The Legend of Nolan Ryan: A Story of Fastballs and Revenge

[royals19]

Following a lengthy hiatus that was characterized by 5 papers and 1000 pages of material, I think I speak for all the fans of this chronicle when I say it's time to get this underway again. So buckle your seatbelt, grab a sandwich or two, a glass of Ms. Betty's sweet ice tea and relax because we've got quite a bit to get through today.

Our first update of the day takes us up to Oakland on the left coast. I haven't been a huge fan of playing in Oakland for 2 reasons: 1. The Stadium sucks eggs. 2. We get our ***es handed to us every time we step on the field up there.

On the plane ride to Oakland, most players were already resigned to the fact that this series was going in the L column. For the front office however, this was a huge win as we get our first look at Jon Lester arguably the top 2014 free agent.



Lester, 30, is arguably one of the top 3 left handers in all of baseball and probably a top 10 pitcher. He's an absolute workhorse, great clubhouse character and excellent postseason performer. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you could build a pitcher, it would be Jon Lester. He has all the traditional tools that scouts drool over.



He isn't going to come cheap... Everyone knows that, the Red Sox want him back, the Dodgers are likely to make a play for him... Hell the Yankees will probably get involved at some point. If we've got the payroll space this offseason, you can bet your bottom dollar that we'll be in on Lester. A 2015 Rangers rotation fronted by Darvish and Lester would be absolutely phenomenal.

And because we had an opportunity to watch Lester do what he does, I wasn't even that mad we got blown out 14-2.



Don't even need to tell the story on this one: Pitching implodes early, bullpen makes things worse, Rangers have a nice inning somewhere in the middle of the ball game... You know the story.

[royals19]

Retreating back to Texas, the Rangers were greeted by the defending AL Central Champion Tigers. Playing first division teams back to back is not a very desirable scenario. Especially when you're coming off of a 14-2 thrashing... But at this point, losses are wins because it brings us closer to that first overall pick.

So in rolls the Detroit juggernaut powered by Alex Avila...


Yeah, you read that right, Alex Avila ran the Tigers tonight. Batting 9th and doing the catching, I figured Avila was the least likely to give us any trouble but apparently that wasn't the case. Avila pretty much single handedly took the Rangers and curbed stomped them repeatedly before throwing them in the dumpster.

I'll admit though, he had a little help from a few special friends.



Of course, Miggy had 4, V-Mart had 3, Kinsler had 3 and Castellanos had 4. Add in a few hits here and there from the others and boom, the Tigers suddenly have a 12 spot on the board backed by 19 hits... 19 hits kids!

I'm not gonna lie bros, this is starting to get real embarrassing. I knew we were going to lose quite a few games but sitting here and watching other teams constantly destroy our squad is starting to get embarrassing. All we need to do is make it through this season and we'll be golden.



Looking at the standings, it appears as though we do have proper justification to turn our attention to 2015 when everyone will be back and we've got a couple of new toys to play with. All in all, this has been a complete and utter disaster.

[royals19]

But wait, there's more!

Heading over to the right coast to round out our road trip, the Texas Rangers were looking to avoid yet another humiliating defeat. Instead of playing a contender, the Rangers were given the opportunity to avenge an earlier loss by playing the Baltimore Orioles.

But damn it, the same goofy stuff that doomed us a couple posts ago dooms us yet again.



Mike Carp, the new first baseman with J.P. Arencibia going down with an injury, completely botches a routine popup. Carp gets behind the ball and doesn't work forward therefore the ball kicks off the heel of his glove and things just go absolutely downhill from there.

Que the **** poor pitching performance, que the blowout, que the Ed Sheeran music, que the slow bus ride back to the hotel.



I've said it before and I'll say it now. Someone is going to have to pay for this. We blame the pitching coach because he doesn't have anything to work with to begin with. We can't blame the hitting coach because the hitters are actually starting to hit. The only other person that can be at fault for this is Ron Washington. Can we really hang Ron Washington out to dry? Can we really hang the most successful manager in Rangers' history out to dry? I don't think anyone knows the answer to that at this point. We aren't even a full season in and we're already being faced with tough decisions from all angles.

[royals19]

Before we press on to the final game of the first half and a little All Star Break action, we have a couple items that we need to address. First and foremost, the trade deadline is coming up. With that being said, its not secret that the Rangers have assets that need to be sold off. Names on that list include Colby Lewis, Alex Rios and everyone in the bullpen. In addition to that, its no secret the Rangers are willing to listen on their middle infield options; namely Elvis Andrus. However, the one name we really need to hone in on here is Alex Rios.

Rios is under contract for the remainder of this season and has an option for next season. Therefore, he's a lucrative option for a team looking for a controllable outfield option. Sure, his salary certainly represents and obstacle but the fact that he is hitting .298 with 12 home runs certainly outweighs that expensive salary.



Ideally, Alex Rios would be moved for pitching because that's the biggest weakness the organization possesses. If we were theoretically able to move Rios, a mixture of Michael Choice, Jake Smolinski and Jim Aducci would likely take over in right.

In our everlasting quest for pitching, the Rangers have been forced to dip into the free agent market.

Quote:

Slowey Solid in AAA Tune Up Free Agent signing Kevin Slowey threw 30 pitches for AAA Round Rock Express in preparation to join the Rangers. "I felt good out there today, I feel like my command is right about where it should be at this point in the season. Hopefully I can get up there and help the big league squad out soon" Slowey said.

Slowely won't blow it by anybody. However, he can perhaps get away with being a serviceable option if his control is spot on like is has been in the past. He isn't going to be ace material but that's not what the Rangers need right now. In fact, he'll be asked by Ron Washington to go at least 6 innings each time out and to keep those games respectable. We don't need Cy Young here folks, we just need innings and hopefully Slowey can give us that.

[jnkm1]

Just read through this, definitely following

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by jnkm1

Just read through this, definitely following

Thanks for the follow man!

In the final game of the first half, manager Ron Washington handed Yu Darvish the ball and basically told him don't suck. It was pretty much assumed right from the jump that Darvish was going until he couldn't go no more. Sure, its the game before the All-Star break and we could "Johnny Whole-Staff" it but like I've said before, it's best we don't even go down that dark road.



6 Innings in and Darvish was cruising. The Astros had managed a couple runs off of him but they were on good hits on good pitches. There isn't a whole lot that you can do about that. Darvish's command with his fastball was spot on tonight. He didn't try to get too cute with the Astros and went right after them and challenged them early.

I was waiting all game for the out of place grand slam by Robbie Grossman or some scrub like that but it never came. In fact, Darvish pitched one heck of a game. Needless to say, it was a great day for the Texas Rangers organization as we can go into the All-Star Break on a high note.



If we can get Darvish going in the second half, then we'll be in for a treat every time he takes the mound. At this point, that's all we can hope for. Other than Darvish and Adrian Beltre of course, there isn't a whole lot on this team to watch.

On to the All-Star Break!

[royals19]

Trade Deadline Preview-2014
Woah! Hold your horses, we got one more update before we get to the Future's Game, All Star Game and all that jazz.

We need to take a look at what the Rangers are going to do at the trade deadline. If this was just some regular, cookie-cutter franchise, we'd just cross that bridge when we get to it. We'd probably make a couple posts over in the trade thread, spend hours trying to find some way to sneak Clayton Kershaw into a Rangers uni... you know that kind of stuff.

But this is a whole new ball game... pun intended.

Now with that being said, there are several names that we are looking at for the trade deadline. I'll go ahead and say now that we won't be bringing in a Cole Hamels or somebody like that this time around. We have about 8 million in the bank, limited assets to work with, yahda yahda, etc, etc.

With that being said, the key area of focus this deadline will be finding pitching. Particularly, reclamation projects. If teams like Chicago, Pittsburgh and Houston can build serviceable rotations with reclamation projects, damn it so should we! After all, we got Mike Maddux running the staff and we all know he ain't no slouch when it comes to developing pitchers.

So here are the preliminary names Jon Daniels and his staff are looking at.

Vance Worely

28.2 IP, 30 strikeouts, 2 walks, 5.02 ERA.

Quote:

The Pirates rotation is absolutely chalked full of good pitchers at the moment and Vance Worely (who has pitched OK this season) is in the bullpen as a result. He has a lot to work with, a good mix of pitches, a durable frame and the potential to be better. The Pirates likely wouldn't ask much for him and he could slot right into our rotation and give us stability for the rest of the year and beyond.

Tsuyoshi Wada

8.1 IP, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1.08 ERA.

Quote:

Wada is primarily on this list because he's a deceptive lefty with good control and decent stuff. He won't be a front of the rotation starter (he's the long reliever for the Cubs now) but he's experienced and knows what he's doing. The Rangers don't really have any left handed pitching anywhere in their organization so bringing in Wada would be a nice addition. The Rangers could likely throw Colby Lewis to the Cubs for Wada+. This might be the best direction for the Rangers at this point.

Jeremy Hellickson

116.1 IP, 89 strikeouts, 26 walks, 3.56 ERA.

Quote:

Here is where things start to get a little crazy. Hellickson has struggled ever since that 2011 ROY campaign. He's putting together a decent year this season and we know that he could be a serviceable #3 option on our club next year that is supposed to contend. There's also an outside chance he could be our #2 next season if he makes strides with the Rangers. He likely won't cost that much in terms of prospects and he's controllable beyond this season and next. If we can get Hellickson from the Rays, we likely won't have to go hunting for pitching this offseason.

UPDATE: I've also kicked the tires on adding a controllable outfielder namely, Yoenis Cespedes, Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp.

FURTHER UPDATE: Also kicked the tires on Yasiel Puig... just for kicks.

The deadline is still a couple weeks away so I'll go ahead and leave this open. If anyone has any suggestions on players we should target, fire away. I'm all ears.

[royals19]

The All-Star Break usually represents a brief mental and physical break from the grind of the regular season. This season however, it represents a vacation from hell. A hell where nothing has gone right for the good 'ol Rangers of Texas. Let's not mince words here. This season has been completely and utterly disastrous from top to bottom.

Luckily we have the All-Star festivities to look forward to right? I suppose if that's the way you feel... See I'm starting to find myself not that big a fan of the All-Star game here on the Show. The game is either a blowout or a shutout. I suppose the Future's Game is OK... after all, we get to watch a bunch of generated faces show off for the scouts. The Home Run Derby is fun if you've got a personal investment in it... Bottom line is it isn't something I set a countdown on my phone for.

With that being said, I'm going to tie the festivities into one update and send it off in a nice package.

***

First and foremost, if you haven't seen or heard of Joey Gallo you should read up on him. It's pretty much a lock at this point that Joey Gallo is going to be the next great Ranger.

Quote:

Joey Gallo Scouting Report- MLB.com Hit: 45 Power: 80 Run: 30 Arm: 70 Field: 40 Overall: 65 Gallo set the Nevada high school career record for home runs and then broke the Arizona Rookie League's single-season mark in his professional debut in 2012 after signing for $2.25 million as a supplemental first-rounder. He followed that up by hitting 40 home runs in 2013 to top the Minor Leagues in his first full season and is challenging for the lead again in 2014. He put on a batting-practice show at the Futures Game, then won MVP honors when he hit the game-winning homer. While Gallo has incredible power, the rest of his game is more of a mystery. His home runs come with a lot of strikeouts, leading to concerns about his ability to hit for average. He has a long swing and there will always be some swing-and-miss in his game, though he has started drawing walks with much more frequency this season. Gallo is a below-average runner, limiting his range. He has an excellent arm, but he will need to improve defensively to stay at third base in the long run. Ultimately, Gallo will go as far as his bat will take him. *Source: MLB.com Prospect Watch.

This season, Gallo has pretty much answered questions about his bat as he's hitting .323 in AA. The strikeouts are also a non-factor at this point as well as his K/BB ratio is virtually 1:1. With Adrian Beltre set to become a free agent after next season, Gallo will likely be the Rangers starting third baseman by 2016 with a cup of coffee likely in 2015.



While Gallo stole the show and put Team USA on top, there was also another top Rangers prospect by the name of Jorge Alfaro who did the catching duties for the World team.

Quote:

Jorge Alfaro Scouting Report- MLB.com Hit: 45 Power: 60 Run: 45 Arm: 75 Field: 55 After injuries limited him to just 29 games behind the plate in 2012, Alfaro returned to Class A Hickory in 2013. He performed well while repeating the level and then ended the year with an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. He has cemented his status as one of the game's top catching prospects with a solid 2014. A converted infielder, Alfaro has only been catching full-time for a few years and is still a little raw defensively. He may have the strongest arm of any Minor League catcher and is remarkably athletic. Alfaro has solid raw power and began to tap into it more in 2013. His swing has a tendency to get long and he'll need to cut down on his strikeouts as he advances in the Minor Leagues. He has decent speed and is aggressive on the basepaths. If Alfaro can refine some of his more raw tools, he has tremendous upside. *Source: MLB.com Prospect Watch.

Alfaro is essentially a lesser version of Gallo but still potent himself. If he can improve his defense and hit for a solid average, Alfaro can perhaps become one of the best catchers in all of baseball. It's nice to think about having a lineup that eventually features Joey Gallo and Jorge Alfaro hitting back to back. For now however, that will remain a dream as both still reside in AA and are at least a year away from the Show.

***

Directly following the Future's Game was the home run derby with the usual suspects so the decision was made to go ahead and skip it in favor of heading straight to the All-Star Game. It was pretty much expected that the Rangers weren't going to have more than one player in the game and in fact, I really didn't pay much attention to the voting. So when we looked over the All Star roster, it was good to see that Adrian Beltre was nominated as the Rangers representative.



I don't care what anyone says, Adrian Beltre represents the heart and soul of the Texas Rangers. Sure, he's winding down his career but Adrian remains the best third baseman in baseball. He still plays Gold Glove defense, he still hits .300 and he still clubs 30 home runs. Essentially, Adrian Beltre is to the Rangers what Chipper Jones was to the Braves. It'll be a sad day when he decides to hang it up. As long as he remains a productive player, he will remain a Ranger.

The second half will bring about a milestone in his career as he is only 3 home runs away from reaching 400. It ought to be a great time watching this living legend do what he does in the second half.