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XM Radio & MLB Home Plate

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I signed up for XM Radio back in the Spring of 2005. The reason I did it was because of their 24 hour baseball talk channel, dubbed “MLB Home Plate”. They run several things on that channel. Primarily it’s various talk shows. But the biggest bugger has been that it’s not on the XM Radio online service. If you’re an XM subscriber, you can login with your account, and listen online anywhere. This is particularly helpful to me, as my office is a cave. It’s in the middle of the building, I work in, and while it’s a small one story building, it’s still got no windows, and I cannot get reception for my XM Radio. I’ve tried with signal repeaters at various windows in the building – no go. This is an issue for me, because the online version of XM has to date not included the MLB Home Plate channel.
I’ve written to several producers and folks at XM, and they have told me the reason they have not been allowed to put it online is MLBAM themselves. You see, one of the things they do on MLB Home Plate is include “live lookins” when something cool happens in a game. I don’t particularly use that feature on the shows they have, but I could understand (if not agree with) why MLB didn’t want a competing product available online like that. So I’ve missed a lot of programming I’ve wanted to hear because I couldn’t listen online.
Well, that’s finally changed. I saw a story today on Orbitcast (Satellite news) saying that as of Saturday the 29th, XM will FINALLY MAKE HOME PLATE AVAILABLE ON THEIR STREAMING ONLINE SERVICE. This is such good news, I think it warrants an appearance from “w00t guy!” :)

Seriously, this is extremely good news. I’ve wanted this channel online for ages, so I can listen during the day. I love the talk shows here, but I haven’t been able to listen because I’ve been unable to get a signal in my office during the day, and they haven’t had it. w00t indeed! Anyway, here’s some of the shows on the channel (all times below are Central):
Baseball This Morning: This show’s hosts are Mark Patrick & Buck Martinez. Mark Patrick knows baseball, but seems to be less “serious” than some of the other show hosts. One of their producers goes by the nickname of “The Godfather”, and Patrick himself goes by the nickname of “The Big Chair”. While their baseball talk is fine, they seem to be more into the “show” and “character” aspect of being on radio. When it originally launched, there was a third host, that being Larry Bowa. Bowa stayed there until he got a job with the Yankees as a coach, and was replaced by Orestes (“The Latin O”) Destrada, who stayed for awhile until he left last year. They did not replace O, and I think they gave up on the idea of three hosts, which I liked, since it tended to keep the focus more towards baseball with three on this show. Anyway, this show runs from 5AM to 8AM, and then immediately repeats from 8AM to 11AM.
Fantasy Focus: Hosted by Jeff Erickson of rotowire.com, this show runs one hour (from 11AM to noon), and focuses (as you’d guess by the name) on fantasy baseball. There’s less talk about baseball news on this show, and a stricter reliance on discussions specifically relating to fantasy baseball. This is my least favorite show of the lineup. Not that it’s bad, but the fantasy aspects of baseball discussion are of less interest to me.
Baseball Beat: To me, by far the best show on the channel. This is hosted by Dodgers broadcasters Charley Steiner. What I like most about this show over all the other show – and this is a big one for me – NO CALL INS! At least not from the general public. He does take calls, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s from beat writers for specific teams, hence the name of the show. They’ve had Evan Grant on several times, and they talk to other local writers for teams. I absolutely love that, you get to hear from people who actually cover teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Kansas City Royals. I mean, will ESPN do big deals on those? Hell no, they want to suck on the gob of the Yankees and Red Sox. So I love the fact they talk about other teams, and with people who know what they’re talking about. Unlike the usual callers who call in to these shows and ask a litany of stupid questions, which make me want to scream and turn off the radio. I love this show – no public call ins! YAY!
The Show: Hosted by former Ranger manager Kevin Kennedy and Reds pitcher Rob Dibble. This one I get to listen to the least, as it runs from 2PM to 5PM, and I’m usually at work then. From what I heard, this is the more opinionated show on the slate, and that’s likely due to the personality of the hosts. Or at least Rob Dibble. That’s the reason I garner he disappeared from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight – strong opinions. Which is fine. When I listen, I like the show, but I hear this the least based on timing.
XM on Deck: This show runs for an hour between 5 and 6, and will preview the games coming up that evening. During the offseason, it’s just a general talk show.
MLB Live & MLB Live Late Edition: These shows combine to run from 6PM to midnight. They consist mostly of live look ins to games in progress. There’s also a healthy dose of talk too when nothing is going on in terms of things to “look in” on.
Other things that run on the channel are classic games on the offhours, and there’s some other shows that don’t run as regularly. Like Baseball Confidential where they talk to an individual for an hour. There’s also some weekend only shows, like “Minors & Majors” with Grant Paulsen and “Ripken Baseball” with the Ripken brothers. If you like talking baseball, this is the channel for you. Yeah, I realized I turned this post into essentially an ad for XM Radio, but the fact that I will be able to FINALLY listen to Home Plate online while I’m at work is a MAJOR huge deal for me.
And on top of that, they have all the games broadcast during the season too. If you’re a hockey fan, that’s a bonus, as they have a 24/7 NHL channel, too (as well as the NHL games in a similar fashion).
If you don’t have XM, you should consider getting it. They have a trial signup you can get for two weeks via the website to listen to the streaming version – which after Saturday will include Home Plate, the entire reason I bought XM in the first place.
It’s about time, guys.

Official Roster Moves

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Saw a few minutes ago some official roster moves were posted to the Rangers site.
The first one was dated last night, but I was pretty positive I hadn’t seen that earlier this morning when I looked. The first one had Frank Francisco optioned to AAA, and Eric Hurley reassigned to AAA.
The second one came this morning, when Kameron Loe and Jarrod Saltamacchia were optioned to AAA. I touched on the “why” earlier this morning, but Kam was still a possibility for the pen. Not now, he’s been dispatched to Oklahoma.
None of these moves affect the 40 man roster, though. Just shuffling of existing 40 man players.
One other note. My roster page is being updated when these moves are officially made. As such, I still have guys like Adam Melhuse in the minors, even though they’ll be on the 25 man. Once these moves are all officially made by the Rangers, I’ll be updating my roster pages.

Loe, Salty down

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  • P Kameron Loe optioned to AAA
  • C Jarrod Saltamacchia optioned to AAA [ Link

Minor admin note

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If you read my site on an RSS reader, you might notice some repeat entries. This was because I discovered this morning that I forgot to cover a game last week, and as such, my game count was off. I had to adjust the “game numbers” for about 5 game recaps, and as such, it changed the URL’s for a few entries, and put them back into the RSS feed. Sorry for the confusion.

Several moves announced

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Before the game last night, several announcements regarding the roster were announced. They weren’t formally made, however, so the roster (officially) remains as it was. But several things were announced:
C.J Wilson was named the closer: This one is the most obvious. I know officially anyway, there was talk that Eddie Guarardo was going to challenge Wilson, but I don’t think anyone really believed that was a true competition. CJ seems like he could do the job after going 12-14 in save opportunities last year late. He doesn’t strike fear in people at this point though (like Papelbon, Mariano Rivera at his prime, and Ugueth Urbina when he wasn’t in jail), but he seems to be able to do the job. Hopefully he stays healthy and performs. It’s been a few years now since we haven’t had to change closers during a season.
Franklyn German makes the club: From the spring he’s had, this isn’t a huge surprise. He’s done a nice job, and assuming this isn’t a flash in the pan in spring training, this should be a good move. Hard to argue with giving a job to a guy whose ERA is 1.00. He has previous major league experience after being up with the Marlins in 2006, as well as with the Tigers from 2002-2005.
Jamey Wright makes the club: No huge surprise here. He did well for us in the pen last year, and that’s where he’s headed again. Should help out, assuming he doesn’t regress.
Frank Francisco to minors: Ever since the chair throwing incident, he doesn’t seem to have regained his total dominance he showed for awhile there. Shame, as I wanted him to succeed if for no other reason than to give the middle finger to Craig Bueno.
This leaves the bullpen with this roster: C.J. Wilson, Joaquin Benoit, Kaz Fukumori, Eddie Guardado, Franklyn German and Jamey Wright. There’s still two open spots. My guess for those spots are Robinson Tejeda (because of the options thing)
Some other announcements:
Jason Botts makes the club: Jason has had a decent enough spring, and reports seem to indicate he’s improved on his defense enough where he’s earned himself a spot. I think this is probably his last chance though – if he blows this, I doubt he’ll get through waivers.
Nelson Cruz to be DFA’ed: Several reports say that the Rangers will try and get Cruz through waivers, but I don’t think anyone expects that to happen. He has one of the better throwing arms, and even though given multiple chances, has not grasped the role of regular, because his offense is so all over the place.
Kevin Mench to minors: In another move that I think surprised nobody, Kevin Mench will start the season in AAA. His contract stated he would agree to that, so once that clause was in there, I think he realistically became “the insurance policy”. He would have had to have been miles above anyone else to make the club’s opening day 25 man. Still, it would not surprise me to see him up here before too long, unless everyone stays healthy.
Jason Ellison to minors: Jason Ellison was also told he won’t make the club, which doesn’t seem like much of a surprise. I wasn’t hearing his name a ton in reports and all that.
Catching:
Salty to AAA: This one came in right when I started writing this article, so I had to include it. According to TR Sullivan this morning, it was decided that Adam Melhuse would make the club as the backup to Gerald Laird, with Jarrod Saltamacchia going to AAA to get regular work. There also was some talk that Jon Daniels might still be trying to move Gerald Laird before the start of the season, but wants to get good value. He better, as while I don’t think Laird is the seriously long term answer, he does appear to be a good catcher, so you don’t want to just give him away.
A few notes, though. Franklyn German, Jamey Wright, and Adam Melhuse are NOT on the 40 man roster, and since ours is full, room will have to be made for them. The obvious candidate is Nelson Cruz, who is reported to be dfa’ed. That’s one. The others will probably be guys moved to the 60 day DL.
None of these roster moves were officially made, my guess is we see a big bomb of transactions all at once right before the actual deadline when we have to get down to our starting 25.

ST27: Rangers beat Mariners late, 5-1

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080325&content_id=2458385&vkey=spt2008gamer&fext=.jsp>MLB.com Recap

Last night the Rangers were on the radio. I was listening to our guys call the game while I was doing dishes in the kitchen. Exciting stuff, but you need something to do, eh?
Offensively, this game was clearly led by Hank Blalock. Hammer went 4-4 with three RBI’s, and a run scored. The big moment was a two run home run in the first inning. Ian Kinsler and Frank Calanotto both had two hits each (one of Ian’s was a double). The interesting thing about this game is there was only one other hit the entire game by the Rangers that was NOT off the bat of Blalock, Kinsler, or Catalanotto. That was Milton Bradley. Bradley tripled in the first inning, and from the sounds of it, stumbled a bit coming around second but still made it.
The Rangers ran out there what could be considered a regular season lineup. Everyone but Catalanotto (the DH) was subbed out at some point. So that was 17 different Rangers hitters. Only four of them got hits. While we had enough to win, it bothers me it was so bunched up. A win is a win – and I know that. But you like to see more balanced attacks. I know I do.
The Rangers were hiding their regular starters, as we’ll see Seattle in a week. So this was a game of relievers. Kaz Fukumori started the game, and threw two scoreless innings. In fact, his spring ERA is zero – very impressive. Kam Loe followed Kaz, and gave up the only run Seattle got (as well as three of the five overall hits). Loe seems like he will end up in AAA (to me), and while his outing today wasn’t great, some of the other moves we heard about seem to imply that Kam and his snake will be headed for Oklahoma City. The other three relievers that took the mound for Texas were Franklyn German (who made the club), Josh Rupe (probably not), & Wes Littleton (not sure, probably not). All pitched scoreless frames. Our pitching staff, what that it is, seems to be coming together.
As much as I seem to be dumping on Kam Loe, make no mistake, I like the guy, but you have to go with what you see. He did contribute to a really great pitching performance as a team. Rangers pitchers combined went nine innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits. Too many walks though (five), and not enough strikeouts (four). But you can’t argue with the bottom line in this game.
We did get to Miguel Batista, who at one point I thought would be great, but now seems to be a “meh” pitcher. Still tosses well against Texas though, although this time he did not. Five innings, six hits, three walks, three k’s, and four earned runs.

Francisco & Hurley

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  • P Frank Francisco optioned to AAA
  • P Eric Hurley reassigned to AAA camp [ Link

ST26: Rangers lose to Cubs in bottom of ninth, 7-6

Posted by on at http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_03_24_texmlb_chnmlb_1>MLB.com Recap

I’m going to skip this one, as it was another “didn’t hear it at work” game.
Didn’t like Gabbard’s line (yeah, I know most of it was in the first, but it still counted).

ST25: Rangers win again; beat Giants 5-2

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080323&content_id=2453672&vkey=spt2008gamer&fext=.jsp>MLB.com Recap

Sunday was the second of the two televised spring training games. Unlike Saturday’s game, I did get to see this one – well, most of it. I was again doing some church stuff (it was Resurrection Sunday after all), so I didn’t get to see it until late. Which means I sometimes fall asleep on it if I don’t get to start watching until after 10PM like I did this one.
Still, it was nice to see the Rangers play well. Granted, it is the Giants, who probably won’t threaten a team made up of current and former Rangers beat writers for the various local newspapers, but there was some nice stuff in this game. Several great defensive plays, including two guys thrown out at home.
You can tell we’re reaching the end of spring training. The same nine guys who started for the Rangers also finished. Even the pitching roster we sent out there seemed fairly normal. Mendoza went 5, Francisco went 1, Littleton went 2, and Rupe finished up and got the save. Which brings up another point. I’m starting to get mildly concerned that CJ Wilson has not yet appeared in any games lately. I know what the team is saying, but if he’s going to be the closer, he should be getting “A” work.
Speaking of “A” work, Michael Young seems in fine shape in terms of his stats. He went 3-3 yesterday, and raised his average to .388. Josh Hamilton, the darling of spring took an ofer, and his average dropped below .500. Jarrod Saltamacchia seems to have gotten it together a bit. He’s now batting .276 after going 2-3 on Sunday. Ben Broussard, who seemed in low gear for most of March is doing better. He’s now at .267.
A couple of other guys are not doing that great; and they’re on the roster. Milton Bradley, Marlon Byrd, & Frank Catalanotto are all under the Mendoza line. Not good for guys we’re counting on.
Luis Mendoza pitched well again which will be good if he remains in the starting rotation. Five shutout innings. Speaking of pitchers, I was quite surprised to see how young Tim Lincecum was. Good Lord, he looked like he belonged in High School. Given the comments that Tom & Josh had about him, I have to say that is not an uncommon remark.
In a fairly useless note that might make Rob Neyer proud, our 7/8/9 batters on Sunday may have set some sort of record for letters in their surnames combined. Between Catalanotto, Saltamacchia, & Broussard, that’s 32 letters. Not bad for the bottom part of the lineup. :)