MVN - Most Valuable Network

Rangers Notebook: The Morning After

Shortly after retreating from the bloody aftermath of Fenway Park with their tail between their legs, the reeling Texas Rangers boarded an undoubtedly somber Monday afternoon flight destined for Detroit, Michigan for the final three-game leg of a make-or-break nine-game road trip.

Consider them broken for right now.

After an utterly disastrous 2-9 start for the team that many picked before the season’s onset as the most likely American League representative in the 2008 Fall Classic, the Detroit Tigers have quietly won five of their last eight games to climb to a marginally more respectable 7-13 record.

Nonetheless, Texas and Detroit are currently deadlocked for the worst record in the Junior Circuit; both struggling franchises also sit five games back of first place.

Barring an unfortunately timed rainout, that deadlock will be broken in the next 72 hours. But with a previously dormant Tigers offense slowly beginning to show signs of an extended awakening (Detroit has scored 49 runs in those last eight games, good for an average of 6.13 runs per game), this series probably couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Rangers.

Justin Verlander, Tuesday’s starter and holder of a lifetime 3-1 record and 2.49 ERA in four career starts against Texas, hasn’t lost to the Rangers since September 13th, 2006. The 25-year-old fireballer surrendered eight earned runs on 10 hits and a walk that evening; 11 days previous, Verlander had inexplicably tossed 126 pitches in a scoreless seven-inning effort against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim that ultimately proved to be in vain, as the Tigers choked away a one-run lead and went on to lose in extra innings.

No such workload-induced meltdown to save the Rangers this time. If the ship is to be righted before the 2008 season is completely lost, Texas will have to patiently work the count, obtain yet another quality start from the resurgent Vicente Padilla, and - perhaps most importantly of all - begin to play fundamentally sound baseball.

After the last four eye-gouging defeats at the hands of the defending World Series champions, I’d be lying if I said I was filled to the brim with optimism. But true, die-hard fans stick by their teams through thick and thin, and despite my seemingly pessimistic tone regarding this team in recent days, I have no intentions of giving up on this talented, yet ostensibly maddening Texas Rangers squad.

Ben Broussard, however, is another matter entirely.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News submits that the recent cutback in the 31-year-old first baseman’s playing time - with Jason Botts being the main beneficiary - is, at least in part, attributable to a conversation held between manager Ron Washington and general manager Jon Daniels sometime last week:

“We talked about getting him some at-bats during this road trip, and I think we’ve done that,” Washington said. “We’ve got this guy and we need to see what he’s got. We’re going to start working him in there whenever we get a chance.”

Allow me to repeat that: “We’ve got this guy and we need to see what he’s got.” Way to spark Jason’s confidence, I guess.

Whether this conversation took place during last Tuesday’s closed-door meeting between the pair is uncertain, and really isn’t relevant to the matter at hand. What is certain is that Broussard’s level of play, both in the field and the batter’s box, has been abysmal through the first three weeks of the 2008 season by any calculable or observable measure available.

Broussard’s anemic .170/.254/.340 batting line through 53 AB unarguably ranks among the league’s worst at first base, traditionally a premium offensive position that is instead turning out to be a debilitating weakness for the Rangers. His defensive miscues, both mental and physical in nature but almost always inexcusable, have already cost this team precious runs in the box score.

He is, in essence, the true embodiment of a sub-replacement level player right now; in the short-term scope of things, the Rangers would almost certainly be better off regularly running Botts, languishing minor league first baseman Nate Gold, or - dare I even say it? - Jarrod Saltalamacchia out there in Broussard’s stead, rather than attempting to salvage some kind of value from a player who seemingly has a bigger bag of nothing than the similarly frustrating Brad Wilkerson.

Condensed version: Yes, Ben’s a nice guy. Yes, Ben’s a good ole’ Texas boy. Yes, Ben can sing and play the guitar really, really well.

No, Ben’s not a good baseball player.

Left-hander Kason Gabbard’s removal from Monday’s revolting 8-3 loss after just two innings was the result of back stiffness, brought on suddenly when the 26-year-old starter twisted awkwardly during a second-inning delivery to Kevin Youkilis. The injury is being considered as merely day-to-day, and should hopefully have no impact on his availability for his upcoming Saturday evening start against the Minnesota Twins in Arlington.

Gabbard’s replacement, right-hander Dustin Nippert, proceeded to surrender eight earned runs on nine hits and four walks in 2.1 numbing innings of work. I quite literally sat on the living room sofa in a stupor, watching in abject awe and horror as the fatal combination of bad defense, poor command and even worse luck began to pull Nippert under in a sea of hopelessness.

Or perhaps, put in a different way, began to push Nippert into the gaping maw of utter defeat and despair. Fortunately for us all, Scott Lucas has conjured up a lovely photo illustration of what such an event might figuratively look like.

T.R.. Sullivan’s latest MLB.com mailbag includes discussion pertaining to the already tired red/blue uniform “controversy” (if you can even call it that), vocal grousing about the team’s lack of performance under the leadership of Ron Washington, and a couple of bizarre questions regarding the likelihood of outfielders Kevin Mench and Juan Pierre possibly joining the big league roster via one mode of entry or the other, among other things.

Veteran reliever Eddie Guardado (sore left shoulder) threw 40 pitches during a Monday morning bullpen session without complaint, and could be activated from the 15-day disabled list as early as today. Not sure whom the Rangers will option/designate for assignment to clear room for the 37-year-old southpaw on the 25-man roster, but right-hander Josh Rupe’s big league status might already be in considerable danger.

Back on April 3rd, I penned the following passage in reference to enigmatic outfielder Nelson Cruz, who remained Rangers property when the club successfully pushed the talented 27-year-old through waivers and subsequently outrighted him to the minors:

Cruz is unlikely to reemerge as a legitimate outfield option at the big league level for Texas, but he’s not the worst emergency backup in the world to have lying around the farm - and if nothing else, his torrid offensive pace at AAA-ball over the last three seasons (.269/.382/.490 in 208 AB in 2005, .302/.378/.528 in 371 AB in 2006, and .352/.428/.698 in 162 AB in 2007) suggests he’ll play a vital role in helping to fulfill any Pacific Coast League championship aspirations the Redhawks might possess in 2008.

Those were prophetic (albeit obvious) words, it seems. Cruz’s fifth and sixth home runs in an Oklahoma Redhawks uniform this season, belted on Monday against an Iowa Cubs squad bereft of recently promoted outfielder Matt Murton, raised his Triple-A Pacific Coast League batting line to an unconscious .360/.522/.800 in 50 AB.

I have a hard time conjuring to mind a player with a greater disparity in the level of success experienced between AAA and MLB than Cruz. Given the direction things currently appear to be trending in, we may not have yet seen the last of Nelson’s days in Arlington.

Right-hander Kazuo Fukumori, by the way, tossed yet another perfect frame on Monday. He’s allowed a hit and a walk and punched out five in 5.1 scoreless innings for the RedHawks since his demotion to the minors on April 13th. Can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of him, either.

Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein wrote the following as part of his “Future Shock: Monday Ten Pack” on Double-A Frisco first baseman Chris Davis, whose Texas League batting line currently reads .345/.397/.690 with five home runs scattered over 58 AB:

Some questioned the validity of Davis’ breakout 2007 performance because of a high strikeout rate and the offensive environment of the California League. Those concerns were tempered when he was even better following a late-season promotion to Double-A, and this year, he’s continued to mash.

[…]

He’s not the next Mark Teixeira, but he should provide productivity with significant cost savings for the Rangers as early as next year. He’s just one player among the collection of young talent that should help turn the team around into the next decade.

It’s not out of line in the least to think that Davis may be heavily jockeying for a big league audition come September; the real question, of course, is whether his addition would create a nasty 40-man roster logjam (similar to the one the Rangers experienced last winter) heading into the 2008-2009 off-season. He’s not yet Rule 5-eligible, to the best of my knowledge, and the Rangers may wish to hold off on his permanent promotion to the big leagues until sometime next spring.

But make no mistake about it: he’s coming. And coming fast.

Five days after Baseball America’s Ben Badler originally reported that left-hander Kasey Kiker was scheduled to join the High-A California League festivities after one more successful outing in extended spring training, the Bakersfield Blaze website lists the 20-year-old southpaw as being part of their active roster.

You know, Buck Showalter and his considerable baseball acumen are not as bad of an addition to the ESPN Baseball Tonight crew as I first thought - particularly when he finds himself placed alongside analytic luminaries such as John Kruk. Can’t shake the impression that his mouth is perpetually filled with marbles, though.

T.R. Sullivan’s glowing Sunday report of Fenway Park comes as something of a personal curiosity; one long-time acquaintance who visited Boston and attended a Red Sox game last season colorfully described the stadium and surrounding neighborhood as a “dump,” and took particular note of what he described as bullet holes outside the ballpark. Don’t know if that part of the story was exaggerated or completely fabricated, but it’s a tad unsettling either way.

Of course, I also have to wonder if the historic ballpark would still be held in such high regard if Boston hadn’t collected a pair of World Series titles in the last five years. Just an idle thought.

And finally, I sincerely hope that those of you with access to PBS were able to view (or record) Monday evening’s exquisitely produced presentation of “American Experience: Roberto Clemente.” KERA, the PBS affiliate serving the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area, is scheduled to re-broadcast the hour-long documentary during the early-morning hours of April 24th, 27th and 28th.

Boy, could this team use a win.

Quick Hits: Jon Daniels said on Monday that the Rangers would not pursue free agent designated hitter Frank Thomas…closer C.J. Wilson was unavailable for Monday’s game after throwing 29 pitches on Sunday, but should be ready to go on Tuesday if needed…Single-A Clinton right-hander Omar Poveda was scratched from his Sunday start due to arm fatigue, but will likely not require a stint on the disabled list.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 am and is filed under The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.