Rangers make some moves
The biggest of the last few days came tonight while I was at church at my discipleship class. Frank Catalanotto has returned to the Rangers pending a physical. The deal is for three years, $13 million (similar money that DeRosa got from the Cubs). The Rangers hold a team option fourth year. This is probably a hedge against GMJ going elsewhere, which unfortunately looks pretty likely. Most Ranger fans were sorry to see Little Cat go, I know my wife was. I enjoyed him myself during his time here, so that will be a nice return. So we still do have something from the Juan Gonzalez trade! (Granted, its’ via free agency, but still… :) )
A few days back, we signed Miguel Ojeda to a contract for 2007, virtually assuring that Rod Barajas will not be back. I didn’t see enough of Ojeda to have any real comments on him, but it’s probably the signing we had to make for a backup (although I admit I was hoping they’d sign Gregg Zaun).
The Texas Rangers also signed RHP Franklyn German and INF Ramon Vazquez to minor league contracts with invites to spring training. I admittedly do not know much about these two. There was more on them in a recent Newberg report.
We also signed LHP Matt Merricks and INF David Matranga to minor league contracts. I know a little about Matranga, having driven down to Round Rock a few times and seeing him play there for the Express. Neither of these strike me as much else besides roster filler. If they do get to the bigs, I can’t imagine it will be for much more than a cup of coffee.
There was also word this past week that Jon Daniels is hopeful that we can resign Vicente Padilla. I wonder if the change in managers will make a difference in his surly behavior. Maybe not, but as long as he pitches well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, eh?
Soriano signs with Cubs
Apparently Alfonso Soriano signed with the Cubs tonight, a reported 8 year $136 million dollar deal. That’s a lot of dough. The Cubs are throwing a lot of money around. I wonder if the curse will cancel all that out. :)
Eek. I was hoping my hometown Phillies would sign him. Oh well.
German & Vazquez
- RHP Franklyn German signed to a 1 year minor league contract w/invite to spring training
- INF Ramon Vazquez signed to a 1 year minor league contract w/invite to spring training
- LHP Matt Merricks signed to a 1 year minor league contract
- IF David Matranga signed to a 1 year minor league contract [ link ]
Miguel Ojeda
- C Miguel Ojeda signed to a 1 year contract [ link ]
Matsuzaka
Wow. $51.1 million. Just for a cup of coffee. Baseball money is so out of whack. It’s a good thing I really love the game, or I would have bailed ages ago. I did enjoy the remark that DMZ had over at USS Mariner…
This is, by the way, approximately 1/4th the value of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise.
ESPN’s site has a link which shows that if you combine the salaries of all these players, it still doesn’t even add up to the posting fee the Red Sox paid. Johan Santana, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cris Carpenter, Scott Shields, Joel Zumaya, Aaron Heilman, Scott Linebrick, Juan Rincon, & Francisco Rodriguez. And you’d have about $2.5 Million LEFT OVER. Yeesh. And that’s not even the contract!
My own remark… If ever there’s a time for this bible scripture to be used..
…I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:24.
Mark DeRosa to sign with the Cubs
Well, we don’t get to keep Mark DeRosa. That’s a shame, I really liked him during his time here, but after last year, I can’t blame him for going where a guaranteed starting job is. Unless we traded Blalock (unlikely given Washington’s comments about him), I can’t see where DeRosa would get regular starting time here. The story is 3 years $13 million. Not bad for the year he had last year. I wonder if his old team (the Braves) made a run at him at all.
UPDATE: I guess it’s official now, there’s a story about it over on the Cubs website.
Rangers games in High Def
Hey, anyone who is reading this in the Dallas area and has HD, I have a question for you. What has the Rangers local game coverage in HD been?
Given we see the bulk of the games on Ch 27 & FSNSW, that’s what I’ll talk about. I’m not talking about national ESPN coverage, for Fox Saturday games, but the local stuff.
I can only remember seeing a handful of games that said “HD” and those were on FSN towards the end of the season. Can someone elaborate on this if you have any knowledge? Hoping to get some feedback on this.
2007 Promotions Schedule
The Official Rangers site does not have this up yet, but I decided to scan in the 2007 promotions schedule that came in the group info flyer I got in the mail earlier this week. It’s huge, so I’m not going to inline the image here. Click on this link, and you’ll get it.
https://www.rangerfans.com/images/2007promotions.jpg
There’s a couple more scheduled concerts here, including another appearance by Mercy Me. There is another local Christian band I’d like to see out there, The Afters. Anyway, check out the promotions.
Barry Bonds
There’s a lot of rumours about which free agent will end up where. The movement starts this weekend. One of the more “out there” rumours is one of Barry Bonds coming to Arlington. I think if he didn’t have the roids contoversy, then I think most people would probably be OK with that move. Offensively he can still bring it, but he’s a total liability in the field.
However, I don’t think it can completely be ruled out. From a purely baseball side, I’m sure he could help in the lineup, and we all know about left hander power hitters and our home run porch. From a complete “blinders on” mentality, that probably would be good. But as we all know this instant headline media obsessed culture we live in wouldn’t allow that. There’s a boatload of baggage with Bonds.
That brings me to the reason for writing this. The last few years, you go outside of San Francisco, and Bonds gets almost universally booed. Heck, the fans in Philly had some rather imaginitive sings when he was there.
It makes me wonder. If Barry Bonds signed here and was a Texas Ranger in 2007, do you think he’d get booed at his own home games? I’d love to hear what some people think about that issue.
This seems like a good time to bring up the story again of how my wife met Barry Bonds some years ago, and he refused to pay $2 for a couple of cookies and milk from a mall stand she was working at.
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