Well, the news of the day was the trading deadline, really. Oh yeah, the Rangers played, but they were really squeezed by the home plate umpire, and we likely lost because of it – or at least in part. We did get a home run out of Brian Jordan, which was a bit of a surprise.
Back to the trading. We got Scott Erickson from the Mets. He was already DFA’ed by the Mets, so it’s not like a huge trade – we’re only giving up a minor league PTBNL for this, so it’s not likely it will be anyone important. I like that for the most part we stood pat. We tried to trade Brad Fullmer, but his injury prevented that move to the Padres. We almost traded away AA 2B Ian Kinsler and another prospect for Larry Walker and a lot of cash. That’s the kind of move we didn’t need to be making. Fortunately, Walker rejected the trade with his no trade clause.
But the biggest story was the Nomar Garciaparra trade. I have to say I was a bit surprised by that. I figured he’d finish up in Boston and then walk in the off season. It’s a bit disappointing on one level, as Nomah is my wife’s favorite player, and he won’t be coming here anymore as he’s with the Cubs now. Of course, we could trade Soriano for pitching, move Mike Young back to second, and put Nomar at short here in Texas – yeah! ;)
This was also the induction ceremony for the second 2004 Rangers Hall of Fame game. While I never saw Fergie Jenkins pitch, or Buddy Bell play with my own eyes, I know them by reputation, and they both seem worthy candidates to be enshrined. There’s also Tom Vandergriff, who brought baseball here in the first place – all of us fans owe Mr Vandergriff a debt of thanks.