Texas Rangers

By Adam J. Morris But that was before Josh Hamilton and Chris Davis tanked, before the catchers decided not to hit, and before the weak offense derailed the Rangers 2009 playoffs hopes.  That was before I realized the Rangers need more offense, and aren't really in a position to deal bats away.

By grantlovesbaseball(noreply@blogger.com) TR: Hank Blalock is a free agent at the end of the season. If the Rangers don’t re-sign him, I think that will take care of that issue. Me: Do you think Josh Hamilton should move to one of the corner outfield spots long term? If so, who’s the Rangers’ center fielder of the future?

Washington Post  IA Rangers 6, Astros 3 -- At Houston: Nelson Cruz homered twice and Hank Blalock also connected as Texas won its second straight in this season's Lone Star series. Mets 3, Red Sox 2 -- At Boston: Omir Santos hit a two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon with ...

The Texas Rangers truly are the hottest team in baseball, having won seven in a row, swept the Los Angeles Angels in their statement series and drawn 105000 people to The Ballpark in Arlington for those three games. The Rangers? ... Blue Jays Still Flying High - American League Power Poll BetUs....

By grantlovesbaseball(noreply@blogger.com) Last week, at the Rangers Fan Fest, I interviewed Rangers pitcher Doug Mathis. Doug was nice enough to sit with me for about half an hour after he finished signing autographs. Me: What was your first thought when you were called up to the Rangers last year?

News: The Texas Rangers exercised their $6.2 million option on Hank Blalock for the 2009 season. Rangers pick up first baseman Blalock's $6.2M option for '09 ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers on Friday exercised a $6.2 million option on oft-injured infielder Hank Blalock.

By Matthew Carruth One of the worst overall units in baseball this past season, the Rangers’ starters did see slight rebound years from Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla, but given their sad state in 2007 that’s not saying much. ...

By laxtonto MLB.com is doing their  MLB team  minor league reviews with the Rangers being released today. They cover the Rangers Players of the year with the preseason and current picks, and the some of the major movers in the minor league system. They also have a 2007 draft recap as well. LINK

 - What the Rangers will ultimately do with Davis and Hank Blalock (.287-12-38 in 258 AB) remains to be seen (will one play third and the other first, ...

By Adam J. Morris Evan Grant has a blog post up this morning touching on the pitching v. fielding argument, and saying that the Rangers need to improve the pitching -- and in particular, start giving up fewer walks -- before they worry about the fielding.

By Adam J. Morris There's been an ongoing discussion about the Rangers' team defense -- and particularly their infield defense -- this season.  Most recently, Evan Grant has had a couple of blog posts touching on the issue, earlier in the week saying that improving the range of the shortstop will have no ta...

By Joey Matschulat ● Finally, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, general manager Jon Daniels will conduct interviews next week as part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to fill the remaining coaching vacancies. Ryan, who co-owns the Round Rock Express, took over as Rangers pre...

By Joey Matschulat Concurrently, there is a line of thought out there that if Feliz - or his slightly older left-handed counterpart, Derek Holland - contribute significant innings at the Major League level in 2009, that it will constitute a failure on the part of the Rangers with regard to the composition o...

By Joey Matschulat “It’s very fast,” Washington said. ● Hank Blalock has been recognized as the American League’s Co-Player of the Week (along with Tampa Bay’s Ben Zobrist) for his 10-for-22 pace and four home runs over the final seven games of the season.

Washington Post  - Vicente Padilla (14-8) and Kevin Millwood (9-10) both had lingering injuries and disabled list stints. Matt Harrison (9-3, 5.49 ERA)2 became the only ... Texas Rangers season review Fort Worth Star Telegram MLB: Los Angeles Angels 7, Texas 0 United Press International

Washington Post Rangers get seven runs in second inning off Lackey, beat Angels 12-1 The Canadian Press Angels lock up home-field despite blowout loss to Rangers Sports Network Texas Rangers season review Fort Worth Star Telegram

By Adam J. Morris If you could swing a deal to land Hardy, then I think you can bring back either Milton Bradley or Blalock to DH, roll with Josh Hamilton in center until Julio Borbon is ready and the Murphy/Byrd/Cruz combo in the outfield corners.  You've got one area where you are probably weak defensively -...

Point-Spreads.com  - Kevin Millwood, Rangers, gave up one run and six hits in a complete-game, 9-1 win over the punchless Tigers. Given a final chance to extend his hitting ... Today in Major League Baseball Pittsburgh Tribune-Review all 33 news articles

By Joey Matschulat Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, circa Wednesday night: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Jason: Assemble the ‘09 pitching staff using only pieces that are currently with the organization. 1. Kevin Millwood 2. Vicente Padilla 3. Brandon McCarthy 4. Scott Feldman 5. Eric Hurley

By Joey Matschulat Erm, wait - where’d Millwood go? Oh, right: For C.J. Wilson. • • • • • An official from an American League team, who requested anonymity because his club is not involved, said the Yankees had asked the Texas Rangers about the availability of Gerald Laird to help catch in Posada’s absence.

By Joey Matschulat Is it the grizzled veteran shortstop (Michael Young), Tuesday evening’s real All-Star Game hero with the 15th-inning walk-off sacrifice fly? Perhaps the dynamic center fielder (Josh Hamilton), who gave Yankee Stadium the ultimate sendoff with his unforgettable effort in Monday’s...

By Joey Matschulat What made it even worse was that Hamilton was the winning run at the plate at the time, with Ian Kinsler and Michael Young standing on the corners, just one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the remarkable Milton Bradley on deck. That was truly deflating.

By Tim Dierkes Thomas Diamond, Texas Rangers – Once part of the vaunted DVD trio of pitching prospects (joining Edinson Volquez and John Danks), he is now the only one left pitching for the Rangers organization. He’s also the only one not pitching in ...

By Joey Matschulat Watching Michael Young and Milton Bradley and Ramon Vazquez and, yes, even Kevin Millwood recover from a horrific four-run outburst levied against the Texas Rangers’ 33-year-old staff ace by the Cleveland Indians on Thursday evening to eventually claim a fantastic 9-4 victory, it st...

By Adam J. Morris It occurred to me yesterday that the Rangers have sucked in day games this season...but then I figured, well, it is probably my imagination.  But no...the Rangers are 5-12 in day games this year.   And Randy Galloway likes Josh Hamilton.  And David Murphy.

The failure dynasties  - The Texas Rangers have just one winning season in the past eight years, finishing last in the AL West five times in that stretch. The Rangers can't blame a ... Major League Baseball today Pittsburgh Tribune-Review all 2 news articles

By Joey Matschulat Much has been made of the dreaded vote of confidence offered towards manager Ron Washington by club president Nolan Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels on Saturday - the latter of whom could conceivably (but hopefully won’t) find his own position in jeopardy if the 2008 season continue...

By Joey Matschulat Dallas Morning News: Texas Rangers’ Ryan not thrown by opener …] With those words from Orioles hitting coach Terry Crowley began a flood of emotions … out of both dugouts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. These were Johnny Oates’ teams.

By Joey Matschulat Acquired via: Trade on 7/31/07 for 1B Mark Teixeira, LHP Ron Mahay BP: #58 (Unranked in 2007) | ESPN: #31 …] …] …] …] RHP Neftali Feliz | DoB: 5/2/88 | 6′ 3″, 180 lb. Acquired via: Trade on 7/31/07 for 1B Mark Teixeira, LHP Ron Mahay BP: #30 (#98 in 2007) | ESPN: Unranked

By Joey Matschulat The Cubs are interested in Byrd only if they have to include center fielder Felix Pie in a trade to the Orioles for either Erik Bedard or Brian Roberts. Now Bedard appears headed for the Mariners. The Cubs contacted the Rangers. Right now, there doesn’t seem to be much in the works.

By Joey Matschulat For one day at least, there will be little talk of Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee here at Baseball Time in Arlington. Now, on to assorted Rangers stuff: ● Baseball America’s Jim Callis touched on the always buzz-inducing Josh Hamilton trade on Tuesday:

By Joey Matschulat Alright, it’s official: Roger Clemens tiredhead has thoroughly set in. How about this: The Rangers trade Hank Blalock for the Dodgers’ Andy LaRoche and Clayton Kershaw? Sounds good to me. – Sarah C., Fort Worth …] – Benjamin P., Midland, Texas

By Joey Matschulat Beyond the reportedly imminent signing of free agent reliever Eddie Guardado, it doesn’t appear as though Jon Daniels and company will be ringing in the new year with another surprise roster move or blockbuster trade. And neither, I’m betting, would Jon Daniels.

By Joey Matschulat As it so happens, outfielder Josh Hamilton may not be the only member of the 2007 Cincinnati Reds to be joining the 2008 Texas Rangers. …] …] Rangers Question Please! TEXAS: A couple of Rangers questions, What is your take on the Hamilton/Volquez trade and what is your take on the state of the...

By Dubi Other games reports: the Times, Newsday, NYR.com, NHL.com, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Post-Gazette. Game notes from the Post-Gazette (including a summary of Jagr gambling allegations from a new book that we've seen before) and USA Today. Pre-game notes from the reporters' blogs --...

By Adam J. Morris The rotation is hard to say...Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Edinson Volquez, and Brandon McCarthy all have the ability to be above average major league starters, but I'd be hard-pressed to say that any of them is much better than a 50/50 bet to be an above-average starting pitcher next ye...

By Dubi Then there is the lawsuit against the NHL over control of the Rangers' web site. As further details emerge, the AP reports that the NHL forced the Rangers to stop "making Rangers-branded merchandise available through the Rangers web site and making Rangers games available to subscriber...

By Adam J. Morris There's been a lot of squawking from some Rangers fans that the Atlanta offer isn't good enough, that Jarrod Saltalamacchia isn't all that and that the Rangers need something better than him as the headliner of a package. As a point of comparison, when Mark Teixeira was 22 (the same age Salt...

Sosa fifth player in 600-homer club Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Sosa, playing for the Texas Rangers following a year out of baseball, hit a 1-2 pitch into the Rangers' bullpen in right-center for a solo homer. ...

By Joey Matschulat Yankees 10, Rangers 1 Wednesday, May 2nd Game Preview New York Yankees (10-14) at Texas Rangers (10-16) Andy Pettitte (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Robinson Tejeda (3-1, 3.82 ERA) 7:05 PM CST in Arlington, Texas (Rangers Ballpark in Arlington) TV: FSNSW | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

Sammy Sosa's comeback took another step forward Thursday when he was told he would be added to the Texas Rangers' 40-man roster. The 38-year-old slugger, ... Rose: ‘I bet on my team every night’ while manager The Herald-Times (subscription)

By Joey Matschulat My first baseball experience was in 1996, as a Rangers game came up while I was flipping channels in an Austin hotel room. Sadly, I didn’t have much appreciation for what was then the golden era of Rangers baseball, and my interest flipped on and off for the Rangers over the next eight years or...

 PA - TEXAS RANGERS—Agreed to terms with OF Sammy Sosa on a minor league contract. SAN DIEGO PADRES—Agreed to terms with LHP David Wells on a one-year contract. ...