Ryan Expressed?

Well, Rangers fans. It wasn't long ago at all that we were all geared up for the 2014 season. Our starting lineup was shaping up like so...

Our rotation was looking beyond solid. If you had asked me who our 5 starters were going to be going into the season I would have pretty confidently said (ceteris paribus of course):



Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, and/or Alexi Ogando/Colby Lewis



Stout on both sides of the ball, right?


Even though we all eagerly await pitchers and catchers reporting and spring training games, in reality we just need our pitchers to get their work in, get your hitters their at-bats so they're opening day ready, and allow newer players to try and earn a roster spot...

Maybe a celebrity or two.

Sure statistics are kept and wins and losses are recorded, but you really just want to accomplish the above while escaping relatively injury free (oops). I mean, games can end in ties, for the love of god. Not that it matters but the Rangers are currently sitting near the bottom of the Cactus League at 10-15-3. They've averaged 13 wins since 2010 in the Cactus League, which is about average...for what it's worth. Again these are innocuous statistics...

Then, a funny thing happened on the way to opening day 2014...


Derek Holland

Jurickson Profar

Geovany Soto


These were your major injuries, then we lose Yu  for opening day, to boot! At this point, I literally expect there to be a new injury every day when I check on the team. I have since spent many conversations via FB, text or otherwise talking my fellow Rangers fans off the ledge. The conversations go something like this, "Did you hear about ____? We'll be fine, I think. What do you think? Are you still there?

Haha. Meanwhile (LilyAg voice), the rest of the time I'm actually talking myself off the ledge. It's times like these when a team's depth is truly tested. Unfortunately for us it reaches beyond pitching depth into our bench itself right now. Just take a look at how the lineup is shaping up now...

Lineup	Player	POS	AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	FVal
1	Shin-Soo Choo	OF	545	84	18	56	19	0.268	0.399	0.435	$13
2	Elvis Andrus	SS	545	81	3	55	32	0.279	0.343	0.349	$10
3	Prince Fielder	1B	555	87	30	98	1	0.294	0.389	0.512	$33
4	Adrian Beltre	3B	545	82	28	105	1	0.310	0.364	0.519	$32
5	Alex Rios	OF	530	75	16	81	31	0.281	0.326	0.440	$23
6	Mitch Moreland	DH	430	56	20	63	0	0.256	0.325	0.451	$0
7	Leonys Martin	OF	485	70	9	63	38	0.270	0.324	0.404	$13
8	J.P. Arencibia	Catcher	275	30	13	36	0	0.233	0.270	0.415	$-19
9	Adam Rosales	2B	180	20	5	21	0	0.244	0.306	0.361	$-31

(Plug in Michael Choice anywhere after cleanup, by the way. He stands to be a huge factor/difference maker for us)



Our starting rotation now (if I had to guess) will probably consist of:



Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross, Joe Saunders with Yu and Matty hopefully coming back into the fold pretty quickly.



What a difference a couple of months makes!



The lineup is perhaps not as big a worry as the rotation, barring any further injuries (knock on wood). For example, lets speculate what losing Kinsler and AJP for 10-12 weeks in 2013 for the Rangers would have yielded, which is tantamount to losing Profar and Soto this year. That would have been disastrous for last year's offensively challenged team. 



For the time being, we'll have to rely on Adam Rosales to just field his position. If his name never comes up that would fine by me. You don't have to impress me, just don't disappoint me. If only I could think of another infielder whose natural position is second base out there that we could easily sign. Hmm...

I'm waiting...

Haha. We'll make due, I hope. Somewhere Ian Kinsler is laughing...

0-162, baby!

Goooood. Gooood....

We also cannot ignore that the catcher position has to be something of a concern for these next 10-12 weeks. J.P. Arencibia or Robinsin Chirinos? Err, is there a 3rd option? Haha. Here we have a couple of career .200 hitters. J.P. has some pop which I'll take from the catcher position any day e.g. he's good for 20 or so HRs on average. AJP/Soto was a suitable tandem last year for the Rangers, but in reality the catcher position has been in flux for quite some time. I remember asking Jenn at some point during last season if she would take the Salty/Napoli combo (both former Rangers of course) the Red Sox were using over AJP/Soto. Hindsight, I know. AJP joined those same Red Sox this offseason. I die a little bit inside when I remember Salty and Nap have rings now...

Blah. So, when free agency began I knew this team had other needs, but I thought catcher would be a priority. Catcher by committee and stop gaps can only get you by for so long. Even at 30 years old, Brian McCann was immediately on my Rangers wishlist, but not for 5 years and 85 mil...

I don't know that he would have solved all our catching problems, but Soto goes down and boom!

Look what happens. Suddenly we're scrambling. At least the future looks bright with our latest 'can't miss' prospect, 20 year old Jorge Alfaro...

As for that starting rotation of ours I tend to blame myself for not worrying about it for the SECOND year in a row. Injuries have forced relievers Tanner Scheppers (your opening day starter!) and possibly Robbie Ross into the rotation. Alexi Ogando and Nick Tepesch looked TERRIBLE this spring. So did Colby Lewis up until this game. Throw in veteran Joe Saunders and Tommy Hanson for some not-much-better options and you begin to see the conundrum we're currently experiencing. Yu Darvish should be ready to go soon, leaving Martin Perez as our ONLY projected starter that will be ready to go when the season begins. Just think about that without freaking out *just a bit*...
 



Not that the Rangers are strangers to their current plight. Injuries in the rotation have really become something of a trend in recent years. Here's a team that employed 11 different starting pitchers in each of the past 2 seasons. 11! Last season, the 78 win-Angels and 71 win-M's both used 11 as well. The 51-111 Astros used 10 different starters in 2013. Let that sink in for a second. Oh and guess where Joe Saunders and Tommy Hansen pitched last season? Seattle and Anaheim...

Now imagine trying to manage this mess, let alone being the architect of which. Now, I hear people saying this is the "Curse of Nolan Ryan". If I'm going to believe that I might as well also believe C.J. Wilson and Josh Hamilton dabble in voodoo.

Yay! It worked!

As you well know by now (maybe), I've been in JD's corner for the most part as evidenced here (once again)...



http://162plus.blogspot.com/2013/04/wwjdd-haha-getting-to-know-jon-daniels.html




...and here (again)...



http://162plus.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-new-year-prince-and-lots-more-to-choo.html




Despite all this current calamity I still have supreme confidence in JD, Wash, and the team, but that one name just keeps coming to mind...

Do you go to the State Fair to see your Big Tex?

If we take a step back and examine (again) we remember that JD arrived in 2006 and Ryan in 2008, but real success didn't arrive until 2010. In a perfect world, I like to idealize their relationship as a symbiotic one; one's success not existing without the other. What about the culture change Ryan ushered in though? The emphasis was put on pitching and defense. For instance, the Rangers team ERA was 5.37 in 2008 when he arrived, 4.38 in 2009, 3.93 in 2010, 3.79 in 2011, 3.99 in 2012, and 3.62 in 2013. You get the picture. You know the cliches too: The Rangers were never known for their pitching. The team wilts in the Texas heat after the all-star break. They're in a hitter-friendly ballpark etc. and blah blah...

Hitter friendly meaning beautiful...

More specifically though, Ryan (along with pitching coach Mike Maddux) de-emphasized the pitch count.


"I really think that what you have to do if you're gonna ask people to throw more innings and throw more pitches, you have to get them physically prepared to do that and mentally they have to accept that." -Nolan Ryan


Vis-à-vis conditioning and arm strength.


"If we put a pitch count on them, we put a limit on it. We put a ceiling on them. Why don't we just lift the ceiling and let them go as long as they can?" -Mike Maddux





No Limit...

Nolan was 'bout it 'bout it.

So this myth of '100 pitches' was out the window.  The Rangers have had varying results with this philosophy. Derek Holland and Matt Harrison made names for themselves during this time period. More recently you might see Yu Darvish toss 130 pitches on any given night. Then, relievers like C.J Wilson and Alexi Ogando come to mind. What gives us pause is former Rookie of the Year and lights out closer Neftali Feliz and how he may never be the same again after stretching out as a starter. He'll be starting this season at triple A if you hadn't heard. Ogando is back in the bullpen this season. Remind me again about C.J. Wilson's postseason success with the Rangers...



Only time will tell what becomes of Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross if they have to be in the rotation for longer than we need them to, or if we even need both in the rotation. Now, this really just begs the question, is this philosophy to blame for our constant injury riddled rotations? Hmm...


The Rangers were also dead last in fielding in the AL in 2008 with 132 errors, by the way. They ranked 4th with 85 errors 4 years later.


In the final analysis, I guess we'll never know what really happened between JD and the Ryan Express. Did he force Ryan out? Was this a power struggle?

Now that Ryan has taken a 'special consultant' position with Houston we'll see how JD fares in his absence and vice-versa. Lets not kid ourselves though. These 2014 Rangers are NOT the 2006 or 2007 Rangers. In any event, the last thing we want is Jimmy Johnson/Jerry Jones comparisons/musings/aphorisms...

What might have been...

What I found interesting was JD being quoted this week as saying the Matt Garza trade has the potential to 'haunt' him. I couldn't say with confidence that it was a good move at the time, much less now. Will anything become of C.J Edwards, Justin Grimm, and Mike Olt with the Cubs? Could they have helped us in our current decimated state? Are there any other assets JD traded away recently that would be nice to have in our pockets right now? Probably not. The Cubs also have Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks which we sent them for renting Ryan Dempster in 2012. JD also picked up Koji Uehara in 2011 for the pennant race in exchange for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter if you remember...

53 HRs. 53!

I can't really say that Garza, Uehara, or Dempster were worth it in retrospect, but consider the alternative being the Rangers standing pat for the last 4 years in a row at the deadline. We know good and well that wouldn't fly. Nevertheless, none of these players are Rangers at this point and a couple of them (along with Salty and Nap) have World Series rings now...

Who saw this coming?

A sobering thought...



All of a sudden you even hear people calling JD the 'anti-Jerry Jones'. If you're a Cowboys fan you've seen the salary cap hell that Jerry Jones' perceived loyalty to his players has put the Cowboys in. What's the old adage? Better a year too soon than a year too late? Think about some of the players that JD has either let go, traded, or whose offers he didn't match (usually because the price was outrageous), and still others he probably perceived to be on the decline, and still others he just plain decided to moved on from. Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Vladimir Guererro (kinda), Mike Napoli (twice?), Cliff Lee (I guess?), Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson and so on. They weren't all classy exits either. Then, I begin to wonder if there's any credence to Ian's 'sleazeball GM' comments. Even though verisimilitude escapes Ian for most Rangers fans these days...




Should we add Nolan Ryan to that list of spurned Rangers? Not that I'm trying to now paint JD as a tyrant/dictator. Emperor even...

...but maybe his 'New England Patriots'-like approach isn't a bad thing. Just ask Tom Hicks if you can have just ONE 25 million dollar a year player and still field a competitive team...

The genesis of the exorbitant contract.

Really, dawg!?

Hell, you could accumulate players like that if you wanted to, but what kind of team would you have on your hands? A bunch of 30 something has-beens? Not much a team if you ask me. Just look at the Yankees. They have excess of 120 million dollars invested in 8 30-something-year old players! That doesn't even count A-Rod's 29 mil that he's no longer owed due to suspension...

Now we have to ask ourselves another question: will we survive until around mid-season when we are (hopefully) completely healthy again? I'm not typically a glass half full, Mickey Spagnola type, but an above average left handed starting pitcher, a great second baseman, and a serviceable catcher damn sure sound like some welcome additions no matter where we stand.


You can't play the 'woe is me' card in baseball, after all. It's not like we're the only team in the League, or even our own division, dealing with injuries. Maybe not to the point we've experienced, but sometimes it's an inevitability. The Angels are pretty frail/shaky in their rotation after Weaver and Wilson. The A's will be without Jarrod Parker (for the season) and A.J. Griffin (on the DL)...

Not really sure what to make of the M's no matter if they're healthy or not. The Astros? Scott Feldman, guys? Really?

This about sums it up...

So now we have one mere 'Big League' weekend left between us and opening day.

By Big League weekend I mean the Rangers playing 2 exhibitions games against the Little League Astros at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. JD wants that San Antonio market, I suppose. Not bad for the anti-Jerry Jones.  Speaking of the Astros though, now Nolan Ryan has been quoted as saying the Astros remind him of the Rangers in 2008.

Maybe in the farm system, but big league wise? Now, I'm not kidding myself here, either, that those Rangers and their predecessors weren't bad, but they weren't routine 100-loss bad!



Seriously! Before I forget, though, I made my own recent off season trades in an effort to realign the baseball gods for us, by trading this....

...for these...

...annnnd this bobblehead....

...for a bobblehead to be named later...

Gotta have it!

Haha....





Anyway, whether you're in panic mode or optimistic, Team Daniels or Team Ryan, I know we're all team Rangers, goddammit.





Bring on the Phillies! Bring on Cliff Lee!





4 Days...

27 Days in March

27 days.  That's what we have left until Opening Day!  That's exciting isn't it? Exciting...and...well...terrifying.

We (yup, still on the team) have some questions to answer if your Texas Rangers are going to be ready to win come March 31st.

Questions like:  Who is our 5th starter?  Who is our closer?  Do we need another bat?  Does Mitch Moreland even know what DH stands for?

Don't give me the side eye, Mitch.  It's a legitimate question.

First things first:  The rotation.
If you asked me in December if this was a concern of ours, I would have scoffed in your face. Yeah, that's right.  SCOFFED.  I mean, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez, and Alexi Ogando sounds pretty damn solid to me.  Am I right?  I don't have the utmost faith in Ogando, but as a #5?  Sure, throw him out there.  So what has changed in the last three months you ask?  Here are the Cliff's Notes:

1.  Derek Holland "tripped over his dog".  (And for whatever reason, his dog was playing hockey at the time)

2.  Matt Harrison is more fragile than this guy:

I mean...he needed an MRI after sleeping on a really soft mattress.  Think about that.

So now we have two empty spots in that rotation.  Although, Harrison is really only expected to miss the first series of the season, something tells me we should make a plan B anyway.  (see photo above)

I already mentioned that Harrison might only be out for one series to start the year.  That's the expectation. Now let's go with that and pretend he won't get hurt during the year; so we only need a very temporary stop gap.  And actually, if we go with a four-man rotation to start the year, which is pretty common with all of the off days in the first month of the season, we may not even have to worry about it all.  

Secondly, Holland is due back by the All-Star break.  He recently said in an interview that he is shooting for a June 1st return.  But after micro-fracture knee surgery, that sounds a little to optimistic to me.  But for all I know he was joking and wearing this outfit while he said it:

I think we all know who DumbER is.

I don't think it's a bad idea to go out and get Ervin Santana who is STILL a free agent; at least if he's available at a reasonable price.  The worst case scenario here is that we'd sign him and move someone who is under-performing in the rotation, upon Holland's return, to the bullpen.

If we don't go after Santana, what are the options?  Wash is auditioning the newly-acquired Tommy Hanson, Robbie Ross, Michael Kirkman (who is out of options), and young Nick Tepesch for a starting role.  And while I'm not sure any of them should start, at least he has several guys competing.  

Who is our closer?

A guy named Neftali Feliz came into Rangers camp this spring saying he wants to be the closer. You remember Neftali Feliz, don't you?  He looks like this:

Sit down, A-Rod.

Unfortunately, he also looks like this:

sigh...I need a beer...

Coming off of Tommy John and into the closer role seems a little ambitious.  In fact, once Scary Joe Nathan left the team (PRAISE JESUS!), I think I just kind of assumed that Joakim Soria would walk into that role.  So maybe this isn't an issue?  Or maybe it is?  

Let's keep in mind that we still have Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross in the pen that might also be able to fill the role; Scheppers more than Ross, I think.  Well...as long as he doesn't get beat up by a bunch of street toughs again.  

Just kidding...that never happened.  Scheppers made it up.  Dummy.  

I am hereby deeming this a non-issue. 

Is Mitch Moreland really going to DH?

Somewhere out there, Mitch Moreland is giving me the stink eye.  

I doubt she gave you the stink eye.  That's just how her face looks.

Let's talk about 28-year old Mitchell Austin Moreland for a moment, shall we?  This will be Moreland's fifth MLB season and every year I think "man I like Mitch, this will be his year".  And every year...I am incorrect. The truth is, I like Moreland, he's been a semi-solid player and he has really learned to play a nice first base. BUT(!), do these look like DH numbers to you?:

His highest BA and HR totals in a year are .275 and 23.  DH?  Meh.

I actually kind of like the 23 home runs.  He has some pop.  Not exactly DH pop, but pop nonetheless.  And we do have some home run power in Prince Fielder, who in our park could hit 40-45+ home runs, Adrian Beltre who will most likely hit over 30 home runs again this year (as he's done in all of his Rangers years), and Alex Rios who should also get us 20 or so.  And lest we forget that Shin Soo Choo could hit in the neighborhood of 20 home runs as well.  So the Rangers aren't exactly powerless.  But surely you understand the concern after the abysmal offensive showing of 2013.

So that begs the question:  Do we need another bat?

At this point I think it would be nice, but more of a reassurance than a necessity.  Who knows? Mitchell may surprise us.  And by us, I mean me.  It will also be nice to have Mitch around to spell Prince at first in the dog days of July and August.  And a Fresh Prince...

His license plate said 'Fresh' and he had dice in the mirror...

Fielder can surely wreak havoc.

So what do you think Rangers fans?  Are we ready for Opening Day 2014?

27 days left!  We can do this right?  We'll make it...it's been so long already...what's another 27 days.

Happy Spring Training everybody!

This is heavy...

Allow me to take you back in time, Rangers fans. The date is July 28th, 2006. Your Texas Rangers were a mediocre (as they tended to be in the 2000s) 51-51 in the dead heat (literally) of the Texas summer. This night was a particularly long one at the Ballpark (as many in the 2000s were) as our old friend Vicente Padilla was pounded to the tune of 7 runs in 3.2 innings by the perennially terrible Kansas City Royals (35-66 at this juncture to be exact).


       

Didn't he have the swine flu at some point?

Well since we're already in our DeLeorean lets travel back farther in time..


               

...TO>>>>






...EARLIER in the day on July 28th, 2006. Haha...


             

As the trade deadline loomed young upstart G.M. Jon Daniels sent Laynce Nix, Kevin Mench and Francisco "CoCo" Cordero to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor leaguer Nelson Cruz, and "All-Star" (at the time I guess) left fielder Carlos Lee. 

          

He was a serviceable closer for us back then

Carlos Lee, here's a guy that would flirt with a .300 average every now and again with the White Sox and Brewers. Not to mention he was also good for 25-30 HRs a year in those days. All in all not a bad pickup for Daniels to stick in the middle of a lineup that already included GMJ, MY, Tex, Hank Blalock, and Kins (why weren't we better? haha). Numbers (but not team record)-wise it sort of reminds me of a certain recent pickup by the Rangers of another former Brewer. Hmm...

You might be asking yourself how and why a .500 team would make such a move for what appeared to be a pretty big bat at the deadline. Well if you're a loyal reader (please be haha) of this blog you're already familiar with Mr. Daniels' work, and if you're not a reader you may want to get caught up to speed here...


http://162plus.blogspot.com/2013/04/wwjdd-haha-getting-to-know-jon-daniels.html



Did I mention he hadn't even been on the job for a full year yet at this point?



Here's where the AL West stood on this particular day, as well, if you're wondering....

A's          53-49

Angels     52-49

Rangers   51-51

Mariners  49-52

So we had an outside shot with 60 games to go, ehh? <Shrugs> The Brewers (48-54 on the day in question) were sellers at the deadline that year and the Rangers were renting Carlos Lee, in effect, hoping to make a run at it. Hope being the operative word. All the more evident by our giving up of 3 big leaguers. Enter our old, old friend Doug Melvin, then and current, G.M. of the Brewers...

If you're wondering who Doug Melvin is or you just plain forgot, he oversaw the first real success in Rangers history (1994-2001). That is, if we define success with 3 Division titles (4 winning seasons), and 1 postseason victory. For a team that had previously accomplished NOTHING we had to (reluctantly?) rejoice at the time...

...I digress. Legend has it that Mr. Melvin saw promising prospect Nelson Cruz as expendable because he made up his mind that the kid could not hit a breaking ball. So, for all intents and purposes Mr. Cruz was a throw-in, insisted upon by the Rangers.

Flux Capacitor still working?

So, where we before we hit 88 miles per hour? Ahh yes. Padilla getting rocked. The Texas bullpen would surrender another 3 runs and we were quickly upon the bottom of the 9th. Leading off and pinch-hitting for Rod Barajas in the 9th hole in an 11-3 beating is...you guessed it...26-year old Nelson Ramon Cruz. 

He struck out looking in typical inauspicious fashion for a young buck (it might have even been on a breaker hey-o!). Interestingly he would go on to hit his first HR as a Ranger 3 nights later pinch hitting for...Carlos Lee. Since we have still our DeLorean lets flash forward to the end of the season. Well, the Rangers finished 3rd in the West at a sad 80-82 while the A's (who went all the way to the ALCS) and Angels finished 13 and 9 wins better than us, respectively...

In the couple of years that followed Nelly proved to be a "project" in every sense of the word. He looked more and more like a throw in as the years progressed. Somewhere Doug Melvin was smiling, especially since Carlos Lee only played a measly 59 games for the Rangers in 2006 and then agreed to a 6 year 100 million dollar contract with the Astros in November of the same year.

Alright then.

Cruz would go on to really struggle in 2008, failing to make the roster and later even being designated for assignment. Nevertheless, he cleared waivers and was retained by the Rangers. The following year he finally figured it all out, somehow, and found himself an All-Star replacement for the injured Torii Hunter. It really is the old tale of sticking with and forcing yourself to believe in a ballplayer and allowing him to believe in himself. Suddenly Nelly was in the HR Derby and in the finals, no less. He would lose the Derby to a big time slugger from the same team he had been traded from a mere 3 years prior...

I remember telling my oldest brother in 2006 to remember this kid's name because he was going to be a somebody, someday and all of sudden here he was at the HR derby. My brother, of course, had a different kind of vested interest in his eventual success altogether though. My oldest brother's name is Cruz Noriega. He always used to say, "I don't care what he does as long as he's on the team so I can buy a jersey with my name on it." Haha. So, that's pretty cool. Pretty sure he has every iteration of a Cruz jersey and/or jersey tee you can think of now. Why isn't Leo a more common last name??

That's my dawg!

Anyway, Cruz (the ballplayer haha) would have his greatest season ever to date in 2009, playing in excess of 100 major league games for the first time ever while smacking 33 homers. He was a huge contributor to a pennant winning team in 2010 hitting over .300 with 6 HRs that postseason, but it really was not until 2011 that the baseball world outside of Texas would come to know the name well.




In the 2011 ALCS he would hit an insane 6 HRs with 13 RBIs which were both postseason records. He hit a walk-off grand slam in game 2 of that series; the first player to ever do so in a postseason series. He was the first player to hit multiple extra inning HRs in the same postseason series and so on and so on. Unreal. Sufficed to say he was the MVP of said series (you already knew that).

Had to get a good shot of this AL Champs shirt. It's beyond cool. I hope you own one. Haha... 

This was postseason dominance reminiscent (to Rangers fans, okay maybe just me haha) of Juan Gonzalez in the 1996 ALDS.

5 HRs in 4 games.

The stage was set. It was game 6 of the World Series. What started out as one of the sloppiest World Series games you would ever see turned out to be a classic. The Rangers were up 3-2 in the series. Cruz hits a solo HR in the top of the 7th (after Adrian Beltre had broken the tie with a HR of his own) to put us up 6-4. It was also his 8th HR of the postseason which tied the record for most HRs in a postseason. We would go on to take a 7-5 lead (behind our great bullpen) into the bottom of the 9th. Our closer Neftali Feliz is on the mound. Rangers fans everywhere are rejoicing. We can smell the championship...

Then comes the moment everyone remembers. The count is 1-2. The Rangers are ONE strike away from winning the World Series. David Freese proceeds to hit a deep pop-up to Cruz in right and the game appears to be over until...

Who jinxed it? Was it FOX4? Was it someone you know? Was it you? Haha...

Yup, this happened.

Well, I have seen this 'catch' attempt a million times. I have thought about it for a million hours. I really have no explanation. Who does? It was just one of those crazy fluke occurrences in baseball which we love AND hate to see depending on what side of the outcome you're on. The game, however, was not technically lost on this play per se as we were headed the 10th. Josh Hamilton was all set up to be the World Series hero (and save Nelly from goat status) with his 2 run shot in the top of the 10th. The Rangers, as you know, were a strike away AGAIN and would go on to lose the game in the 11th AND lose game 7, yet Cruz's blunder is all we remember.


The really unnerving thing about Cruz is that he'll give you the occasional insane highlight catch. Not always, but I'm talking sliding catches, diving catches, misplayed catches where has to readjust and EVERY SINGLE TIME I saw one I would think about game 6 and wonder how much better my life would be right now. Haha. I googled "Nelson Cruz scouting report" just for the hell of it and here's what I found...

Assets:	A bona fide top-tier power hitter with good size, a powerful swing and nice follow through, he also can run a little. Has the arm to play right field, but can also play left field.
Flaws:	Is somewhat injury-prone, especially his legs/groins. Takes a huge cut and can be all-or-nothing at the plate (hitting a homer or striking out), so he'd benefit by shortening his swing at times.
Career Potential:	Quality veteran slugging outfielder.

Describes Cruz to the letter, no?




Well after another failed playoff run in 2012 and Nelly's Biogenesis scandal in 2013, which cost him 50 games of playing time, and the Rangers missing the playoffs in 2013; here he was approaching free agency. Which brings us to the present. Back to the future you might even say. Haha...

In the final analysis here's a player that hit an average of 27 HRs and 80 or so RBIs over the last 5 years for the Rangers. That really sounds like a player you would take on your team. He rejected a 14.1 million dollar qualifying offer from the Rangers, because (I suppose) he thought at 33 years old he could get 4 or 5 years in big money from some club. Interest began to wane and I really began to think about how truly far apart negotiations were between him, the Rangers, Mariners, Orioles and whatever other teams were purportedly involved. He finally settled on an 8 million dollar deal from the O's...

Baltimore now surrenders its second-round pick (55th overall) in June's draft to the Rangers. Baltimore is a haven for former Rangers so for a landing spot we can't say it's a surprise. Here's a roster that includes 4 former Rangers including this guy...

He was Crush in name only with us.

Not to mention Buck Showalter, but for Nelly to say that it's the 'right fit' and 'it was there since the beginning' and it was his 'goal', I'm gonna have to say to him...

I really just firmly believe he just plain did NOT have any plans of coming back the second the Rangers decided they wouldn't commit multiple years to bring him back. What did the Rangers know that we don't? Hell, what do the Orioles know that we don't? Was it an issue of playing time? If you pencil Cruz into our lineup apropos as DH we look unbeatable on paper, I say...




So how will you remember Nelson Cruz now that he's no longer a Ranger? As a flippin' hot dog? Haha...

Is he our Bill Buckner?

Should we even really blame Cruz for the heartbreak of 2011, though? What about the double to Pujols and 2-out walk to Berkman that Feliz gave up before Freese's pop up? Despite this, should Wash have sent out Feliz in the bottom of the 10th instead of Darren Oliver? He couldn't get an out to save his life that night. When it was all said and done we left the game in the hands of Scott Feldman and Mark Lowe, for the love of god. There was still a game 7 to be played after all...




Either way, Buckner's gaffe lost game 6 of the '86 World Series for the Red Sox which they would eventually lose in 7 games as well. Cruz's catch would have WON the World Series. Even so, we never spewed the kind of venom at Nelly that Red Sox fans did at Buckner...

But if I had to. Haha...

Those fans are irrational savages though. We already knew that. They forgot all about Buckner and even forgave the poor guy when they raised banners in 2004 and 2007. Oh they won it in 2013 too, by the way. Then you start thinking about what an 86 year drought between World Series Championships might do to a fan base and you understand a *little bit*, but it's difficult to feel sorry for a fan base that has won 3 Championships in the last 10 years (5 total). Then, you think about real World Series droughts and you think about the Cubs and their 100+ years of misery and how they somehow blame billy goats and this poor guy...

Watch "Catching Hell" like now if you haven't already...

Even they can at least say they have 2 championships. Their drought is getting ready to outlast Hill Valley next year though...

So what about us, Ranger fans? We haven't even been around for 50 years. How long is our drought going to be after being soooo close? When you think about how truly to difficult it is to win a World Series and how close we were you want to just give up altogether...

ALLL of that having being said I like our chances this year. I like what we have done and I like where we're going. I just hope it's the road to the World Series...