Short and sweet. There’s a really nice article about Orel Hershisher on the MLB site here.

Well, Spring Training is right around the corner. Pitchers and catchers reporting day is Wednesday. To this, I’ve updated a couple of sections of my website.
First is the roster page, which I’ve changed the format of slightly. Now I have the 40 man roster at the top, as well as the non roster spring training invites below that. When the season starts, I intend on having the 25 man roster on the top like I normally have, then below it the other 15 players on the 40 man roster, and minor leaguers below that.
Second is my uniform number history section. This details (as best as I can research) the entire history of each uniform number to be worn in Rangers history. Before about 3 seasons ago when I started keeping track, I was unable to get spring training numbers, but I believe previous to 2002, I have everything covered in season, anyway (except perhaps guys who were only up for one day, or minor things like that).
One note about 2005 Spring Training. The Dallas Morning News for the last few years has published the spring training roster in their preview, which did appear yesterday. However, in seasons past, they had full uniform number assignments. Not this year – they appear to have just copied the information that’s on the Rangers website, which means that just about every NRI has no number assigned, and two 40 man guys don’t have it assigned. Plus it didn’t list the spring training coaches and whatnot. So I’m hoping this info turns up somewhere.
Is anyone reading this going to Surprize, AZ? If so, and you see a program that lists uniform numbers for all the players in spring training, please email me – I will want to get that information from you. Thanks.

Friday’s Dallas Morning News has an article saying that Rogers denies issuing an “extension or I retire” ultimatum. Says he plans on honoring his contract. There were apparently talks about an extension which didn’t go anywhere, and that both sides seem to want Kenny to retire a Ranger.
Such is the fun of negotiations in the media, eh?

The Star Telegram in this morning’s edition says we’ve been offered Cliff Floyd in a trade (although the article doesn’t say for what).
Uh, no thank you. If we had not already brought in Richard Hidalgo, I can see thinking about Cliff Floyd, but not now. Bringing in Floyd now would mean you expect to play him which means there’s a problem with playing time for the guys already on the team out there (Hidalgo, Nix, Mench, Dellucci, Matthews, not to mention the next level in AAA). I can’t see any positive side to bringing in Floyd at this point.

The Ft Worth Star Telegram this morning is reporting here and here that Kenny Rogers has asked the Rangers for a two year contract extension, and might retire if he doesn’t get it. According to the articles, he feels (or maybe it’s Boras, as he’s quoted in there, too) he wants a two year extension at $5 or $6 million a year, plus there was hints at more money for this year, the second of the two year contract he signed.
Uh, hello? What happened to the contract you signed? You did great, so you want more money? I thought you were supposed to honor the contract you signed, not make a power play just because you did good in the first year. This really irritates me. One of the articles thinks it’s a power play, looking for one more year really, not two. I wouldn’t mind that so much, but two at $12 million? I don’t think so. I particularly liked this bit at the end of the second article…
Maybe, knowing he’ll be underpaid this season, Kenny simply felt obliged to ask for more. Maybe he’ll remember how great it felt to be a part of this team last year and show up for spring training, raring to go.
It’s a business. Rogers has been around long enough to know that better than anyone.
But a man is only as good as his word. Kenny gave his. Now he needs to stand behind it.
And if anyone thinks this bodes well for getting Teixeira signed long term before he’s arbitration or free agent eligible, think again. They both have the same agent.
/me sighs.

Rangers sometimes second baseman / sometimes outfielder Ramon Nivar was resigned today for the major league minimum. Not sure where he fits in anymore with all the other prospects we’ve picked up since he got his look. He’s likely a super utility guy at this point.
Speaking of this, the Major league minumum salary was raised from it’s figure of last year at $300,000 to $316,000. This increase was termed a “cost of living increase“. That’s pretty amusing, that they can’t get by on $300,000 and need a cost of living increase of 5.3%! Can I get something like that, please? I guarantee you I need the money more than they do.

This morning I got hooked up to another good baseball news blog entitled “The Baseball Muse Blog”. It’s run by a guy by the name of Brandon Wilson. He lives in Flower Mound, Texas, and is a local Rangers fan. This past Saturday was the Rangers Winter Warmup, a “watered down” version of the old Winter Carnival that the Rangers used to put on (but was deemed too expensive by the current management – sigh). But I digress. I could not attend thsi year’s warmup, as I had a lot to do around the house to get ready for my Super Bowl party.
So it was with much delight this morning that I read Brandon’s blog entry on the Winter Warmup. It was extremely detailed. He appeared to attend all of the “Chalk Talk” sessions with various speakers (Jon Daniels, Buck Showalter, Orel Hershiser, & Mike Young. I suggest you take some time and read this, it was very enjoyable.

This afternoon, the Rangers signed pitcher Pedro Astacio to a minor league contract, although the terms have not been released yet as I write this (I’ll update when I find them out). Astacio on a minor leauge contract is probably worth a look. His numbers don’t really excite me (he’s only had two full season era’s under 4, and several over 6). Don’t expect much here on this one, he’s probably here to be used as an insurance policy for later on in the season assuming we need reinforcements.
We also claimed pitcher Ryan Bukvich off of waivers from the San Diego Padres. I don’t know much about Bukvich other than what I read in the Rangers press release, so I don’t have anything to add about him.
Both pitchers were put on the 40 man roster, which now means our 40 man is full. More details on this are available here.
UPDATE: It turns out the contract was actually a MAJOR league contract – no invite or anything like that. The contract is for $800,000 with another $2.2 million in various incentives. So no minor league deal here. That makes me a bit more wary of the deal. Nothing like throwing money at guys who are coming off of being hurt. Gotta love that.

Both the Dallas Morning News and the Ft Worth Star Telegram are both reporting that the Rangers will not be pursuing Magglio Ordonez. I rather agree with that decision. I don’t think we should have gone after him – we have enough kids we can play where we don’t need another potential Brad Fullmer or Brian Jordan on our hands for 2005.
If healthy, he is great (I’ve had him on several fantasy teams in the past), but I don’t think the reward is worth the risk. Especially when Scott Boorass is involved. Bleargh!
This is one of the better non moves I’ve seen, and I read that if the Tigers sign Ordonez, they might be willing to move Rondell White. We could pick him up to DH, that I’d probably like.

Well, it looks like to the bitter jaded fan that Carlos Delgado was using the Rangers to jack up the price of his contract with other teams. That may very well be the case, but my gut feeling says no.
The Ft Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News both say that the Rangers have dropped out of the Delgado bidding after he turned down our 4 year $48 million offer. It really would have helped us. A LOT. Would have done wonders in this lineup. Read where we were also going to give him uniform #25.
So with Delgado out, that means our regular LH DH will likely be David Dellucci. While not a scrub, he’s not the thunderstick that Delgado could have been.
Sigh. If they still want to bring in someone from the outside to be a DH, the only likely candidates are Jeromy Burnitz, who doesn’t thrill me, and Magglio Ordonez. Mags could be good, but there’s two things against him. First is major knee surgery (which is what Brian Jordan had I think), and second (and most importantly), Scott Boras.