Now that the All Star Game and all its glitter and glamour has become a subject of the past, we can now focus once again on the regular season, as well as one of my favorite times of the year, the July 31st trading deadline and the thrilling days preceding it. Obviously this year won't be quite as big as last year as far as blockbuster trades go, but I wouldn't be surprised if some major deals are at least being discussed by GMs around Major League Baseball.
The most significant name that has surfaced the headlines is Roy Halladay, who, in all his power, deserves better success than what the Blue Jays are able to give (not completely the Jays fault, as they're stuck in the league's most challenging division). I know Halladay loves the paycheck, but he wouldn't be human if he said he wasn't tired of packing up his bags at the end of September year after year. That raises the big question: Is Jon Daniels talking with JP Ricciardi about a possible deal? The answer is most likely no, but the players hypothesizing about having Halladay on the team a few weeks ago certainly raises a few eyebrows.
Halladay is signed through 2010, so if the Rangers were in fact to make a move for him, they'd have the assurance that it wouldn't just be a rental deal. However, the Blue Jays will be looking at the cost of players like CC Sabathia and Rich Harden last year and be asking for the same, if not more. That means the Rangers would for sure have to give up either Holland or Feliz, Smoak, and at least one other prospect. If I was Jon Daniels, I would keep a good distance from the trade market this year. Halladay is the only big name that is being offered who could really help the Rangers, but the problem is that he's already 32 years old. If the Rangers really wanted to make the deal worth it, they would have to sign Halladay to another contract, but by then he'll be moving out of his prime. Sorry, not worth it. The other option would be to go after a young prospect, but that would really be more like a substitution than a trade.
Another possibility, and I touched on this a few weeks ago, would be for the Rangers to get another arm in the bullpen. That probably wouldn't cost the Rangers any more than Marlon Byrd, Hank Blalock, or Andruw Jones. I wouldn't mind seeing Jones or Byrd leave as much as I would seeing Blalock depart. I said back in March that this is the year for Blalock to prove that he's still a major force in the lineup, and so far, I've been impressed. Blalock already has 19 homeruns in only 258 ABs. His batting average is decent at 260, and it'll likely continue to climb as he gets more playing time. I also happen to be a big Blalock fan, despite his woes in recent years. As for Jones, he's been valuable too, but I'm not too excited about his 231 AVG. And for Byrd, well, I'm a big fan, but I think in the long run he's the odd man out in the outfield with Cruz and Murphy looked upon as major weapons in the lineup. As far as getting rid of pitchers, I think it might be time to say goodbye to Eddie Guardado. To put it simply, I no longer trust his arm.
As the deadline looms and the suspense begins to mount, one can only assume that Jon Daniels is talking on the phone about possible deals. But though a trade certainly wouldn't hurt, in the end I'd rather see the Rangers try to make a run with what they already have. After all, they're nine games above 500 with their current roster. Would the addition of one player in exchange for the loss of several future stars really help?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Wednesday: ASG: Young, Hamilton in, Kinsler snubbed
My main dislike for the All Star Game isn’t the event itself, but that the outcome of the event affects the World Series. The reason this is frustrating is because there seems to be a competitive spirit lacking at the All Star Game. It’s more like a show than a game. If it was truly competitive, then the managers wouldn’t take out a superstar and replace him with a guy who’s on the roster because he's put up 'solid numbers.' Ben Zobrist certainly comes to mind. Still, I, like almost anyone else, take sheer delight in the fact that I get to see the game’s leading talents all on the field together. Two of those talents will represent the Texas Rangers, namely Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. The biggest disappointment for most Ranger fans is that Ian Kinsler is not present on the AL roster. Kinsler appeared to have a solid shot at making the starting job at 2B, but in the end, Dustin Pedroia, who was picking up steam with the votes during the last few weeks, won out. Kinsler was then snubbed as a backup as well. But in truth, Kinsler (he still has a chance at making the roster with the final fan vote) didn’t really deserve to make the All Star team. After his prodigious start to the season, Kinsler has merely been mediocre. He has been stuck around the 260's in batting average for over a month now, and though his power numbers have gone up, his OBP has dipped to a meager 331. My guess is that he’ll really heat up during the second half (assuming he stays healthy) and become the offensive producer he’s capable of being. But for now, I think it’s a good thing that he stays out of the game, because one: he didn’t deserve it, and two: he needs a physical rest.
Michael Young made the team as expected. He’s helped represent the Rangers every year since 2004, and there was no reason to believe that this year would be any different. He’s having a terrific season, as it looks like he’ll reach 200 hits again after sort of taking last year off in that department. I’d like to see Young start the game one of these years, but as long as Derek Jeter is around, it seems unlikely. Plus, I think Young is happy just to be at the game, regardless of whether he starts or not.
Finally, Josh Hamilton was helped out by the fans and will be one of the starting outfielders for the AL (another reason why I don’t like the All Star game, seeing as other players deserve it much more than Hamilton, who has been injured much of the season, does). Josh just came off the DL and he’ll surely be ready to play in the game. The question is: should he play in the game? I definitely don’t want to see him play in the Homerun Derby, even though most fans around the country do, and I’m uncertain as to whether he should even play in the game. The chances of him getting injured are slim, but taking that chance could potentially mean losing Josh for the most important part of the season. Hamilton will tell you that he wants to play, and he most likely will, but since he’s barely been playing at all this year, I can hardly say he deserves it.
As much as I like the All Star Game, I’ve never been one to look forward to it. The three-day break means that I’ll have to endure the longest stretch of baseball hiatus during the season. But then I think about the NFL and I realize I can't bleat about a meager 3-day break. I’m always eager for the All Star break to end so that teams can get back to playing again, and even more, because it marks the beginning of the trades, a subject which I addressed earlier, and will talk about once again on my next post.
Note: As of today, Ian Kinsler and Pablo Sandoval are leading the final vote ballet. So it's looking like Kinsler may end up in the game after all.
Michael Young made the team as expected. He’s helped represent the Rangers every year since 2004, and there was no reason to believe that this year would be any different. He’s having a terrific season, as it looks like he’ll reach 200 hits again after sort of taking last year off in that department. I’d like to see Young start the game one of these years, but as long as Derek Jeter is around, it seems unlikely. Plus, I think Young is happy just to be at the game, regardless of whether he starts or not.
Finally, Josh Hamilton was helped out by the fans and will be one of the starting outfielders for the AL (another reason why I don’t like the All Star game, seeing as other players deserve it much more than Hamilton, who has been injured much of the season, does). Josh just came off the DL and he’ll surely be ready to play in the game. The question is: should he play in the game? I definitely don’t want to see him play in the Homerun Derby, even though most fans around the country do, and I’m uncertain as to whether he should even play in the game. The chances of him getting injured are slim, but taking that chance could potentially mean losing Josh for the most important part of the season. Hamilton will tell you that he wants to play, and he most likely will, but since he’s barely been playing at all this year, I can hardly say he deserves it.
As much as I like the All Star Game, I’ve never been one to look forward to it. The three-day break means that I’ll have to endure the longest stretch of baseball hiatus during the season. But then I think about the NFL and I realize I can't bleat about a meager 3-day break. I’m always eager for the All Star break to end so that teams can get back to playing again, and even more, because it marks the beginning of the trades, a subject which I addressed earlier, and will talk about once again on my next post.
Note: As of today, Ian Kinsler and Pablo Sandoval are leading the final vote ballet. So it's looking like Kinsler may end up in the game after all.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Monday thoughts: Chris Davis and Julio Borbon
Yeah, I know it's been awhile since I've written anything here at HWC. Truth is, till now I haven't had a whole lot to say about the Rangers, at least not anything worth chronicling here.
Suffice to say that fortunately, the Rangers seem to have finally shaken off the muck they where floundering in during June and gotten themselves back on track here at the start of July. They've won 5 in a row after taking two more from the hated "Los Angeles" Angels of Anaheim (whom they now have a 5-1 record against on the season) and setting off their own fireworks this Fourth of July weekend with a sweep of the reigning AL champs, the Tampa Bay Rays (who, until encountering the Rangers, had entered the weekend as the Major League Leaders in wOBA).
Now they head into a week that could very well set the tone for the second half this season: three games against our co-division leader Angels and four against the third-place Seattle Mariners. It's a golden opportunity for the Rangers to snatch the division lead and make the Mariners less of a factor in the division race heading into the all-star break... with the alternative being coughing up the lead to LA and possibly drawing the Mariners in to make it a three-team battle after the break.
Back just in time for the last hurrah of the second half is Josh Hamilton, who comes off the DL tomorrow against the Angels... while perhaps leaving just in time is Chris Davis. As confirmed last night by Evan Grant, the Rangers have finally pulled the plug on their struggling young first baseman, sending him down to share time at DH and first base with fellow first base hotshot Justin Smoak at AAA Oklahoma.
The all-to-familiar Davis debate has raged all season, it would seem: for every kneejerker who wanted to send him down in mid-May there appeared someone to preach patience with Davis, pointing out his age and his first base defense. As you might know, I was in the latter camp for much of the first half, but even I'll admit at some point you've got to run out of leash (which for me was probably when he broke the 100 strikeouts barrier back in mid-June).
The numbers tell the story all too well: he ends his first half with a .202/.256/.415 slash line (a 671 OPS) and a mere .288 wOBA. The young slugger did show the occasion flash at the plate, such as at the end of interleague play a week ago when he had a short 7-for-14 stretch. Those all-too-infrequent lightning strikes always seemed to actually make matters worse by instilling hope that maybe Davis was figuring things out... only to be followed by another week or more of 0-for's. Whether it was timing, mechanics, strike zone judgment, lack of confidence or all of the above (and it did seem like all of the above) it has become painfully clear Chris Davis's problems weren't going to be fixed in the majors.
Furthermore, at the time of this long-awaited demotion, Davis' UZR (the one saving grace about his game early in the season) had even declined to below replacement level: -0.6 in standard UZR and -1.1 runs in UZR/150. Whether that was just increasing sample size showing us the real Davis or his poor play at the plate influencing his play in the field, he wasn't even offering the major league team anything of defensive value anymore, and the Rangers wisely chose to demote him before his -0.8 WAR dipped to a full game or more below replacement.
Obviously, Hank Blalock will take over first base in Davis's stead for now - and for those of you who would point out his platoon inadequacies (he has a .247/.298/.526 slash line against lefties this year) and call for the premature promotion of Justin Smoak, please note that Smoak hit an even worse .196/.268/.314 against AA-level left-handers this year. He'll get his turn, but for now lets see how he handles his recent promotion to Oklahoma first.
Speaking of promotions... here's one I've got a bit of an issue with. As you may have forgotten, unless you pay careful attention to the dugout shots during Ranger broadcasts, Julio Borbon has been in the majors for about a week now. When he was called up last Monday, he DH'd, and for some reason hit 6th (which was eyebrow-raising in and of itself, but we won't get into that) and it was proclaimed the next day that Ron Washington didn't intend for him to "sit and watch games".
Here we are almost one week later, and Borbon has made exactly zero starts and collected exactly two plate appearances since his debut. And the two plate appearances he did get (one of which netted him his first big league hit and RBI) only came in a game that Nelson Cruz was removed from in the 6th inning due to back stiffness. The only other time he's even stepped on the field was a token inning as a defensive replacement in the 9th during the 12-4 thrashing of the Rays on Saturday.
Now the story apparently is that Borbon is a pinch runner off the bench:
I have a huge problem with this, myself. I understand that Murphy and Byrd have really picked up their game over the last week, but Julio Borbon is your top outfield prospect, and quite possibly the #2 position prospect in this system right now, behind Justin Smoak. And now you're relegating him to a marginal bench role that could easily be filled by a player who matters less in the long run like Greg Golson? So much for "not here to sit and watch games" I guess.
To me this is just robbing Borbon of AB's he could be putting to better use further refining his approach in OKC, and could very well stunt the progress he was making down in the minors if he's going to be relegated to the bench for an extended period of time. One would think that there has to be another roster move coming sometime this week, otherwise this premature waste of a promotion will become more of glorified demotion for young Julio.
One last order of business for today: thanks to the might of the evil Red Sox nation, and likely the general stupidity of those who don't look past batting average when trying to determine a players value, Ian Kinsler not only got snubbed from starting at second base in St. Lous, he might get snubbed from the all-star game entirely if he doesn't win "The Final Vote". Part of me really can't believe I live in a world where Dustin "I'm short and gritty!" Pedroia beats out Ian Kinsler while Josh Hamilton gets voted a starting spot for basically doing nothing in the first half, but I suppose I expect too much logic out of All-Star voting sometimes.
The good news is, the Giants fans from the SBN blog The McCovey Chronicles have made Lone Star Ball a proposal... they'll try and help get Kinsler in if Rangers fans try and help get Pablo Sandoval in. I say they've got a deal... what about you?
Suffice to say that fortunately, the Rangers seem to have finally shaken off the muck they where floundering in during June and gotten themselves back on track here at the start of July. They've won 5 in a row after taking two more from the hated "Los Angeles" Angels of Anaheim (whom they now have a 5-1 record against on the season) and setting off their own fireworks this Fourth of July weekend with a sweep of the reigning AL champs, the Tampa Bay Rays (who, until encountering the Rangers, had entered the weekend as the Major League Leaders in wOBA).
Now they head into a week that could very well set the tone for the second half this season: three games against our co-division leader Angels and four against the third-place Seattle Mariners. It's a golden opportunity for the Rangers to snatch the division lead and make the Mariners less of a factor in the division race heading into the all-star break... with the alternative being coughing up the lead to LA and possibly drawing the Mariners in to make it a three-team battle after the break.
Back just in time for the last hurrah of the second half is Josh Hamilton, who comes off the DL tomorrow against the Angels... while perhaps leaving just in time is Chris Davis. As confirmed last night by Evan Grant, the Rangers have finally pulled the plug on their struggling young first baseman, sending him down to share time at DH and first base with fellow first base hotshot Justin Smoak at AAA Oklahoma.
The all-to-familiar Davis debate has raged all season, it would seem: for every kneejerker who wanted to send him down in mid-May there appeared someone to preach patience with Davis, pointing out his age and his first base defense. As you might know, I was in the latter camp for much of the first half, but even I'll admit at some point you've got to run out of leash (which for me was probably when he broke the 100 strikeouts barrier back in mid-June).
The numbers tell the story all too well: he ends his first half with a .202/.256/.415 slash line (a 671 OPS) and a mere .288 wOBA. The young slugger did show the occasion flash at the plate, such as at the end of interleague play a week ago when he had a short 7-for-14 stretch. Those all-too-infrequent lightning strikes always seemed to actually make matters worse by instilling hope that maybe Davis was figuring things out... only to be followed by another week or more of 0-for's. Whether it was timing, mechanics, strike zone judgment, lack of confidence or all of the above (and it did seem like all of the above) it has become painfully clear Chris Davis's problems weren't going to be fixed in the majors.
Furthermore, at the time of this long-awaited demotion, Davis' UZR (the one saving grace about his game early in the season) had even declined to below replacement level: -0.6 in standard UZR and -1.1 runs in UZR/150. Whether that was just increasing sample size showing us the real Davis or his poor play at the plate influencing his play in the field, he wasn't even offering the major league team anything of defensive value anymore, and the Rangers wisely chose to demote him before his -0.8 WAR dipped to a full game or more below replacement.
Obviously, Hank Blalock will take over first base in Davis's stead for now - and for those of you who would point out his platoon inadequacies (he has a .247/.298/.526 slash line against lefties this year) and call for the premature promotion of Justin Smoak, please note that Smoak hit an even worse .196/.268/.314 against AA-level left-handers this year. He'll get his turn, but for now lets see how he handles his recent promotion to Oklahoma first.
Speaking of promotions... here's one I've got a bit of an issue with. As you may have forgotten, unless you pay careful attention to the dugout shots during Ranger broadcasts, Julio Borbon has been in the majors for about a week now. When he was called up last Monday, he DH'd, and for some reason hit 6th (which was eyebrow-raising in and of itself, but we won't get into that) and it was proclaimed the next day that Ron Washington didn't intend for him to "sit and watch games".
Here we are almost one week later, and Borbon has made exactly zero starts and collected exactly two plate appearances since his debut. And the two plate appearances he did get (one of which netted him his first big league hit and RBI) only came in a game that Nelson Cruz was removed from in the 6th inning due to back stiffness. The only other time he's even stepped on the field was a token inning as a defensive replacement in the 9th during the 12-4 thrashing of the Rays on Saturday.
Now the story apparently is that Borbon is a pinch runner off the bench:
Washington said Julio Borbon was kept up because “he gives us some speed off the bench. I have another guy on this team that can go up and bunt if I need."
I have a huge problem with this, myself. I understand that Murphy and Byrd have really picked up their game over the last week, but Julio Borbon is your top outfield prospect, and quite possibly the #2 position prospect in this system right now, behind Justin Smoak. And now you're relegating him to a marginal bench role that could easily be filled by a player who matters less in the long run like Greg Golson? So much for "not here to sit and watch games" I guess.
To me this is just robbing Borbon of AB's he could be putting to better use further refining his approach in OKC, and could very well stunt the progress he was making down in the minors if he's going to be relegated to the bench for an extended period of time. One would think that there has to be another roster move coming sometime this week, otherwise this premature waste of a promotion will become more of glorified demotion for young Julio.
One last order of business for today: thanks to the might of the evil Red Sox nation, and likely the general stupidity of those who don't look past batting average when trying to determine a players value, Ian Kinsler not only got snubbed from starting at second base in St. Lous, he might get snubbed from the all-star game entirely if he doesn't win "The Final Vote". Part of me really can't believe I live in a world where Dustin "I'm short and gritty!" Pedroia beats out Ian Kinsler while Josh Hamilton gets voted a starting spot for basically doing nothing in the first half, but I suppose I expect too much logic out of All-Star voting sometimes.
The good news is, the Giants fans from the SBN blog The McCovey Chronicles have made Lone Star Ball a proposal... they'll try and help get Kinsler in if Rangers fans try and help get Pablo Sandoval in. I say they've got a deal... what about you?
Moday Movie: George Carlin on losing stuff
No, nothing about baseball here, but this is one of my favorite George Carlin bits... one we can all relate to, I think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)