm-ups on the backfields and he was really nice, asking me how I was. But when I asked him for his autograph, he seemed unhappy and said ‘just one’. He didn’t sign for anyone else at Spring Training that day and we noticed during the week that he basically never signed. At a Rangers game this year, he was nice and came over to sign for me and my friends when I asked. He seemed to get mad because he took a ball from my hand, when I wanted him to sign my card, so he had to stop, take the card, and give me the ball back. He then gave the card back, saying that he had already signed it. It was one of those cards that has a preprinted autograph on it. My dad told him that it wasn’t an autograph and was just printed on the card. He took the card back and signed it but that somehow made him so grumpy he walked off on one of my friends. So, Kenny seems like he can be nice but gets unhappy easily.
Sammy Sosa:
I’ve gotten Sammy’s autograph twice this year. Once during Spring Training, when he signed for me when he was walking between stations during workouts. Like with what happened with Kenny, I was the only one to get his autograph that day. Then at a game earlier this year, he signed for a long time for a huge line of people and I was able to get his autograph again. He doesn’t talk to you when he signs. During Spring Training, I saw him tell people he would sign for them after the game but then leave after the 5th or 6th inning without signing.
Chris Stewart:
I’ve only met Chris once and it was at Spring Training this year. He was one of the last two players at the game. I tossed a ball down to him when he said he would sign, and when I talked to him he seemed friendly.
Mark Teixeira:
I met Mark at an autograph event his rookie year at a sports card shop. They were selling 500 autograph tickets for $5 each and I got number 498. He was really friendly and when I told him that I thought he should be rookie of the year, he agreed. At the end of that season, I saw him and told him that I was going to go as him for Halloween. He told me he thought that was really cool. I got his autograph again before a game last year, when he was signing for a line of people. At Spring Training this year, he was really nice when I asked him to answer a poll question for my blog. This year, I came within one person of getting his autograph before a game, but he stopped when I was second in line. Mark doesn’t like to sign much but when he does, he seems pretty nice. He seems to basically like to only sign for kids.
Brad Wilkerson:
The first time I met Brad was at the Rangers Winter Awards Banquet in 2006. He was very nice and he signed an autograph for me. The next time I met him was at a Rangers Spring Training game in Frisco that same year. My friend and I asked him for an autograph and he said he had to go do an interview but would come back. After the interview, he came straight back to sign for me and my friend. It was really good that he kept his word. As I’ve said, either keep your word or don’t give a word.
Michael Young:
Michael Young is really nice. I’ve met him 5 times. Four times I got an autograph and the fifth time he was really nice and gave me a bat. The first time I met him was in 2001 on Fan Appreciation Day, when Rangers were giving out autographed cards. I also have gotten his autograph at two other autograph events and he came over to sign for me before a game a couple of years ago. At Spring Training this year, he was nice about answering a poll question for my blog and gave me a bat.
Results of last week’s poll.
Question: Who do you think is the nicest pitcher on the team?
Feldman – 13%
Gagne – 4%
Loe – 17%
McCarthy – 4%
Millwood – 4%
Otsuka – 22%
Wilson – 35%
Everyone else – 0%
Come back next week for my April awards.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Haigwood Traded and My Experiences with the Rangers Pitchers
Friday night I went to a Rangers game with my friends for my birthday party. I got seven autographs, including Sammy Sosa, Kenny Lofton and Mike Piazza. Mike signed for about 5 minutes with this huge line, and then I decided to go over and try, even though I thought the line was too long for me to have a chance. About 10 minutes later, I was within 10 people and he started leaving. As he walked away, he saw how disappointed I was and told me and another kid who was right in front of me to come up and get his autograph. Nick Swisher also signed for about 10-15 minutes and I was the last one to get an autograph, again, but not the same way. Sosa and Lofton both signed for 10-20 minutes, so yesterday there were a lot of autographs. C.J. Wilson signed for my friends and Scott Feldman came over to wish me a happy birthday. The game was terrible (16-4 A’s) but we had a great time. We saw Eleanor from the Newberg report. She has a good new blog at http://emc.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/.
This week, the Rangers traded Daniel Haigwood, who had been DFA’d, to Boston for pitcher Scott Shoemaker. Haigwood was the pitcher we got last year for Fabio Castro and had been DFA’d to make roster room for Jamey Wright last week.
Daniel Haigwood LHP:
Daniel’s career numbers are:
35-18 W-L
3.43 ERA
478 IP
475 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 (the Diamondbacks one) and Fabio Castro (who we eventually traded to get Haigwood).
Scott Shoemaker RHP:
Scott’s career numbers are:
19-10 W-L
4.19 ERA
247.1 IP
204 SO
Scott signed during his 5th year of college in 2004 and has been in the minors since. He has a very good slider, a good curveball and a decent fastball. He doesn’t throw many balls and gets ahead in the counts.
Trade Evaluation:I think this was a good trade after Haigwood didn’t work out for us so that we’d get something if he was taken in waivers. Shoemaker could be a good middle reliever or long reliever someday, but would need another pitch to be a starter.
Grade: A- for this trade, but it’s still very disappointing that we ever got Haigwood in the first place instead of holding on to Castro, who is a much better prospect than these two pitchers put together.
This week I will tell my personal experiences with each of the Rangers pitchers.
Joaquin Benoit:
I’ve only met Benoit once and it was a couple years ago when he gave me an autograph when I asked before a game. He didn’t talk much, but he probably doesn’t speak good English.
Bruce Chen:
I’ve only seen Bruce twice and it was at Spring Training. One time I asked him for an autograph and the other time I asked him for an opinion poll and both times he was very willing and nice.
Scott Feldman:
Scott is a great guy and is always willing to sign for kids. He’s always very friendly and talks to them. I met Scott when he was in Frisco and talked to him a lot there, and he always remembers me when he sees me in Arlington. Scott was nice enough to let me interview him. CJ, Kam, Otsuka and Scott are probably the nicest pitchers on the team.
Eric Gagne:
I’ve talked to Eric twice, once at the Winter Awards Banquet when he was very nice and signed, and the other time it was at a Frisco game when he was the exact opposite. You can read about that on my April 7th post.
Kameron Loe:
Kameron is one of the nicest guys on the team and has always been great to me. Whenever he saw me at Spring Training workouts this year, he made sure to come over and say hi when he finished his work. He also does a lot of autograph appearances for the team. He signs autographs before games a lot.
Ron Mahay:
Ron is also very friendly. Whenever I talk to him, he’s always very nice and doesn’t ignore you, like some players do. He usually will sign autographs before games. I’ve gotten his autograph a few times.
Brandon McCarthy:
I’ve only met Brandon once and it was at the Winter Awards Banquet. He was very nice and gave me an autograph.
Kevin Millwood:
I haven’t met Kevin much, but when I have, he’s pretty friendly but doesn’t talk much. I got his autograph twice during 2006 Spring Training and again at TicketStock this year.
Akinori Otsuka:
Akinori will sign pretty much no matter what. He’s always very friendly and will talk to you. At Spring Training this year, he talked to me for about 5 minutes before a workout. I’ve seen him climb into the stands to get to a kid who wanted his autograph. I’ve gotten his autograph 3 or 4 times before games since he’s been here.
Vicente Padilla:
I have only met Vicente once, when he signed an autograph for me. It was at Spring Training in 2006. He was working out and I asked him to sign for me when he was done. When he was done, he remembered and looked around for me and called me over.
Robinson Tejeda:
I have only met Robinson once and he signed an autograph for me at the Winter Awards Banquet. Last year, I didn’t get his autograph after he was called up the first time, so I sent a letter to the Redhawks asking him to sign a picture for me. He sent it back to me with his autograph, which I thought was really nice.
C.J. Wilson:
CJ is a great guy, one of the three nicest guys on the team. He always shows up for autograph events, talks to me, and signs for people. He was even nice enough to let me interview him.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think is the best hitter on the Rangers other than Young and Teixeira?
Results:
Blalock – 6%
Catalanotto – 3%
Cruz – 0%
Hairston – 0%
Kata – 0%
Kinsler – 81%
Laird – 0%
Lofton – 6%
Sosa – 3%
Stewart – 3%
Wilkerson – 0%
Come back next week for my experiences with the Rangers hitters.
This week, the Rangers traded Daniel Haigwood, who had been DFA’d, to Boston for pitcher Scott Shoemaker. Haigwood was the pitcher we got last year for Fabio Castro and had been DFA’d to make roster room for Jamey Wright last week.
Daniel Haigwood LHP:
Daniel’s career numbers are:
35-18 W-L
3.43 ERA
478 IP
475 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 (the Diamondbacks one) and Fabio Castro (who we eventually traded to get Haigwood).
Scott Shoemaker RHP:
Scott’s career numbers are:
19-10 W-L
4.19 ERA
247.1 IP
204 SO
Scott signed during his 5th year of college in 2004 and has been in the minors since. He has a very good slider, a good curveball and a decent fastball. He doesn’t throw many balls and gets ahead in the counts.
Trade Evaluation:I think this was a good trade after Haigwood didn’t work out for us so that we’d get something if he was taken in waivers. Shoemaker could be a good middle reliever or long reliever someday, but would need another pitch to be a starter.
Grade: A- for this trade, but it’s still very disappointing that we ever got Haigwood in the first place instead of holding on to Castro, who is a much better prospect than these two pitchers put together.
This week I will tell my personal experiences with each of the Rangers pitchers.
Joaquin Benoit:
I’ve only met Benoit once and it was a couple years ago when he gave me an autograph when I asked before a game. He didn’t talk much, but he probably doesn’t speak good English.
Bruce Chen:
I’ve only seen Bruce twice and it was at Spring Training. One time I asked him for an autograph and the other time I asked him for an opinion poll and both times he was very willing and nice.
Scott Feldman:
Scott is a great guy and is always willing to sign for kids. He’s always very friendly and talks to them. I met Scott when he was in Frisco and talked to him a lot there, and he always remembers me when he sees me in Arlington. Scott was nice enough to let me interview him. CJ, Kam, Otsuka and Scott are probably the nicest pitchers on the team.
Eric Gagne:
I’ve talked to Eric twice, once at the Winter Awards Banquet when he was very nice and signed, and the other time it was at a Frisco game when he was the exact opposite. You can read about that on my April 7th post.
Kameron Loe:
Kameron is one of the nicest guys on the team and has always been great to me. Whenever he saw me at Spring Training workouts this year, he made sure to come over and say hi when he finished his work. He also does a lot of autograph appearances for the team. He signs autographs before games a lot.
Ron Mahay:
Ron is also very friendly. Whenever I talk to him, he’s always very nice and doesn’t ignore you, like some players do. He usually will sign autographs before games. I’ve gotten his autograph a few times.
Brandon McCarthy:
I’ve only met Brandon once and it was at the Winter Awards Banquet. He was very nice and gave me an autograph.
Kevin Millwood:
I haven’t met Kevin much, but when I have, he’s pretty friendly but doesn’t talk much. I got his autograph twice during 2006 Spring Training and again at TicketStock this year.
Akinori Otsuka:
Akinori will sign pretty much no matter what. He’s always very friendly and will talk to you. At Spring Training this year, he talked to me for about 5 minutes before a workout. I’ve seen him climb into the stands to get to a kid who wanted his autograph. I’ve gotten his autograph 3 or 4 times before games since he’s been here.
Vicente Padilla:
I have only met Vicente once, when he signed an autograph for me. It was at Spring Training in 2006. He was working out and I asked him to sign for me when he was done. When he was done, he remembered and looked around for me and called me over.
Robinson Tejeda:
I have only met Robinson once and he signed an autograph for me at the Winter Awards Banquet. Last year, I didn’t get his autograph after he was called up the first time, so I sent a letter to the Redhawks asking him to sign a picture for me. He sent it back to me with his autograph, which I thought was really nice.
C.J. Wilson:
CJ is a great guy, one of the three nicest guys on the team. He always shows up for autograph events, talks to me, and signs for people. He was even nice enough to let me interview him.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think is the best hitter on the Rangers other than Young and Teixeira?
Results:
Blalock – 6%
Catalanotto – 3%
Cruz – 0%
Hairston – 0%
Kata – 0%
Kinsler – 81%
Laird – 0%
Lofton – 6%
Sosa – 3%
Stewart – 3%
Wilkerson – 0%
Come back next week for my experiences with the Rangers hitters.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Analysis of Rangers Hitters
A couple days ago, I went to Jamey Newberg’s brother, Barry Newberg’s new restaurant, Mooyah Burgers. They serve burgers, fries and shakes. Their burgers are some of the best I’ve ever had. Their fries are good if you put more salt on them. I haven’t had a shake, but my dad had one and said that it was good. I really recommend it because the burgers are awesome. It is on Park and the Tollway (see http://mooyah.com/).
This week I will analyze all the hitters on the Rangers active roster.
Hank Blalock:
Hank was a huge prospect when he came up and did very well his 1st and 2nd full years. He has steadily declined every year and has always done well in the 1st half and declined in the 2nd half. He has been an All-Star 2 times in his career. I think he will get a little better this year but not too much, because he’s indicating that he’s going to listen to Rudy better.
Frank Catalanotto:
Frank 1st became a starter in 2001 and played very well. 2001 was also his 1st year without some kind of injury. He has hit .300 or over four years during his career, 1 year with the Tigers, one year with the Rangers, and two with the Blue Jays. He has a weak arm which limits his outfield fielding ability. He doesn’t hit many home runs at all. His career high for one season is 13. In his 10-year career, he only has 72 total.
Nelson Cruz:
Nelson is a huge prospect, and all we have left from the Carlos Lee trade. Nelson has the potential to be a huge power hitter. From what I’ve seen of him, which is very little, he let’s mistakes stick with him a little too long. If he reaches his potential, he’ll be great, but if he doesn’t, he’ll probably come nowhere close to it.
Jerry Hairston:
Jerry went into Spring Training this year fighting for a job and won a job by batting almost .500. He was what we got in return for Phil Nevin in a trade with the Cubs. Since then, Hairston has been more important to the Rangers than Phil Nevin was to the Cubs. Hairston has been a primary starter two years in his career, both with the Orioles. He’ll be a big part of the Rangers this year, filling in almost everywhere when a starter needs rest. I think he’ll bat better than last year’s .205 with Texas and will be solid defensively.
Matt Kata:
Matt has played with the Diamondbacks, Phillies and now Rangers. His best year so far was his rookie year, when he batted .257 and hit 7 HR with 29 RBI’s. He also played the most games in a season in his career, playing in 78 games. I don’t think he’ll play much, considering that he’s the 25th man, but will play well for his amount of playing time.
Ian Kinsler:
Ian had a very good rookie year last year, batting .286 with 14 HR’s and 55 RBI’s in 120 games. This year he has gotten off to a great start, batting .357 with 5 HR’s and 9 RBI’s in 9 games. Right now he’s on pace to bat .357 with about 80 HR’s and 144 RBI’s. Like Alfonso Soriano, he can make great plays on hard balls, but on easy balls he loses focus and sometimes makes errors.
Gerald Laird:
Of active catchers that have played at least 130 games, Gerald has the 4th highest percentage of throwing out baserunners trying to steal. Only Yadier Molina, Pudge, and Henry Blanco are higher. Last year was his 1st year of playing a large portion of the season, and he batted great, hitting .296. Now that he finally has the starting catcher job to himself, I expect him to continue to be strong on offense and defense and to keep improving at calling games.
Kenny Lofton:
Kenny has a weak arm that many teams will challenge. He has good speed and almost no power. He struggled in Spring Training and is struggling so far this year. But he has hit over .300 each of the last two years, so hopefully will bounce back and have another strong year.
Sammy Sosa:
Sammy took a year off last year after playing poorly for the Orioles the year before. He has been quickly declining every year since the 64 home-run year in 2001. He had a great Spring Training, which is why he’s on the team. If he hits 10 more home runs he’ll have 600. I expect him to come back and hit between .260 and .280 with about 25 homers.
Chris Stewart:
This is the second year Chris has been in the majors. Last year he was 0-for-8. He got his first major league hit this year and it was an RBI single. We got him in a trade with the White Sox in the offseason (for minor league pitcher Johnny Lujan). Chris is a strong defensive catcher.
Mark Teixeira:
Mark has 2 Gold Gloves and 1 All-Star appearance. He is one of the Rangers’ best players. He hits over or around .300 and hits about 30-40 home runs. Last year, he got a lot of doubles. He’s made a habit of starting slow and ending the year great. I predict Mark will do about the same as last year, but hit about 5 more homers and get about 10 more RBI’s.
Brad Wilkerson:
Brad never was a good hitter when it came to batting average, but last year he struck out about 1 time in 2.8 at-bats. This year he is striking out a lot again. I think he will do the same as last year and lose his platoon job.
Michael Young:
Michael has gotten over 200 hits for the past 4 years. He led the league in batting average in ’05. He doesn’t hit for much power, but he’s not real low on it, either. He is a 3-time All-Star. I expect him to be an All-Star once again and get over 220 hits.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think is the best Rangers bullpen pitcher?
Results:
Benoit – 14%
Chen – 0%
Feldman – 5%
Gagne – 9%
Loe – 5%
Mahay – 0%
Otsuka – 60%
Wilson – 5%
Wood – 2%
Come back next week for my personal experiences with each of the Rangers pitchers.
This week I will analyze all the hitters on the Rangers active roster.
Hank Blalock:
Hank was a huge prospect when he came up and did very well his 1st and 2nd full years. He has steadily declined every year and has always done well in the 1st half and declined in the 2nd half. He has been an All-Star 2 times in his career. I think he will get a little better this year but not too much, because he’s indicating that he’s going to listen to Rudy better.
Frank Catalanotto:
Frank 1st became a starter in 2001 and played very well. 2001 was also his 1st year without some kind of injury. He has hit .300 or over four years during his career, 1 year with the Tigers, one year with the Rangers, and two with the Blue Jays. He has a weak arm which limits his outfield fielding ability. He doesn’t hit many home runs at all. His career high for one season is 13. In his 10-year career, he only has 72 total.
Nelson Cruz:
Nelson is a huge prospect, and all we have left from the Carlos Lee trade. Nelson has the potential to be a huge power hitter. From what I’ve seen of him, which is very little, he let’s mistakes stick with him a little too long. If he reaches his potential, he’ll be great, but if he doesn’t, he’ll probably come nowhere close to it.
Jerry Hairston:
Jerry went into Spring Training this year fighting for a job and won a job by batting almost .500. He was what we got in return for Phil Nevin in a trade with the Cubs. Since then, Hairston has been more important to the Rangers than Phil Nevin was to the Cubs. Hairston has been a primary starter two years in his career, both with the Orioles. He’ll be a big part of the Rangers this year, filling in almost everywhere when a starter needs rest. I think he’ll bat better than last year’s .205 with Texas and will be solid defensively.
Matt Kata:
Matt has played with the Diamondbacks, Phillies and now Rangers. His best year so far was his rookie year, when he batted .257 and hit 7 HR with 29 RBI’s. He also played the most games in a season in his career, playing in 78 games. I don’t think he’ll play much, considering that he’s the 25th man, but will play well for his amount of playing time.
Ian Kinsler:
Ian had a very good rookie year last year, batting .286 with 14 HR’s and 55 RBI’s in 120 games. This year he has gotten off to a great start, batting .357 with 5 HR’s and 9 RBI’s in 9 games. Right now he’s on pace to bat .357 with about 80 HR’s and 144 RBI’s. Like Alfonso Soriano, he can make great plays on hard balls, but on easy balls he loses focus and sometimes makes errors.
Gerald Laird:
Of active catchers that have played at least 130 games, Gerald has the 4th highest percentage of throwing out baserunners trying to steal. Only Yadier Molina, Pudge, and Henry Blanco are higher. Last year was his 1st year of playing a large portion of the season, and he batted great, hitting .296. Now that he finally has the starting catcher job to himself, I expect him to continue to be strong on offense and defense and to keep improving at calling games.
Kenny Lofton:
Kenny has a weak arm that many teams will challenge. He has good speed and almost no power. He struggled in Spring Training and is struggling so far this year. But he has hit over .300 each of the last two years, so hopefully will bounce back and have another strong year.
Sammy Sosa:
Sammy took a year off last year after playing poorly for the Orioles the year before. He has been quickly declining every year since the 64 home-run year in 2001. He had a great Spring Training, which is why he’s on the team. If he hits 10 more home runs he’ll have 600. I expect him to come back and hit between .260 and .280 with about 25 homers.
Chris Stewart:
This is the second year Chris has been in the majors. Last year he was 0-for-8. He got his first major league hit this year and it was an RBI single. We got him in a trade with the White Sox in the offseason (for minor league pitcher Johnny Lujan). Chris is a strong defensive catcher.
Mark Teixeira:
Mark has 2 Gold Gloves and 1 All-Star appearance. He is one of the Rangers’ best players. He hits over or around .300 and hits about 30-40 home runs. Last year, he got a lot of doubles. He’s made a habit of starting slow and ending the year great. I predict Mark will do about the same as last year, but hit about 5 more homers and get about 10 more RBI’s.
Brad Wilkerson:
Brad never was a good hitter when it came to batting average, but last year he struck out about 1 time in 2.8 at-bats. This year he is striking out a lot again. I think he will do the same as last year and lose his platoon job.
Michael Young:
Michael has gotten over 200 hits for the past 4 years. He led the league in batting average in ’05. He doesn’t hit for much power, but he’s not real low on it, either. He is a 3-time All-Star. I expect him to be an All-Star once again and get over 220 hits.
Results of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think is the best Rangers bullpen pitcher?
Results:
Benoit – 14%
Chen – 0%
Feldman – 5%
Gagne – 9%
Loe – 5%
Mahay – 0%
Otsuka – 60%
Wilson – 5%
Wood – 2%
Come back next week for my personal experiences with each of the Rangers pitchers.
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