Catcher Gerald Laird, who hit just .224/.278/.349 in 2007, may have run out of opportunities to win the coveted starting job behind the plate for the Texas Rangers. - w1ld0n3/Flickr.com
Saturday Morning Rangers Notes
Quick hits, ahoy!
● T.R. Sullivan’s latest MLB.com piece investigates the Rangers’ muddled situation at catcher, and examines which direction the club is likely going to go with Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Gerald Laird out of spring training (Hint: reading between the lines, it still sounds as though the organization is fully committed to Jarrod as their everyday big league catcher in 2008).
Sullivan also notes that Texas quietly signed 19-year-old Mexican amateur free agent Felix Perez at some point this off-season, though he is unspecific as to when exactly the deal was consummated. There’s absolutely no background information available on Perez right now - in fact, all we do know about him is that he’s a catcher and is reportedly “extremely talented with tremendous upside potential.” Sounds good to me.
● Texas inked free agent right-hander Jason Davis to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league spring training on Thursday. Now 27, the one-time blue chip pitching prospect for the Cleveland Indians has gone 20-22 with a 4.78 ERA and 1.51 WHIP in 427 IP over the span of his six-year Major League career.
His role at the big league level has been relegated to that of a full-time reliever, as Davis hasn’t started a Major League game since July 4th, 2005 - curiously enough, a contest where he fired six brilliant shutout innings in a home Independence Day victory over the Detroit Tigers at Jacobs Field.
Davis has always generated a healthy dose of ground ball outs, but less than stellar command and middling strikeout rates have prevented him from taking that next critical step in his development. Still, this is the kind of under the radar, low-risk signing that we’ve come to expect from Jon Daniels - one that’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things if Davis doesn’t pan out, but potentially decent to very good if he does.
According to T.R. Sullivan, Jason will receive a $650,000 base salary if he makes the team out of spring training, and can earn another $200,000 in incentives, based on the number of appearances he makes (up to 65). He can also ask for his unconditional release if he’s not added to the 25-man roster by March 29th, which certainly complicates matters a bit.
Essentially, whether or not he makes the club will depend almost entirely on his performance in Surprise this coming spring. The Rangers currently have C.J. Wilson, Joaquin Benoit, Kazuo Fukumori and Eddie Guardado locked into their 2008 bullpen unit, with Frankie Francisco, Scott Feldman, Kameron Loe, John Rheinecker, Wes Littleton and now Jason Davis all vying for the final three available slots.
● Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News released the latest edition of his now monthly “Inside the Rangers” newsletter on Wednesday morning, which includes plenty of discussion on the Josh Hamilton trade and its ongoing ramifications.
Grant also throws out his prediction of what the club’s 25-man roster will look like coming out of spring training, and divulges some new insight on the organization’s thought process in deciding to non-tender right-hander Akinori Otsuka back on December 12th:
Q: How bad do the Rangers think Akinori Otsuka’s right elbow is? Was that the biggest reason they non-tendered him?
Todd Kaufmann, Irvine, Calif.
GRANT: Bad isn’t the right word. Scary is probably better. It’s not like the ligament in the elbow is torn, but I’ve been told that there was a lot of concern over the wear and tear. Until the ligament tears, surgery is not prescribed, but a pitcher must be able to tolerate pain to pitch. It’s clear the pain reached the point where it was intolerable for Otsuka last year and no amount of rest seemed to get it right.
The Rangers were concerned that either he wouldn’t be able to pitch through the pain or that if he did, he’d rip the ligament. Either way, they would then be stuck with a $4.5-5 million bill and no pitcher to show for it. They would have preferred to keep him, but the elbow was the sole reason they didn’t.
Don’t think that Otsuka’s recommendation of San Diego to Kosuke Fukudome played a part in the decision. First, it’s clear Otsuka wasn’t terribly persuasive since Fukudome ended up signing with the Chicago Cubs. Second, if I was from another country and I spoke to a friend in the U.S. about a place to live and work, I’d hope he’d recommend San Diego, too. I like San Diego. How could you not?
Wow. Hard to fault the Rangers for their decision, if this was indeed the case.
Something still puzzles me, though: if the organization was so concerned about Otsuka being unable to pitch through the pain, why does that conflict entirely with a December 2nd report published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which indicated that Aki’s rehabilitation program was going exceedingly well and that he had been throwing pain-free for a month without experiencing any setbacks?
The timeline just doesn’t add up here. And it probably never will.
● If you were unable to listen to Josh Hamilton’s lengthy Thursday morning radio interview with the Ticket’s Norm Hitzges, here’s your chance to catch up on what you missed:
Josh may not be the most articulate guy out there, but whatever he might lack in eloquence is made up for in spades by his refreshing humility - and most importantly, his brutal honesty.
● By that same token, it’s too bad so many Ranger fans apparently hate the Hamilton trade. Or at least that’s the vibe I’m getting from T.R. Sullivan’s latest MLB.com mailbag.
● Make sure to check out Jamey Newberg’s assessment of the top 72 prospects in the Rangers organization, and T.R. Sullivan’s follow-up blog entry at “Postcards from Elysian Fields,” if you haven’t done so already.
Newberg places Chris Davis, Eric Hurley, Taylor Teagarden, Elvis Andrus and Kasey Kiker in his top five; all five also made the cut in my own preliminary rankings, though with some slight alterations among the top four.
● Along those same lines, Mike Hindman of “Rangers Farm Report” has completed his rundown of the top pitching prospects in the organization, with right-hander Michael Main topping his own rankings. Definitely worth checking out.
● According to Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Rangers have signed free agent catcher Patrick Arlis to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.
The 27-year-old backstop had spent the entirety of his professional career in the Florida Marlins organization, and most recently signed on with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent Northern League before Texas came calling. Arlis possesses a lifetime minor league batting line of just .225/.303/.308, spread out over 1171 AB.
Arlis has no chance of making the 25-man roster out of spring training - most likely, he’ll either hang around for a while in the minor leagues as a backup catcher, or will be cut entirely come the end of March. In other words, organizational fodder.
● More from Andro, regarding the Rangers’ upcoming arbitration situation:
Saturday marks the first day players can file for arbitration. There are only three Rangers eligible: Marlon Byrd, Gerald Laird and Ben Broussard. The players have until Jan. 15 to file. Players and teams can begin exchanging figures Jan. 18. If they are unable to come to an agreement, hearings are set for Feb. 1-21 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Byrd made just over $500,000 in 2007 while Laird was paid $400,000. Broussard avoided arbitration last year while with Seattle and made $3.5 million.
Gerald Laird is entering his first year of salary arbitration, with Marlon Byrd and Ben Broussard entering their second and third years, respectively. Laird could be in line for a raise to the $750,000 to $800,000 range, while the Rangers might think long and hard about potentially striking a multi-year deal with Byrd. Broussard’s 2008 salary could exceed the $4 million mark.
UPDATE: Texas signed Broussard to a one-year deal worth $3.85 million on Saturday, thereby completely avoiding the arbitration process. He can also earn up to $150,000 in performance bonuses, based on the number of plate appearances he receives in 2008.
● Free agent right-hander Josh Towers has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Rockies, and the Kansas City Royals are reportedly closing in Bartolo Colon, meaning that the Rangers are beginning to run out of viable options in their search for another veteran starter to compete with the youngsters in spring training.
Then again, seeing as how Colon has yet to hit 90 MPH on the radar gun in the Dominican Winter League, this may not be such a bad thing. Perhaps his rotator cuff is more fried than I thought.
● Finally, Baseball Think Factory’s Dan Szymborski isn’t a big fan of Thursday’s mini-blockbuster deal that sent outfielder (and popular Vicente Padilla batting practice target) Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for a trio of players - including, most notably, top pitching prospects Gio Gonzalez and Faustino de los Santos.
It’s a tremendously bold move on the part of A’s GM Billy Beane, whose love for Swisher was well documented in Michael Lewis’s “Moneyball.” But while Oakland’s farm system now undoubtedly ranks among the best in baseball, any hopes the big league squad may have had of competing in the near future have now all but evaporated.
And that’s just fine with me.
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10 Responses to “Saturday Morning Rangers Notes”
January 5th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Nice notes section. Very informative. I also didn’t now the depth of Otsuka’s injury, and wondering whether the Rangers knew more than we did when they quickly non-tendered him.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thanks for the link to that interveiw, Joey. Josh Hamilton is indeed quite a story - all I can say is, I can’t wait to see him play. Texas fans may not like giving up Volquez, but if you look at the Reds mailbag over on Cinncinatti’s site, Reds fans are pretty livid about giving up Hamilton for “an unproven pitcher from the Rangers, who was slotted as their 5th starter”. Not that I take any real pleasure from watching the Reds fans squirm, but the more upset they are about losing Hamilton, the better I feel about giving up Volquez. If you know what I mean.
I was interested in the comments Jon Daniels made on the Rangers catching depth in the “around the horn” article on the Rangers site. It looks like he really believes he needs to beef up our catching position as much as possible - which is all well and good, but if I where JD, I’d be thinking more about using some of that catching depth to get us a few decent OF prospects. I would really like to see the Rangers balance out their farm system a little more - because once Milton Bradley and Marlon Byrd are gone, we’re going to need somebody other than David Murphy to play on either side of Josh Hamilton.
Speaking of the farm system, I was really suprised to see Mike Hindman rate Michael Main as our #1 prospect, even over Eric Hurley. Not that I’m complaining, but I wasn’t aware Main was that highly regarded - but if what Hindman wrote was true, in a couple years he’s gonna be a regular blue-chip prospect.
Last, I just read that the Rangers signed Ben Broussard for about 3.8 million for one year. So make it just Laird and Byrd eligible for arbitration now.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Thanks for linking the interview Joey.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Regarding the Rangers’ catching depth, I think Daniels is interested in letting the likes of Salty/Laird/Teagarden/Perez/Santana/Ramirez build up more value, and letting a trade opportunity present itself, before pulling the trigger on a deal.
You’re correct in that Texas may possibly be faced with another outfield dilemma once Bradley departs after the ‘08 season, but Byrd is under club control until ‘09, and Catalanotto possibly through 2010 (though it’s unlikely he’ll still be a legitimate outfield option at that point). Next year’s outfield market doesn’t look particularly deep, aside from Adam Dunn - it’ll be interesting to see which way the Rangers decide to go here.
January 6th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Regardless of how long Byrd is under club control, the real question there is whether or not he’ll continue to perform at the level he did last year - something I kind of doubt. Not that Byrd isn’t a decent hitter, but I’d be suprised to see him hit more than .285 over the full course of a season. After all, he had cooled way off by the time the season wound down last year.
As for Catalanotto, I think the Rangers need to find a way to get rid of him. I really don’t know why he’s tabbed as our leadoff guy/DH - I guess that’s just another example of how sad our offense is. He may be a decent hitter/OBP guy (when he’s having a good year, anyway), but there’s no pop and no speed there. Plus, he’s got no arm, rendering him all but useless in the OF anymore - and oh, yeah, he’s 33 this year. In my veiw, he’s just taking up space on the roster, like the recently-departed Sammy Sosa was. I know selling Cat would be tough right now (for all the reasons listed above, and because of his off-year last year), but it might be worth selling low, just to save Botts or Cruz the roster spot. This would be a deal that would be more likely take place at the trade deadline, but maybe if we could find an OF-poor team, and agreed to pay part of his salary, we could flip Cat for a Max Ramirez-type player, like we did with Kenny Lofton. What do you think?
January 6th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Those are some very valid points, Jon - Byrd’s a plus defensive corner outfielder, but given his career path, there are no real guarantees that he’s going to duplicate his ‘07 performance next year.
That said, at least there is some precedent for him being able to sustain that clip - it may have been several years ago (2003, to be precise), but .303/.366/.418 is sort of useful - even from a corner outfielder. Throw in quality defense and you’ve got a player who’s almost, but not quite, league-average overall. The Rangers could certainly use that.
I don’t know, really - the stats suggest that there are some notable chinks in Byrd’s offensive game, but he’s such an exciting and likable player to watch that it’s hard to really rag on him.
Then again, being exciting and likable never won anybody a playoff berth, either.
You’re not the first to suggest that Cat might be dealt, either - Adam Morris on LSB floated that possibility shortly before the arrival of the new year. He does share some similarities with Sosa, certainly - he’s only useful against one type of pitcher (RHP), though that’s obviously a lot more helpful with the vast majority of the league’s pitchers being right-handed.
Cat doesn’t have much of an arm, either, and with better defensive options available, he’s probably not a guy you want playing in the outfield very often. But when healthy, he’s still a solid top of the order table-setter, even without the plus speed you usually find in a leadoff hitter. After coming off his shoulder injury (which apparently affected him quite seriously in the early going), Cat hit .285/.358/.467 the rest of the way. That’s very, very helpful.
One thing that does somewhat relieve my concerns about Catalanotto’s production over the next two to three years are his PECOTA projections, which more or less call for him to maintain the same .800ish or slightly higher OPS type production over that time frame. If the Rangers are to have any visions of competing in 2009, they’re going to need Cat or somebody comparable in his spot in the lineup against RHP, to provide a healthy jolt of OBP and uninspiring but decent power - and though Botts and Cruz certainly have the raw talent to be quality players, the results haven’t exactly met up with the expectations yet. I haven’t soured entirely on Jason Botts yet, but Cruz is starting to strike me as a lost cause.
I suppose where people fall on issues such as this and the Rangers’ pursuit of a veteran starter depends entirely on their stance toward the ’08 club, and whether or not you believe the Rangers are still firmly entrenched within the throes of rebuilding mode, and thusly have no business trying to compete. If that’s your stance, then dealing Cat for a B-level prospect or two and handing over 400 to 500 AB to Botts or Cruz probably makes a great deal of sense.
As for myself, I hesitate to commit in either direction just yet.
January 7th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Very good points Joey. I’m not trying to rag on Marlon Byrd - the Byrd rally wave is probably the most unique fan activity to hit the RBiA since… I don’t know when. Maybe ever (in my memory anyway). But I’m just trying to be realistic when it comes to Marlon’s capabilities - he hasn’t exactly been the most consistent player over his career. But when he’s on a hot streak, he can indeed be a force - and if nothing else, he’s pretty good at choking up and driving runners in. I just don’t want to hear any more about him hitting cleanup next year from Ron Wash.
I admit I’m a bit sour on Catalanotto - not that he’s not a nice guy, but I’ve always thought he was vastly overrated (kind of a Juan Pierre without the speed) and never really understood why we signed him to a long-term deal. He can be a force at the top of the lineup though, but the thing that kills my interest in that is he would be our DH against RHP since he’s so much of liability in left, which would rob Jason Botts of those AB’s even if he does make the team out of ST. And the way Botts has ripped the winter league apart, I’m starting to think again he deserves that one last chance.
I guess you’re right though, this all depends upon what becomes the bigger priority in the spring, all-out rebuilding, or actually winning a few ballgames. I’m more inclined to lean toward the rebuilding, but it probably is too early to decide for sure yet - and it would be nice to keep at least a few tools to compete around.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hey guys. Jon, I agree with you, and I think the current status of our OF was what prompted JD to gamble away Volquez for Hamilton. Without Hamilton we’d have Cat, Byrd, Murphy, Cruz, and Botts out there. That’s a dismal OF, indeed, maybe league-worst. I don’t see how anyone can argue that any of those guys are more than 4th OFs on good teams, and I imagine that we can expect modest production from any and every one of them.
And as far as I can see in the minors, we have only Borbon and Beltre as viable OF prospects. Correct me if I’m wrong but both are definite “projects.” I’ve heard Beltre possesses all the tools, but needs hitting help. He only hit .211 in a handful of abs in Spokane. Borbon only had about 35 abs for AZL, but he was dismal too. I don’t see either of those guys as being ready anytime soon.
Cat is a .300 hitter with a decent eye, I guess, but he has no speed and no pop. He seems more like a #2 guy, like LoDuca in NY all those years. Has anyone heard anything about plans to hit Hamilton leadoff? Or Kinsler?
Anyway, once again we’ve got a long list of projects that we picked up off the trash heap, and we’re hoping that they catch fire here ala Delucci, GMJ, and Byrd. Maybe we’ll finish in 3rd behind Oakland - but that’s not saying much, is it.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Nice to have you back, Jdolla$. You’re right about the Rangers digging through the trash heaps again - I think that is a reality, the fact that we’re probably not gonna do any better than 3rd this year.
Regarding our OF depth, I hadn’t forgotten about Beltre and Borbon, but they are a long, long ways away from Arlington, so I don’t really consider them on the radar screen as true prospects just yet. The only decent OF prospects we seem to have that might reach Arlington by the time all our other top prospects (Hurley, Harrison, Teagarden, ext.) arrive is Brandon Boggs and Kevin Mahar, and I admit I’m not too familiar with either one - particularly Mahar. I do know Boggs is a switch hitting CF that has drawn a lot of comparisons to Jay Payton, but Mahar is mystery to me. So I would definitely like to see JD concentrate on the OF as the next area he needs to upgrade in the farm system. Maybe a few shrewd flips at the deadline this year of guys like Milton Bradley and Catalanotto, maybe even Ben Broussard, could net us a few good OF prospects, maybe even a Josh Hamilton lite.
As for the top of the batting order, Ian Kinsler is currently slotted as the leadoff man against LHP, and the way he hit out of the leadoff spot late last year, I’d like to see him as our full-time leadoff man. For a guy who went 20-20 last year, I think leadoff will wind up being his spot in the order throughout most of his career. Josh Hamilton may have hit in every spot in the order (well, except 9th) for the Reds, and could also hit there, but with his bat, I think we should slot him in the middle of the order. He’s got too much punch to be leading off - we need him where he can drive in some runs. Speaking of the order, just for fun, here’s how I’d bat these guys next season:
vs. RHP
1 2B Kinsler
2 SS Young
3 3B Blalock
4 CF Hamilton
5 RF/DH Bradley
6 C Saltalamacchia
7 LF Byrd
8 1B Broussard
9 DH/LF Catalanotto/Botts
Blalock and Hamilton might flip-flop, since Hamilton likes to crush breaking balls, and Blalock loves fastballs, and I suppose Bradley would hit cleanup some as well. Young goes back to the #2 hole since his power #’s are about zippo these days. The lineup vs. left handers though, is gonna be a little tougher to project, due to all the guys we have that struggle against lefties:
1 2B Kinsler
2 LF Byrd
3 SS Young
4 RF/DH Bradley
5 CF Hamilton
6 3B Blalock
7 C Saltalamacchia
8 DH/LF Botts
9 1B Broussard (Shelton?)
Just thought I’d throw that out for fun. That’s how I’d line them up on my Playstation, anyway. Feel free to pick it apart, or make suggestions guys. The batting order is probably going to be one of the more interesting debates in the spring - knowing Ron Washington, it’ll probably fluctuate as guys heat up and cool off, though.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Some excellent points all around, here: regarding Mahar, he seems like a classic 4A guy. Boggs is a really interesting player, and could become a factor as early as late 2008 - that being said, he turns 25 today, and he could really benefit from a big run at OKC to start the season. Given his age, he really can’t afford for his development to stall out for any length of time.
Those are fairly reasonable lineups as well, Jon - Cat will probably bat near the top of the order vs. RHP, with Kinsler #1 and Young #3 if I had to guess. After that, it could be Hamilton/Blalock/Bradley or some combination, though Wash may not want to bat three lefties in a row like that.
Against LHP, I could see Salty being raised and Blalock/Hamilton dropped a bit - Shelton will probably play regularly at 1B. But as you say, the lineup will probably remain fluid and dynamic as the season progresses, so attempting to nail down a definitive lineup may be a fruitless endeavor.
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