Angel Soft

Dear Josh Hamilton,

We don't hate you.  You irritated us and we are just letting you know about it.  You don't seem to understand the difference between the two, or why we would be irritated.  As a result, we become more irritated, to the point where it is fun to rag on you like we did today.

You and I share a same belief system.  I appreciate your stance on the Gospel and helping others off the field.  There are times when baseball and your faith are strongly tied together, but there are other times you try to link things together that don't fit.  Arlington isn't your Nazareth.  That's just the selfish drama queen in you speaking.

You may be the best baseball player I ever watch in my lifetime.  You helped bring my favorite franchise, which is like an extension of myself, farther than we've ever been before.  Almost to the pinnacle of the sport.  You can win homerun titles, batting titles, MVP awards, All Star nominations and almost anything you want.  However you are lacking in common sense, work ethic, focus, dedication, baseball IQ and knowing when to shut your mouth.

Why would we "turn on you?"  First of all, a person with such thoughts shows how self centered he is.  Second, see things from our perspective.  We as a fan base were coming off of two seasons in which we tasted success, but never felt the fullfillment of a championship.  In 2012, we were rolling back toward the playoffs with another chance to hopefully reach that final achievement.  Then seemingly out of nowhere, the best player on the team loses focus.  He misses critical games against the Angels, but has time to visit Jimmy Kimmel.  It turns out to be a problem eye drops can fix, meanwhile Adrian Beltre is gutting it out, playing games on one leg with a jacked up rib cage, fighting Wash to put his name in the lineup every day.  Fast foward to the last week of the season.  You can't seem to make contact, and when you do it's swinging at a bad first pitch and rolling out weakly to an infielder.  Then you go back to the dugout and half grin, in that irritating way that Rich Harden did when he gave up a dozen runs and left games in the 3rd inning.  We saw that, and that's what made us upset.  The same thing happened with the dropped ball in Oakland.

In our town, classify it with whatever sport you want, we love successful players, which is why we loved you from the beginning.  But more than that, we love gritty players.  Guys that tough it out, play hurt, don't make excuses, put their teammates before themselves, accept responsibility when they make mistakes, and don't shy away from failure.  Perhaps you noticed the reception we always give Rusty Greer and Ivan Rodriguez when they return.  Or the way we respect Adrian Beltre when he's in a slump, because he's a gamer, he'll grind it out and get it right eventually, backing his teammates all the way, not making excuses.  I'm sure you heard us boo Alex Rodriguez and CJ Wilson, not only as members of other teams, but we did it when they were Rangers too, just like you.  We did the same thing to Juan Gonzalez.  When you show you don't always try, or don't care from time to time, we let you know that is not acceptable behavior here in the only real voice we have.  We boo.  It's not a reflection of the person, it's more about work ethic.

That's where were stood at the end of last season, and you didn't seem to get it then.  Then as you are apt to do, you ran your mouth and said stupid things, putting down the fan base that was already irritated, and now frustrated that we didn't get another chance at a ring because our best player "quit" at the end of the year.  You insulted us for booing, not understanding why we did it.  It didn't help that you followed CJ to the division rivals.

So today you got your feelings hurt because people had fun with you.  This time the boos were to poke sharp sticks back at you, retaliating in the only voice we have to the comments you made about us and our team.  People brought up your past mistakes and threw them in your face, the same ones we were willing to forgive you for at the time they happened because we'd never seen you quit on us at the time.  Surely some people crossed the line, that's what happens when you mix opinions and alcohol (right?), but they did so to get under your skin, and from your post game comments, it worked.  So expect more.  The more you talk about it, the more you fan the flames of the booing Rangers fan.

We had great times here.  We were happy to wear your name on our backs.  Then you showed yourself to be soft, and instead of manning up, you folded, made excuses, pointed the finger back at us, then signed with the division rivals, and showed up today thinking half the crowd would treat you as if you were Pudge returning to town with the Marlins or Tigers.

You are an opponent now.  We will continue to treat you as one, with a little more noise since you let us down.  Get used to it.

Rangers Items For Sale!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my sale items.  I hope you find a few things you like, and I think I have priced the items quite fairly.  If you want to buy a big lot of stuff, I might bundle some for less, otherwise prices are as marked.  If your purchase will require the item(s) to be shipped to you, we'll work out that cost privately and I'll just charge you what the post office charges me, plus any supply costs.

If this goes well, I might try to dig around and find more to put up for grabs.

Any questions?  Email me at mattswaim@yahoo.com  or message me on Facebook.

Player Plaques:  $5 each

Mickey Tettleton, Ivan Rodriguez, Emmitt Smith, Juan Gonzalez

(I haven't measured these, but the pictures are trading cards, so you get the idea.)

2010 World Series Program:  $15 (cover price)

2010 World Series Magazines:  $5 each

Nolan Ryan publications:  $5 each

1992 Yearbook, 7th No-Hitter Commemorative Program, Sports Illustrated with Nolan on the cover, and 4 Beckett Baseball Card magazines with Nolan on the cover

Michael Young publications:  $5 each

2006 Yearbook, 2007 Game Program

Rangers Yearbooks:  $5 each

2005 Yearbook, 2007 Yearbook

NOT PICTURED:  ($5)

1992 Rangers Program with Pudge Rodriguez on the cover

Player and Team Pennants:  $10 each

Juan Gonzalez, Alex Rodriguez (Free if you want it), 1998 AL West Champs (with simulated autographs), 1996 AL West Champs (simulated autographs), Arlington Stadium 72-93 logo, Early '00s team logo.

Texas flag signed by Mark Teixeira:  $5

(Note: all toys and bobbleheads come with original boxes/packaging, unless otherwise noted.)

Bobbleheads:

Francisco Cordero - $5

Late '90's Uniform Classic Bobblehead - $10

Mark Teixeira statute:  $5

Nesting Dolls:  A-Rod, Gonzalez, Palmeiro - $5

Oklahoma City AAA Bobbleheads:

Rusty Greer - $15

Kevin Mench - $10

Will Clark's cap:  $30

This is an item I bought at a ballpark event during the offseason during the late 90's.  At that time, Will Clark was the only 22 during the Rangers red uniform years, so I know it's his hat despite not having documentation.  It's also quite small which would seem right for him and the handwriting is similar to his signature which I also have on a baseball card.  This is probably the coolest thing I have for sale right now.

Rafael Palmeiro autographed baseball:  $25

Bought at the team shop at RBIA during his later Rangers years, pre-scandal.  Has hologram sticker to prove authenticity.

That's it, for now.  Send your interest list to my email account or message me on Facebook (not on my wall please).

The End of an Era, or Two

I had planned to catch up on a few other things (JD's new deal, injuries, Feliz's role), but obviously with what went down today, and evidently over the past several months leading up to the news of Chuck Greenberg's departure, I'll need to chime in on that first.

I'll admit, I'm a Greenberg guy.  I could listen to his upbeat ideas about this team all day, and I'd even thought to myself how fun it would be to work for a guy like him one day.  I'm also a lifelong Nolan Ryan fan.  Having these two guys lead my team seemed like a perfect setup.

However, today's news, in addition to missing out on Cliff Lee and the Michael Young drama, it looks like all of the positive momentum has been sucked out of a team that went to the World freakin' Series a few months ago.  It has me drained, and I'll always be a positive Rangers homer, but I just don't feel like dealing with it for the time being.

That being said, I'm going to shut down operations of the blog.  I might come back and I might not.  I've only got about 10-20 people who read it anyway, and I feel like I'm getting behind on keeping up with what's going on anyhow.  My new position at work means I'll miss 3/7ths of the season, so there's another reason for me to give it up at this time.

If you want to see how far things have come in the last few months, go back to the first post and read it.  It's a post that Chuck actually read and sent me a message about the day after I posted it, which got me fired up about writing.  The opposite has happened today.

Thanks for reading as much as you have, and as always, Go Rangers.

Slacker

Don't worry, I'm still alive.  You just wouldn't know it from the blog lately.  Let's catch up on a few things.

• Ian Kinsler will lead-off, Elvis Andrus will hit second, and Michael Young has been bumped down the order to sixth.

This move, to me, is more to suit Andrus than the other two guys.  We've already seen from the past that Kinsler is capable of the lead-off position, and to replace his production in the six spot Michael Young fits in nicely, and should drive in more runs than he normally does with Hamilton, Cruz, and Beltre hitting ahead of him.  His run total might take a hit, though, with Moreland, Torrealba, and Borbon behind him most days. 

Elvis is built perfectly for the two hole at this point in his career.  He can handle the bat well, bunt, runs well, and has a good eye for working deep counts.  He doesn't hit for power, but he should see plenty of good pitches to hit batting right in front of Hamilton.

It's an interesting move, considering how well this lineup performed last year, but I think it will work out well.  As long as Kinsler stays healthy, the top two-thirds of the order should rake this year.

• Adrian Beltre is out about another week with a calf strain.

Not a good way to begin a long term contract with a new team.  Sources say he should be ready for game action around the 10th, and that he is already doing most drills other than running outside, but you'd like to see this guy ready to go by the time April rolls around.  If not, there's a pretty good player on the squad who can handle third base, if necessary.

• Brandon Webb is ramping up his pitching workouts slowly.

Webb has thrown off a mound three times this spring, with a few workouts of long toss mixed in between to strengthen his arm.  He said his mechanics are still a little out of wack, but he's feeling good, which is important.  It's looking a little unrealistic that he'll start the season in the rotation, but could be healthy enough to go by mid-April or early May.  Until then, there are three rotation spots up for grabs behind Wilson and Lewis.

• 40-man roster is finally all signed for 2011.

Everybody is finally under contract for the upcoming year.  If you're curious how much each player is making, check out the Contracts page on this site.

Finally, I hope you've seen over the past week that I don't plan on being a news source of all Rangers happenings.  For the near future, you can expect more posts like this one that hit on a few topics, then I follow each with my reactions and interpretations, which is what the basis of the blog should be.  Thanks for sticking around.

Where You At?

Sorry I haven't been writing much since last week.  I've been busy with work and I'll get to some stuff over the next two days while I have some time off.  Keep checking back, and I'll post on Facebook when I have something solid to share.

Also, the Contracts page has been updated to reflect the signings of some of the pre-arbitration players.

Michael Young Update

Michael Young has not been traded.

He has reported to Spring Training.

Neither management or Young want to talk about it and cause distractions.

The end of the world has been postponed, for now.

"Where'd Everybody Go?" Part Two

Last time we looked at guys like Cliff Lee and Vlad Guerrero who've moved on.  Now let's complete the list and round out the departures from 2010.

Cristian Guzman - SS/2B - Unemployed
Guzman didn't do much with the Rangers after being traded at the deadline.  He rode the bench of most of his time here and did not factor in during the playoffs.  He has not hooked on with another team as of the start of Spring Training.

Doug Mathis - RHP - Cleveland Indians
Mathis was one of those guys on the shuttle between Oklahoma City and Arlington when the Rangers needed an extra arm due to injuries or double headers, but never really caught on here.  He signed a minor league contract with the Indians.

Brandon McCarthy - RHP - Oakland Athletics
McCarthy was supposed to be a good young pitcher when the Rangers traded John Danks to the White Sox to get him, but that deal is one of the ugliest on Jon Daniels' resume' to date.  He was hurt more than he was healthy, and while he showed flashes of brilliance, he couldn't stay on the mound long enough to build up any steam.  He was in AAA for all of 2010, then signed a deal with the A's after the season.  He'll compete for their fifth starter job in camp.

Max Ramirez - C - Chicago Cubs
Ramirez lost his prospect status, then his job.  As he was passed over on the depth chart, the Rangers designated him for assignment and eventually he was claimed by the Red Sox.  The Cubs later claimed him from Boston, and he will compete to be the backup catcher in Chicago.

Brandon Boggs - OF - Milwaukee Brewers
Boggs was the outfielder version of Doug Mathis, just getting his chances when players higher on the depth chart were hurt, then going back to AAA.  He snagged a big league contract with the Brewers and will try to get a spot on their bench this season.

Guillermo Moscoso - RHP - Oakland Athletics
What's up with the A's signing all of our pitchers?  I don't like how that looks.  Anyway, to be technical, Moscoso was traded to the A's after being designated for assignment.  Moscoso was acquired in the Gerald Laird trade a few years ago, and got some bullpen opportunities, but was mostly just a farmhand for Texas.

Clay Rapada - LHP - Baltimore Orioles
Rapada was part of the playoff bullpen, but was designated for assignment and release after the Rangers signed fellow southpaw Arthur Rhodes.  Rapada hooked on with the O's on a minor league deal and should pop back up in the Majors again before long.

Jorge Cantu - 1B/3B - San Diego Padres
Cantu was just a bit more valuable than Guzman when both were acquired at the trade deadline, but not by much.  He had one good game the day the Rangers clinched the West title, but aside from that he was disappointing.  He even lost his platoon job with Mitch Moreland at first base in the playoffs due to Moreland's success and Cantu's cluelessness at the plate.  Cantu signed with the Padres and has the unenviable job or replacing Adrian Gonzalez at first base in San Diego.  Good luck with that.

Warner Madrigal - RHP - New York Yankees
Madrigal is in the same boat as Moscoso and Mathis (must be something to do with AAAA guys who have names that start with 'M'), and he signed a minor league deal with the hated Yankees in the off-season.  He will not threaten to unseat Mariano Rivera in the bullpen, but might find a role there at some point in 2011.

Dustin Nippert - RHP - Korea
Somehow Nippert went from being on a playoff roster to not being able to snag a deal with any team in the States, and he has decided to spend 2011 with a team in Korea.  And you thought you were having a bad day...   Maybe Americans in Korea can celebrate his mediocrity there as much as Koreans celebrated Chan Ho Park here.

The guys on this list were mostly bench players or fill ins from the minors.  They will be replaced by guys who are bubbling out of the top of the minors and deserve their shot to do something in the bigs, or veterans like Matt Treanor and Andres Blanco who have settled into backup roles quite nicely.  The heartbreakers are at on the previous list.