Texas Rangers 2019 Thread

^Hope it's only two weeks, but if the Rangers err on the safe side and keep him out another few days to be sure, I wouldn't gripe. They need Joey in the everyday lineup.
 
Don't look now, but somehow the Rangers are tied for the 2nd AL Wildcard. All that is going to do is force JD to over think a Minor trade.
 
^Agree, Viper. Minor could be a key member of the 2020 team - if the Rangers really want to contend for the first season in the new ballpark. If so, JD probably needs to "hold 'em" at the trade deadline and look to sign free agents in the off-season. Signing free agents is mere money - trading cost prospects (and the team doesn't have a lot of top prospects to spare).
 
Nice ceremony tonight at The Ballpark to retire #29. Well-deserved honor for Adrian Beltre. Rangers won the first game and are leading in the nightcap - if they can hold on to the lead and sweep the DH, it would cap a terrific day in Arlington.
 
Loss today but Rangers still head out on long road trip at 34-30, four games over .500 well into June. Statistically the over on 70 wins is now the more likely scenario and I had little hope of that when the season began.
 
FWHORN said:
Loss today but Rangers still head out on long road trip at 34-30, four games over .500 well into June. Statistically the over on 70 wins is now the more likely scenario and I had little hope of that when the season began.
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Woodward has shown that he is an above average manager and is getting what he can with what he has. The team is 6-3 without Gallo so maybe some of the younger players are listening to Cabrera and Pence about never giving up. More telling is the 6-3 record is against teams that the Rangers should beat. Also, other than the series starting today in Boston, the schedule is very friendly until the end of the month series with Tampa Bay.
 
^Rangers still need to define a role for Gallo on defense. CF is probably too much strain on a guy that big - he needs to be a corner outfielder (likely LF). The team can play one of the smaller, faster guys (like DeShields) in CF.

The other question revolves around creating a roster spot when Gallo is ready to come back - who gets sent down?
 
HornHuskerDad said:
^Interesting thought. For the moment, let's assume that come the middle of July, the Rangers are in reasonable contention for a wild-card slot - do they sell or buy? No doubt this team needs starting pitchers, and the starters in the farm system are at least a couple of years away. Do they trade for a good starter and (a) make a run at the playoffs for 2019 and (b) position themselves to contend in 2020? Or does JD consider this year a pleasant aberration and sell to restock the farm system? Not an easy answer.

Thoughts?
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i still think they are replenishing the farm system. i hate the idea of sacrificing our youth to limp in to the playoffs. i'd take a guy as salary relief, but not give up significant youth.
 
After 70-72 games Rangers remain 1 percentage point ahead of Boston for the 2nd AL Wild Card.

Also, the remainder of the season in MLB seems to be taking shape:

AL - Minnesota and Houston should not have any issues virtually wrapping up the Central and West respectively by the end of July. The AL East appears to be a two-team contest between NYY and Tampa Bay. In all likelihood, the 1st AL Wild Card will go to the loser of this battle. While the Rangers surprisingly will hang with Boston for the 2nd Wild Card for a while, the talent level difference favors Boston. One thing in the Rangers favor is the number of games that Boston has left with NYY and Tampa.

NL - LAD has the NL West by the throat and that should continue for the remainder of the season assuming no long term injury to a SP. The NL Central and East appear to be dog fights between Atlanta and Philadelphia in the East and the Cubs and Brewers in the Central. Right now it appears that all four will make the playoffs.
 
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Rangers are now 10-6 without Gallo, but Pence is headed to IL with groin injury so for at least next couple of weeks Texas is without its two top HR hitters. Gallo is looking at being back around July 1 but who knows if he has to take it slower and what the lingering effects might be. Cant know how Pence will be but age is a real factor. A lot of Rangers are playing well above their norm. I heard on radio this morning that Lynn has had something like 8 straight quality starts and when combine that with the stellar year Minor is having the Rangers actually have a more than solid top end of their pitching order.

The real problem is that I just cant see them sustaining this, even as every ounce of my Ranger fandom wants to believe they can win 87-90 games and challenge for a wild card. It is fast approaching the fish or cut bait point (maybe a month left before decision will need to be made) of trading Minor, LeClerc and maybe Lynn for prospects or going all in to make a run at a wild card. Then there is question can anyone sustain this performance into next year or is this a bunch of collective "career years" that all happen to coincide and if the Rangers hold on to everyone they are up the creek next year as everyone reverts to their norm and have no trade value.

Going to be an interesting next 30 days.
 
FWHORN said:
trading Minor, LeClerc and maybe Lynn for prospects
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The issue would be finding a team that (a) really needs one of our guys and (b) has prospects that are nearly ready for the big leagues. JD really wants to field a competitive team for the first year in the new ballpark, so trading for prospects that are 2-3 years away is not the answer.
For the interest of next season, it might be better to stand pat at the trading deadline and seek Free Agents during the off-season - that would avoid having to trade current big-leaguers for unproven potential. As DKR said, "'Potential' just means you ain't done it yet."
 
JD is facing the biggest challenge since he joined the Rangers. As both FW and HHD described does he stand pat or trade away talent that is at or near the best part of the team? One would think (hope) that he doesn't make a trade just to improve this year's team's chances for the playoffs. Balancing that with having a team that can at least compete on the field next season will be difficult.

Lynn is under the team's control for the next two seasons so he probably would have a little more trade value than Minor, who is the better pitcher but is under contract only through the 2020 season. I would not trade either for what the Rangers need - a big-time catcher. Also, I disagree with FW on Gallo's position. Because of his arm and speed, he is most valuable in CF. He is the only outfielder who can make the throw from anywhere in center to home. Stopping a runner at third on a ball to center is critical. Gallo can do this better than anyone else on the team and the other teams know this. His issue is at the plate. The K's in rally situations are killers which partly explain the Ranger's record without him in the line-up.

Any help from the minors appears to be down in A where Hickory is in third (A), and Spokane (A-Short Season) is leading their league. However, Frisco is mired in the bottom half of the Texas League, and Nashville has the next to the worse record in all of AAA.
 
^As long as the trade (a) meets the Rangers' needs and (b) involves controllable players, it sounds like a decent deal. If it happens, I assume the Rangers are willing to give up those two cited prospects to do it. Guess we'll see as the trading deadline approaches later in July.

BTW, very nice effort by Minor today to get a 4-2 win over Cleveland, completing a split of the four-game series at The Ballpark. Chisox coming in for the weekend - Rangers could really use a sweep against a middle-of-the-pack team, certainly at least a 2-1 series win.
 
The article does show some thought which is a nice change of pace. Even if a third player has to be thrown in the effect on the Rangers would be gaining a number 3 pitcher at the expense of position players that the Rangers can probably cover with other players in the Organization.

The only issue I have is the notation that the D-Backs are in the discussion for a wildcard spot. Right now there are 9 teams in the NL (three in their own Division) with better records which means they are at the end of the line with a 38-37 (.507) record.
 
New week finds the Indians and Red Sox passing the Rangers for the second Wild Card. Current Wild Card standings - Rays, Indians, Red Sox, Texas (with A's making a big push to overtake the Rangers). News of Note from last week:
  • NYY handles Astros and Rays​
  • The Smyly experiment has run its course with Smyly DFA on Thursday
  • Ranges go 5-5 over last 10 games while Houston goes 2-8
 
Rangers sit at 41-36 meaning regardless of what happens over next four games they will have played above .500 ball for 1/2 of season. :texasflag:

That is pretty incredible given the starting rotation they have and and have had all year long. I do not see them hanging with Boston/Cleveland or even likely the A's as the second half gets going for the second wild card but I really think they can win 81 games and finish the year at or above .500 even if/when they start moving some players for younger prospects. There have to be some teams that will give up a couple of players for Minor and LeClerc and even Lynn or Pence when he comes back. Its all dependent on deals Daniels can make but other than Mazara, Calhoun and Gallo, I don't view anyone on the roster as untouchable from a trade perspective. Hell as good a year as Choo is having maybe someone would take him if the Rangers would agree to cover some of his remaining salary.
 
^Nice article. If the Rangers can keep up the pace, in addition to making believers out of doubters, they will also approach the trading deadline in a position to contend. That would give JD the option to become a buyer instead of a seller. As we discussed earlier in this thread, he may need to look at off-season Free Agents instead of trades - at the least, he would need to be very careful about trading away veterans from the current roster for unproven prospects.
 
I agree FW, they are playing what appears to be way over their heads. The Rangers are not as talented as most of the second tier of teams (teams not playing for first in their division) but are hanging tough. How they end up will be determined by what JD does before the trade deadline.
 
Looks like Gallo has been activated from the IL and will start in CF tonight. Although the Rangers have done reasonably well while he was out, it will certainly help to have him back in the line-up.
 
The easy part of the first part of the schedule ends with this visit to Detroit. They need all of the bodies that they can muster. Schedule through July starting Friday:
@Rays
Angles
@Twins
Astros
D'Backs
@Astros
@Mariners
@A's
On paper not many wins in that stretch, but the games are not played on paper.
 
Gallo goes 1 for 4 with an RBI double in his return and the Rangers take opener in Detroit. They are now a season best seven games over .500 at 43-36. As noted above the schedule for July means that will be the rubicon for this team and whether they can cross it to playoff contender or drown in it is yet to be determined. Still, this team keeps on surprising and it gives us all a reason to keep watching in the days and weeks ahead.:texasflag:
 
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