Former Cy Young winner set to join Rangers

Cliff Lee signed with Philly, then Texas came up short in their efforts to land Zack Greinke, but it appears they have finally landed a potential ace to at least partially fill their pitching void.

Pending a physical, the Rangers have signed former Cy Young winner Brandon Webb to a 1-year contract worth a reported $3 million, with an additional $5-$7 million in performance incentives. Webb has pitched just 4 innings over the last two seasons due to reoccurring arm troubles that have resulted in him spending 372 on the disabled list.

Webb, 31, won the National League Cy Young award in 2006, when he went 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. He also finished second for the award in both 2007 and 2008.

Webb is a pronounced ground ball/strikeout pitcher, perfect for the Rangers hitter-friendly ballpark. However, the violent arm motion he uses to throw his A+ sinker is one of the reasons for his arm troubles, as it puts an immense amount of strain on his shoulder. While a return to his Cy Young-level is impossible to expect, Texas is, at the very least, banking on Webb being healthy enough to nail down a spot in what is a slightly thin starting rotation.

Texas Reaches Agreement With All-Star Reliever

Pending a physical, Texas today agreed on a one-year contract (with a vesting option) for 2010 All-Star relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes. The 41-year old pitcher had a great 2010, pitching in 69 games with the Reds, posting a 2.29 ERA, a 8.2 K/9 rate and a 2.78 K/BB ratio.

The 19-year veteran actually qualified as a Type A free agent but the Reds decided against offering him arbitration. Because of this Texas will not lose a first round draft pick and Cincinnati will receive no compensation for losing the lefty.

The signing of Rhodes should take a lot of pressure off Darren Oliver, Texas' most reliable bullpen lefty last season. Rhodes' presence could also mean Derek Holland will get another serious shot at making the rotation.

Since 2008, Rhodes has a 2.32 ERA and has been one of the most consistent relief pitchers in baseball. Rhodes, a Texas native, will be pitching for his 8th team in as many years.

Possible Options For Texas Post-Lee

Cliff Lee was clearly the jewel of free agency pitching but he was hardly the only quality starter available. With Lee now signed, sealed & delivered in Philly, Texas is no doubt reviewing some back-up plans both via trade and free agency. While everyone has heard the Zack Greinke and Matt Garza rumors, you're probably gonna have to give up the farm to get either of them. However, several mid-range starters remain available on the free agent market, most acquirable without having to give up any draft considerations.

Brandon Webb (31)

Before arm injuries robbed him of his last 2 seasons, Brandon Webb was arguably the best pitcher in the National League. From '05-'08, Webb was a ridiculous 70-37 with a 3.23 ERA, winning the NL Cy Young Award in 2006 and finishing second in the voting in '07 and '08.

Scouting Report
Webb has an elite sinkerball and a very good fastball. Before his injuries, he was a innings eaters who exhibited good control and the ability to induce ground balls in bunches. Having missed the last 2 seasons, injuries are a massive concern and his up-side is silly huge.

Jeff Francis (29)

A former 1st round pick, Francis has spent his entire career in Colorado. A durable pitcher for the first 3 full seasons of his career, the injury bug bit the lefty in 2008, when he made just 24 starts. Francis then missed all of 2009 and part of 2010 with a shoulder injury before returning to make 19 starts.

Scouting Report
Francis is a contact pitcher with good control. He's a 3-pitch pitcher with a fastball that sits around 86-88 mph, an above average change-up (78 mph), and a curveball (72 mph) that he'll throw in any count. His change-up is widely regarded as his best pitch.

Freddy Garcia (35)

Over the course of Garcia's first 7 seasons, the former 2-time all star won 116 games while averaging 205 innings pitched per season. From '07 to '09, injuries hampered Garcia, allowing him to make just 23 starts during that 3-year stretch. However, the righty returned to form in 2010, going 12-6 while making 28 starts for the Chicago White Sox.

Scouting Report
Like Francis, Garcia pitches to contact and does not walk many hitters. At the same time, he doesn't strike out very many hitters either, meaning he needs a good defense behind him. He has a smooth delivery and keeps hitter off balance with a quality change-up. Garcia also has extensive playoff experience and is a career 6-2 in the postseason.

Doug Davis (35)

Despite an injury-plagued 2010, Davis has been a fairly durable player over the last several years, averaging 33 starts and 196 innings pitched from 2004 to 2009. Davis is also a former Ranger, having played with them from '99-'03.

Scouting Report
The 35-year old lefty is tough as nails and does not get rattled, regardless of the situation. He can have issues with his control from time to time but has a very good curveball and a sneaky quick fastball. When his control is off, his reluctance to challenge hitters with his fastball really hurts him, often resulting in too many walks.

None of these guys (save for Webb if healthy) would likely crack the top 3 of the Rangers rotation but all are quality 4th starters with proven track records. Considering Texas currently has no more than three pitchers on the roster with guaranteed rotation spots, signing any of these veterans would provide a big upgrade over who they currently have under contract.

Cliff Lee Returning To Philadelphia

Various sources have said Cliff Lee is returning to Philadelphia. Lee was traded to the Phillies during the 2009 season and led them to the World Series before falling to the Yankees. Lee was then traded to Seattle as part of the deal which brought Roy Halladay to the Phillies this past season. It was widely known at the time of the trade that Lee did not want to leave Philadelphia.


While this hurts the Yankees, it may well be a death blow for the Rangers. As presently constituted, Texas would enter the season with C.J. Wilson as its number one starter, followed by Colby Lewis. Both pitched very well for the Rangers last season but neither have much of a proven track record.

After Wilson and Lewis, the waters get even murkier. Tommy Hunter would presumably take over the 3rd spot in the rotation, with Derek Holland, Scott Feldman, Matt Harrison and possibly Michael Kirkman fighting it out for the final two spots. Needless to say, this is NOT what the Rangers had in mind.

I have a feeling Kansas City's price for ace Zack Greinke just went up.

Questions Remain Unanswered With Regards To Roster Depth

Yesterday, Texas sent several high-ranking officials to meet with Cliff Lee at his home in Arkansas. They apparently threw out several possible contract options, even going so far as to include several "perks" for Lee's family. What that means is pure speculation but if it's anywhere close to what the Dodgers offered Kevin Brown back in '99, "perks" could mean, among other things, the use of a private jet several times a year for Lee's family. Many believe Texas is really pushing the pace with Lee, trying to get a commitment from him one way or another, as they still have several other areas to address.

Should Lee sign with someone other than Texas, the Rangers would certainly turn their attention back to Kansas City's Zack Greinke and/or Tampa's Matt Garza. Greinke will undoubtedly take two top tier prospects plus a couple of second tier players, Garza could well command almost as much as whomever he ends up with will control his rights for 3 more seasons. Were Texas unable to acquire either pitcher, they might look to rely on C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis to carry the rotation early on while hoping for continued improvement from Tommy Hunter and a return to form for Scott Feldman. This is truly frightening.

Jon Daniels and company have made contact with DH Vlad Guerrero, who continues to push for a 2-year contract. Oakland is rumored to have interest in the slugger after failing to land Lance Berkman however, their failure to sign Berkman was due to their lack of interests in signing him to a multi-year deal. As it stands, Vlad may be looking at another 1-year contract with an option year, similar to what he signed last season with Texas. His inability to play even sparingly in the field (the World Series proved as much) drops his asking price dramatically.

If Texas is unable to sign a Vlad (or someone of comparable talent like Magglio Ordonez or Jim Thome) I would have to think they'd at least consider moving Michael Young to DH and making a run at someone like Adrian Beltre. Another possibility would be to platoon Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz at DH and hope Julio Borbon is ready to finally take over in CF.

Texas also must address their bullpen. While Ogando, O'Day, Francisco, Oliver & Feliz (unless he's moved into the rotation should Texas fail to sign Lee or trade for another stud pitcher) the other two bullpen spots are open to competition. Currently Texas would look to Michael Kirkman, Mark Lowe, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Omar Beltre, Clay Rapada & newly acquired Yoshinori Tateyama to battle it out for those spots.

Make no mistake about it, Cliff Lee is the Big Bad Wolf of free agency this season and Texas is rightly doing everything they can to hang on to him. However, the Lee sweepstakes needs to come to an end so the Rangers can move on and throw their full attention towards other areas of importance.

Massive Changes Out At Rangers Ballpark

So long and farewell to the hideously out of date video boards at Rangers Ballpark. No longer will we have to squint to view the starting lineup. No longer will our beautiful ballpark be sullied with a half-assed, 1989-lookin' graphics package. Gear up Rangers fans because Texas is spending some money.

$13 million might not get Cliff Lee back in Ranger red but it'll damn sure buy you a couple of state of the art, HD video boards, with every last bell and whistle you can imagine. Starting lineup? Of course. Pitch tracker? Check. Fantasy stats? Yep. Wait, what? That's right, kids, Texas is going above and beyond with this thing and I cannot wait to check this thing out.

The formerly pathetic 24 x 36 ft. board which sat atop the home run porch in right field is currently being replaced with a 42 x 120 ft. HD board. That ain't all, folks. That obscene Coca-Cola matrix board out in center field will be replaced by a 25 x 29 HD board. Both the Home Run Porch and centerfield video boards will employ the use of Daktronics newest 15 millimeter LED technology. A press release from the the teams states, "The video boards can operate as single giant displays or be divided into multiple zones (windows) to show a wide variety of statistics, information, graphics, animation, and live and recorded video."

In addition to the massive overhaul with the video boards, the sound system in the ballpark is being upgraded as well.

The project is expected to be ready by Opening Day 2011.

Treanor Set To Return To Texas

If Jon Daniels is to be believed, Matt Treanor is on the verge of returning to Texas for another season.

"I don't know if it will happen in the next day but we're pretty confident Matt is coming back," general manager Jon Daniels said Friday.

Treanor will presumably be the primary back-up catcher behind free agent acquisition Yorvit Torrealba, in addition to likely serving as C.J. Wilson's personal catcher.

The 7-year veteran compiled a batting line of just .211/.287/.308 but delivered several hits in clutch situations and is a quality defensive catcher with quick feet.

Texas Adds Bullpen Arm

A day after signing their projected starting catcher for 2011, Texas today turned their attention to the pitching staff. After some minor struggles near the end of the season which became major struggles during the playoffs, Texas was in distinct need of an upgrade in their bullpen.

The Rangers have reportedly signed 34-year old reliever, Yoshinori Tateyama to a one year contract with two team option years. Tateyama, a 12-year veteran of the Japanese Pacific League, has played his entire career with the Nippon Ham Fighters, compiling a 3.43 ERA. Several scouting reports say he's a fastball/curveball, sidearm pitcher with good movement and excellent control.

In 2010, the Japanese reliever had a 1.80 ERA (a career best) while holding opponents to a .213 BA (.186 against righties).

Should he make the club out of Spring Training, Tateyama would become the fourth Japanese pitcher to make the club, joining Hideki Irabu (2002), Akinori Otsuka (2006-07) and Kazuo Fukumori (2008).

Rangers Sign Torrealba

So long Bengie. Today, the Rangers inked former Giants/Rockies/Mariners/Padres Catcher Yorvit Torrealba to a 2-year deal worth a reported $6.25 million. The signing leaves little doubt that Bengie Molina, should he decide to play another season, will be looking for another team.

Torrealba is a 10-year veteran, is a lifetime .257 hitter and is an above-average fielder with a decent arm. The 31 year old catcher led the NL in fielding percentage (.996) this past season and has a good deal of playoff experience, with the Giants in '03, then with the Rockies in '07 and '09.

"I was looking for a team that could compete and hopefully make it to the playoffs," Torrealba said Monday. "I’m really excited with this bunch of talented young pitchers here. I want to help them out as much as I can by the way I call the game and take charge."

Last season, Padres pitchers went 53-36 with an ERA of 3.14 in games caught by Torrealba.

This signing could also mean the end of Matt Treanor's run in Texas, leaving either Max Ramirez or Taylor Teagarden as the primary back-up to Torrealba. I hope this isn't the case as I like the idea of Treanor returning to be CJ Wilson's personal catcher, something I know Wilson would relish.

Royals Showing Interest In Beltre

It seems as though Texas isn't content to sit around waiting for Cliff Lee to make his decision. Rumors abound that the Rangers have moved forward from informal discussions and are now in serious negotiation with the Kansas City Royals for 2009 Cy Young winner Zack Greinke.

Rangers top outfield prospect, Engel Beltre, is the name rumored to be most frequently mentioned in the talks, although it is assumed that Texas would also have to part with at least one top pitching prospect (either Tanner Scheppers or Martin Perez) as well as a couple of second tier prospects.

The Royals truly hold all the cards in any deal involving Greinke as they have him under contract through 2012. This allows them the luxury of asking for the moon. Greinke, meanwhile has expressed an interest in moving on, having grown tired of Kansas City's constant state of rebuilding of a franchise that has not seen the playoffs since 1985. The 26-year old pitching ace has averaged 217 innings pitched and a 3.25 ERA over the last three seasons with the perpetually awful Royals.

Make no mistake about it, adding Greinke to the Rangers rotation (with or without Cliff Lee) makes them one of the stronger pitching staffs in the AL, possibly only behind New York (should they end up with Lee) and Oakland. If Lee were to re-sign on top of the Greinke deal (something Texas has said is completely within their budget), Texas would head into 2011 as the team to beat in the AL. A rotation of Lee, Greinke, CJ Wilson, Colby Lewis & Tommy Hunter would look pretty formidable, especially after the way Lewis looked in pressure situations throughout the playoffs.

With all this said, I simply don't know how I feel about giving up possibly 3 of the top 5 or 6 prospects in the entire farm system. Engel Beltre took a big step last season in Frisco, playing an awesome center field while finally finding his hitting stroke. He still swings at too many bad pitches, still relies too much on pure speed rather than smart base-running, and is still probably 2 years away from the majors, but the talent is right there in front of your face.

As for Tanner Scheppers, I believe he's one of those guys who will be a stud. He's going to start the season in AAA, but could find his way to the majors midway through the season. He's got a huge arm, great control and poise. To me, he might be the one untouchable prospect in the farm system.

Martin Perez took a big step back last year in Frisco and has continued to show extreme control problems during Winter League play. He's still very young at just 19 years of age, and his arm is fantastic. However, he's at least 2 years away (maybe three) from making a move to the big club. To me, despite his huge upside, I'd feel more comfortable parting with him over Scheppers.

Finally, if the Royals are serious about moving Greinke, and are asking for 2 (or three) A-tier prospects, I am of the opinion they should be willing to part with another piece as well. The Rangers are in need of an upgrade at the Catching position and the Royals currently have one of the better veteran defensive catchers in Jason Kendall. While Kendall doesn't have a great arm, nor is he going to hit .300 for you the way he did throughout the first ten years of his career, what he will do is provide tough, hard-nosed leadership behind the plate and command the respect of what is still a young pitching staff. If Kansas City were willing to accept a trade of Beltre, Perez & maybe two B-tier prospects like Marcus Lemon, Beau Jones or Kasey Kiker for Zack Greinke and Jason Kendall, that might be something I'd have to think long and hard about.

Zack Greinke and Kendall's combined salary for next season is right around $17.25 million, more than manageable considering the age and talent level of Greinke. If Cliff Lee were to then re-sign, Texas would probably need to look for a cheap option at DH, unless they were able to get Vlad Guerrero re-signed to a 1-year deal in the $6 million range. Baring that, I'd look for them to move Nelson Cruz or Josh Hamilton into the DH role (perhaps splitting the duties between the two All-Stars) while giving Julio Borbon and David Murphy more time in Left and Center field.

Guerrero Not Offered Arbitration

Today, the Rangers made one thing abundantly clear to DH Vladamir Guerrero: We want you back, but we don't wanna pay ya much.

In a move that I consider a little surprising, Texas declined to offer arbitration to the slugging DH, a move which could signal the end of Vlad's run in Texas. The move is curious but it gives a clear indication that Texas appears to be more concerned with getting stuck with paying Vlad $10 million (which many speculated he'd receive in arbitration) for one year than they are about the possibility he'll walk to another team.

Said General Manager Jon Daniels, "We'd like to have him back and we figured the best way to continue those discussions is without the external pressure of the arbitration process and how that might affect things. Sometimes it's easier to negotiate without the arbitration process as a backdrop."

Had Guerrero been offered arbitration, Texas would have received a late first round (or, at worst early 2nd round) pick, as well as a 'sandwich pick' (a compensatory pick between the 1st and 2nd round). As it now stands, should Vlad move on to another team the Rangers would receive no compensation for his departure.

Rangers Find Their New Hitting Coach

Former MLB player and coach Thad Bosley has reportedly been hired as the next hitting coach of the Texas Rangers. Bosley replaces Clint Hurdle, who left after just one season to take over the managerial job in Pittsburgh. Bosley interviewed for the same position last season, finishing 2nd to Hurdle.

Bosley acted as hitting coach for the Oakland A's from 1999-2002, working with then fielding coach and current Rangers manager Ron Washington.

Bosley played pro ball for parts of 14 seasons (1977-90), hitting a career .272 in 784 games.

During their lone season with Clint Hurdle, Texas led the league in hitting with a .276 average.

Josh Hamilton Wins MVP

In what many viewed as a forgone conclusion, Josh Hamilton was today named the American League Most Valuable Player. Hamilton led the AL in hitting (.359), slugging percentage (.633) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.044), claiming 22 of 28 first place votes. The next closest player (Miguel Cabrera, Detroit) finished almost 100 points behind Hamilton in the voting.

The win puts a cap on the most successful season in Texas Rangers history as the team made it all the way to the World Series before falling to the San Francisco. Hamilton, while proud of his personal achievement, kept things in perspective, saying, "We made a lot of history in Texas that's never been done before. I said during the season, if I could give up the MVP to go into the playoffs and win, I would. We did both."

Hamilton becomes the 5th player in Rangers history to win the MVP Award, following All-Star players Jeff Burroughs, Juan Gonzalez (twice), Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez.

Rangers Sign Former Aggie Barret Loux

The Rangers have signed pitcher Barret Loux. The former Texas A&M standout was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 6th pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft but went unsigned after failing a team physical. Despite concerns regarding issues of varying degrees with both his shoulder and elbow on his pitching arm, the Rangers believed the former First Team All-Big 12 pitcher was worth the gamble, signing Loux to a $312k bonus.

"Our guys liked him in the Draft last year," general manager Jon Daniels said. "Obviously, there is a reason why his situation played out the way it did. Ultimately, we were comfortable with it.

"There is a risk with every player and every acquisition. We are happy to add another quality arm and a quality person to our organization. We are trying to add as much talent to the organization as possible."

With A&M, Loux went 11-2 with a 2.83 ERA and an opponents batting average of .202 while striking out 136 over 105.0 innings pitches.

The addition of the 6'5" Loux means Texas now has 5 of the first 49 picks from the 2010 Draft under contract.

By not signing Loux, Arizona will recieve the 7th pick in the 2011 Draft as compensation, a two-year old rule which was put into effect in an effort to prevent draft picks from holding out for more money from teams. The MLB Players Association is rumored to be looking into the possibility Arizona deliberately selected Loux despite having full knowledge of his injuries, simply so they could leave him unsigned and gain an additional top selection in the deeper 2011 Draft.

The Taint Lives

After a year of swimming around in the greatest baseball season of my life, I've decided to breathe new life into this Rangers-intensive blog.

This feels right.

This feels good.

Welcome home.