The Legend of Nolan Ryan: Star Crossed

[Gronk4M13]

Great offseason writeup/preview for year 2.

[royals19]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gronk4M13

Great offseason writeup/preview for year 2.

Thanks dude, I'm trying to get more creative with my graphics and writeups. I've found myself doing the same things repetitively some times so hopefully this breaks the cycle.

***

This year's Spring Training had a whacky ending to it. It wasn't just on the field though... it was off the field too. To round out Spring Training, we had an off day, followed by a trip to Florida to play the Houston Astros and then the very next day, a trip back to Arizona to play the Astros at our home ballpark. I thought maybe we were supposed to play an exhibition series at Minute Maid park but apparently that wasn't the case as the CPU defaulted to Spring Training stadiums...

Screw you Major League Baseball for making this schedule.



Regardless though, it didn't phase the stoic Grady Sizemore. He'll be damned if he has to go to AAA. He didn't quite outperform Michael Choice (more on that in a bit) but he certainly played himself into a platoon with Choice. Sizemore looked like Babe Ruth out there against left handed pitchers, torching them for a .721 AVG. with 6 home runs. As a result, he can now add 4th outfielder and platoon hitter to his already lengthy resume, good work Grady.



Luke Jackson also isn't heading down to AAA either. His control got a little better over the home stretch and as a result, it was enough to push him over the hump and get him the #5 starter slot. He will need to continue to improve because he has several guys at AAA right on his heels and could very well find himself a trade piece if ineffectiveness arises.

The results of our other position battles were a little more predictable:

[quote]
Catcher-Tomas Telis over Robinson Chirinos
Closer-Koji Uehara
Bullpen- Corey Knebel, Lisalverto Bonilla, Craig Breslow, Aaron Poreda, Bruce Rondon and C.J. Edwards.




This season has a lot riding on it. We spent big on Jon Lester banking on a comeback from all of our injured stars. With a vast store of young players reaching AAA, the Rangers could blow up the roster if things go south. As a result, we'd be looking at several rebuilding years with a lot of young players and a lot of losses. At the same, if things break like we hope, this could be the beginning of a dynasty down in Texas.

And with that ladies and gentlemen, Spring Training comes to a close and Opening Day is just a post away!

[royals19]

The game of baseball is many things. For some, it is life. For others, it's just a good source of increasingly expensive entertainment. But when Abner Doubleday drew this game up back in the day, he didn't intend for it to be a comedic circus.



And that's why I, along with the others found myself shaking my head when Prince Fielder decided to get Consecoed on the very first play of the game. As a result, Prince becomes just the 7th player in MLB history to join the semi-elite but highly corrupt "I just got hit in the face and made ESPN's 'Not Top 10' Kappa Conseco" Fraternity. You gotta admit though, that was a hilarious way to open up the 2015 season. Wouldn't have it any other way haha.



This season, we opened against the Boston Red Sox, this writer's favorite team. Boston actually has a nice team this season although I'm not sure why David Ortiz is sitting the bench... you just can't do that to Big Papi.

Regardless though, it was a little ironic as Jon Lester toed the rubber against Anthony Ranaudo. It was sort of symbolic between the new and old eras in the Red Sox organization. Any way, Jon Lester threw a gem against his former Boston teammates. His only mark was a solo shot to Xander Bogaerts who managed to hit an opposite field home run on a cutter in off the plate. You just gotta tip your hat to XB on that one bros.



On the offensive side, we got to Ranaudo early and got some good swings off of him. Then the Red Sox brought in Henry Owens to shut us down. Needless to say, that **** worked as Owens came out of the pen throwing 95 MPH heat from the left side.

Despite the offense today, this game was all about Jon Lester who certainly lived up to the hype in his Rangers debut. I don't think it could've gone any better for the Texas Rangers.

Our next game will feature our other ace, Yu Darvish, taking on everyone's favorite World Series Champion, the Houston Astros.

[royals19]

When the Rangers signed David Ross, it was clear that he was going to be Jon Lester's personal catcher and see a spot start here and there. Everyone in the Rangers front office agreed that Tomas Telis would handle the everyday catching duties due to Ross' age and lack of durability... Well everyone but Ryne Sandberg.

Ross got the start Opening Day and went 3-4 with a double and 2 singles. He should've been sitting the bench once the cycle came around for our second USER start. But apparently, that's not what Ryne Sandberg had in mind as he went with the "hot" bat in our second USER played game.



Needless to say, it looked like a stroke of brilliance as Ross took Astros starter and Game 7 winner Colin McHugh deep for a grand slam in the second inning. In his next AB, he would get a double and round out the day with a triple.

Looking back, I'm not really sure why we didn't name David Ross the starting catcher... Oh wait:



That's why! He's old as heck and fragile as all get out! This is the play that he apparently broke his arm on. I watched the replay several times and couldn't find out how he broke his arm. If anything, it should've been his ankle as the CPU player stepped right through it and impaled him with his cleat.

That's The Show's coding for you I guess haha.



And as a result of the injury, Tomas Telis will take over the catching duties in entirety. Robinson Chirinos was also recalled from AAA to man the backup duties. Again, our lack of a franchise catcher is highlighted again by injuries. Hopefully, this doesn't turn into the same situation it did last season where we ran out 5 different catchers.

[royals19]

But wait, there's more!


Yeah, as chance would have it, David Ross really did break his arm on that slide into third. Like I said earlier, it sucks because now we're going to have to go fishing for another catcher. Hopefully nothing happens to Tomas Telis because of how valuable he is to this franchise at the catching position. As I mentioned earlier, Robinson Chirinos was recalled to take over the back-up catching duties and will hopefully not have to take on the starting role.

And if you thought that things couldn't get any worse, you were wrong.



Very next day, Derek Holland goes down with a separated shoulder. This injury says 1-2 months but it will likely be three before he gets back to the major leagues because he will have to rehab down in AAA for a few starts. It really sucks because I liked pitching with him in Spring Training and now we have to wait until the around late June to see him in live action.

To replace Holland in the rotation, we decided to recall Dallas Beeler and give him a shot to see what he could do. I thought about recalling Tsuyoshi Wada who is now in AAA but ultimately, it was decided that it wouldn't hurt to give Beeler a look early in this season.

Oh, but wait... It gets worse:



Beeler threw well in his season debut against the M's but a lackluster bullpen effort cost us a win. This one stings particularly bad because the Mariners were viewed as our only competition for the division crown (aside from the Astros of course) and we ended up getting swept by them.

Don't get too down though folks, we still got plenty more baseball left to play.

[royals19]

Our first road game of the year would take us down to the land of milk and honey aka Los Angeles. The Angels have always been a rather annoying opponent because it isn't Mike Trout, Albert Pujols or Josh Hamilton that punishes us but rather some no name loser like J.B. Shuck or Kole Calhoun.

I'm not sure why but it's always those types that go beast mode on us.

Unfortunately for us, it wasn't Shuck or Calhoun taking us out behind the barn for a good ol' fashioned whipping. No... This time it would be none other than former Rangers star and Benedict Arnold reincarnation Josh Hamilton.



For Nolan Ryan, this was a nightmare. He had trusted Josh; he had groomed him and protected him all in the hope that he would be the next Rangers legend to go to Cooperstown. But when the man went to Free Agency and demanded to get paid, like he should have, Tom Hicks and company sat by and let him go to the Angels.

And now, Josh was repping the "A" and smashing bombs over that ridiculous right field porch.



You can't undo what's already been done unfortunately. But still, it chaps Nolan's hide every time he watches a Rangers-Angels game to see Josh Hamilton out in left field wearing some other than the Texas Rangers "God Bless Texas'" Red, white, Blues.

[royals19]

April 23rd, 2015
5:45 P.M.
Disneyland Hotel
Anaheim, California




Outside the Disneyland hotel, our mystery man quietly stakes out in that familiar half-awake, half-asleep limbo. Suddenly, his phone rings in the seat beside him.

Quote:

Mystery Man- (Sleepily) Hello?

Quote:

???- …

Quote:

Mystery Man- Hello!? Who is this?

Quote:

???- You know, I consider my self a nice man; a compassionate man to say the least. One who is kind, faithful and patient. If there is one quality I lack though, it’s tolerance… tolerance for people who refuse to do things when you ask them nicely. So what is a guy like me, supposed to do when he asks someone politely to do something in January and I look at my calendar and its almost May?

Quote:

Mystery Man- Look, I’ve…

Quote:

???- (continuing) …You know me; I don’t like to be made a fool of. You know who I am, what I’m capable of and who I know. Surely Mr. (CENSORED) you wouldn’t cross me when I come to you with a simple request now would you?

Quote:

Mystery Man- No, no… I’m too deep to back out now.

Quote:

???- Then why the hell is Nolan Ryan sitting here on TV laughing his *** off with Mickey Mouse for the cameras? I thought you delivered our message last season. Did you not?

Quote:

Mystery Man- I tried to.

Quote:

???- You tried!? You tried!!??

Quote:

Mystery Man- Listen here, the deed could be done right now if it needed to be. I could blast him right here from my car window if I wanted to. But then where would that get us? Absolutely no where. The fans would riot and the organization would go down in flames if we went ahead with the plan now. What would we have then? You say you’re a man of patience but at a time where we need patience, you’re getting antsy. Nolan’s security is starting to relax and we just need to wait for the right moment to…

*Click*

Quote:

Mystery Man- Hello? Hello?

[royals19]

Well folks, more bad news on the injury front as Jurickson Profar is out for an extended period of time due to a torn calf muscle. This sucks because we were counting on Profar to make an impact this season and pick up where his development left off.

Looking down on the farm, there really isn't any shortstop or middle infielder we could call up. We have Luis Sardinas and Brock Holt on the bench but the preference is to add someone with a little more pop from the right side. As a result, we called up AAA 3rd baseman and DH, Ryan Rua to man the shortstop duties.



He looked good in his debut against the Angels down at Arlington He isn't going to hit 30 home runs but he's got a nice line drive swing that will drive in plenty of runs from the right side; a nice contrast to our left handed-heavy lineup. Defensively, you can tell he's a third baseman playing shortstop but he's at least serviceable. He's flanked by Adrian Beltre who has good range to his left and Rougned Odor who has excellent range to his right.



Rua ended up having an excellent debut from a statistical standpoint because he picked up a nice little 4-4 effort. I don't see him replacing Profar long term but it seems that Rua can definitely hold his own for the time being.