Dirk searching for meaning of life

Apparently the Dirkinator spent part of his summer down under trying to cleanse himself of what transpired against GS and searching for the meaning of life. I think all Mavs fans needed some sort of catharsis after the past two seasons. Mine is called football season.

In other Mavs news, the Mavs aren't retaining the services of Pops Mensah-Bonsu. The writing was on the wall as the Mavs are too busy pursuing players over the age of 35 to stock their roster. In order to make room they've also shipped Reyshawn Terry off to Europe this year so he'll have some PT while the Mavs still retain his rights. At a mere 23 years old he was clearly entirely too young for the Mavs to consider him for a roster spot.

Watched a bit of Team USA last night. Its really fun to watch Jason Kidd run an offense when he has the likes of Kobe and Lebron filling lanes for him. I think I forgot how good he really is. Oh how I yearn for some real PG play in Dallas next year. Lets see it Devin.

Wooderson anyone?

I'm watching Best Damn Sports Show and Tony Romo is being interviewed. Pretty generic interview except for the fact that he's wearing an A&F t-shirt that says "Freshman, I get older and they stay the same age". I don't know what to make of this other than to laugh. While we're at it, heres the video of him trying to remember the words to "Don't Stop Believin" while on stage at an LA club. Not everyday that you get to share a stage with Mr. Belding.

In case I forgot to mention or you didn't know, football is starting soon.

Here come the Horns

First a pretty sweet video... postgame locker room after Vince won us a national championship. Hopefully a similar scene after this year.

I feel pretty uneasy about this season. I'm optimistic... but I could see as bad as a 4 loss season. This team is pretty green in some key areas. Most importantly is the offensive line. The only year since 2001 that we had a real effective O-line in terms of pass protection and run blocking was the year of The Vince. Despite having all the key players from that 2005 O-line last year, we were abysmal running the ball in 2006. This year we return about 2.5 starters. 1 previous starter, 2 half year starters, 1 with some experience, and 1 with almost no experience. I think I have reason to be concerned. The Horns return all the players at the skill positions but it may not matter if McCoy doesn't have time to find Limas, Quan, or J-Mike, and Charles has no running room. Our base formation will still be the shotgun spread. Apparently last years lack of success in the run game wasn't enough to convince the coaching staff that VY was the one who made this formation work. I don't understand whats so scary about using the I-formation.

Moving onto the secondary, we return Marcus Griffin who was pretty underwhelming last year. Currently the starters listed on the depth chart at CB are Brandon Foster and Ryan Palmer. I'm holding out hope that this is by default due to Mack's PC depth chart approach of giving upperclassmen the nod in his initial depth chart. If they truly earned the job as our starting corners, God help us against OU. Malcolm Kelly might have 200 yards receiving which will then prompt the annual "people are gonna have to start earning their jobs" speech by Mack back when we used to lose to OU every year. Mack would then start showing he meant business by replacing underperforming seniors with underclassmen who were more talented. Sorry for the tangent.

So it seems like that was all doom and gloom but heres the good stuff. Our WR corps is ridiculously deep. Colt McCoy is good. Jamal Charles, who should have been playing more than Selvin last year, will be the full-time back and get to show off what made him so good as a freshman. J-Mike will be a 1st round TE by the time hes done with college football which could be this year. Frank Okam and Derek Lokey are healthy and they will be terrors at DT along with Roy Miller. Our young LBs (Kindle, Norton, Muckelroy) have too much talent to not be good unless we got subjected to the beating that would be Bobino, Derry, and Killebrew as our primary LBs. This could be very possible though if you refer to the outlined scenario in the prior paragraph.

I think the schedule isn't exactly favorable for UT either. Home games with TCU, Nebraska, Tech, road games against OSU and A&M, and of course theres OU. Conservatively I'd say 2 losses. Loss against OU, big home win against Nebraska, then a letdown the next week at Oklahoma State. Stoolwater is not a fun place to play. I'm hoping for much better but a lot of things have to fall in place so I'm a little concerned about the Horns this year. The good news is that this young team will be beastly in 2008. Regardless, I'm pumped for football.

As for this week's game, I think we'll win. Thats my analysis.

Well that was fun...

The Texans cared and we didn't. Thats pretty much all you need to know about that game. My first thought when I saw how large and how loud the crowd was before the game was why? Silly Texans fans, check the scoreboard displayed at the top of the post.

Having said that, there are some concerning notes about this team.

1. Anthony Spencer can not start in the NFL right now.
2. Gramatica is losing ground on the kicker job. I think he would be fine as the kicker as he has been somewhat proven over a career. Can we really trust a rookie?
3. O-line got whipped last night. I think and hope that it was a result of effort or lack thereof.
4. Julius Jones has the reputation of being a quick, cut-back type of running back. For some reason, I've always thought it looks like hes running in mud in the backfield before he hits the hole.

Last, but most importantly, this T-New injury is a huge red flag for me. He's one of three players that would be crippling to this team in the event of an injury (the other two being Romo and Ware). Plantar fasciitis is a nagging type injury in which the only remedy is rest. This will be a persistent issue throughout the whole year and it will be a matter of how much pain Newman can take. I think it should probably hinder his play a little at the very least and I expect to see him sitting out several practices during the week once the season starts to let him stay off of it. More than anything, injuries will make or break this team.

Jack of all trades

Bobby Carpenter to OLB eh? The Greg Ellis injury and its repercussions continues to be an area of concern for me. I think I still get night sweats thinking about our Swiss cheese defense after Ellis went down last year. Absolutely no pressure on the QB made Roy Williams (and the rest of the secondary) a TD matador last year. Our defensive philosophy is predicated on pressure this year so if Carpenter and Spencer can't get opponents to worry about them just a little, DeMarcus Ware can't really do his thing. This may be a moot point since Wade's philosophy seems to be more about team pressure i.e. bring blitzes from all sorts of angles and positions. Whatever the case is, Carpenter looked good at OLB against Seattle last year but then was moved back inside to back up James and Ayodele. Is his brain large enough to handle his varying duties on special teams, backup ILB, potential starting OLB, and ILB/DE in the nickel?

Football season is just over the horizon...

Where have you gone Aki Otsuka?... and oh yeah, the Rangers scored 39 runs yesterday

Not much you can really say about yesterdays games. The baby Rangers struck out 30 times combined over the prior two games then decided to score 30 in one game. I suppose this game gives us some hope that the Rangers might have a pretty decent offense once these young guys get the hang of things. Most encouraging was Salty showing some of that power.

Not really sure what to make of David Murphy. He was pretty fair to middling in AAA then in the majors he gets multi-hit games every time he plays? Whatever the case we need a larger sample size and its tough when you're trying to split at bats with so many people. Further evidence that theres no point in giving Sosa or Wilkerson any time at all. The other unfortunate aspect of all this lineup and position shuffling we have to do every night to get various guys ABs is that it probably doesn't make it any easier for them to show off what they've got. Take a look at the difference in splits that Salty sports between when hes catching and playing 1B.

C .365/.405/.538
1B .152/.202/.304

Thats around 100 AB's at each position. He caught last night so his hitting stats while catching might be slightly inflated but even without last nights game you can see theres a stark contrast. Is someone thinking a bit too much while having to play 1st?

Aki Otsuka has some condition that apparently is confounding doctors. Even the Tommy John expert himself, Dr. James Andrews says Aki looks fine structurally and doesn't appear to need any surgery. Nevertheless, he may still get his elbow scoped and cleaned out a bit. As stated in the article, Rangers have a tough decision to make regarding whether or not to offer Aki arbitration.

Edinson Volquez, who apparently needs a new alarm clock, continues to roll in AAA. 2 hits, no runs, 8 K's, 3 BB's in 7 innings of work on Tuesday. Good to see that he wasn't affected by the non-promotion. As someone who has trouble waking up early and has had his fair share of alarm clock mishaps, I feel for ya Edinson. Eric Hurley followed suit the next night with a 7 inning, 2 run performance.

20 Cowboy Thoughts

So we're through training camp in San Antonio and two pre-season games which should provide enough material to make some real evaluations regarding the team. Still, everything should be taken with a grain of salt cuz after all, its pre-season. This time last year I was salivating about how good I thought the Cowboys defense would be... and we know how that turned out. You get the point... but just so ya know, I think this D will be good this year. Anyways, onto some thoughts:

1. If the defense harasses QB's this year like they did to poor Jay Cutler tonight, the Cowboys will win a lot of games.
2. The offense has been very efficient. I was worried about Garrett being capable of handling this job but he seems pretty calm and collected on the sidelines.
3. 'Bigg' Davis is mauling people. There won't be a lot of mystery behind 3rd and short this year. Get right behind Gurode and Davis and let them do work.
4. The talk was all about how the TE's were apparently going to be a huge part of the offense after the 1st pre-season game. That lost a little steam tonight.
5. Its all a little fast for Anthony Spencer right now. That DE spot is somewhat of a concern right now with Ellis still out and Spencer with a very steep learning curve. If Ellis can't make it back we're looking at Spencer and Junior Glymph opposite a constant DeMarcus Ware double-team.
6. Roy Williams making plays at the LOS is always a good thing to see.
7. Not a bad debut for Stanback considering he didn't start practicing till a week ago.
8. Speaking of Stanback, I found it funny that Jerheme Urban instructed him to stay in the endzone on a KO return in a freakin pre-season game. Considering that Stanback is Urban's competition for a roster spot, it appears Jerheme is pulling out all the stops.
9. Speaking of Urban, he's really pushing Miles Austin. I didn't consider Austin a lock for the roster by any means but I still figured he'd make it. A case of the dropsies tonight and 1 catch through two games has to have Miles fearful for his job.
10. Matt Moore is your 3rd string QB.
11. Folk vs. Automatica just got a little more interesting.
12. I hope Deon "Cricket" Anderson makes the team. He eats crickets and hes overcome a lot in his life, whats not to love.
    
13. DMN blog points out that Marcus Spears has forced on turnover, two TFL's, and 2.5 sacks in 2 seasons as a Cowboy. Thats extremely underwhelming but hes talked a lot about how he'll be a lot more active in the new scheme. He was quite active tonight so here's to hoping he's right and manages to U-turn away from 1st Round Bust-ville this season.
    
14. Patrick Crayton is Mr. Dependable and he will be getting a lot of PT this year since the Cowboys have two geriatrics at WR. I'm ok with that.
15. Mat McBriar is a weapon.
16. I think I'm about as fast as Brad Johnson. He's got me on arm strength but its not by much. The point is, we are totally screwed if he has to play this year for whatever reason.
17. The most overplayed story about this defense will be how they all lost weight in order to be quicker in the new system. I'm tiring of hearing that already.
18. Some of the players lost as much as 20 pounds!@!!!1!
19. I'm not worried about Tony Romo. He's no flash in the pan.
    
20. Super Bowl.
    

Rangers quick hits

So I've been asked about my thoughts regarding an Evan Grant article a few days ago in which he projects the rangers pitching staff and lineup from now until 2012. In a word: silly. I think Evan Grant does a great job of covering the Rangers and is very informative but this wasn't his best work. His plan, more or less, was to have every Rangers prospect pan out and then sign the biggest names on the free agent market from now until 2010.

2008: Zambrano, Hunter
2009: Santana
2010: Crawford

To borrow a quote from my friend (you know who you are), "It was like something I would have come up with when I was 14". The idea is an exercise in futility anyways. The general idea was right though: build through your farm and make big free agent acquisitions to plug holes. I guess I should also bring up that I'm extremely wary about signing Torii Hunter to a long term contract. I've never thought he was a great hitter and hes on the wrong side of 30 which means his biggest asset, defense, will only get worse. We already have enough money sunk into MY who will be collecting about 15 mil a year from the Rangers late into his 30's.

In other Ranger news, the Rangers most consistent starter and enemy of John Danks fans everywhere is on the DL. My first question was how long has McCarthy felt something in his shoulder. Apparently a couple months. The plus here is this may explain his loss of velocity and inability to duplicate the impeccable control he displayed in the minors. Despite the injury hes been quite effective so I'm eager to see what a fully healthy B-Mac can do. Methinks we'll see Volquez with the big club.

CJ Wilson is fast becoming my favorite Ranger. He can absolutely bring it on the mound, pitches with great intensity, and has taken advantage of this new fangled internet age by making himself very accessible to fans through myspace and internet forums (posts under blueglovelefty at the newberg forum and lonestarball). Its because of his posts last offseason in the Newberg forum that I know that the Rangers haven't exactly "stumbled" upon a new closer. He said in no uncertain terms that his goal was to be this teams closer of the future and had already expressed this sentiment to JD. He also unintentionally dissed Jack Benoit but thats neither here nor there. The point is, CJ is here to stay. Until last night's wheels off 9th inning he hadn't given up a hit in about a month.

In baby Ranger news, the team was able to reach deadline deals with 30 of 54 draft picks. Most notable being the deadline deals signed by Blake Beavan and Julio Borbon. Beavan got his money and frankly I hope he gets lit up early on to bring his ego back down to earth and then we can proceed from there. Borbon, a Boras client, signed the most interesting deal as he signed a major league deal that didn't get done until just before the signing deadline. A major league deal means he has to go on the 40 man roster now. I've read the Rangers brass believe he can take the fast track to the majors so I suppose that factored into their willingness to give him a major league deal. I've read pretty mixed opinions on how good Borbon actually is. The general consensus seems to be that he can undoubtedly run but its questionable if he can be a major league hitter. Score another victory for the Baseball Anti-Christ.

Injury bug hitting UT

Losing a backup QB I can live with despite the lack of depth there. Losing Limas Sweed is another story. Its being reported that he'll be out 3 weeks which means hes gonna be out for the opener against Arkie State. As long as its not any longer than that this is fine and we can all breath a sigh of relief. I think I could start at WR against Arkie State and the game would still be over after the 1st quarter. Mark me down for about 2 catches, 8 yards though. Anyways, I just want Limas back against TCU to help shutup all these "Horned Frogs" that think they have a chance to pull off the upset special.

The blog has been pretty Rangers intensive lately (not that Ranger talk is bad) but football talk will be ramping up significantly for obvious reasons. I think I'll probably do a report after the Cowboys preseason game on Saturday to discuss trends since we will have seen training camp and 2 pre season games.

Scattershooting

A good read about Edinson Volquez. He should be up before the end of the year and hopefully this time he knows how to throw strikes. Sounds like hes learned a lot from his exile to A ball and having to work his way back up.

Updated post-Volquez start: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 K's... for those keeping score thats 50 K's in 38 AAA innings and a 1.89 ERA. Please Baseball Gods, let the Rangers hit on one pitching prospect.

Does anyone believe anything Greg Ellis says anymore?

With backup QB Sherrod Harris' injury, UT will be forced to not redshirt super-freshman John Chiles. So his clock starts early and he will only be one year behind Colt McCoy. Cue the quarterback battle in about 2 years. Applewhite vs. Simms part deaux... Mack handled it so well the first time around... There are similarities though that I can already see. The pale, gritty, somewhat frail looking, more cerebral and older QB with a good 'ol Texas boy name (yes I know Major was from Louisiana) who has endeared himself to the fan base vs. the hotshot recruit with better physical skills. I can't wait.

Rebuilding the Rangers

I'm pretty sure I have a huge man-crush on this guy. He's looking pretty satisfied after this trade deadline and why shouldn't he be?

Out:
Eric Gagne
Kenny Lofton
Mark Teixeira
Ron Mahay

In:

Ready for the bigs...
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Kason Gabbard

meh...
David Murphy
Beau Jones

close to the bigs...
Matt Harrison

few years away, huge potential...
Elvis Andrus
Neftali Feliz
Engel Beltre
Max Ramirez

JD, ya done well. We did exactly what we needed to do at the trade deadline and I'm excited about the Rangers for the future. This team will probably be bad for the rest of the year... perhaps really bad... and mediocre at best next year. I'm ok with that though. Its better than the mish mash under-achieving team we were watching in the first 2 months.

At least we're getting some sense of direction from this misguided franchise. I think JD has gotten Hicks to buy into the idea that the Rangers were not a few players away and were not built for long-term success either. In a span of one week JD reloaded the farm system with new talent at every level, not to mention that by all accounts the Rangers had a great draft (not that analysis of a baseball draft right after its completed really matters). What was a big black hole for the Rangers at the start of the year, the farm suddenly has promise all up and down the system.

I'm looking at 2009 for this team to be competitive. In the meantime, the rest of this season and next season will be about gaining experience and learning who can contribute and who can't. Suddenly the Rangers have a lot of options to sift through for starting pitching. I think they can build a solid rotation out of some combo of the following. 2008 will be the year to find out who can stick. I'd love to see Volquez and Hurley in the rotation next year. The candidates are as follows:

Millwood-lose some weight, also the game starts in the 1st inning not the 3rd
Padilla-I'd love to lose this contract
McCarthy-him and Millwood are probably the only guys that are locks for the rotation next year
Loe-I think bullpen is his destiny
Hurley-can't wait to see him next year
Volquez-7 IP; 2 H; 0 R; 2 BB; 9 K's today in AAA and hes been pretty awesome lately
Tejeda-meh
Gabbard-stay healthy, he could probably be a solid back end guy for the future
Harrison-probably will be in AAA next year as there isn't much room

Let these guys develop next year, find 3 reliable guys from this group, then throw all the money in the world at Johan next offseason or Peavy in 2010... then voila, you have an actual major league rotation. It would be textbook build from within and make key impact free agent signings.

I'll probably do some position player analysis later on...

Eddie Jones...

Mavs are gonna sign Eddie Jones. My thoughts... meh. In case you forgot how old he is and how long he's been in the league I've provided picture evidence. There's him with a young, precocious, pre-rape Kobe, and then a 1997 Starting Lineup figure to emphasize the point. I can't really get all that excited about this. I would have preferred a little more youth and athleticism. Jones will probably be another low impact swingman for the Mavs joining Devean George, Buckner, Mo Ager, and presumably Reyshawn Terry.

I'd like to see Ager step up this year and seize one of the backup spots behind Terry and J-Ho, with Stack occupying the other. I'm still not sure what Buckner and George are doing on this team. They were next to useless in the playoffs although a large part of that was due to matchups, so I suppose they could have helped out some against the Spurs or another team of that ilk. Thus, I wanted to see a signing that would have added to the team's versatility and this certainly does not. Barnes, Pietrus, or Ime Udoka would have been much more preferable.

There's far too much excitement going on with the Rangers right now. More on that upcoming...