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Texas Rangers State Of The Union For 2017: Jon Daniels Must Counter To Houston/Seattle’s Early Moves
The Texas Rangers won an American League best 95 games last season – to win their 2nd AL west Division. and to make the playoffs for the 5th time since 2010. The winter has not gotten off to a good start, as they have watched the Astros and Mariners all add depth to their teams – while Texas has lost players from their own year end roster. The team has to get involved right now to change the course of this offseason. The time to win is now with Yu Darvish and Jonathon Lucroy in walk contract years – while their ALL – Star Veterans like Cole Hamels and Adrian Beltre become another year older.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
Follow @stokes_Hunter21 @mlbreports
The Rangers have been one of the better teams in the MLB since the 2010 season. Back to Back AL Pennants, and now back to back AL West Division wins have seen them reach the playoff 5 times out of the last 7 campaigns.
For those who like pitching – the franchise has 2 number one aces for at least one more year in Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels.
Simply put, the development of all of their Draft Picks, domestically or international, coupled with the management’s keen eye for talent, have the club still in the conversation for another few years.
Here is the thing though….The Astros and Mariners have been the two busiest clubs in acquiring talent thus far in the winter. Both of these teams have closed or narrowed the gap on Texas already,
Houston has signed Free Agents Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran – with also dealing for Brian McCann. This will not affect their 2017 squad as both didn’t require anybody from the Major League Roster to get it done.
Seattle has not made as big of a splash like Houston, but has shored up some depth, and have nicely added Jean Segura (who was an ALL – Star and top 15 NL MVP in 2016 – without losing anything of note.)
Texas has signed Andrew Cashner and lost Beltran for sure…yikes.. Read the rest of this entry
The Coors Field Effect: Part 3 of A 3 Article Series
Wednesday, September.19/2012
Even with playing teams in the NL West with Parks like Petco, Dodger Stadium and AT &T Park, a Rockies player gets 81 games of AB versus 27 against the other 3 California parks or a 75-25 % split. The Rockies continue to lead the MLB for Home Averages year in and year out-even with the Humidor Room taking effect.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Both myself (and Lead Baseball Columnist and Founder) Jonathan Hacohen think alike on some points as writers will often do when working for the same website. Jonathan wrote a brilliant piece on the ballooned numbers that a player in Colorado receives as a byproduct of playing at Coors Field. My head started spinning and swirling and I knew it to be true from my memory bank. My Part 2 column, dissected the Coors Field Effect on some previous players, plus what has transpired in the last decade since the Humidor Room has been implemented. You must read the 1st 2 parts of this series to fully understand what I am going to tell you here.
For Part 1 of the Article Series: Carlos Gonzalez on the Trade Block? Buyer Beware! click here
For Part 2 of the Article Series: The Humidor Effect at Coors Field-One Decade in click here
The numbers don’t lie in either of the first two parts to this series- with the Rockies having led the league in 19 out of the 20 Years for Home Batting Average overall in the MLB and every year in the NL since they have existed. This includes heavy hitting AL clubs, with hitter friendly parks such as: Yankee Stadium (Old or New), Citizens Bank Ball Park or Fenway Park. What people also fail to realize is that the Pitchers also account for about 140-150 AB at home per year. So really there is no way a Colorado team should have a higher BA than a team from the AL if that is the case? Wrong. The Batting averages for positional players from 1993-2002 in Colorado ranged from an average of .325-.345 every year. May I point out they also led the Major Leagues in overall batting average every year for this span in the Pre-Humidor days too!
A Todd Helton Walk-off Shot at Coors:
A Busch Stadium Book Excerpt from ‘The Fastest Thirty Ballgames’
Friday, Aug.03/2012
Game#25 Day#24
Busch Stadium
St. Louis, MO
Aug.01/2008
I never thought anything was going to equal the previous day. We had arrived back at my brother’s house to spend a quality morning with my nieces and nephew—and Trent’s wife Kristy before returning to the road. It was a quick trip from Philadelphia to St. Louis. It was going to cost us a fortune to all take the shuttle into the Hilton at $17 each-so I got us on the next transportation shuttle bus, and then negotiated a deal with Budget to give me an extra few hours head start on the 24 hour time line airport rule—so I would not have to return after the St. Louis game to pick up the Mini-SUV, which had been the original plan.
Budget was awesome to let me have this deal early. I am a Fast Break member with them-and have/had spent a lot of money with them. We got a Mitsubishi SUV. My brothers thought it was a little small, but for a $65.00 rental that started out in St. Louis and ended up the next day in Minnesota-it was a great deal. Yes we had a five-hour drive from St. Louis to Chicago tomorrow, but we were all tough guys. I once again told them-“welcome to my world.”
That day in St. Louis was myopic. My brother Trent knew a guy at head office St. Louis, and that gentlemen made a few calls and arranged for my dad and I too receive ‘Field Passes’-and to be interviewed by Fox-Sports Midwest. I was almost in disbelief of that option, but it was now going to happen later that day. This experience was even better because none of us had been to new Busch Stadium-so all of us were there for the first time. Overall it was my 29th stadium so I only had “The Ballpark In Arlington” for stadiums left to complete my active 30. Much like Coors, Safeco and AT&T Park, the red-brick around the whole Stadium at Busch Stadium is top-notch. Read the rest of this entry
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