I know I said that I don’t care about Spring Training records and stats (and I still don’t), but our ace, Kevin Millwood, allowed 10 earned runs on 12 hits and 2 walks during his 3 innings pitched today… it wouldn’t have looked so bad if it wasn’t against the g’damn Los Angeles Dodgers WITHOUT Manny in the lineup.  What an Acehole.

Anyways, I have a big surprise for all you Rangers cynics out there.  Today, I found a blog written by a guy that talks about a variety of topics..  one of the topics is a list of all the ridiculous blunders and mishaps the Rangers have manifested from their inaugural year (1972) to present day.  Every bit of it is 100% true and that’s what makes it some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever read.  Over the next 4 or 5 days I’m going to post this material right here on Rangers Lowlights and I will be covering one decade per post.  I will give the writer his credit by posting his name and link to his blog at the end of the 2000′s post.  I’ve gotten such a big kick out of this stuff and I know you will too.  Enjoy…

The 1970′s

Some of my fondest memories while growing up in Dallas in the 1970s and early ’80s involve running home from the neighborhood pool and turning on the radio in time to hear the Rangers games, broadcast then on WBAP 820 AM. They had a great broadcaster in the ’70s named Dick Risenhoover, whose keen insight and smooth delivery made a nice contrast to the utter incompetence on display on the field below him and in the team’s front office. Because many Rangers couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a 5-foot bat, I seldom got to hear Dick’s trademark line, “Goooooooodbye Baseball!” Instead, I also recall his saying things like “error on Harrah,” “Bump Wills scoops the ba…no, it went beneath his glove”, or “Heading into the bottom of the first, it’s Orioles 9, Rangers nothing.” I recall a particularly spectacular display of baseball buffoonery which sounded something like this:

“The count is oh-and-two. [Color commentator: "The Rangers have to get this third out, Dick, or it's lights out at the ballpark."] The windup and the delivery…high and out…wild pitch! One run will score! Second base runner is sliding into third. Late throw…sails WAY over the third baseman’s head and into foul territory down the left field line. [Color announcer in the background: "Oh no, not again..."] Two runs score! Wait, another runner rounding third, heading for home. The throw from left issssss…20 feet wide and off the backstop! Three runs score!”  

• In their first season in Texas, the Rangers led the league in errors with 166. Subtract 66 to get their total games lost that season!
• The Washington Senators moved southwest before their 1972 season and became the Texas Rangers. They were managed by one of the greatest hitters of all time, “Splendid Splinter” Ted Williams. Too bad he couldn’t manage like he could bat. The Rangers’ inaugural effort to impress their new fans ended in a record of 54-100, placing them 38-1/2 games behind first and flat on the basement floor in the AL West. The main reason: Ted Williams’ team batted .217 for the season!
• The hapless Rangers lost 105 games in 1973, buried deep in the cellar of the AL West. Their two managers during that worst of seasons? Future World Series skippers Whitey Herzog and Billy Martin.
• After taking over the sad-sack Rangers and promising legions of skeptical fans that he would put them in the pennant race, this manager did exactly that. He led the Rangers to the best season in their history to that date — finishing five games behind Oakland in the AL West in 1974. After engineering this astounding turnaround, he was the first Ranger to be voted AL Manager of the Year. The following season, the Rangers showed their gratitude, firing him during a mid-season slump. Billy Martin went on to manage the World Series Champion New York Yankees.
• Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland was definitely a bad idea. Of course, guess what visiting team earned a forfeit win by being attacked by hundreds of drunks who poured onto the field in the ninth inning. The Rangers…who else? The Rangers also made history in that 1974 season by securing both a forfeit win and a separate tie.

• Utility man John Ellis began the 1976 season blistering AL pitchers for a .419 batting average in his first 11 games, before badly fracturing his leg on a slide and missing the rest of the season. Though he spent several more years on the roster as a backup, Ellis was never the same again.
• In 1977, the Rangers’ talent was immense — probably the best until the mid 1990s, and maybe the most balanced Rangers club ever: Gold Glovers Jim Sundberg (C) and Juan Beniquez (CF), Topps Rookie All-Star Bump Wills (2B), former AL Rookie of the Year Mike Hargrove (1B), club homer and RBI leader Toby Harrah (3B), speedsters Claudell Washington (LF) and Bert Campaneris (SS), and a solid pitching rotation led by strikeout master Bert Blyleven (5 shutouts and a no-hitter), 17-game winner Doyle Alexander, solid starter Dock Ellis, and future Hall-of-Famer Gaylord Perry. The team had their finest season ever, winning 94 games. They also played for four different managers and finished second behind the Royals in the AL West.
• The 1977 Rangers had 4 managers in a one week period, including three in three days and one never seen by the home fans! During a Minnesota road trip, on 22 June, they fired Frank Lucchesi and hired Eddie Stanky. Homesick after one game, Stanky caught a plane from Minneapolis back to Alabama. Connie Ryan became the interim manager, but refused to assume full-time managing duties. Former Twins slugging legend Harmon Killebrew was offered the job, and also turned it down. [Clearly, this was not a job in great demand.] Finally, on 27 June, the Rangers hired Billy Hunter as manager. 
• Pitcher Roger Moret didn’t accomplish much on the field; but he will forever be remembered for a pre-game scene in 1978 when teammates found Moret standing in a catatonic trance next to his locker, holding a shower shoe.
• You could say that the 1978 deal that brought infielder Larvell “Sugar Bear” Blanks and quirky but effective reliever Jim Kern to Texas was a real “pisser.” The trade was sealed by Indians general manager Gene Paul and Rangers owner Brad Corbett while both were urinating in a men’s restroom. Kern himself probably helped to force the matter that season by frequently quacking like a duck in the Cleveland locker room. As for the trade itself, the Rangers gave up 20-20 threat and perennial All-Star Bobby Bonds (Barry’s dad), as well as starting pitcher Len Barker, who would hurl a perfect game for the Indians with infield help from former Ranger Toby Harrah.  Here is a picture of Bobby Bonds during a season in which he hit 29 homers and stole 37 bases in 130 games with the Rangers…   

…only the Rangers would consider a player of his caliber “trade bait.” 

• In 1978, the Rangers were led by manager Billy Hunter and a powerful cast of players including: Al Oliver (hitting .324), slugger Richie Zisk, multipurpose threat Bobby Bonds, perennial Gold Glove catcher Jim Sundberg, Mike Hargrove at first base, future Hall-of-Fame pitcher (as a Cub) Fergie Jenkins, hard-throwing lefty Jon Matlack (2.30 ERA), and solid starters Doyle Alexander, Dock Ellis, Steve Comer and Doc Medich. They finished second in the division and won 18 of their last 22 games. They fired manager Billy Hunter with one game left in the season.
• During his brilliant 1979 season, reliever Jim Kern snatched a book from Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer Jim Reeves…and proceeded to eat the the last four pages.   

If you came here looking for my recap of Saturday’s televised spring training game against the White Sox, sorry but you’re SOL.  I watched about an inning of it and then fell asleep.  But, I did awake just in time to see 33-time Gold Glove winner, Omar Vizquel, boot a routine groundball.. then, went back to sleep.  As I’ve said before, I don’t care one bit about these exhibitions.  Game recaps will begin on April 6th after we get shutout by Cliff Lee.

Tonight, I tuned in to the USA/Venezuela WBC game.  I wasn’t surprised one bit to witness an ex-Ranger pitching prospect hold his own against the stacked USA lineup.  Armando Galarraga pitched 4 innings allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits and struck out 4 (he even drilled ex-Ranger Mark DeRosa right in the @$$ which I thought was pretty damn funny).  His arsenal included a 93-96 mph sinker, an above average slurve, and a quality changeup.  He could have no doubt been a solid 4th or 5th starter for us, but Jon Daniels had other idiotic ideas…

We acquired Galarraga along with Brad Wilkerson and Terrmel Sledge in December of 2005 for Alfonso Soriano.  He made his ML debut with the Rangers in 2007.  In his 1 game started and 2 games in relief, he pitched 8 2/3 innings, walked almost a batter per inning, and posted a 6.23 ERA.  Apparently, Daniels had seen enough and shipped him to Detroit in February ’08 for an outfielder named Michael Hernandez?  Hernandez was a guy who hit .259 with 24 HRs and 106 RBIs in 134 games between single-A and double-A the previous season.  So, basically, we traded young pitching for another power hitter with a sub-par batting average… I don’t think the trade worked out in our favor because I see Hernandez is now in the Mets minor league system.. How he got there, I dunno.. maybe we traded him for a couple of rakes. 

Even ESPN analyst, Rick Sutcliffe, made the comment tonight, “I don’t know what the Rangers (a team struggling to find decent starting pitching) didn’t like about this guy.”  Yeah, neither do I.  Galarraga showcased his ability last year with the Tigers posting a record of 13-7 and a 3.73 ERA in 178 2/3 innings pitched.  And, the worthless trades and transactions continue for this joke of an organization…

In other Rangers in the WBC news, Nelson Cruz went 2 for 4 today with a solo homer.  So, far, he has 3 hits in 8 ABs for Republica Dominicana.  I can’t wait till the regular season when he gets out of his Dominican Winter League comfort zone and reverts to hitting his career average (.251).  As far as Frank Catalanotto goes.. the dude was born in Smithtown, New York.. yet, he’s playing for Italy.  When Frank returns to Rangers camp on Tuesday (after Italy gets eliminated tomorrow night), I really hope he’s greeted with a red tag and a plane ticket to wherever the hell he calls home… doucheface.                 

Here’s a list of our most memorable and proudest moments:

1)  Scott Feldman vs. Adam Kennedy

2)  Kason Gabbard vs. Richie Sexson

3)  Vicente Padilla vs. Nick Swisher

4)  Frank Francisco vs. A’s fans

5)  John Rocker vs. himself

6)  Rafael Palmeiro vs. Congress

7)  Jose Canseco vs. a baseball

8)  Otis Nixon vs. premature aging

9)  Kenny Rogers vs. cameraman

10)  Eric Gagne vs. demon possession

11)  Ramon Vasquez vs. umpire

12)  Nolan Ryan beating the living hell outta Robin Ventura

If you’ve got a scuffle that needs to be added to the list, submit it to RangersLowlights@hotmail.com

Wondering what’s going on behind the scenes at Rangers camp?  Players and management give us a peek inside…

“He’s part of the depth we have in the starting rotation.” – Ron Washington believing “depth” is a synonym for “crap.”   

“My knees were shaking. I was probably overexcited.” – Tommy Hunter on seeing the ice cream truck pull into the parking lot of Surprise Stadium. 

“Once he does that, the party is going to be over.” –  farm director Scott Servais said on Neftali Feliz’s habit of running around naked when the Spice Girls come on the clubhouse speakers after Spring Training victories. 

“We just need guys who, when our starters stumble, can get us to the back part of our bullpen,” – Ron Washington with full confidence in his starting rotation.

“Over the course of a championship season, your horses get you there but the jockeys win it.” – Mike Maddux giving us tips on horse racing? 

“Those are the unheralded guys that do a lot of dirty work.” – Mike Maddux giving credit to Derrick Holland and Omar Poveda for cleaning up the mess Frank Francisco leaves after taking a dump.

“”The most important thing is he came out of it healthy. We all know the kind of pitcher Millwood is. The biggest priority is his health and he’s healthy. Our concern is that he stay healthy.” – Ron Washington after chugging three Red Bulls.

“I struggled against everybody last year.” - Kevin Millwood understating the obvious.

“I don’t think it’s anything.” - Brandon McCarthy on the burning sensation when he pees.  

“I’m not raising any flags yet.” - Ron Washington raising flags on McCarthy’s health.

“We needed depth so we brought in depth.” – Ron Washington again substituting the word “depth” for “crap” when describing Derrick Turnbow and Brendan Donnelly.

“I think he benefited from the experience,” – Jon Daniels said on the veterans forcing Greg Golson to binge drink a 12 pack of Milwaukee’s Best.

“We’re still trying to figure him out.” – Ron Washington thinking that Warner Madrigal is a sudoku puzzle.

“I’d like to start.” – Josh Rupe wishing in one hand and $#!*ting in the other.

“I’ll be on the bench now.” – Omar Vizquel contemplating suicide. 

“It’s something he battles with on and off… We’re trying to stay in top of it.” - Assistant GM Thad Levine on Chris Davis masterbating in the dugout.

“There was a tightening in my body that I’ve never experienced before.” – Josh Hamilton on his first boner.

“Yeah, my family’s here and we’re gonna go down to the Grand Canyon.” – Jarrod Saltalamacchia caring more about age-old rock formations than his batting average.

“mumble mumble mumble command mumble mumble healthy mumble mumble tough mumble mumble mumble conditioning mumble chance mumble mumble mumble pitching mumble mumble year.” – Kevin Millwood showing off his exuberant personality.

“I feel great.. healthy this spring and I’m looking forward to the 2009 season.”  – Hank Blalock before landing on the injured reserve list tomorrow.

“If I see a little-bitty snake, I go…Aaaaaaaaahhh!” – Josh Hamilton’s reaction after seeing Ian Kinsler’s junk in the showers.

“Well, so far is been amazing experience for me a see him take groundballs and he alway trying to help me with someting wit different specific things like defense and offense and trying to talk to him during the game and if I do something bad and he trying to let me know what I’m doing bad what I’m doing wrong and so far it’s been so great and it’s alot of help to me have him like a mentor right now and it’s like a dream for me take groundballs wit him is like our superstar from childhood and every kid in Venezuela dream to take groundball wit him and just come true and I really enjoy it right now.” – Elvis Andrus doing 3 things here…  1) displaying a creepy satisfaction of taking grounders with Omar Vizquel.. 2) showing off his flawless impersonation of Sammy Sosa.. and 3) attempting to break the Guinness World Record for longest run-on sentence.

Spring training is 4 weeks too long.  I don’t give a crap that David Murphy is hitting .400 in 15 ABs.  I don’t care that Andruw Jones has struck out 9 times in 13 ABs.  And, I could care less that Justin Smoak dropped a 3-run bomb to win us the exhibition game today against the g’damn Royals..  I really can’t wait till the “meaningful” games start so I can complain nonstop about them.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m just bored with my boredom.  Right now, this is how I’m spending my freetime:

- Sifting the internet for pictures of Tommy Hunter eating.

- Scanning police frequencies for reports that Frank Francisco is robbing a convenience store.. with a chair.

- Doing oragami with pages from old Rangers programs.

- Reading and re-reading Josh Hamilton’s book.

- Practicing my impersonation of Eric Gagne getting hurt.

- Playing darts using a photo of Scott Boras as the board and using knives instead of darts.

- Wondering if Jon Daniels lost his virginity before taking the job as our GM.

- Throwing Alex Rodriguez bobbleheads at moving vehicles.

- Writing poetry… and when I say “writing,” I mean “whacking it”.. and when I say “poetry,” I mean “while looking at pictures of Kris Benson’s wife.” 

- Trying to find the meaning of life as a Rangers fan.

Ugh, April 6th needs to hurry up and get here or I might just break into the Ballpark and play crappy baseball myself.

Tonight, I will be indulging myself in a fantasy baseball draft.  It’s a weekly head-to-head league (a points based system).  I’ve decided to be an idiot and draft current Rangers only.  Hopefully, I could meet Scott Feldman sometime this season and tell him he’s on my fantasy team.. the shocked and puzzled look on his face would be frikken priceless.  Anyways, after grabbing Hamilton in the 1st round and Kinsler in the 2nd, it should be downhill from there..  After those two guys, no fantasy baller wants anything to do with our team.  Somebody might consider drafting Michael Young, but only as a reserve player just in case Cesar Izturis gets hurt or something.  Ya know, I’ll bet I can wait until the last 5 rounds to draft our entire starting rotation (so sad).  And, I predict a record of 1 and 23 with this reality team.. the one win will probably come when some moron makes a trade, forgets to reset his lineup after the trade goes through, and then has an illegal lineup which disqualifies him for the week. 

I know this is all useless junk you’re reading right now, but like I said.. I am bored outta my skull.  In case you’re just as bored as I am, I’ll leave you with a question to chew on…

Which Matthew looks most like a serial killer?

• Matt Stairs
• Matt Harrison
• Matt Kata
• Matt Riley
• Gary Matthews Jr.
• Matt Perisho  

I recently ventured over to the DallasNews Rangers forum and found a post that contains an absolute truth regarding our team:

“This is a perennial loser and its time that the Ranger fans start to include themselves in the blame. It doesn’t matter how bad the product is because fans still show up. When the Mavs were horrible in the 90′s, you could not give away Mav tickets. Even the Cowboys would have a blackout on tv when they were 3 & 13 and 1 & 15. Perhaps because there are no other sports franchises in the city, there is less to choose from with the entertainment dollar. Fans show up at the ballpark to drink beer and watch hotties in tight shorts walk by, not to watch baseball (thats the only reason I would go). This is one of the largest markets with one of the smaller payrolls. They will never put forth the effort to win, as long as people keep showing up.”

I agree wholeheartedly.  Fault can and should be attributed to us fans (me included) for spending money on a losing product.  Low payroll and low expectations + high revenues and high profits = a happy and complacent owner.  Tom Hicks is a businessman and he takes advantage of us.  The Rangers’ attendance has been the steadiest during the time frame of 1991 up until now. Ex-Ranger catcher, Gerald Laird, said he’d rather have a devoted core of fans than the fair-weather variety who might show up in droves, but only during the good years.  Yeah, no kidding..  He said that because the Rangers don’t have “good years” and that’s his way of encouraging us to support this losing organization.

We give them our time and money.  And, what do we get in return??..  Baseball bats hurled at our faces…

…ejecting seats…

…and induced vomiting caused by watching this team play…

Ranger fans, we must unite and take matters into our own hands.  Let’s boycott these games.. take away Hicks’ revenues.. force that scum of the earth to bow down to us and put a team together that will contend.  It’s the only play we’ve got (unless of course you’re a loser that enjoys getting fat by pounding down an endless amount of dollar hotdogs).  We won’t be going anywhere this season anyway (except 3rd place in the division), so, why not give it a shot?  If you wanna watch Ranger baseball on television, that’s fine.. just make sure that at least 5 other people are watching it with you on the same screen (this way ratings drop —> advertisers back out —> FSNSW and my27 lose money —> Hicks’ next TV contract is significantly less).  If you wanna watch professional baseball, that’s fine too.. Frisco Roughriders, Fort Worth Cats, and the Grand Prairie Airhogs are all awaiting your attendance.. just keep your @$$ out of Arlington.    

Here’s the plan.  I want the Ballpark looking less like this…

…and more like this…

It’s that simple.  If you truly love this franchise, then you have to let it go.  Carry on.

Joe Klein, Tom Grieve, Doug Melvin, and John Hart… this post is just for you.  Before the Jon Daniels era began in 2005, you 4 ex-general managers helped to put us where we are today (which is basically in the middle of Bumf**kingtonfieldville, USA) and never suffered the consequences for your mistakes… well, today, your mistakes will be posted right here on Rangers Lowlights.  What we’re going to do is dive right into an integral part of building and maintaining a baseball club – the draft.  Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for whatever you happen to break or puke on after the reading of this post.

First, we’re going to travel through the 1995-2004 drafts and highlight what went wrong during the first 5 rounds of these drafts.  I will first show you the overall selection number for the Rangers pick along with the player we drafted.. and then, put the players we somehow managed to pass up for them in parenthesis:

1995 - 7th, Johnathan Johnson, P (Todd Helton, Matt Morris, Roy Halladay, Jarrod Washburn).  37th, Phil Lowery, P (Carlos Beltran, Sean Casey).  The real enigma was when we drafted pitcher, Ryan Dempster, with our 66th overall pick… oh, no, wait.. I get it, letting a guy like him out of our grasp is just the kind of stupid thing we tend to do often.  I do know that we traded him for P, John Burkett, and a PTBNL (which turned out to be P, Rick Helling).  Some of you might have liked that trade, but I don’t.  Burkett never cracked 10 wins in his 3 years here and Helling never had an ERA under 4.41 during his 8 seasons in a Ranger uniform.  Dempster has logged double-digit win totals four times and had an ERA under 4 four times in his career.. Just last season notched 17 wins with a 2.96 ERA for the Cubs.     

1996 - 18th, RA Dickey, P.. 24th, Sam Marsonek, P (Jimmy Rollins, Jacque Jones)  We had 5 total picks until Brad Penny was selected by another team.

1997 - The Rangers had no first round pick this year.  But, check this out.. we had the 75th and 77th overall picks and drafted catcher, Jason Grabowski, and pitcher, Chris Tynan, with those picks….  would you like to know who was drafted 76th overall by another team???…  Chase Utley. 

1998 – 10th, Carlos Pena, 1B (CC Sabathia, Brad Lidge, Adam Dunn).  We also had the 83rd pick and drafted Barry Zito… unfortunately, that “A”-hole turned us down and was drafted the next year 9th overall by Oakland… that’s just our rotten luck.

1999 - The Rangers had no first round pick this year.  But, we did choose pitcher, Nick Regilio, over Justin Morneau.  Obviously, with getting Carlos Pena the year before, we didn’t need Morneau, but g’damnit cant we catch a frikken break?    

2000 – 25th, Scott Heard, C (Adam Wainwright)… and then.. 56th, Jay Bourgeois, SS and 64th, Randy Truselo, P (Grady Sizemore)… and then… 94th, Christopher Russ, P (Cliff Lee)…  That all just leaves me speechless.

2001 – 5th, Mark Teixiera, 3B.  I find nothing wrong with this pick.  However, I do find something wrong with our 111th pick, pitcher, Josh Baker, while Ryan Howard is still on the board.

2002 – 10th, Drew Meyer, SS (Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Jon Lester, Brian McCann, Curtis Granderson).  Pssh, WTF happened there?  Jesus.

2003 – 9th, John Danks, P (Chad Billingsley, Carlos Quentin).  Nothing wrong with that pick either although, it sucks that we traded him for a giant piece of $#!*.

2004 – 10th, Thomas Diamond, P (Jered Weaver).  30th, Eric Hurley, P (Yovani Gallardo).  Hmm, I know we don’t like to rush our young pitchers up to the Bigs, but c’mon, all the cool teams are doin’ it.

The drafts of 2005 through 2008 don’t have any monumental mistakes worth noting… yet.

Well, that’s that… but, it got me thinking, “What else have we royally jacked up?”  So, I dug deeper.  Starting pitching has been our biggest problem without question ESPECIALLY when it comes to finding an ace for our staff..  I found out that it didn’t have to be this way.  Brace yourself…

Jake Peavy – The Rangers had 15 picks before this guy was drafted in the 15th round of the ’99 draft.  Here’s a list of 8 pitchers that we drafted before Peavy went off the board:  Nick Regilio, Andy Cavazos, Victor Hillabert, Luz Portobanco, Joshua Rahrer, Justin Echols, Michael Scuglik, and Dennis Sarfate.  

Brandon Webb – The Rangers had 8 picks before this guy was drafted in the 8th round of the ’00 draft.  Here’s a list of 6 pitchers that we drafted before Webb went off the board:  Randy Truselo, Christopher Russ, Gregory Runser, Matt Meisenheimer, Virgil Vasquez, and Nick Masset.

Roy Oswalt - The Rangers had a eye-popping 24 picks before this guy was drafted in the 23rd round of the ’96 draft.  Here’s a list of 12 pitchers that we drafted before Oswalt went off the board:  RA Dickey, Sam Marsonek, Derrick Cook, Randy Rodriguez, Doug Davis, Quentin Patterson, Tony Dellamano, Ron Nelson, John Kertis, Brian Jackson, Mark Hendrickson, Tony Shourds.

James Shields – The Rangers had 16 picks before this guy was drafted in the 16th round of the ’00 draft.

Derek Lowe – The Rangers had 7 picks before this guy was drafted in the 8th round of the ’91 draft.

Rich Harden – The Rangers had 17 picks before this guy was drafted in the 17th round of the ’00 draft.

Aaron Harang – We actually drafted this guy in the 6th round of the ’99 draft.. then, traded him to Oakland for Randy Velarde.. and he’s averaged 210 strikeouts a year since 2004 for the Reds.  (The Rangers haven’t had a pitcher with 200 Ks in a season since Nolan Ryan’s 203 in 1991) 

John Smoltz - The Rangers had a ridiculous 21 picks before this future Hall-of-Famer was drafted in the 22nd round of the ’85 draft. 

Speaking of future Hall-of-Famers.. I’m gonna go there…

Randy Johnson – The Rangers chose pitcher, Bobby Witt, over him.

Greg Maddux – The Rangers chose outfielder, Oddibie McDowell, over him.

Tom Glavine – The Rangers chose Oddibie McDowell AND pitcher, Jimmy Meadows, over him.

Roger Clemens – The Rangers chose shortstop, Jeff Kunkel, over him.

David Cone – The Rangers had 4 picks before he went off the board.  I guess our GM thought that pitcher, Al Lachowicz, would pan out better than David Cone?

Mike Mussina – The Rangers had 1 pick before Moose went off the board… pitcher, Dan Smith… ???

Curt Schilling – Not quite sure passing him up was a mistake, but it sure is debatable.  We chose pitcher, Kevin Brown, over him (which, I will admit, is a tough call).. BUT WE ALSO PASSED HIM UP FOR ROGER PAVLIK TOO!!! 

Ugh, how incredibly draining and frustrating.  It is absolutely unreal how many opportunities we’ve had and flushed down the toilet.  Scouts are actually getting paid to project that guys like Rob Mortimer, Joesph Nannariello, and Steve Lankard will have better pitching careers than John freaking Smoltz… we send millions of dollars around the world for international scouting just so we can see Johan Santana, Felix Hernandez, Francisco Liriano, Carlos Zambrano, and Pedro Martinez get signed by other clubs.  What the hell was going on in our front office for 2 decades???  I’ll bet the same exact stuff is going on in the Daniels administration and this is all one recurring and neverending nightmare.  Oh well, that’s life as a Rangers fan.

And, by the way, Matt Holliday was picked in the 7th round of his draft and Albert Pujols was picked in the 13th round of his draft.  I can only imagine the trash we selected over those guys…

I know that all of you are excited that baseball is finally back… Well, go ahead holster that excitement until Opening Day.  During spring training, there’s only one thing that counts.. nothing.  Maybe position battles, but nothing else (These determine who gets the highly coveted 4th outfielder spot, utility infield position, 5th starting pitcher, or the mop up tool in the bullpen).  Everything else is meaningless.  Records, stats, situations, lineups, etc.. all meaningless.  I guarantee that if Ian Kinsler hits .188, he’ll still be the leadoff hitter.  If CJ Wilson has an ERA over 8 and walks 13 guys per 9 innings, he’ll still be the lefthanded set-up guy in the pen.  Spring training is only a period of time for these MLB vets to get in shape and knock the rust off their so-called skills.  But, this also works in the opposite way for all the rooks and no-namers.  If Greg Golson hits .633 and drops 11 bombs, don’t get too excited.. it was probably the month of his life and he shouldn’t be going anywhere near our Opening Day bench.  If Elizardo Ramirez posts an ERA under 1 and has a 14/1 K/BB ratio, don’t be fooled.. his 9 earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched last year is probably more like the real deal.  (Managers tend to read too much into these stats and that’s how we end up with crap like Matt Kata and RA Dickey on Opening Day rosters).

As far as ST records go, they’re worthless too.  Check out the Rangers ST records the past 5 years…

2008, 17-11-2

2007, 15-11

2006, 13-16-1

2005, 13-19

2004, 12-19

As you can see 2004 was our worst ST record, but that season ended up being the best one we’ve had this decade (89-73).  I’m just saying that if we win ‘em all or lose em’ all, its nothing to waste time caring about. 

Honestly, I won’t care if Joesph Torres comes out of the pen and strikes out the side while the bases were loaded.  And, I won’t care if Chris Davis finds himself in a 1 for 46 slump.  The games don’t count and the players know this.  They might say they wanna win and it doesn’t matter if it’s counted or not, but I know better than to believe that.

If you enjoy watching the game of baseball and are just happy that you get to see it again, by all means go ahead and entertain yourself with these practice games.  But, please don’t come to the conclusion that Andruw Jones has returned to his Atlanta Braves-self just because he drives in 20+ runs this spring.. as I stated in an earlier post, I believe that he’s going to earn his starting spot in ST and then, gain all the fat back and proceed to hit himself out of the lineup. 

In this game, it’s all about doing what counts when it counts.  The next 37 days don’t fall into those catagories so just hold off on those thoughts that Hank Blalock is officially back and relax.           

When I went to Rangers.com today, I nearly puked after seeing this headline, “Rangers test out Young in their No. 4 spot.”  Thankfully, the article cleared up my assumptions confirming that Michael Young was slotted in the cleanup spot by third base coach, Dave Anderson, for the intrasquad game only.  But, still, even the thought of him being a considerable option for the 4 hole leaves a foul taste in my mouth. 

But, now I pose the question, how much longer will Michael Young be with us?  The Rangers’ front office won’t admit it, but they are probably regretting the 5 year, $80 million deal we gave him which actually begins this upcoming season (meaning he’s under contract with us through 2013).  This contract really hinders what the Rangers would like to do and that is having an infield consisting of Justin Smoak at 1st, Ian Kinsler at 2nd, Elvis Andrus at SS, and Chris Davis at 3rd (this being done as soon as the 2010 season rolls around).  So where does that leave our “Face of the Franchise”?  It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if management makes another dumb decision by converting him to an outfielder next offseason.. but, our outfield situation is already cluttered up.  Or, maybe he gets traded and we still pay most of his salary because I know for certain that no team will take on a high-priced middle infielder that just pokes singles to right.  Best possibility is he sticks around as the primary DH once Blalock is either traded or retires due to injuries (which I wouldn’t mind at all… yes, to both Young being a DH and Blalock jumping into Mark Holtz Lake). 

The facts are these… 1)  Michael Young isn’t so young anymore compared to these up-and-comers we’ve stockedpiled. 2)  He was ”the Face of the Franchise” for all of 4 seconds up until Josh Hamilton hit a game-winning homer off uber-closer, JJ Putz, in the 2nd regular season game last year.  3)  He failed to compile 200+ hits and a .300 batting average for the first time since 2002.  4) He is slowly getting shoved out of our infield and it’s only a matter of time before Ron Washington asks himself, “Where the hell am I supposed to put this guy?”  Well, Ron, it really should be an issue.. You don’t move a guy away from a position that he just scored a Gold Glove at.  Do you, the fans, honestly think that the switch from SS to 3rd was “to make the team better?”  Yes, I believe it was a move made in an attempt to make this team better, but 5) it was also a clearcut sign that screams, “We’re moving out of the Michael Young era.”

Am I happy about these moves?  Well, of course not, cause I don’t agree with anything Rangers’ management does.  But, I’m on Michael’s side all the way.  He should be our starting shortstop and 2 hole hitter this upcoming season.  He has earned my utmost respect and I believe that you don’t treat a perennial All-Star this way.  To instigate a position switch and not even discuss it with the guy before the final decision is made is unacceptable. 

I’d like to get the real reaction from Michael regarding all of this nonsense… Michael?…

I see you loud and clear, my man.. That’s an excellent response and I couldn’t have put it any better.