Texas Rangers Thread

[YosemiteSam]

They have to find a way to shore up the bullpen. The offense should pick up some when Hamilton and Cruz get back, but the pen doesn't have an obvious solution. We need somebody from the minors to step up or make a mid-season acquisition like we did with O'Day 2 years ago.

There have been hints about Tanner Scheppers making his way up and into the bullpen this season.

 

[WDN]

Elvis made that exact play in Arlington (I believe) and we know how high the grass is there. The most important play was getting the third out. You make that throw and there is a good chance you don't have to worry about any runs.

 

[WDN]

There have been hints about Tanner Scheppers making his way up and into the bullpen this season.

They need to hint at a way to keep him healthy instead of trying to count on him.

 

[Stautner]

There have been hints about Tanner Scheppers making his way up and into the bullpen this season.

I remember there being some talk of Scheppers being the closer when they were talking about making Feliz a starter. For that to even be a consideratin I assume he isn't that far from being ready to move up. I expect to see him at some point this season, and with the bullpen in the state it is now it could be sooner than originally thought.

This kind of thing is where I don't understand the thinking of someone like DIAF who believes there is no chance to do anything about the bullpen problems. Scheppers is a top tier prospect, and it's not at all unreasonable to think that he can move up somewhere along the way and have a big impact on the bullpen. In addition, the team could make a trade for a solid middle relief guy that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, and BOOM - suddenly the bullpen is respectable. That kind of thing can and does happen every year. And we have Hunter and Corpas and Feldman working on getting healthy as well, and that could help.

Obvioiusly there is no certainty that things will work out well with the bullpen this year, but there is certainly no reason to believe that we can't do things to fix it either.

The bullpen is pretty damn frustrating for now though.

 

[Stautner]

Elvis made that exact play in Arlington (I believe) and we know how high the grass is there. The most important play was getting the third out. You make that throw and there is a good chance you don't have to worry about any runs.

Ther is never an exact play.

The ball in Arlington may have been hit a little harder, and Elvis may have fielded the ball in a better positin to throw, and it may have been in on the dirt rather than 15 feet into the outfield grass, and the runner may have been slower, and he may not have had the winning run going to 3rd where if he made a bad throw the team lost the game .....

Bottom line is if he felt he couldn't make the play at 1st and thought there was a risk of making a bad throw that would allow the winning run to score, he had to do what he did.

 

[WDN]

Ther is never an exact play.

The ball in Arlington may have been hit a little harder, and Elvis may have fielded the ball in a better positin to throw, and it may have been in on the dirt rather than 15 feet into the outfield grass, and the runner may have been slower, and he may not have had the winning run going to 3rd where if he made a bad throw the team lost the game .....

Bottom line is if he felt he couldn't make the play at 1st and thought there was a risk of making a bad throw that would allow the winning run to score, he had to do what he did.

Underlining doesn't make you anymore correct. The ball wasn't 15 feet in the outfield. Both Elvis body position and the ball were pretty much in the same position. I remember it because I thought it was an oustanding play.

Im not going to get in a 30 page argument with you. My opinion is that he could of made the same play he did last week and the ballgame is likely over.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

They have to find a way to shore up the bullpen. The offense should pick up some when Hamilton and Cruz get back, but the pen doesn't have an obvious solution. We need somebody from the minors to step up or make a mid-season acquisition like we did with O'Day 2 years ago.

I agree with that. I'm just not panicking or going crazy about it just yet.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I agree with that. I'm just not panicking or going crazy about it just yet.

You're a bad fan! :laugh2:

 

[Stautner]

Underlining doesn't make you anymore correct. The ball wasn't 15 feet in the outfield. Both Elvis body position and the ball were pretty much in the same position. I remember it because I thought it was an oustanding play.

Im not going to get in a 30 page argument with you. My opinion is that he could of made the same play he did last week and the ballgame is likely over.

I wasn't trying to underline to make me seem more right, I was underlining to emphasize a point yuo may not be considering - that regardless of whether the hit was exactly the same, and Elvis fielded the ball in exactly the same way in the same position on the field and in the same position to throw the ball, the game situation still may have dictated a different approach.

In other words, while we can't say exactly how close the play was to the play he made before, you can know the game situation, which can dictate treating a ball hit and fielded in a similar way differently.

I think that's the kind of thing a lot of fans don't recognize. If, for example, there are no runners on and it is the 4th innning, Elvis may make that throw even though he knows it is a risky throw that could end up getting past the 1st baseman. In that instance it is worth the risk because even if it plays out that way, the catcher is down the line backing up the throw, and even if it goes in the duggout the runner moves to 2nd base with no immediate harm and the team can still get the 3rd out without him scoring . And, of course, even if that runner scores, the game isn't over - there are 5 innings left to make it up. If, however, the consequence of making a throw that you deem risky is that you lose the game on that very play, as was the circumstance last night, the approach is different.

Besides, who knows, it may have been something as simple as Elvis not feeling his feet were in the right position or any number of small things that could have made Elvis less comfortable making that throw than on another play.

I don't question Elivis even the tiniest bit for that. It wasn't an easy play, he fielded the ball well into the grass behind 2nd base, the runner had a huge jump on him out of the batters box because the ball was hit slow, and Elvis would have had to throw against his momentum - if he didn't feel comfortable with the throw then he absolutely made the right choice.

I agree with that. I'm just not panicking or going crazy about it just yet.

There is no reason to. Being concerned is one thing. All of us should be concerned about the bullpen right now. If over time things don't improve or we never do anythnig to address the situation then we can go crazy about it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I wasn't trying to underline to make me seem more right.

Then you're doing it wrong. This is the Internet, that's how it works! :laugh2:

 

[Stautner]

Then you're doing it wrong. This is the Internet, that's how it works! :laugh2:

I put it in big bold letters when i want to make me seem more right.

 

[Mrdude108]

Well Doc beating us, what can you do? Guy is a beast, gotta get more offense going. It kind of annoyed me to get shut out by Cliff Lee, and he stole a base...really? I'm glad Harrison stepped up and prevented the sweep today. I CANT wait until Nelly and Josh get back Monday, this offense has been suffering big time.

 

[DFWJC]

Nice win today!

Help is on the way folks.

I still hope we adress the bullpen sooner than later.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Rangers have to get their sluggers back. The starting pitching *seems* to be starting to come around. Their bats are just way to quite. They are really missing Jaramillo and Hurdle right now.

 

[WDN]

The Rangers have to get their sluggers back. The starting pitching *seems* to be starting to come around. Their bats are just way to quite. They are really missing Jaramillo and Hurdle right now.

Turns out Hurdle was a bigger loss than most thought.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Turns out Hurdle was a bigger loss than most thought.

Actually, we were damn lucky to get him last year. Clint is a great coach and motivator. He has taken a team to the World Series. (2007 Rockies) It was unreal that the best job he could get last year was as a hitting coach for the Rangers. He deserves better than to be the manager of the Pirates.

 

[DIAF]

The Rangers have to get their sluggers back. The starting pitching *seems* to be starting to come around. Their bats are just way to quite. They are really missing Jaramillo and Hurdle right now.

Clint Hurdle yes, Rudy Jaramillo not so much.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Clint Hurdle yes, Rudy Jaramillo not so much.

Rudy created some of the all-time best offenses in history that didn't carry a Yankee sized budget. Granted, his final year with Texas left a lot to be desired. I think he was ready to go and I also think he thought leaving was his best shot at becoming a Manager. He almost got the job in NY with the Mets with Omar Minaya as GM. Of course, Minaya leaned very heavily towards players of Latin decent. I think he was overruled when Rudy wasn't hired then. I think that was Rudy's best shot at the time.

Rudy raised some of the best hitters in recent history. Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Adrian Gonzalez, Ivan Rodríguez, Mark Teixeira and Michael Young. He also was a major influence on A-Rod who tried to get the Yankees to hire him when he was traded to the Yankees.

As I said, he was tired of being here and let his quality of work slip in that final year. Without question, he was one of the best hitting coaches of the 90s and 2000s.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I would definitely be interested, but even when it being the Pirates, I don't think this is going to happen. I think the Pirates have already either rejected or denied the possibility of trading Hanrahan.

====================================================

The Texas Rangers have asked the Pittsburgh Pirates about reliever Joel Hanrahan, Ken Rosenthal reports.

The Rangers, according to a major league source, have made low-level inquiries on Hanrahan, who is 13 for 13 in save opportunities this season with a 1.66 ERA.

As Rosenthal suggests elsewhere, the Pirates won't give Hanrahan up without getting a serious return. Not only is he flat-out good, but he's also under team control through 2013. And on top of that, the Pirates have been semi-competitive this year, with Sunday's loss to the Tigers putting them at just two games below .500. Bucs general manager Neal Huntington has proven he's willing to make massively unpopular trades, but we'll see if it's different this year.

Complete Story

 

[Stautner]

Damn nice game for Harrison. Very good 3.62 era now. Would like to see a little more consistency - he had the 2 blow up starts a couple of weeks ago. But every other start has either been outstanding or at least solid enough to give us a good chance to win.