Life Has Been Busy; Baseball..Not So Much

I've been busy with family and work lately, so forgive the lack of attention paid to the blog.  There hasn't been a lot going on with the Rangers over the past week, so we haven't missed much.

I guess this is as good a place as any to say that I don't plan to post every wild trade or free agent rumor that involves the Rangers.  I don't have time for that, and even if I did, it would be a waste of time because most of that stuff doesn't pan out anyway.  When the hard facts are in, I'll be there to go over it in detail.

Here's a few notes that might have flown beneath the radar.

• Jeff Francoeur has been outrighted off the 40-man roster and assigned to the minors.  He refused the assignment (which is not an abnormal thing to do) and has become a free agent.
• The Rangers signed catcher Kevin Cash to a minor league contract.  This could either be a pure depth move, or it could mean the Rangers are conceding Matt Treanor and/or Bengie Molina to free agency.
• If you've attended the Rangers Fan Fest in the past, it's about to get overhauled.  According to the Rangers website, the event will now cover two days (January 22-23, 2011) and it will be held at the Gaylord Texan Arlington Convention Center.  (The Friday night banquet will be at the Gaylord Texan, my bad.)  The details are light at this point, but it looks like they are really going to blow the doors off this thing, which is awesome.

Next week kicks off the major award announcements, so if any Rangers are honored (and there's a few that should be), then I'll make note here.  Also, if there is any player movement, I'll be sure to put it in the newly re-named Transaction Tracker, and then offer some analysis when I've got time to do so.  Work is going to keep me busy between now and Thanksgiving, so I appreciate your patience as we wait for the dominoes to start falling in free agency.