Tex to Braves

Well... maybe. Foxsports.com is reporting that a Braves deal is imminent. The deal is Tex and Ron Mahay for Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, and two pitchers. The prior rumored deal over the weekend was Tex for Salty, Andrus, and AA pitcher Matt Harrison but it was revealed that Harrison has some shoulder issues.

Updated: So medical exams are all cleared and its Salty, Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, and a 5th player, Class A lefthander Beau Jones. Apparently medical exams revealed that Harrison's shoulder is ok and he projects to be a pretty good fit for the RBIA. Groundball pitcher with excellent control. Perez is still a low level minor leaguer who throws hard (98) but has to develop some offspeed stuff. Beau Jones was the 41st pick in the 2005 draft and I'm not really sure why the Braves threw him in the deal. Maybe to help the Rangers feel better about Harrison's shoulder?

This was about as good as JD could have gotten I think considering 3 of these are top 5 prospects for the Braves. Salty will be in the majors immediately and Harrison shouldn't be that far off either. The other two are a ways off but possess the kind of tools scouts drool over. Does Salty play 1st tonight? Will be interesting.

Lofton to the Indians...

Sounds like Lofton is about to reprise his role as Willie Mays Hayes. According to the Cleveland paper this trade is imminent.

Rumors are that its for Max(imiliano) Ramirez who the Braves traded for Bob Wickman last year. He's a High A catcher that has been raking but his future behind the plate is murky. We've got a lot of catchers in the system, including Teagarden whos already tearing up High A, but if he Ramirez is in line for a position change it seems like we've added a really good bat to the system.

Updated: Its official. Nellie Cruz will be called up to replace him. Marlon Byrd's CF tryout begins.

Lets talk trades...

I love and hate trade talk all at the same time. Love talking about the possibilities and coming up with potential trades. Hate that its all based on rumors and innuendo and "sources" and then usually becomes much ado about nothing. Having said all that, with the trade deadline just a week away, it appears talks for Teixeira have started to heat up. If you believe what the following writers say, there is significant trade discussion going on with several teams.

TR Sullivan says that the Rangers are finding more interest than whats being reported. Of course this is according to Major League sources and its possible that said sources all work for the Rangers and this is just posturing for the media in order to increase Tex's trade value. He lists the Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, and Braves as the most interested teams with the Orioles and Giants expressing some interest as well.

Ken Rosenthal says the Braves and Angels are most aggressive in trade talks with the Rangers. His Rangers source says the Rangers feel its 50/50 on whether Tex is a Ranger next Wednesday. Some extensive analysis of a potential Braves trade included.

Evan Grant says the Rangers should package a reliever with Tex to get closer to a potential deal.

Lets go over some teams and possibilities:

• Anaheim- Any trade talks probably start with Casey Kotchman as the replacement for Tex. Angels shouldn't really have a problem giving him up since he wouldn't have a position if they traded for Tex. Kotchman has had significant time in the majors and has shown that he has a good OBP, doesn't strike out much, and has average power for a 1st baseman. With the amount of time hes spent in the majors, is this about what we should expect for Kotchman? If so, I'm not that excited although at the very least we know we're getting a decent player. Angels would have to also offer up a top prospect to make this work imo.
  

• Arizona- Re-read Anaheim and insert the name Conor Jackson
  

• Atlanta- So are they or are they not willing to give up Jarrod Saltalamacchia? They seem unwilling but Rosenthal brings up the point that if they traded for Tex where does Salty play? I'd take Salty and one of their young pitchers.
  

• Baltimore- I've read Daniel Cabrera. If Leo Mazzone can't fix him is Mark Connor going to? Pass.
  

• Boston- So they're not willing to give up Buchholz or Ellsbury and thats where the Rangers would start. What about Jon Lester? Is he being showcased right now? If so, the Red Sox had to be pleased with last night's performance. Still got that walks problem...
  

• Detroit- Won't give up Maybin or Miller. Would it help if we added some relievers? Probably not.
  

• Los Angeles- They have young talent galore. James Loney looks to be a player. What incentive do the Dodgers have to trade him though? He's producing decently enough right now and might continue to do so for the stretch run. Plus hes cheap. Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier. Kershaw looks like an absolute stud but hes a few years away. Last time the Rangers had a Highland Park pitching product they traded him to... well, yeah...
  

• New York- Yanks insist on not wanting to trade Phillip Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. Since when were the Yanks insistent on keeping prospects? The other thing is that they are teetering on the edge of being in the race right now. Is it worth it for them to go after it?
  

• San Francisco- Who? Noah Lowry? No thanks.

Seems like the moral of the story is nobody wants to give up top prospects or thats what they're saying at least. Not sure I get that. 35-40 HR's, hits for average, draws walks, switch-hits, Gold Glove defense, 2 pennant races of availability, current salary that wouldn't handicap your team, 2 1st round draft picks if he bolts... Theres a lot to like there and its not often a player of that caliber is available at the deadline. Prospects probably aren't gonna help you win any pennants this year or the next. Just my opinion...

Cowboys training camp preview

Well what is there to preview really? There aren't really any mysteries surrounding the team going into camp. All the starting positions are pretty much set with the only semi-question mark being Ellis vs. Spencer. This isn't even really a mystery since as long as Ellis is healthy he'll be the de-facto starter at OLB.

Things to look for:
-How the offensive line gels. Only one new starter but the line is the key to the Cowboy's success this year.

-Greg Ellis' health. You'll probably see an inverse relationship between his health and his amount of bitching during training camp.

-How the Cowboys play Roy Williams. A lot of talk in prior seasons about moving him up on the line. I think Wade actually means it but in what ways and how often?

-How many times a Cowboy player makes a comment about the different atmosphere and how its so much more fun. I'll set the over/under at 100. Tim Donaghy will be keeping count for us.

-Can TO separate downfield? CBs were able to stay step for step with him last year down the field. Either hes lost a step or he wasn't able to get the push off that he needed at the line due to his finger.

-Romo contract extension. This will probably be brought up a lot but Jerry (the pic just doesn't get old) has no incentive to extend him during camp before he proves himself some more this season. If he plays well expect this to be taken care of mid-season.

-New playbooks. I'm interested to see the new offense. Hopefully TO knows where his playbook is this year. More importantly, I get giggly when I think about the potential on defense with a new kill the QB 3-4 philosophy.

Training camp is such a tease. Football season is more than a month away.

Rangers pitching: The good, the bad, and the ugly

So the Rangers are considering signing Gagne to an extension rather than trade him. If they aren't getting fair value for him on the trade market and they can actually get Gagne (a Boras client) to sign an extension I'd be on board. Signing him to about $10 mil a year seems steep for a closer but him and Aki form the back end of a bullpen that could be a force for many years. For the same amount, a very mediocre starting pitcher could be had as well. I'd take Gagne.

Kam Loe's last two starts after his resurgence have been pretty bad. 8.2 total innings, 11 hits, 9 earned, 9 walks, 4 k's. The walks are the worst part since he will give up hits with the way he pitches. So his stretch of really good starts... for real or a Will Ferrell Old School moment? Getting back to his pitching style, I've always been skeptical of the throw 95% sinkers, throw it where they can hit it but keep it low philosophy. When Hershiser was the pitching coach here its all he preached. It was like he didn't think any of his pitchers were good so he kept it simple. Seems like a give up philosophy to me that anyone with a sinking fastball would adhere to if it were so genius. The problem with Loe is that as a 6'7" pitcher its gonna be difficult for him to stay on top of his mechanics and always be able to keep the ball down. Since his "stuff" isn't gonna overpower anyone, his mechanics and location are key to his success. What you see is what you get with Loe and as long as hes a Ranger we'll probably see these good and bad stretches.

Then we get to the ugly and it should be no real surprise that its Robinson Tejeda. The Tejeda post game quote generator goes something like this: "(insert comment about too many walks)(insert comment about continuing to work on the side)(insert comment about trying harder)" I get the impression that he's doing all this work on the side but once hes out on the mound he doesn't apply any of it. His delivery is just a mess and according to DMN he tried two different deliveries on Sunday as part of his search for consistent command. He has no feel for anything right now. I'm glad that we're using real freakin' games to experiment with deliveries. The Rangers need to find out by the end of this year if Tejeda is someone they can rely on for the future so I don't really mind him continuing to work things out with the big club. Just seems like Groundhog Day every time he pitches. Then again, sending Kam Loe to AAA to work with their pitching coach seemed to work for him. Mark Connor rules.

Hmmm....

Mavs-Heat anyone? I'm gonna just take a wild stab and say Bennett Salvatore. I have no basis for this other than the fact that hes Italian so the possibilities that he would have ties to "organized crime associates" are higher.

Updated: Its Tim Donaghy. Apparently hes going to give up names. Mob ties and giving up mob names...hmm? Tim, meet Jimmy Hoffa.

Darren McFadden has big wheels

Like any other poor college kid, RunDMC has some hilariously gigantic rims on his Crown Victoria. This is relevant for two reasons.

1.) Because its funny

2.) The countdown to Darren McFadden as a Cowboy begins now. If the Cowboys (Browns) pick is high enough I don't see how Jerry (for the love of God please click on this picture!!!) passes on his fellow Arkie. I hope he brings the rims with him.

Rangers scattershooting

Melhuse, Wilkerson, Relaford, Vazquez, Metcalf. The Rangers 5-9 today and possibly the worst bottom half of a lineup I've ever seen. 3 of those guys started the year in AAA, one in AA. The remaining one is hitting .216. Now lets get some runs and prove me wrong.

Eric Gagne again expresses his desire to stay here and says this is the best bullpen hes ever been a part of. Thats all well and good but if he wants to be here so bad then he can re-sign with us in the offseason either way even if we trade him.

Evan Grant's chat from today. Topics ranging from Tex to Aki to Gagne to Byrd to Blalock to Botts to Volquez and everything else in between.

'That player' stylin' at the ESPYs

Awesome. T-7 days until training camp...

The Education of Devin Harris

The Mavs leadership triumvirate has spent the summer telling anyone who will listen that they see the Mavs as a 67 win team and not a 1st round playoff failure. This has played itself out into a relatively quiet off-season in terms of player transactions. This also means Devin Harris is the PG going forward and his maturation is the most important determining factor in the Mavs success this year.

He needs to be a 35 minute starter this year and it would be nice to see Jet get almost no time at PG this year. The Mavs isolation offense had a tendency to stagnate last year and really came to a head against the Warriors. The Warriors superior athleticism meant they were winning the one on one matchups, not just when they had the ball, but on their defensive end too. One of the few matchups the Mavs were winning offensively was Devin's speed vs. Baron Davis' fatness.

Judging by the article, Harris is taking his increased role very seriously this off-season. The extra 15 pounds of muscle will help in the lane and hopefully help him avoid Steve Nash's favorite late season malady as a Mav, fatigue. More importantly, if he can get to a point where teams will at least give some respect to his jumper, he'll be able to get into the lane at will. I cringed every time Harris took a shot last year and hoped for the best. Hopefully, I'll be doing less of that this year.

Dead weight on the Rangers

There was an item in the DMN this morning about how Teixeira's return creates a logjam at the 4 OF/DH spots since Wilk won't be playing 1st anymore. Wilk wasn't thrilled about sitting and apparently Ron Washington forgot to check his batter/pitcher matchups before the game.

Anyways, with a logjam already where does that leave Botts? I'm becoming convinced that this organization thinks he can't play for some reason. The answer here obviously is to ship off Sosa and Lofton. They are total dead weight on this team at this point. Ship them off for the best deal you can find. Even if its just cash considerations or the ever popular PTBNL. For all the warm fuzzies surrounding Sosa this year, has he really even been that good? OBP under .300, AVG under .250... and people wanted him to make the All-Star team?

Botts needs to be up here now and so does Nelson Cruz for that matter. If I wanted to watch 40 year olds play ball I'd be a Giants fan.

Tex squats and dumps on Rangers

So I'm a little late with this news but I wanted to make some comments about it. So basically Tex took a crap all over the Rangers. I imagine it looked something like the picture to the left. The story is linked on the pic. So lets review:

"Everybody wants to win," said Teixeira, a two-time Gold Glove first baseman. "I don't know any competitor who doesn't want to win. It gets old. Our fans deserve better, and there are a lot of guys in the clubhouse who want better. We've put our heart and soul into this organization, and it's a tough pill to swallow to be at the bottom of the league every year."

Ok, fair enough although "bottom of the league" might be a bit harsh. We all want to win. Then Tex starts to get a little crazy.

"I know the business better than anybody. I go to the union meetings, and I keep up with what's going on in the off-season. I know this is a business."

Does this remind anyone else of the Scientology Jesus himself, Tom Cruise? "You don't know the history of psychiatry, I do."

"No doubt about it; I want to dogpile on Michael Young and Hank Blalock at The Ballpark," he said. "I'm hoping it will happen this year or next year, but the window is closing."

Translation: If I'm not already traded, I am so gone after next year. It should be noted that the probability of dogpiles goes up if you hit above the Mendoza line in the first two months of the year and get some hits with RISP

"We're a big-market team that's playing like a small-market team,"..."when the Yankees go out and get all-stars every year and the Red Sox go out and get all-stars every year, it shows you they want to compete and win."

How has that been working out for the Yankees lately? The Red Sox became spending maniacs after they won a title since they generate so much money from everyone suddenly being a Sox fan. The Yankees have their cash cow in the YES network, and oh yeah, they play in New York. Those teams are on a different stratosphere in terms of market.

Tex talks about coming up with Blalock: "We said, 'Hey, we've got a long time here with the Rangers. We can't wait till they start bringing up players like us. We'll win a championship,'...Five years later, we're talking about the same things, about building something. The last five years we haven't had a lot of players step up... It takes a really good farm system to develop a team."

Wait, I thought you just said the key was to spend money and get all-stars? Only silly small market teams try to develop through the farm silly. Those aforementioned Yankees look at the farm system as a bunch of trading chips. Remember guys, Tex knows the business better than anybody.

He said the Rangers haven't talked to his agent, Scott Boras, about a contract extension. Teixeira said his "ears are always open" if the Rangers want to talk about it.

Lets translate again: If the Rangers offered me approximately double my market value then my ears are open. I mean, if I hated my job but my employer said they would pay me twice my salary I would listen too.

Tex on Boras: "You never hear teams that win World Series with Scott Boras clients on their rosters complain,"

Dude, there's a reason why Boras is the Baseball Anti-Christ (as nicknamed by Mike Rhyner of the Ticket). Who are you? His PR director? I thought Boras worked for you? How is this even relevant anyways? Of course they won't complain, they just won the World Series. What about when its time to pay up? Probably some PR material that Boras fed to Tex. Way to tow the company line. MJ Hindman of the Newberg Report found some Eric Gagne quotes from a few years ago that seem to support the fact that this is press material that Boras feeds his clients. I did some quick research on Boras clients. My unofficial count of Boras clients who have won titles is 4 . What a huge sample size Mark. Lets look at those 4 clients.

Damon: Wins WS with Boston, wants more money, does the unthinkable and signs with the enemy
Pudge: 1 season Marlins rental, Wins WS with Marlins, bolts Florida when they clean house
Varitek: Boston is forced to severely overpay to retain the heart of their team
Bernie Williams: contract dispute this offseason, currently a free agent

Good point, Mark.

"When I was drafted out of Georgia Tech, Scott Boras told Tom Hicks that I was going to be a big-time hitter for his team. I think that worked out pretty well. When it comes to me, I think the Rangers should be thanking Scott Boras every day. I was about five hours from not signing and going back to school."

I think he just said 'I'm awesome'. As far as thanking Boras every day... I'll get right on that.

"No player is going to sign up with a team knowing they are going to lose," Teixeira said. "When a player has the chance, they're going to go with a winner."

My favorite part. Lets rewind back a few days when Baltimore rolled through town. Here were his comments to the Washington Post:

"Baltimore, in the future, it's a place I'd love to look at," Teixeira said. "I don't want to talk too much about it. I don't want anything to be a distraction to my team. In a year and a half, we can have a lot of fun conversations."

Not the first time he's talked about his apparent obsession with the Orioles. If he wants to play for a winner then Baltimore is definitely the place to look. He's taken a lot of thinly veiled shots at Tom Hicks in his comments. Hicks isn't a great owner but there are worse in baseball and Peter Angelos is one of them. Have fun with that Tex! You would get crushed every year by your aforementioned perfect baseball teams, the Yanks and Sox. If he signs with the Orioles he might as well tattoo H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E across his forehead. Tex acknowledges he may come across as greedy but he doesn't care. He says:

"Anybody who wants to paint a different picture, that's their prerogative."

Thanks, Tex. It was only cuz Tex gave me permission that I wrote all this. However, its not that I think you're greedy, I just think you whine too much and I don't like you.

Stack wants to see what Mavs are made of

Stack wants to see Mavs mettle

Not much to this article. Stack just says he wanted to re-sign here to see what this team really is. The no-heart team that got run off the floor this year in the playoffs or the Finals team from two years ago. Stack remains the only person on this team who consistently displays any grit.

The only real interesting notes are at the bottom where he says he'd be interested in having C-Webb and Francis as teammates. Strange. If he's looking for mettle he's not gonna find it in either of those players.

Rangers State of the Union

I suppose I'll start it off with a diatribe I wrote to my friend about the Rangers a few weeks ago right around when Jon Daniels had his contract extended. Despite missing really badly on the Chris Young and AGon trade, I'm a fan of Jon Daniels. I was in support of JD's contract extension and this was written as a defense of him and I proceeded to detail who I felt was really at fault for the current state of the Rangers. I dunno, maybe I support Daniels because I'm comparing him to John Hart whom I despised. Here it is:

The problem with the current team was that deals and signings were made for the past couple years under the assumption that we were ready to be a contender. I thought we were too since we had the makings of a core with our IFs. Whether Daniels believed that or not is irrelevant cuz I'm pretty sure Hicks would have found it unacceptable to rebuild when he hired Daniels. The issues with the Rangers go back several years and have culminated into this current mess that we have now. It was obvious from the beginning that Hicks has little patience with this whole thing. Starting from when he first became owner and forced Doug Melvin to sign ARod since he thought that would immediately solve our problems and make us good immediately. That failed miserably, Melvin was fired, and now hes moved on to build up a solid team in the Brewers. I believe that Melvin was the one that traded for Young and drafted Tex so he was responsible for building the core which John Hart proceeded to muck up. So then Hicks hires Hart and tells him to make this team good now. Hart proceeds to build the team in the model of the Indians who never won a World Series. Get some bats, spend money on free agents, trade minor leaguers for more bats, throw some pitching together. Hart undervalued some players in our system, most notably Travis Hafner, and proceeded to gut our minor league system to build a winner as soon as possible. So that leaves us where are now, forcing us to sign random players to fill holes since we're trying to win as soon as possible.

So basically I apply the blame to Tom Hicks and John Hart. Hicks isn't necessarily not willing to spend money. Hes just an idiot on how he wants to spend it. At first he just started throwing money everywhere. That didn't work so now he says we have a limited budget but we need to win soon. So Daniels has to spend his money on the Padilla's, Lofton's etc. of the world. He needs to find another bat but with not much money so he has to go get Sammy Sosa, the cheapest decent bat he can find. He needs another pitcher so he is forced to trade our top pitching prospect for a more ready/more experienced pitcher who costs about the same. (I think we still can't judge this trade yet though and I still think McCarthy will be good or at least solid) And John Hart is just an idiot. Completely mortgaging our future and then on top of that being an arrogant little man who refused to talk to the media and then says damn I screwed this up, I think I'm gonna leave. At least Daniels is willing to stand up and face the music and answer all the questions about what hes done. If Daniels was given the opportunity to start this thing over I think he would have been a lot more successful. I think we're finally about to start the rebuilding so I hope that Hicks allows Daniels to go through with the process and ride it out. If Hicks wants him to make this team a contender again by next year then we're all just screwed.

1st Post

I'm not sure what direction I want to take this. This started as a result of looking for a way to pass the time combined with the thoughts and musings that run through my head about the various sports teams I follow. I talk and think about them so much I might as well write it down.