Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”.

I’ve done this for the last five seasons, and it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve also gotten some positive feedback on it, so it’s become a permanent feature here.  If you’d like to see the final tallies for the other years I’ve done this, you can still see them here: [ 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 ]

Anyway, this post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2012.  I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes. The most recent additions will be on the top of the list. The original opening day 25 man roster is not in any particular order. [Read more...]

Saw tonight that FOX posted their national 2013 TV schedule, so I decided to check out ESPN as well, and come up with a list of  games the Rangers are scheduled to play.  Now, national coverage being what it is means it can change.  If the Rangers get super hot, the schedule will get changed around, and we might get a few more later in the season.  But for now, here’s the 2013 national coverage schedule for FOX & ESPN.  These times are all Central.

Sun Mar 31 @ 7:05 – Rangers @ Astros – ESPN
Sat Apr 06 @ 2:30 – Angels @ Rangers – FOX
Sun Apr 07 @ 7:05 – Angels @ Rangers – ESPN
Sun May 19 @ 7:05 – Tigers @ Rangers – ESPN
Sat Jun 22 @ 6:00 – Rangers @ Cardinals – FOX
Sat Jun 29 @ 6:00 – Reds @ Rangers – FOX
Sat Jul 06 @ 6:00 – Astros @ Rangers – FOX
Sat Jul 13 @ 6:00 – Rangers @ Tigers – FOX
Sat Aug 03 @ 6:30 – Rangers @ A’s – FOX
Sat Sep 14 @ 11:30 – A’s @ Rangers – FOX

Sep 14th is an 11:30AM game? That doesn’t happen here. What else is happening that day?   Anyone have any ideas?

I’ve been doing this site for some time now (2013 will be my 15th season for this site), and in all that time, there’s been two things I’ve done on my site that no other Rangers fan site has attempted.  Perhaps because I already did them – or nobody wanted to wade through all the info needed to put them together (“Eh, Joe’s already done that – good enough”).  One of them is my history of uniform numbers.  It starts back in 1961 with the Senators years and runs to current.  I’ve been doing this part of the site for the last 5-6 years or so (forget when I started it actually).  Because of that, uniform numbers in the most recent years are pretty darned accurate insofar as guys who are up for just 2-3 games, never to be seen again.  In years past, I have guys who wore the major numbers, but the small fiddly changes like that aren’t always listed (because that info’s realy hard to find).    I’ve taken pride in my uniform number archives, and it’s gotten me a reputation as the uniform number guy.   When he was still with the Rangers, I know Victor Rojas mentioned my site as a source of that a few times, and it must have stuck, because last year I got a question from the great Eric Nadel about some fiddly bit in the past with uniform numbers – I was honored.   Even Anthony Andro knows me as that, as I’ve asked him a boatloat of times about uniform numbers.  :) [Read more...]

This whole story is written around the concept that the numbers being reported this morning are accurate.  If they’re not, well, sod this story.  :)

A report this morning says that Josh Hamilton wants a 7 year contract and $175 Million.    My initial reaction to that?  UH, NO WAY.   I mean, seriously – does he honestly think someone is giving him that?   While I like Josh – I have always liked him since he came here.  The way the 2012 season ended was disappointing yes – but I’m not about to pitchfork him out of town based on the slump at the end.  He did great for us during his time here, and I loved the way he put Jesus out there in front, something that was refreshing for this Christian.  But dude..  7 years?  Are you serious? [Read more...]

I felt energized by Jeff’s offer to help out with the writing here on this site.  I decided not to wait for Spring Training 2013 or some big off season move to write something.  I decided to break out the keyboard and plow through an article that takes a look at the 2012 Rangers roster.   Basically, it’s a few remarks about each player, both in what happened in 2012, and perceptions for said player in 2013.  I’ve gone through and listed all 39 players that played for the big club in the 2012 season, and some thoughts on each of them.  Let me know what you think – if you agree or disagree in the comments (or if I’ve made some egregious error). :)

[Read more...]

Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”.

I’ve done this for the last four seasons, and it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve also gotten some positive feedback on it, so I’m doing it again this year. For the record, if you’d like to see the final tallies for the other years I’ve done this, you can still see them here: [ 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 ]

Anyway, this post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2012.  I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes. The most recent additions will be on the top of the list. The original opening day 25 man roster is not in any particular order.

[Read more...]

I got sent this video from someone at mlb.com, showing Derek Holland being interviewed on the MLB Network.  During it, Ryan Dempster is acting, well.. ODD in the background.  He’s not there for the whole video, but when he’s not, Holland is goofing it up quite well on his own.   Some other bits from the interview include Holland talking about possibly growing back his mustache (Nooooooooooooo!), Ron Washington’s walks around the ballpark, and photo-bombing Tom Verducci earlier this year.

One favorite moment from this is when Derek says that he and Ryan have already done their “Duelling Harry Cary” impressions, and that they plan on breaking it out publicly at some point.  Now THAT I want to see!

Thanks to Tim for the headsup on the video!   Hey Tim..  MLB needs to make MLBN a “real” network.  Broadcast it over some channel in regular broadcast television.  Some of us (like myself) can’t afford cable TV anymore, and had to give up (quite painfully, I might point out) MLBN.

Late last evening after the Rangers game was over, the word came down at the Regency street with the Chicago Cubs for one time first round pick Geovany Soto. He was treated for AA Frisco pitcher Jacob Brigham. Brigham is not a name it’s going to light the world on fire, I’m not entirely sure why the Cubs would want him. It’s probably more a case of wanting to get rid of Soto and had to get something back for him so they took this guy.

[Read more...]

Ron Washington named his starting rotation for the beginning of the 2012 season on Thursday.  It pretty much isn’t a big surprise, although there was one minor surprise to me.   Here’s the five:

1. Colby Lewis
2. Derek Holland
3. Matt Harrison
4. Yu Darvish
5. Neftali Feliz

[Read more...]

Right as I sliced my hand on Wednesday, the word came down that Derek Holland and hte Rangers had agreed to a long term extension.  Earlier this off season we had agreed to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.  That deal was worth $504,700.  It’s been voided/replaced/whatever by this new deal which goes into effect immediately.  This seems like a great deal for both sides here.

[Read more...]

Saw on Twitter tonight from Evan Grant that the Rangers and Derek Holland are close to a new contract.   Apparently, it will be a five year deal, and it will supersede the contract he signed earlier this off season for 2012.  Will take him through 2016, which would be one year of free agency, as Holland is currently eligible to be a free agent after the 2015 season.

This is a good deal, assuming of course Derek holds up his end of the bargain.  He does seem to have figured it out, and while we don’t have any numbers on this deal yet, I do like the fact that we appear to be signing SOMEONE long term.  There’s going to be too many variables in too short a time for my liking.  The team will probably radically change about two years down the road, but Derek Holland apparently will still be here.

Making us all FEAR THE STACHE!

A lot has been made about the center field position this year.   It’s historically been an unstable one for the team, there’s not been many players in the last 20 years that have grabbed a hold of it, and kept it.  Oh, good people have played there, but never one guy who was “THE MAN” out there.

The Rangers don’t want Josh Hamilton out there, they want him in left.  Julio Borbon looked like he had a lead on it at the start of last season, but got hurt, and that fell apart.  He’ll have a chance again this year, but he’s probably on his last chance here.  There’s really no dominant guy out there at the moment – there’s a bunch of names that can be used out there.  Craig Gentry, Leonys Martin, Josh Hamilton, and David Murphy just to name a few.

But I wonder if this is the last hurrah for Julio Borbon.  There was some noise about trading him to the Nationals not too long ago, I guess that isn’t happening.

Nolan Ryan spoke on this yesterday during spring training, here’s some video of him talking.

Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”.

I’ve done this for the last three seasons, and it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve also gotten some positive feedback on it, so I’m doing it again in 2011. For the record, if you’d like to see the final tallies for the other years I’ve done this, you can still see them here: [ 2008 | 2009 | 2010 ]

Anyway, this post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2011 (not guys like Teagarden & Davis that get called up 20 times a season). I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes. The most recent additions will be on the top of the list. The original opening day 25 man roster is not in any particular order.
In 2011, the Rangers have just one in the original opening day 25 that is making his major league debut (Mason Tobin), which is an increase over 2010 when we had nobody. We had one in 2009 (Elvis Andrus) and one in 2008 (Kaz Fukumori). We do have, however five guys making their Ranger debuts in 2011: Adrian Beltre, Dave Bush, Mike Napoli, Arthur Rhodes, Mason Tobin, and Yorvit Torrealba.

Total players in 2011: 44
Total pitchers used in 2011: 24
Total position players used in 2011: 20
Total players making major league debut: 5

#44 – Merkin Valdez (Sep 1 – Sep callup)
#43 – Esteban German (Sep 1 – Sep callup)
#42 – Matt Treanor (Sep 1 – acquired via trade)
#41 – Mike Gonzalez (Sep 1 – acquired via trade)
#40 – Leonys Martin (Aug 30) *
#39 – Mark Hamburger (Aug 30) *
#38 – Mike Adams (Jul 31 – acquired via trade)
#37 – Koji Uehara (Jul 31 – acquired via trade)
#36 – Scott Feldman (Jul 14, replace Darren O’Day who was optioned to AAA)
#35 – Omar Quintanilla (Jul 8, replace Andres Blanco who went to DL)
#34 – Yoshinori Tateyama* (May 23 – Replace Cody Eppley, optioned to AAA)
#33 – Endy Chavez (May 14 – Replace Julio Borbon who went to DL)
#32 – Craig Gentry (May 7 – Replace Nelson Cruz who went to DL)
#31 – Ryan Tucker (Apr 27 – Replace Darren O’Day who went to DL)
#30 – Cody Eppley* (Apr 23 – Replace Neftali Feliz, who went to DL)
#29 – Taylor Teagarden (Apr 20 – Replace Michael Kirkman, optioned to AAA)
#28 – Brett Tomko (Apr 20 – Replace Mason Tobin, who went to DL)
#27 – Michael Kirkman (Apr 15 – Paternity List leave for Colby Lewis)
#26 – Chris Davis (Apr 13 – Replace Josh Hamilton, who went to DL)
#25 to #1: Dave Bush, Neftali Feliz, Colby Lewis, Mark Lowe, Darren O’Day, Alexi Ogando, Pedro Strop, Mason Tobin*, Matt Harrison, Darren Oliver, C.J. Wilson, Arthur Rhodes, Derek Holland, Mike Napoli, Yorvit Torrealba, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Andres Blanco, Ian Kinsler, Mitch Moreland, Michael Young, Julio Borbon, Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, David Murphy

* – Making Major League Debut

Please note that 1 to 25 are in no particular order.

Was sent this pretty good link on Koji Uehara the other day. I still want to say something about the trades, but I wanted to get this link out there. Go read it, you’ll probably like it. :)
Thanks to Bill Chuck for sending me that.

I just got sent this press release by Fox Sports Southwest. Cool to read. Definitely cool!

The Texas Rangers’ season-opening three-game sweep over the Boston Red Sox was a television ratings hit on FOX Sports Southwest. The regional cable sports network recorded its best-ever rating for an Opening Day telecast and had it topped two days later, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The Rangers’ 9-5 victory opening the 2011 season on Friday, April 1 averaged a 5.5 Nielsen household rating in Dallas-Fort Worth, a 161% increase over last year’s 2.1 Opening Day rating against the Toronto Blue Jays. It surpassed FOX Sports Southwest’s previous high for a first-game Rangers telecast of 3.9 set on April 6, 1999 against the Detroit Tigers and was the best Opening Day rating for a Rangers broadcast in 12 years since KXAS-TV recorded a 6.5 on April 5, 1999 versus Detroit.
The Opening Day rating was bested on Sunday, April 3 with a 5.7 household average. Saturday’s (April 2) game on FOX Sports Southwest averaged a 4.4 household rating.
An average of 141,700 households in Dallas-Fort Worth tuned in on Friday to watch the Rangers begin their defense of the American League championship, while an average of 115,200 homes watched Saturday’s game, and 147,900 homes tuned in to watch the Rangers complete the sweep on Sunday.

This morning when I got up, the first news story I saw was about Chuck Greenberg and the Rangers. I read a bit about that, and then was planning to write about it.
Then I read about the Earthquake & tsunami in Japan, and to be honest, I don’t feel like writing about Chuck Greenberg at the moment. I will, but there’s more important things to think about at the moment than Chuck Greenberg’s departure from the Rangers.
In the meantime, I suggest checking out what Joey M had to say over at Baseball Time in Arlington about it. I’ll have my own opinions later in the day. There’s also this story with a few reactions from Rangers players.
I’ll just say this for now. Last year we had the drama in spring training with Ron Washington and cocaine. This year it’s the Chuck Greenberg thing. Distraction yes. But if what I’m reading about “overstepping bounds” is accurate, then I can understand it.
More later once I have a chance to mentally digest it.

A few minutes ago, I got a press release saying that Sunday’s TV debut of the Rangers for 2011 has moved from Fox to Fox Sports Southwest. Here’s the press release.

Sunday’s (March 13) Texas Rangers-San Francisco Giants Spring Training game from Surprise, Ariz. at 3:00 PM CT will be carried on FOX Sports Southwest Plus in Dallas-Fort Worth and other Southwest television markets. The game was moved to FOX Sports Southwest Plus when FOX Sports Southwest recently added the Los Angeles Kings-Dallas Stars NHL game originally scheduled to air nationally on NBC.
FOX Sports Southwest Plus is a channel used by FOX Sports Southwest to simultaneously show multiple events on two channels, giving viewers another option to follow their favorite teams.
FOX Sports Southwest Plus is available in Dallas-Fort Worth on Time Warner Cable channel 960, Charter Cable channel 300, DirecTV channel 677, Dish Network channel 451, AT&T U-Verse channel 756, and Verizon Fios channel 77.
Other markets that will offer the Rangers-Giants game on FOX Sports Southwest Plus include Abilene-Sweetwater; Amarillo; Ft. Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale; Little Rock-Pine Bluff; Lubbock; Monroe-El Dorado; Odessa-Midland; Sherman-Ada; Shreveport; Tyler-Longview; Waco-Temple; Wichita Falls & Lawton.
Visit http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/pages/tvlisting_foxsportsplus/0 for channel information.
All other Southwest markets will carry the game live on FOX Sports Southwest. The game also will be replayed on Sunday at 8:00 PM CT in all markets on FOX Sports Southwest.
- FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST -
www.FoxSportsSouthwest.com

Much to nobody’s surprise, the Rangers named CJ Wilson as their opening day starter for 2011. With Cliff Lee out of the picture, it pretty much was down to Wilson & Colby Lewis.
It’s an interesting case, as before last year, both of those guys weren’t starters. Well, Lewis was, but he was off in Japan, having “ended up” there due to his failures in the major leagues. CJ Wilson was a reliever. The battle for the 2011 Opening Day starter was between two guys who weren’t starters for the Rangers a year ago. Well, Lewis technically was, as he had signed by then, but you know what I mean. :)
Don’t think you would have gone wrong either way, but let’s home the pressures of opening day starter don’t get to CJ Wilson. He feels in much the same position to me as Scott Feldman was going into last year. And Feldman tanked. There’s a lot of talk about how the increased workload on Wilson could impact him in the upcoming season. Hope not. Be nice to get one of these things to go right long term, eh?

I also need some more players on my fantasy teams. Please see the signup information. It’s free. Thanks.

The Texas Rangers edition of “30 Clubs in 30 Days” on MLB Network airs on Mar 3 @ 7PM EST. Hopefully it’s not all about Michael Young. :)
This is a great series. I usually end up watching several of these. The complete schedule is available on MLB’s site here:
http://www.mlb.com/network/promotions/30_in_30.jsp

As we get closer to the start of spring training, I decided to do some work on my site. Last night I brought the uniform number history page up to date. If you’ve never visited that part of my site, it’s one of the two totally unique features my site has that no other Rangers site/fan blog has.
What it is is a history of each number from zero through 85+ from 1961 through 2011 (including, obviously the Senators years). I started doing this about 10 years ago, so for the most part I have all the fiddly details from then onwards for guys who were up for just a day or two and never returning. It’s one of those things I enjoy keeping track of, and as everyone has become more connected, I find it’s easier to find out what people’s numbers are. Shout out to Anthony Andro for putting up with my requests about unif numbers during press conferences. Thanks, dude. :)
Anyway, the Rangers have posted uniform numbers for all their 40 man roster guys, so I decided to go update 2011 with that. However, the spring training invite guys don’t have their numbers posted, so I’ll update with them later on. The guys we have right now as NRI’s to spring training are:

• P Zack Jackson

• P Seth McClung
• P Ryan Tucker
• C Kevin Cash
• IF Brian Barden
• IF Esteban German
• OF Endy Chavez
• OF Doug Deeds

Now, German has been here for a few years as a end of the 40 man hanger-on, and has had the same number (6) all that time, so I’d say it’s a safe bet he’ll have 6 again in 2011, as it’s otherwise untaken.
There is one thing I was hoping fans could help me by contributing. If you’ve ever looked at my uniform number history page, I’ve gathered over the years pictures of the various numbers being worn on players. I’ve posted some of them on the bottom of each number’s page as an “example” of that number. The Bo Porter picture above is one of those. But check out the pages, and look at the bottom. I think it makes for a nice little archive of pictures.
The part you can help with is with pictures. Take a look. If you have pictures of any of the players who I do not have a picture of, I’d love it if you could send me the picture for inclusion on these pages. I’m specifically looking for ones that show the player’s name along with the number. Not just the front where the number is, I really want one with the player’s name and number from the back being shown. I know a ton of you have picture archives (I’ve seen ‘em on Facebook & Picasa Web Albums), but I’m sure there’s a ton more I haven’t seen.
Please take a look at what you have, and if you have something useful for this project, let me know, I’d love to get it online. Danke. Here’s some of the ones I’ve collected. It’s the guys who are only up for 2-3 games in a season and then never to return are the hardest to get shots of. I’ve started taking pictures off the TV of guys like that – with everything in HD now, it makes for an “ok” picture once reduced in size to about 450 pixels on that page. But it’s not the same as a real pic of a guy in action. So if you have any, I’d really like to hear from you.
Danke, and thanks for visiting.

MLB Network ran a show tonight on the top 50 prospects in baseball. Wanted to mention the Ranger players they had there (Feliz was #7 on last year’s list). They had a countdown that was mosty put together by writer Jonathan Mayo. He had a few rules about the players. They are:
Player must have rookie status.
Based on input from scouts and front office personnel
Ties broken by Jonathan Mayo.
They also had John Hart to do commentary too (which seemed lke some more detail on Rangers players). Anyway, the Rangers players on the list are:
#43 – Tanner Scheppers
#23 – Martin Perez (compared him to Johan Santana & Ron Guidry)
3 was Bryce Harper (WAS), 2 was Jeremy Hellickson (TB), 1 was Mike Trout (ANA).
A bit surprised we only placed two out of 50. A lot of guys we moved out the last few years weren’t in there, either.

Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to stay. I did. Rather a lot. But I’m most excited about the fact that he’s not going to the Yankees. Even though I’m a known Phillies fan, and I’d be lying again if I said I wasn’t excited about Halladay / Lee / Oswalt / Hamels, I’m truly most excited that the Yankees did not get them.
Thanks to Cliff Lee. Had fun when you were here, rode you to the World Series, which was way cool (even though we lost). Hopefully we see you there in 2011.
Nice that he didn’t just go all Rod Tidwell on baseball when choosing his contract. Also nice that he called Jon Daniels personally to say he was going to Philly.
Finally, I hope this guy didn’t rip holes in his shirt converting it back to a Cliff Lee shirt. :)

I posted an update on various Rangers news on November 15th. It’s now the evening of December 7th, and a few more things have happened, so here go a few more thoughts..
Some Smaller Moves: Right after my last update, there were some roster moves. Nothing that I would call Earth shattering, but they were moves. The Rangers signed Barret Loux, a pitcher who was the sixth overall selection in the 2010 draft by the Diamondbacks. He was available due to a roster technicality. The Rangers also added four players to the 40 man roster (Fabio Castillo, Wilmer Font, Miguel Del Los Santos, & Engel Beltre). Jamey Newberg could tell you more about those guys. :) The Rangers also signed C Kevin Cash, OF Doug Deeds, & IF Esteban German to minor league contracts. All got invites to spring training. Nice to see the inventer of the Claw & Antlers still with us.
Abritration Stuff: The only two players the Rangers offered salary arbitration to were Cliff Lee & Frank Francisco. Lee turned it down to nobody’s surprise. I also think it was no surprise to anyone that we offered it in the first place. Francisco did accept it, so he’ll be back in 2011. That’s probably a good thing. Provided he pitches like he did AFTER April of 2010.
Thad Bosley new Hitting Coach: Sadly, Clint Hurdle left after just one year (quite the counter to Jaramillo’s tenure). Although I’m not TOO sad about it, he left to be a major league manager again. Can’t really fault him for that. So we turn to Thad Bosley, who was the runner up to replace Jaramillo in the first place. I don’t know much about Bosley, so I don’t have a ton of insight into him. Wash knows him from their time in Oakland together where he was a hitting coach awhile ago. Bosley was a former Ranger player at the end of his career (89/90). He becomes the first Rangers player to later become a hitting coach. Something I hoped they would have done with Rusty Greer instead. Oh well.
Speaking of Rudy Jaramillo, since he took the job in Chicago I heard not one peep out of him. Given they changed managers, I wonder how long he’ll be up there. I know Houston is looking again. :)
Josh Hamilton named AL MVP: Well, duh.
Vlad Guerrero named 2010 Outstanding DH: Well duh. Just not as big of a duh.
Yorvit Torrealba signed to be #1 catcher: On Nov 29th, we signed Yorvit Torrealba to be our primary catcher for 2011/12. I can’t say I’m overly thrilled about this signing. It’s not like the guy is bad. He’s passable, which is kind of what Matt Treanor was this past year. But sadly, there isn’t a lot of quality top line catching available out there. I’m a little surprised that we didn’t bring back Molina, who said he wanted to play again. I guess in lieu of having a Joe Mauer being available, I guess this is the best we can do. From what I’ve been reading, he’s expected to catch about 100 games a year, which means the #2 will be way more than the usual backup catcher, as he too will be expected to catch about 60 or so games. Seems like Matt Treanor is a good candidate there, with Teagarden in AAA as a reserve. We also got Mark Lowe signed to a 2011 contract at the same time.
Rangers 2010 Season DVD announced: The Rangers announced a DVD commemorating the World Series season, called “It’s Time”. While I’m a bit bummed it is not a Blu-Ray, and merely a plain DVD, I will probably get this, because it’s Ranger themed. As opposed to the official Major League Baseball annual World Series DVD, which is generally more themed towards the winner of the series. Despite that one being a Blu-Ray, I’ll opt for the plain DVD, due to the more Rangers specific version of the content. :)
Rangers sign Japanese pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama: The Rangers take a dip into the pool of Japanese pitchers again, signing Yoshinori Tateyama. Don’t know anything about this guy, although I read somewhere that the same scouts who recommended we bring over Colby Lewis again said we should get Tateyama. So that’s something. This will be the fourth Japanese player to appear with the Rangers, all four have been pitchers. He will follow Hideki Irabu (meh), Akinori Otsuka (not too bad), and Kazuo Fukumori (awful). I wonder if Rangers Captain will bow to him like he had a habit of doing before to the other Japanese pitchers. :)
2011 Spring Training Schedule Announced: This wouldn’t be a big deal, except the last game of spring training is in Round Rock. The Rangers will play their new AAA affiliate, the Round Rock Express. Hopefully that’s one of the televised spring games.
Non Tender Stuff: Of all the players eligible to be non tendered, only one of them was. Dustin Nippert, who is now a free agent. Have read since then that he might go to Japan. Anyway, all the other players had contracts tendered (Cruz, Hamilton, Murphy, O’Day, & Wilson). No surprises there, really.
Jon Daniels named ML Executive of the Year: Well, Duh – Part 3.
Huge Scoreboard Announcements made: That’s something I care a lot about, and want to write a separate story about the scoreboards. So I’ll not say anything here about it right now.
Radio Station Changes: Big changes to the Rangers radio coverage, just one year after there were already big changes. For the first time since 1995, no Rangers games will be on KRLD. That’s a big change. Last year, they were also on 105.3, which was the FM affiliate for KRLD. In 2011, they’re all going to be on 103.3 The Fan. This is a better arrangement than it was last year where it was on the FM stations on M-Thu, and AM on Fri-Sun. At least they’ll all be in the same place. Unless the Mavericks are playing, who have the upper hand in scheduling. At the moment, there’s only two conflict games, at which point it will be moved to some strange combo of 660 AM and three FM stations. Check the official press release for that. Anyway, a few remarks about this. First, I’m hopeful this will allow Eric Nadel to bring back “A Page from Baseball’s Past”. I missed that, and hopefully the new station will allow that to return. Second, I was talking to a friend about this, and he raised an intersting point. It’s entirely possible the Rangers wanted to do this for the same reason they moved out Josh Lewin. Now that they’re making a bigger deal about branding and wider attention, they probably wanted a scenario where you weren’t guessing where the game will be. Having 160 out of 162 on the same station is probably a good idea. Same thing with Lewin – they wanted a guy who would be there all the time, not disappear for Chargers games. The actual station frequency is not relevant to me, as I don’t have a problem receiving any of the stations mentioned. Plus FM is better sounding than AM anyway.
As a side note, there’s till no word on who the new TV play by play guy will be. At least I’m assuming it will be a guy. I’m just glad it’s not going to be Dave Barnett, who was said to be remaining on the radio side in the radio station news story.
That’s about it for now. I’ll have more to say probably once some actual moves have been made. As I sit here writing this, there’s some Winter Meeting Hot Stove stuff going on big time (Cliff Lee, Davis/Oday to Cubs, Michael Young to Rockies), but those things are so changing by the second, I don’t get into all the particulars. Check out mlb trade rumors for all that stuff. It’s worth it – great site.