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Well, yesterday was the launch of the new year. It was also the launch of the new Girl of the Year Doll over at American Girl. I spent a few hours there with my daughter and my wife, it was a lot of fun (even if the place is seriously pink). :) It was also the launch of the new MLB Network, of which I have a few things to say.
First off, it was a great joy to see Victor Rojas up there. I didn’t want him to leave – I frankly would have preferred he take the lead TV play by play job here, but I can understand from Vic’s standpoint why he left here to go to northern New Jersey. He was sitting at the desk with Harold Reynolds, Barry Larkin, & Al Leiter. Harold I was glad to see again, as I always enjoyed him on Baseball Tonight. Particularly his sparring with John Kruk, so perhaps he can develope that same kind of rapport here with someone on MLBN. Assuming the duties we saw last night hold up, it appears Vic is the main “anchor” of the broadcast of the nightly news show.
The studio itself looked pretty good, although I do have one complaint. When they are showing a wide shot with all four guys in view, it was hard to see them. The screens behind them are fairly busy, and their heads got lost in the shot. When on a closeup of one guy this, was not an issue, but showing all four guys at once was hard to see any of them due to all the info that was going on behind them. Kind of like losing the ball in a bunch of white shirts. That’s kind of what I felt. But that was the only negative I had to say about it. Seemed pretty good, and most of the on air talent had little to nothing to do, but that was just the first hour. I’m sure things will change in a month when spring training gets going.
There’s a news scroll detailing current stories and events on the botom of the screen, much like is what is on ESPN’s channels. This is on all the time, so if you’re watching some of the older footage and non live programming hours, you can get updates there, too.
I watched most of the Don Larsen perfect game coverage. Was kind of cool to watch that. The game had a different feel back then. Really “feels” different with no camera behind the pitcher, and no closeups, and virtually zero graphics. On top of that, seeing the old commercials from 1956 was quite a blast, too. If you get a chance to watch this, it definitely shows you how different TV coverage is now.
I think it’s a great idea, and should garner a lot of eyeballs for baseball fans. Once all the kinks are ironed out. Apparently, the launch has had some technical problems getting going on some carriers. I’m not talking about carriers that aren’t carrying the channel (like Dish Network, although if you’re on satellite you should be with DirecTV anyway). But some carriers like Time Warner here in the Dallas area are having some issues. I can attest to this myself, as I’m having some problems with the channel. The short of it is I have two TiVo’s. One is an older Series 2 unit that uses a Motorola Cable box provided by TWC. The other is a TiVoHD unit that uses a M-type CableCARD. The Series 2 box can see the channel, but that’s because of the Motorola box. My TiVoHD cannot see it. I called TiVo today and spoke with them on the phone for roughly an hour trying to resolve the problem. After speaking with more than one tech there, they concluded the problem was with TWC, and filed an official report with them over the channel. So basically, I can see it on the old small TV in my bedroom, but not out in the living room on my big TV with all the fancy HD stuff. :) I did some research online and happened upon this article over at bizofbaseball.com. It details some problems other carriers are having. It appears there’s some techie stuff relating to TiVo units that use CableCARDS (that would be me and my TiVoHD), that prevents them from seeing the channel. Oh great.
At least I can see the channel on my old TV. It’s not optimal, but at least I can see it. Hopefully this gets straightened out in short order, as I really wanted this channel in my living room on my big TV. Of course there’s a separate issue of TWC Dallas not carrying the HD feed at all, but I’m trying not to get TOO worked up over this issue.
Anyone else in the Dallas area with a TiVoHD (or Series 3 or something like that) have the channel? Do you have a CableCARD?

I’ve been pretty busy dealing with various “real life” things the last few days, a kid who is sick, my own recovery, and a wife who is heavy into the 24 hour version of morning sickness. :) A few links that were sent my way I haven’t had a chance to point out, but I’ll do so now.
Sully Baseball
First up is from a blog called “Sully Baseball“. It’s named that because the guy who runs it is named Paul Sullivan. In his own words, here’s why this link is of interest to folks who frequent my site… “I’ve been comparing the all time homegrown roster versus the all time acquired roster for each team. I’ve done a bunch of them and I just finished one for the Rangers.“. The fellow is an admitted Red Sox fan with “Not a lot of knowledge of the Rangers”. He did however, put together a decent cross section of all time homegrown players for us.
Here’s his team for home grown Rangers:
C – Pudge
1B – Mike Hargrove
2B – Ian Kinsler
SS – Roy Smalley
3B – Dean Palmer
LF – Juan Gonzalez
CF – Oddibe McDowell
RF – Jeff Burroughs
DH – Ruben Sierra
SP – Kevin Brown
SP – Kenny Rogers
SP – Bobby Witt
SP – Rick Helling
SP – David Clyde
RP – Tom Henke
RP – Darren Oliver (Oliver was a starter with the Rangers, I thought)
RP – Danny Darwin
RP – Jeff Zimmerman
RP – Steve Foucalt
BENCH – Pete O’Brien
BENCH – Mark Teixeira
BENCH – Rusty Greer
BENCH – Tom Grieve
BENCH – Jim Sundberg
BENCH – Hank Blalock
The only major complaint I have is that Rusty Greer is not a starter. :) He also lists a starting lineup for imported players. What do you think of his choices?
Dallas Observer
The other link comes from the Dallas Observer. It’s entitled “A Wishlist for Jon Daniels“. He talks a lot about the details of what the team needs (it’s a pretty good summary), but does have a point by point list which I’ll get into.
Ben Sheets: They get so far as to say “don’t eff this up”. I agree, while not the sexiest signing, it could have a big benefit for us. His pitching coach is here, and Nolan Ryan is here. I think this can work, and think we should sign him. The fact that we have not so far tells me we’re playing games over money. We’ve lost a bunch of guys like that in the past, I hate playing the game of contract chicken.
Randy Johnson: I think this would be OK if we sign him, but I don’t think a ton would be different if he did not. As I’ve stated before, I’m indifferent towards him being here.
Ian Kinsler to LF: They say “Wise up and realize that Ian Kinsler sucks as a second baseman. Then, bite down hard and move him to left field.” I can’t agree with that. We have enough of an issue in the outfield without moving Kinsler there. His defensive numbers are better than his reptuation seem to make him out to be. Besides, if you move him to LF, then we need someone for 2B. I don’t think Young wants to go back there, and my gut says that Elvis isn’t ready. Plus we still need a full time 3B, I can’t see how this would work.
Byrd & Salty to Boston for Buckholz: I can’t see Boston moving Buckholz at all. This is s stupid idea on the grounds they won’t move Clay at all. The deal I’m OK with, but since Boston has stated “no way”, I think it’s silly to just pile on more players to get him.
Keep your options open: Ran out of ideas eh? This is such an open ended vague remark, that it tells me they ran out of ideas to put on the list. Every GM “keeps their options open”. Kind of a dumb remark, if you ask me.
While I like the free-form start of this article, the individual points aren’t things that will work, or are realistic for the most part. Still, you should definitely check this out if you have not.