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Adam Eaton comes, Chris Young goes?!?

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This just came in from the Dallas Morning News.

The Rangers agreed in principle to a deal with San Diego that will bring them right-handed starter Adam Eaton and hard-throwing setup man Akinori Otsuka and a minor league prospect in exchange for pitcher Chris Young, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and outfielder Terrmel Sledge, major league officials confirmed.

Out: Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez, & Termel Sledge
In: Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, & Billy Killian
Adrian Gonzalez I figured would bring more of a blue chip than being involved in this trade.
Termel Sledge is no big loss. My thinking there is “well, it’s not Mench”.
Chris Young? Going into this offseason, our rotation was Young, Loe, ?, ?, & ?. Now it’s Eaton, Padilla, Loe, ?, & ?. I don’t see trading him as a particularly good thing at all. Course I didn’t think moving Drese was good either, and he has been a bust in Washington for the most part.
Adam Eaton: Could be OK, but he’s a flyball pitcher if I remember right, plus he’s not the healthiest of pitchers. Could be OK, but this is a big wobbly question mark.
Akinori Otsuka: I don’t know anything about him, but the initial press says he’d be the primary setup man. We could use one of those, as Francisco probably won’t be really healthy again until 07, assuming he’s still with us then.
Billy Killian: Was the Padres third round pick in 2004. Is a catcher. We could probably use a good young one, although I thought we already had Gerald Laird?
I probably would be OK with this if it wasn’t for the inclusion of Chris Young. Young probably will really benefit by this move, going to Petco Park (a big non wind tunnel place), as wel as the NL (no DH).

Contract Status:
Chris Young:
Due $1.1 Mil total in 2006 & 2007, plus 2008 team option. Not sure of 06/07 breakdown.
Adrian Gonzalez:
Arbitration Eligible in 2006, made $316,500 in 05
Terrmel Sledge:
Arbitration Eligible in 2006, made $345,000 in 05
Adam Eaton:
Arbitration Eligible in 2006, made $3.325M in 05; fa after 06
Akinori Otsuka:
Signed through 06 – gets $1.75M
Billy Killian:
In Minor Leagues. Doesn’t really apply to this.

Padilla trade completed

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  • P Ricardo Rodriguez sent as PTBNL to Philadelphia Phillies to complete Vicente Padilla trade [ Link ]

Padilla trade completed

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We sent Ricardo Rodriguez to the Phillies today to complete the trade for Vicente Padilla.
No huge loss there, as he seemed to fall out of favor with managment. Shame though, as he was going so well until he was plunked in the arm with a pitch in the middle of the 2004 season.

Roger Clemens in 2006?

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There’s been some talk that Roger Clemens might pitch in Texas in 2006, if he pitches at all. I’m here to say there’s no way he’ll pitch here, even if he’s “considering” us. Why? This quote from an article on Friday..

“It’s Houston, Texas, New York and Boston,” Clemens told a banquet in Fort Worth, Texas. “I love all those places, they have great players that I respect very much.”

When has Texas ever won out over another team like that, especially Boston/New York unless we throw a quarter billion at them? He won’t be here.

D’Angelo Jimenez signed

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  • IF D’Angelo Jimenez signed to a 1 year minor league contract with an invite to spring training. [ Link ]
  • P Kasey Ueno signed to a minor league contract
  • The following minor league players were released: OF Jeremy Cleveland, RHP Marcos Herrera, IF Josh Kreuzer, IF Bobby Lenoir, IF Abigail Sandoval and OF Jose Torres.

Seattle signs Carl Everett

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Seattle on Wednesday signed Carl Everett, the former Rangers outfielder. (Story)
I’ll take this chance to say that when he was dealt, he had turned around my opinion of him. He still was unsuited to play center field here, as he’s not fast enough for that position, but I ended up being in his camp when he left. One thing I still admire him about is his stance on his children. So many actors, sports guys, etc have no problem with divulging every piece of information about their family and kids. Not Carl. He has five children, but in every team he’s played for, he gives no information on their names, birthdates, etc. I admire him for trying to keep his personal life personal. I even wrote him a letter about that when he was playing here and told him so.
Good luck Carl, except the 19 times you play us. :)

Wilkerson & Padilla introduced

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Brad Wilkerson and Vicente Padilla were introduced to the press today. Here’s a picture from the press conference, which I did not hear, unfortunately. Didn’t even know there was going to be one. Oh well.
Anyway, on the subject of uniform numbers which I’m so keen on.. Padilla was wearing 44, which was his number in Philly. As I said before, that was worn at the end of the season here by Jason Botts, so that’s no surprise.
Brad Wilkerson was wearing 6, which was Gerald Laird’s number for the last two years. I don’t know if it will stay that way. Wilkerson wore 7 in Montreal/Washington, and that’s already taken by DeRosa, so it isn’t much of a surprise that he got bumped to 6. Don’t know what Laird will be wearing if indeed Wilkerson goes into sping training with 6. 5 was worn by Ian Kinsler in 2005’s spring trainign, so that could be open. We’ll see.
UPDATE: There’s now an article on the Rangers site with reactions from the press conference by Wilkerson & Padilla. Check it out.

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My Tour of all 30 Ballparks

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Something I’ve always wanted to do is to visit all 30 MLB Ballparks. Part of the problem is that is stupid expensive. That would have to be a “win the lottery” thing I’d do. Especially now that I have a daughter, so I’d have to pay for three. :)
Until I win the lottery, I’ve had to settle for the next best thing. I’ve gone and done a fly-by tour of all 30 Major League Baseball parks with the software “Google Earth“. It’s free software that gives you satellite views of pretty much everywhere. It has the ability to do “tours” of lists of coordinates. One night a week ago when I was bored, I went and created one for all 30 Major League Baseball teams. If you don’t have Google Earth, it’s free, so click on the link above to grab it, install it. And then click on this link, and it will show you the tour.
https://www.rangerfans.com/stuff/MLBBallparks2005.kmz
If you check this out, and enjoy it, please come back and let me know. Always curious when people use things I create. Thanks.

The Ballpark in Arlington

DeRosa & Shouse signed

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  • 2B Mark DeRosa signed to a 1 year contract for 2006, avoiding arbitration
  • P Brian Shouse signed to a 1 year contract for 2006, avoiding arbitration [ link ]

Rangers re-sign DeRosa & Shouse

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This evening it was announced that the Rangers have signed Mark DeRosa & Brian Shouse to one year contracts for the 2006 season. Both were eligible for arbitration, so this brings the number of players now eligible for arbitration for the 2006 season to seven. They are: Rod Barajas, Joaquin Benoit, Gary Matthews Jr., Kevin Mench, Vicente Padilla, Mark Teixeira and Brad Wilkerson.
The $ amounts are not out yet, but I’ll have that as soon as I find out. Here’s the story from the Rangers site about it.
Both are good signings. Yeah, they were arbitration eligible, and would have likely been here anyway. But I still like it from a baseball move. DeRosa ddn’t play much at all most of 2005 until the back end of the season,when he was pretty reliable in several different positions. He could be our regular 2B if Kinsler doesn’t work out, or management decides he’s truly not ready yet. And Shouse has been pretty good out of the pen, too. Plus he’s a left handed reliever, you want to keep them. :)
UPDATE @ 12:15AM Tue: I’ve since found out the value of the two contracts. DeRosa got $675,000 and Shouse got $725,000 plus $50k in incentives. Shouse will get $25,000 if he appears in 60 games, and another $25k if he appears in 70.
UPDATE 2 @ 2PM Tue: I also found out that DeRosa gets contract incentives, too. He gets $25,000 each if he makes 350, 400, & 450 plate appearances.