All-Star voting

As part of my membership in the Baseball Bloggers Association, here are my votes for this year’s All-Star team.

AL: all Rangers (surprise, surprise)

1B: Mitch Moreland (If he doesn’t make it, I won’t be too upset because he’s a rookie. But he’s pretty stinkin’ great.)

2B: Ian Kinsler (Offensively he doesn’t really deserve it, but defensively he does.)

SS: Elvis Andrus (I mean, come on, Derek Jeter?? Please. Elvis is soooo much better! Asdrubal Cabrera might give Elvis a run for his money, though.)

3B: Adrian Beltre (Just amazing defensively. Unfortunately, A-Rod has a lock on this, I’m sure.)

DH: Michael Young (Michael certainly deserves it, but Big Papi might win in the votes.)

Catcher: Yorvit Torrealba (But Joe Mauer will probably win.)

OF: Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, and David Murphy (Josh is certainly going, and Nelly should go, but Murph probably won’t. He’s not flashy, so people don’t tend to notice his awesomeness.)

NL:

1B: Albert Pujols (he’s just a stud, baseball-wise)

2B: don’t care

3B: don’t care

SS: don’t care

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez (of course)

OF: Marlon Byrd, Ryan Braun, and Andrew McCutchen (Marlon because of the Rangers connection and because he’s just awesome, Ryan Bruan because of the amazing effortless catch he made in the last All Star game, and Andrew McCutchen just because I like him.)

So if you haven’t voted for your major league All-Stars, you should definitely do that ASAP. If you don’t know who to vote for, please feel free to copy my ballot. 🙂 But no matter who you decide to vote for, just VOTE!

Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!!

Last night’s victory came after a very short losing streak for the Rangers – only 2 games – but I still breathed a huge sigh of relief. Those first 2 games that the Rangers played against the Tigers were just BAD!!

Let me back up a little bit. Before the Rangers started this short 3-game home stand against the Tigers, they had finished their road trip against Tampa Bay and the Cleveland with a 6-1 record.

No, that’s not a typo. I said 6-1. On the road. Flippin’ awesome!

And that 6-1 record included a 4-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, who have the best home record in all of baseball. Not too shabby.

But then the Rangers proceeded to come home and play like a Little League team against the Tigers in game 1 of the series. The final score was 13-7, so at least the Rangers got 7 runs. But it was still just a hard game to watch.

My dad and I had tickets to game 2, so I was really hoping the Rangers could turn it around on Tuesday night. Plus, they had fireworks scheduled for after the game, which never happens for a weekday game. It had to be a good omen, right?

Wrong.

I thought Monday’s game was hard to watch, but Tuesday’s game was just a never-ending slaughter. And it took absolutely FOR-EV-ER!!

It ended up that I wasn’t able to work it out to go in to work late on Wednesday morning, so I finally had to leave the stadium at 10:00, and they hadn’t even started the 9th inning yet!

Plus that hard seat had really done a number on my backside, and the 5 healed fractures in my pelvis and tailbone were screaming at me. I was hurting pretty bad. Seriously, I’m still sore 2 days later.

Anyway, I ended up missing the fireworks, which I was REALLY looking forward to. And my team got pummeled, and I was in pain, which made me pretty cranky.

I knew that Alexi Ogando was going to pitch last night, so I was cautiously optimistic.  But I still didn’t know what to expect.

When I turned on the game last night, we were still in the top of the first inning, but the Tigers were already leading 1-0. Uh-oh. No bueno.

On a side note, I was also surprised to hear last night that the Rangers suddenly decided to fire their new hitting coach Thad Bosley. Tom and Dave kept talking about what a great guy he is, but a team doesn’t decide to just fire someone in the middle of the season for no reason.

There’s something fishy going on, but I’m proud of the Rangers for not airing all their dirty laundry. Of course I’m curious about what happened, but it really isn’t anybody’s business.

They decided to bring up Scott Coolbaugh (the hitting coach for the Rangers’ AAA affiliate) to become the Rangers’ hitting coach. Tom & Dave kept pointing out that “there’s no ‘interim’ in front of his title. This is now Scott’s job.”

Okay, fine. Back to the game.

Although the Rangers were down 1-0 through the 2nd inning, they were able to get 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning. And they kept adding on runs until finally, we were leading 7-1.

Then Darren Oliver put 2 guys on base in the top of the ninth, so Wash called in Feliz. And Feliz doesn’t do well coming into an inning with men on base, so they both scored.

But that was it. We still won the game 7-3! Woohoo!!

Alexi Ogando still does not have a loss this season, and he’s 7-0 with a few no-decisions!

Oh, speaking of Alexi Ogando, I have a funny story. Well, at least I thought it was funny. If you want to quit reading here, I’ll totally understand.

The last time my dad and I went to a game together (before this past Tuesday, of course), it was against the Chicago White Sox and Alexi Ogando was on the mound.

When Alexei Ramirez came up to bat, I said to my dad, “Oh, hey, it’s Alexei versus Alexi!” I made sure to accentuate the “ayy” sound in Alexei and the “ee” sound in Alexi.

“Let me guess, ” Dad said. “Are they spelled the same but just pronounced differently?”

“No,” I said. “Alexi Ogando’s name is spelled just with an i, and Alexei Ramirez is spelled with an e i.”

We both waited a beat, then at the exact same time we sang “E I E I OOOOO.”

It was hilarious! But maybe it’s one of those things that doesn’t translate into print. You had to be there. Anyway, it was awesome, trust me. 🙂

The next game I’m going to will be Monday, June 20 against the Houston Astros. That also happens to be Nelson Cruz bobblehead night! Yay!!! 

Overall Rangers’ record: 35-28

My Rangers’ record: 6-2

Days ’til my next game: 11

Cleveland Massacre

Umm, did you guys see that game last night? It was pretty awesome.

After winning 2 out of 3 in Tampa Bay, it was incredible to see the Rangers stroll into Cleveland yesterday and continue their recent road success.

Before last night’s game, the Rangers were 11-15 in road games on the year. I’ve heard it said that as long as  team can take 2 out of 3 at home and go .500 on the road, they’re golden. Well, the Rangers are a bit under .500 on the road, but there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played this season.

And with last night’s win, the Rangers are still only 12-15 on the road so far. But the amazing thing about last night’s win is that before last night, Cleveland had a 19-6 home record.

So basically, nobody goes into Progressive Field and embarrasses the Indians on their own turf.

But the Rangers did. 🙂

And they did it using a spot starter because the regular starter, Matt Harrison, is dealing with a blister.

Can you tell that I’m proud of my boys? Maybe I’m over-playing the significance of last night’s game, but dang I’m happy!

How about Endy Chavez?? 4 for 4 with a stolen base and 2 runs scored last night. Wow.

And last night wasn’t an anomaly. Endy is hitting .415 since being brought up on May 14. Not to mention his solid job in center field.

When Julio Borbon comes off the DL on Monday, it’s a pretty safe bet that Endy won’t be going anywhere.

TR Sullivan mentioned last weekend that the Rangers might be looking to move David Murphy. When I read that, warning bells started going off in my head. “Uh-uh, they’d better not move Murphy!! They need to get rid of Julio!”

Then yesterday, I read an email from Jamey Newberg that proclaimed,

“From John Perrotto (Baseball Prospectus): ‘The Rangers would consider trading outfielder David Murphy for pitching help, though they would prefer to deal center fielder Julio Borbon.’

WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Finally!!!

Yes, Julio is speedy on the bases and in the outfield. And he sometimes has a hot bat. But the kid has no arm!! A strong throwing arm is kinda important for a center fielder. Or for any outfielder, really.

Speaking of outfielders with great arms, how about Indians’ right fielder Shin-Soo Choo?? Freakin’ A, dude! He’s got a cannon strapped to his shoulder! He very nearly threw out Nelly Cruz last night from deep right field. I would love to see that guy in a Rangers’ uniform.

I’m excited to see tonight’s game. Hopefully the Rangers can continue their offensive prowess, and we’ve got Alexi Ogando on the mound tonight. Alexi is 5-0, and I want him to get to 6-0.

By the way, who would have guessed that Alexi would become one of the best starting pitchers in the Bigs? He was a decent bullpen guy, but he is absolutely lights out as a starter.

My next game will be on Tuesday against the Tigers, and I found out last week that they’re having fireworks for some reason. Sweet!!

I’ve already put in notice so that I can come in to work late on Wednesday. I don’t want to take any chances. I am going to see those fireworks!

Days ’til my next game: 4

Overall Rangers’ record: 31-26

My Rangers’ record: 6-1

Ranger Resurgence

First of all, I should probably mention the fact that Mlblogs.com has recently switched over to WordPress. So the website may look a little bit different to you, but there should be a WHOLE BUNCH of cool new things that I can add later. Once I figure out how it all works, of course.

Anyway, did you freakin’ see the Rangers’ game last night?? It was epic!!!

The first 8 innings or so were kind of ho-hum. The Rangers and the Royals were tied at two runs apiece.

The excitement started in the middle of the bottom of the 8th inning, when Ian Kinsler dove to catch a line shot that would have fallen into shallow right field otherwise. The Royals had a man on 2nd base who could have easily scored if that ball and gotten through, but instead it became the 2nd out of the inning. Thanks, Ian!

Then in the top of the 9th, the Royals brought in legendary closer and birthday boy Joakim Soria. But Soria didn’t have such a great birthday. Texas was able to get another run across thanks to a pinch-hit RBI single by the always-amazing Elvis Andrus, and they took the lead 3-2. Woo hoo!!!

With Neftali Feliz on the hill for the Rangers in the bottom of the 9th, I was feeling pretty good about the Rangers chances. But then Feliz did some very un-Feliz things.

The very first pitch he threw in the bottom of the 9th was belted for a solo homer by Royals’ rookie Eric Hosmer, tying the game at 3. Uh oh.

Then Neffy walked Jeff Francoeur (who I really wish the Rangers had been able to keep, BTW). They took Francoeur out of the game and put in Jarrod Dyson to pinch run.

And Neffy promptly picked him off.

Then he walked the next guy, Billy Butler. The Royals put Mike Aviles in to pinch run for him, and Neffy promptly picked him off too. Nice!

I don’t like the fact that Neftali is walking guys, but at least the got the outs afterwards. The Royals say that he balked, but it didn’t look like a balk to me. And the most important thing was that there were 4 major league umpires on that field, and none of them called a balk either.

So the game went to the 10th inning, and Neftali Feliz came out to pitch for the Rangers again. But no one from either team scored in that inning, so they went to the 11th.

In the top of the 11th, Adrian Beltre hit a 2-run single to center field off the Royals second-to-last bullpen guy, Jeremy Jeffress. That put the Rangers on top 5-3.

After Jeffress allowed those 2 runs, he was pulled from the game and the Royals brought in the last guy from their bullpen, Everett Teaford. Even if the Royals had been able to come up with 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th, they wouldn’t have any more options for pitching help. They’d have to go to their starting rotation.

But the Royals weren’t able to come up with 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th. The got 1 run, mainly due to defensive indifference, but it wasn’t enough and the Rangers won 5-4.

Whew! That was a nail-biter!! The Rangers really seem to be figuring things out now, and with Josh Hamilton and Nelly Cruz both on rehab assignments and due to come back to the Bigs soon, I hope it just gets better from here.

The Rangers only have a 23-20 record, which if you’re math-deficient means that they’re only 3 games above .500. But it doesn’t matter because they’re still 1 1/2 games ahead of the Angels (22-22), which means the Rangers are in 1st place in the AL West. I’ll take it!

Days ’til my next game: 4

Overall Rangers’ record: 23-20

My Rangers’ record: 4-1 

I’M BACK!!!

Hello, all!!! I am now out of the funk that has affected my blogging for the last 2 months, and I’m resuming my blog! I’m sure I lost a bunch of followers during my hiatus, so I would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for reading and sincerely apologize for my absence.

Okay, now to the baseball stuff!! The MLB baseball season began about 6 weeks ago, so of course I’ve already been to 5 games. The Rangers got off to a white-hot 9-1 start, but then injuries started to take a toll.

Tommy Hunter, Brandon Webb, Omar Beltre, Scott Feldman, and Eric Hurley all started the season on the DL and have not rejoined the team yet. Tommy was on the road to recovery when he suffered a Grade 1 groin strain during a rehab start on Monday, May 10, setting him back a few weeks. Brandon Webb is in extended Spring Training, and he’s not expected to join the Rangers until the 2nd half of the season.

Josh Hamilton has been out since April 12 with a fracture in his right shoulder, and he should be out for another 2-3 weeks. The funny thing about his injury (funny-strange, not funny-haha) is that he hurt himself while sliding headfirst into home plate.

Ron Washington and the Rangers’ higher-ups seem to think that Josh only injures himself by running into walls in center field, but even limiting Josh to a DH role wouldn’t have stopped this injury. He just plays all-out instinctual baseball. In the heat of the moment, he doesn’t think ‘Is this going to hurt me and keep me out of the lineup?’ He just goes for it. And it’s hard to be mad at the guy for following his instincts, especially because he plays some beautiful baseball. But I sure do miss him.

Nelson Cruz went on the 15-day DL on May 7 retroactive to May 4, so he should be eligible to come back on May 19. Having Nelly and Josh out has put a big fat hole in our lineup, but other guys are starting to step up. More on that later.

Alexi Ogando has been filling in as a starter for the Rangers this season, and he’s been surprisingly awesome! But he has a recurrent blister on his right hand that has been giving him trouble, so the Rangers skipped Ogando in the rotation once to give the blister time to heal. He’s scheduled to make his first start in 10 days tomorrow night (May 13) opposite Jered Weaver and the Angels.

Darren O’Day has been having trouble with his hip for a long time, and it finally got to the point where he had to say “enough is enough.” Turns out he had a partially torn labrum in his left hip, so he had to have surgery on April 28 and he went on the 60-day DL.

Mason Tobin was placed on the 60-day DL on April 20 due to “right ulnar collateral ligament inflammation.” Wow, that’s a mouthful. But basically, it means that he had Tommy John surgery 2 years ago and hasn’t fully recovered yet.

Neftali Feliz went on the 15-day DL because of a sore shoulder, but he’s back now and as effective as ever. It was kind of foreboding though, because if he’s already having shoulder problems at such a young age, what does that mean for his future? Well, hopefully it’s not a harbinger of things to come!

The Rangers were starting to look pretty bad, and they even dropped to a .500 record on May 10th for the first time in over a year. But I think they may have turned it around.

They’ve been showing more promise in the last few games, and I’m hoping that the luck that Michael Young, Julio Borbon, Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry have found lately will stick around.

I went to the game this past Tuesday (the one with the hour-long rain delay), and on the way there I was talking with my dad about how I don’t like that Ron Washington seems to get stuck with his lineups. “Sometimes you just need to shake things up and see what happens,” I said. “I wish he would be more open about changing up the lineup.”

My dad’s advice was that I blog about it, because he has hated my hiatus. But that was the first time that I actually thought, ‘You know, I should start blogging again.’ 

Anyway, when Chuck Morgan read the batting lineup right before the start of the game, my eyebrows shot up and my mouth went into a little “o” shape. “He changed thing up!!” I said to my dad, excited to see how things worked out.

By the time of the rain delay, it was already apparent that the new lineup was working out well. The Rangers were already up 5-0! They ended up winning the game 7-2.

Yesterday’s game was rained out in the top of the 4th inning, but the Rangers were leading the A’s 7-0 before the skies opened up. Unfortunately, they called the game, meaning that those 7 run don’t officially count, including Mitch Moreland’s first ever big league grand slam.

Even though the game doesn’t count, I still think the hits/RBIs/innings pitched/etc. should count. I mean, just because the game got rained out, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a big league at-bat with big league results. I just think it’s not fair that Moreland’s first grand slam got taken away. Poor guy!

Okay, I’ve got one more thing I have to tell you before I wrap things up. Today is actually my birthday, and my dad gave me my birthday present a little bit early this year. I work M-F, but my dad is retired and only works on the weekends. So that makes it hard for us to hang out sometimes.

But we’ve discovered that Friday nights are good times for us to get together. So a regular Friday night during baseball season usually involves me driving out to my dad’s, pizza, and the Rangers’ game.

Last Friday was the Rangers vs. the Yankees, and dad decided during one of the commercial breaks to give me my birthday present a little early. He pulled out a long skinny box, and I immediately joked “Oh, is it another Michael Young commemerative bat?”

[I don’t know if you guys remember or not, but one of my Christmas presents from my dad was one of 500 Michael Young bats to commemerating when he became the all-time Rangers hits leader]

When I opened the box, I discovered that it was indeed a bat, but it was wrapped in bubble wrap and it had a tube sock on the barrel. I started to whip off the sock, but my dad stopped me and told me to take it off slowly and read it out loud.

The first thing I saw was “Louisville Slugger.” Well, duh.

Then I saw that it said “Number 17 of 500.” So it was another commemerative bat!

Then I saw the words “Josh Hamilton.” It was a bat to commemerate him winning the AL MVP award and winning a batting title in 2010! But that’s not all…

It was signed by Josh Hamilton in blue Sharpie!!

After I oohed and ahhed for a few minutes, I said “Now I’ll have to get a display case for this so that I can show it off.” “Actually…” he began… 

 Dad went back behind the couch and came out with another log skinny box, but this one was about twice as fat as the bat. “No way!!” I said.

“They threw it in for free!” Dad said. “Uh-uh, no they didn’t,” I argued. “Oh yes they did!” he exclaimed.

[Do you understand yet that I was really excited? That we were both really excited?? Because I can only add so many exclamation points before it starts getting ridiculous.]

So yeah, I like my present. I didn’t put the bat down all night. I told dad, “You know you’re never going to top this, right?” “Yeah, it’s all downhill from here,” he agreed.

“This is going to get you a lot of credit. You’ve now been upgraded from a crappy nursing home to a solid mid-level place,” I told him.

He got a big belly laugh out of that. 🙂

 Okay, that’s it. Our next game will be on Monday, May 23, which also happens to be the day when a Josh Hamilton figurine is the give-away. Should be fun!

Days ’til my next game: 11

Overall Rangers’ record: 18-18

My Rangers’ record: 4-1 

Eh

Around this time last year, I was living and breathing baseball.

I was so starved for baseball news in the 2009-2010 offseason that when Spring Training finally started up in 2010, I was ecstatic.

I spent the majority of my free time obsessing over all of the tidbits of news I had heard and using it to come up with new predictions about the 2010 Rangers team.

And all that obsessing got me nowhere.

Just to refresh your memory, here is what was happening at this point a year ago:

-the Greenberg/Ryan group was predicted to be the team owners on Opening Day.
-I was looking forward to a dominant year from the top of our pitching rotation (Scott Feldman and Rich Harden).
-I thought that Salty would finally be healthy, and that he would be the starting catcher for the Rangers all season.
-The Rangers were still reeling from the loss of Khalil Greene and had no idea who their utility infielder would be.
-I was still in doubt about CJ’s ability to be a decent starting pitcher.

And of course, all of those assumptions turned out to be false. So it didn’t really do me any good to spend so much time trying to predict.

This past off-season (2010-2011) was much shorter, since the Rangers continued playing all the way through the playoffs and into the World Series.

By that time, I was emotionally exhausted from venturing into uncharted territory. So I was okay with the lull in baseball news.

Then the off-season began to fill up with all kinds of drama, from Cliff Lee to potential DH’s to Adrian Beltre’s signing and a possible Michael Young trade.

Everybody seemed anxious about a disgruntled Michael Young rejoining the Rangers clubhouse, but I think the media whipped up an unnecessary frenzy in order to try to squeeze more stories out.

“Oh, no!!! Michael Young asked to be traded, but he wasn’t traded, so how is everyone going to react?? Will all the other players treat him like a traitor? Will Michael act surly because he doesn’t want to be there? This team should be celebrating the American League Championship, but this will put everybody in a sad mood! Uh oh!!”

Umm, no. That’s not how it works. I thought things might be awkward, but I never doubted that Michael would conduct himself as a professional and act with dignity.

Just as I predicted, Michael decided not to pout like a little kid. There are some ballplayers that would, but not Michael. He’s decided to try to make the best of the situation.

As far as the rest of the Spring Training spectacle, I’ve decided to wait a while before delving into all of the drama.

I mean, sure, I could spend my time trying to predict whether or not Julio Borbon will have a breakout season, or how much time Michael Young will put in at each infield position, but it won’t change the outcome.

Wow, I’m sorry if this blog is taking on a bitter/negative vibe. That’s not what I meant to do at all. I love baseball, and I love my Rangers. I am excited about my 2011 20-game mini plan, and I can’t wait to see all that the new ownership has in store for Rangers fans in the 2011 season.

And I promise that by Opening Day, I will be up to speed on every single player on the Rangers 40-man roster. I’ve just decided that it would be superfluous for me to dissect the Rangers at this juncture, especially since we’re only 2 weeks into Spring Training.

But just because I’m not breaking down all of the player performances, that doesn’t that we should all be in the dark! Evan Grant put out an updated roster prediction today, and I’m perfectly happy with his predictions.

Especially since he sees Michael Kirkman in the 5th starter role!

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/rangers-roster-report-v30.html

Until we meet again!!

Days ’til Opening Day: 31

Cautious excitement

Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training in just 2 days, and I’m excited for the Rangers to start getting some of this confusion sorted out!

At the time of my last post, it seemed as if a Michael Young trade was going to happen immediately. Wrong.

Michael still hasn’t been traded, most likely because of the hefty salary that accompanies him. And it’s starting to look more and more like a trade won’t happen.

So I guess that’s kinda good, because it means that the Rangers won’t have a hole in their lineup. But it means that Michael is stuck in a role where he’s not happy.

He could get traded during Spring Training, though. A lot of stuff happens during those 6 weeks.

And I don’t even have to cite examples from multiple years in order to prove that point. Last year should be sufficient.

Players will get injured, putting their spot on the team in jeopardy. Remember what happened to Salty, Derek Holland, Tommy Hunter, and Ian Kinsler during Spring Training last year?

Players who we thought would be shoe-ins for a particular position will surprise us by underperforming. Remember Khalil Greene from last year? Or the idea of Neftali Feliz as a starter for 2010?

Other players will surprise us by performing way above expectations. See C.J. Wilson, who emerged from Spring Training as one of the top 2 starters on the team. That was something I definitely did not expect!

We traded for several players during Spring Training, including Matt Treanor and Andres Blanco. They were both instrumental in the Rangers’ success in 2010, especially Treanor.

So it’s still possible that Michael Young could get traded after Spring Training starts. You never know. I just hope that if a trade does happen, we get a good bat in return who can fill in as our DH.

As the title of this blog entry implies, I’m excited about the beginning of baseball activities in 2011, but I’m still nervous.

Last year, I was worried. We had gaping holes at utility infielder and catcher, and we thought we had an abundance of pitching.

The holes were filled well by Andres Blanco, Matt Treanor, and Bengie Molina, but our pitching faded quickly. Luckily we were able to trade for Cliff Lee, and we actually made it to the World Series!

This year we seem to be lacking a true ace, and our team captain isn’t happy and is asking for a trade. Again, it’s not looking good.

But perhaps these issues will be resolved and we’ll be back in the World Series in 2011! There’s no way to know what the future has in store.

Spring Training is a time of endless possibilities, and I’m sure that many of my expectations and predictions will be thrown out the window. But it sure is fun tring to predict what will happen!

You’d better hold on tight, because I have a feeling it’s going to be a bumpy ride!!

Pitchers and catchers report in: 2 days

The Michael Young Debacle

As soon as the Rangers got Adrian Beltre a few weeks ago, rumors started flying about a Michael Young trade. I tried to ignore it.

MY said he’d be okay with becoming the Rangers’ full-time DH/super-utility infielder/1B split with Mitch Moreland.

And yet the Rangers continued to pursue Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Vladimir Guerrero, all DH’s. Whispers continued to swirl about trading Michael. Still I tried to ignore it.

Then the Rangers traded for Mike Napoli, who played mostly 1st base for the Angels last year. And the whispers got ever louder.

So I decided to write one blog about 2 weeks ago discussing the potential impact of the Napoli trade, and I thought that would be all I would write about the subject. I hate to beat a dead horse.

But last week, several media outlets began saying the same thing: The Rangers are talking to other clubs about trading Young. And what did I do? You guessed it: I tried to ignore it.

Yesterday, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels confirmed via conference call that Michael has asked to be traded. Last night, Young spoke out as well. I can’t ignore it any more.

As much as I want Michael Young to spend his entire career in a Rangers’ uniform, I understand where he’s coming from. I touched on the reasons why we should and why we shouldn’t trade Young in my last blog.

But it appears to be getting ugly now. Michael feels that the Rangers weren’t straightforward with him, and he’s mad.

From his standpoint, the Rangers told him that they didn’t want to trade him, yet their actions told a different story.

Over the past 10 years, Young has moved from 2nd base to shortstop to 3rd base, and now he’s just expected to quietly accept the role of DH. That’s a lot of moving around for the sake of the team.

From the Rangers’ standpoint, they saw an opportunity to upgrade at 3rd base, and they took it. They feel like Young was okay with everything, then changed his mind and asked for the trade.

Nobody knows the whole truth from both sides of the coin, but this is what I think happened:

The Rangers put all of their eggs in Cliff Lee’s basket, then they freaked when he decided to go to the Phillies.

They started scrambling around to find another big-name free agent to show everybody that the Rangers, the defending AL champions, didn’t just sit on their laurels during the offseason.

So they went after a great player… a great 3rd baseman, even though the Rangers already had Michael Young at 3rd base for the next 3 years.

I can understand what the Rangers were trying to do. Adrian Beltre is undoubtedly the superior defensive player at 3rd base. But was it worth it to disrupt the harmony of the team to add a better player?

True, Michael Young’s baseball skills have started to drop off in the last few years. He’s 34 and he’s been in the Bigs for 10 years. It happens.

But he isn’t well suited to the DH position. He has a career batting average of .300, but he’s not a power hitter. His defensive ability has dropped from “really good” to “average,” but that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t play in the field anymore.

I mean, come on, it’s not like he’s Vladimir Guerrero or something.

Most importantly, Michael’s value to the team isn’t limited to what he does on the field. His biggest impact is in the clubhouse.

Everybody on the team looks to Michael as the team leader. They take their cues from him. When something happens, they tend to gauge their own reactions by Michael’s reaction, and he brings them all together.

When the pictures from Josh Hamilton’s drunken evening surfaced in 2009, Michael was there for Josh. When word leaked about Ron Washington’s failed drug test last year, Michael was the first to speak up and offer support.

There are some people that think the clubhouse atmosphere is the most important part of a ball club. That a group of guys with a mediocre talent level can excel simply by how well they work together as a team.

Others don’t give team chemistry any credit, insisting that each individual player’s performance is what matters, not whether or not they have fun together or hang out before/after games.

I fall somewhere in the middle, but I’m closer to the “team chemistry” camp than the “individual performance” camp. I think it matters how well everyone gets along, because baseball is all about unity.

For example, in football, it’s completely normal to see a running back do a celebratory end zone dance after scoring a touchdown. It’s actually expected. They strut around and angrily chest-bump each other as a display of their superiority.

But in baseball, you don’t often see a player running around showing off how amazing he is. His teammates congratulate him, but when he’s interviewed after the game, he will almost always say something like “I couldn’t have done it without my team.”

We have seen Michael “take one for the team” over and over again in the past 10 years, and he’s finally had enough.

Both sides are frustrated, and I don’t think this is something that can be fixed easily.

The best situation for Young at this point is a trade. If the Rangers can trade Michael to another team where he can be an everyday player both offensively and defensively, the Rangers have a much better chance of mending fences with him.

Then the Rangers need to apologize to Michael (publically would bwe nice, but privately would work too). They need to tell him that they’re sorry if they misled him in any way or didn’t give him the whole truth, and that they wish him nothing but the best in all of his future endeavors.

They should stress that they’ve loved having him the last 10 years and that he has been an invaluable asset to the Texas Rangers. They should emphasize how truly sorry they are that a deal couldn’t be worked out to keep Michael with the Rangers. And they should be sincere!

But I don’t think the Rangers will be able to trade Young without assuming responsibility to a big chunk of his salary. He is owed $48 million over the next 3 years, and it’s not likely that new team will want to pay that.

If they can trade Young, it will be catastrophic for the Rangers’ clubhouse. Not to mention the fact that we won’t have a DH.

They have to at least try to trade him, because Michael isn’t be happy with the role he’s been handed, and that will only cause more problems down the road.

After May of this year, Young will be a 10 and 5 player (at least 10 years in the Bigs, at least 5 years with the same team), so the Rangers won’t be able to trade him. If they’re going to do it, they need to do it now.

I don’t foresee a miracle where Michael is suddenly okay with his new role, or where the Rangers suddenly find a full-time infield position for him here. So I guess they’ll have to trade him. But it’s not gonna be pretty.

Pitchers and catchers report in: 8 days

More on the Napoli trade

Since my post yesterday, I’ve learned a bit more about the Mike Napoli trade.

While I was quite enthusiastic to bid farewell to Frank Francisco, the always-astute Joey Matschulat over at BBTiA wonders here about the affect this trade will have on the bullpen.

I neglected to mention yesterday that trading away Francisco most likely means that Neftali Feliz will remain the Rangers’ closer, as opposed to switching to the rotation. I’m fine with this, but there quite a lot of fans who disagree with me on this point.

I’ve also learned that last year Napoli started 70 games for the Angels at 1B. This was mostly due to need, since Kendry Morales broke his ankle in that freak celebration accident.

That just means that Napoli is even more versatile than I thought. Not only can he catch and DH, but he can also play solid 1st base.

It also brings up the question of whether or not we actually need Michael Young.

There has been a lot of speculation that a Michael Young trade is imminent, and the reasons are definitely persuasive enough to make me stop and think.

Ken Rosenthal brought up the facts here that:
1) Michael Young is under contract for the next 3 years at a staggering $16 million/year
2) With Adrian Beltre at 3rd base for the next 5-6 years, Young has been relegated to a role as a super-utility man/DH, a role he’s too young for
3) After the deal with Beltre, they announced Young would DH, but then continued to pursue Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Vladdy, and finally traded for Napoli
4) With Napoli capable of playing 1B/DH, Young’s role is further threatened
5) In May, Young will achieve full veto power of any trade due to the 10/5 rule (10 years in the majors, at least 5 years with one team)
6) The Colorado Rockies were interested in Young at the Winter Meetings to be their 2nd baseman

So if those are the reasons why we should trade Michael Young, then what are the reasons why we shouldn’t?
1) Face of the franchise
2) MY has said in the past that he wants to stay in Texas

But #2 may not apply any more considering his current role. He may decide that he’d rather go somewhere else to get the opportunity to play full-time offense and defense.

Michael Young said here that he doesn’t see himself as a DH, and he considers this a temporary move. But if he thinks that way, he must be thinking about another team, because Beltre is here to stay.

Okay, maybe Michael is seeing himself at another infield position. Let’s look at those options.

He couldn’t possibly be thinking of taking over for Elvis. Just 2 years ago, before Elvis was proven to be Major League-ready, the Rangers asked Michael to give up his role as shortstop, so they’re not likely to switch back now. Especially since Elvis has shown that he is far superior defensively.

Did Young see himself as a first baseman? That’s a position that has suffered since the loss of Mark Tiexiera. But with Mitch Moreland just coming up and the recent acquisition Napoli, that’s pretty much out as a permanent position for MY.

I could see him at 2nd base, but Kinsler is signed through 2012 (with an option for 2013). Plus, Kinsler and Young are good friends, so I can’t really see Young expecting to push Kinsler out.

So Michael must be envisioning himself with another team, right? Who knows.

Although it seems that Colorado would be a good fit for a trade, MLBtraderumors.com says here that the Rockies are financially tapped out.

The fans would throw a fit. Young has spent 10 years (his entire career) as a Ranger. Even though the Rangers have gained a lot more fans after their World Series trip last year, I don’t know if they’d be willing to risk all the fans they’d lose if they traded Young.

There’s also the “clubhouse factor” to consider, as Richard Durrett of RSPN Dallas points out here. Michael is the unquestioned team captain, even if he doesn’t have a “C” on his uniform. Could the Rangers handle the 2011 player turnover without Young as a buffer?

These are some definitely some points that merit discussion. But I’m 99% sure that if the Rangers do plan to trade Young, they will be very upfront about it and will include him in the discussions.

I can’t imagine them blindsiding him with a trade. The respect him too much for that.

Pitchers and catchers report in: 21 days

Non-Fan Fest stuff

First and foremost, I have to acknowledge that Manny Ramirez is NOT going to be playing for the Rangers for the 2011 season! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The morning after I posted my anti-Manny blog, I got in the car to head out to Fan Fest. On my way out to Arlington, I heard that Manny had signed a one year deal with the Rays. It was a great way to start off the day!!

The blog I wrote yesterday about Fan Fest was already so long that I didn’t get to address this other stuff. So here are some other things I’ve been thinking about.

It was announced on Sunday that the Rangers reached a deal with Darren O’Day, so that’s one less arbitration candidate that the Rangers have to worry about. Now the only 2 arbitration-eligible players who have yet to sign are Josh Hamilton and Frank Francisco.

I hope they don’t pay Frankie Frank a lot of money. After his monumental crash early last season and the subsequently unimpressive remainder of 2010, I kinda wish Frankie would go away. Instead of spending money on him, we could put money towards a better use.

I’m not sure why they can’t reach a deal with Josh Hamilton, because he was the AL MVP last year. He only wants $12 million, just pay it!

From what I understand, the arbitration process comes up with a salary placed on what similar players are getting around the league. But there’s no one to compare Josh Hamilton to; he’s the best.

Major League Baseball recognized him as the Most Valuable Player in the entire American League in 2010. So I don’t think it would be out of the question to find the guy with the highest salary in the AL, then pay Josh more than that. Seriously.

Alex Rodriguez made $33 million dollars last year, but he wasn’t the MVP. Josh Hamilton was. Josh Hamilton is only asking for $12 million in 2011. Just pay it! It’s better than $34 million!

They were fine with offering Adrian Beltre a 6-year/$96 million deal, so why not Hamilton? Well they probably shouldn’t offer Hamilton a 6-year contract, because he’s pretty injury-prone.

But how about a 3-year deal where they pay him $12 mil for 2011, $13 mil for 2012, and $14 mil for 2013? And add in lots of incentives based on the number of games he plays, homer he hits, his batting average, etc.

Now it’s easy for me to give Hamilton someone else’s money. But I thought the Rangers weren’t supposed to be cash-strapped any more. I think the Rangers need to realize that they’re looking a gift horse in the mouth, put on their big boy pants and pay the man.

So, was I the only one who was sad to hear that Vernon Wells will be with the Angels next year? I mean, how did the Rangers miss out on that one?

Vernon Wells is a beast, and I would absolutely LOVE to have him in a Ranger uniform. I mean, he’s FROM here!!

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, Vernon Wells was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the LA Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

But maybe he wants a more active role that we would have available here in Texas. Wells is an outfielder, and the Rangers are pretty set in the outfield.

Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, David Murphy, and Julio Borbon are our 4 outfielders, not to mention Mitch Moreland (if he’s not at 1B) and Craig Gentry waiting at AAA.

For at least the next 3 years, Adrian Beltre will be our 3rd baseman and Michael Young will be the DH. So we can’t put Wells at DH.

Wells also has 4 years left on his contract for a hefty $86 million dollars. I think any team would be leery about taking on a paycheck that big.

I get all the reasons why, but it’s still upsetting. I like Vernon Wells.

It makes me feel better to know that Wells didn’t chose to go to the Angels, though. It wasn’t like he was a free agent; he was traded. He was happy with the Blue Jays. Yes, he waived his no-trade clause to accept the trade, but he didn’t go seek them out.

Ooh, hey! I just got an email from Jamey Newberg saying that the Blue Jays have traded Mike Napoli to us for Frank Francisco! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

But wait, isn’t Mike Napoli a catcher? We already have Yorvit Torrealba and Matt Treanor. I guess the Rangers’ recent lack of good catching taught them a lesson, and they don’t want that to happen again.

After having Salty spend so much time injured and Taylor Teagarden unable to step up, the Rangers were lucky that they were able to get Matt Treanor during Spring Training of 2010.

And then we had to go after Bengie Molina mid-season, and we traded Salty away. So I guess they want to make sure they don’t get caught in a lurch again.

Maybe Napoli can work as the other right-handed big bat the Rangers were hoping to add. So maybe he’ll DH on the days when Young is at 1B. Or something.

I don’t know how it’s all gonna work out, but I know that I like it. Way to go, JD!!!

Seriously, guys, how amazing is our GM?!? It’s all coming together, and I’m starting to really get pumped for the 2011 season!!

Pitchers and catchers report in: 22 days