Tuesday: On Luis Mendoza, Juan Cruz, and Wes Littleton

In lieu of the recent transactions that have been made, I have a few comments:

1) Why bring up Luis Mendoza? You remember, he of the 8.67 ERA (dead last in the majors for pitchers with at least 50 IP). He seems to be having some success at AAA Oklahoma (approximately 10 scoreless innings pitched), but after last season's train wreck he's going to have to spend a lot more time in AAA to convince me that he's ready. I imagine he'll be kept on a short leash and optioned back down at the first sign of repeating last year's debacle.

2) A great option would have been signing Juan Cruz (check out his stats if you aren't familiar . . . or just know that he has a career 3.99 ERA coming off of three straight solid seasons in the bullpen), but the Rangers apparently couldn't compete with the high-octane, payroll-driven financial behemoths: the Kansas City Royals. There's nothing else to say.

2) With all of this bullpen trouble going on, it makes me wonder why we traded Wes Littleton to the Red Sox (he's now with the Brewers, having been claimed off waivers). Granted, at this time the Rangers didn't know that Eric Hurley and Joaquin Benoit were out for the year, so he was a little bit more expendable at the time. That having been said, however, he has had some success (albeit not last year) in the big leagues, which is more than can be said for most other options to which the Rangers could have turned.

Opposing hitters have posted a modest .239/.317/.349 line against him in his career (all major league appearances have been with Texas). A look at how opposing hitters have perfomed against the other Rangers bullpen options this season:

Josh Rupe: .290/.380/.432
Kason Gabbard: .257/.364/.374
Luis Mendoza: .324/.387/.493
Willie Eyre: .301/.374/.474
Scott Feldman: .280/.357/.443

The obvious arguments against Littleton are that he was out of options and, with young stars on the way, it wasn't worth hanging onto him. But what about now?

Thursday: Rangers Trade Kason Gabbard Back to Red Sox

I know that this site isn't where you come for newsflashes, generally because the multitude of other sources available make such announcements here at HWC redundant. Regardless, here's a link to the story.

I wanted to break the mold here for a little bit, because 1) I'm avoiding doing work, 2) I'm already at the computer, 3) Announcement of the trade just happened, and 4) I read the following comment on the Dallas Morning News boards by some guy named ranger yammer:

"Even to a team making a pennant run, Daniels is hoodwinked. Red Sox win the World Series (for those Ranger fans who don't know what that is, it's the Super Bowl of Baseball), and would have given up most any prospect they had, and JD lands Gabbard, "walk once a month'' Beltre, and "0-for April" Murphy. Way to go JD, you got an eye for talent. These GM's gotta line up for miles to deal with this teenaged bozo."

I generally just ignore ignorant comments like this, but this one is ridiculous. This guy is perhaps the only Rangers fan out there who believes that we got taken in the Gagne deal (as if Boston would have surrended any prospect, according to him). He represents the throngs of Rangers fans who are completely closed to the fact that Jon Daniels has actually done a fantastic job as of late in rebuilding this team (see: #1 farm system in baseball). Sure, he's made some (huge) mistakes, but you certainly can't argue with how he's rebounded and turned this team's farm system around.

As far as trading Gabbard back to Boston, it makes me think that Boston knows or sees something that we don't, especially since they were the team that got rid of him . . . time will tell.