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.

Tap The Brakes On Dealing For Halladay

Last week, Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi admitted to putting some feelers out regarding the possibility of dealing ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay.

Halladay is a career 141-69 and is a bonafied #1 starter. The Blue Jays have let it be known that it will take a massive package of young prospects to pry Halladay away and have sent scouts throughout the majors and minors to gauge exactly what sort of talent is out there for the taking.

Many experts feel as though the Texas Rangers organization are in a position to offer the best package of player possible but there are several factors which prevent me from truly being able to embrace a possible trade.

I understand that the Rangers have played really well this season and find themselves in the thick of the AL West race a year sooner than they'd previously projected. But three seasons ago, Texas set out to build their organization from the ground up, dealing away expensive contracts like Mark Teixeira while stocking their minor league organizations with top-tier prospects. This modus operandi has worked extremely well, as Texas is now ranked as having the very best farm system in all of baseball, spearheaded by the previously mentioned Teixeira trade, a deal which netted them their starting shortstop (Elvis Andrus), starting catcher (Jarrod Saltalamacchia), number five starter (Matt Harrison) and top pitching prospect (Neftali Feliz).

Trading for a player like Halladay, while bold, would effectively cripple the farm system as Texas would surely be forced to deal away quality youth similar to what they added when they traded Teixeira to Atlanta in 2007.



So what would it take to get Roy Halladay? Well, Toronto has said they want young pitching (Neftali Feliz & Kasey Kiker), a power bat (Justin Smoak) and a shortstop (Marcus Lemon) in exchange for their ace.

Feliz just put on a pitching display at the All-Star game when he pitched one inning in the Futures Game, striking out two and averaging almost 97 mph with his fastball.

Kiker is currently pitching for AA Frisco, has shown good command throughout the season and was the starting pitcher in the AA All-Star game, pitching a hitless, scoreless inning.

Justin Smoak was promoted to AAA Oklahoma City last week and appears to be on the fast track to Arlington. He may well be the odds on favorite to be the Rangers starting first baseman as early as next season.

Marcus Lemon was a 4th round pick in the 2006 draft and is a slick-fielding, lightning fast infielder who's already made a successful jump to AA Frisco.

There's also the issue of Roy Halladay having an iron clad no-trade clause and, at least if the rumors are to be believed, would not okay any deal which would ship him to Texas, a place where he is a career 4-3 with a 6.14 ERA in 11 appearances. The Ballpark in Arlington is far and away Halladay's least favorite park in which to pitch, meaning even if they were able to convince him to accept a trade to Texas, it is very unlikely he would even consider signing an extention. Instead, Halladay would likely opt to test free agency after the 2010 season, with Texas getting nothing in return save for a 2010 1st round draft pick from the team that signed him away. Dealing away four (possibly more) top prospects for what would amount to less than a season and a half from Roy Halladay just doesn't add up for me.

Finally, Roy Halladay does nothing for what may well be Texas' biggest issue going into the second half of the season: the offense. The Rangers offense has been very inconsistent for the entire season, one day looking like world beaters only to look lost the next. It appears as though this is simply what they are and if that is the case, no amount of All-Star pitching will make up for all the missed opportunities and silly hitting mistakes this offense seems poised to make over the next 70+ games.

If I'm calling the shots I'm holding my water for now. Hallday is a proven All-Star and would be a welcome addition on any team but mortgaging your future for little more than a rent-a-pitcher (albeit a great one) is simply something Texas cannot afford, especially with Rangers owner Tom Hicks currently wading waist deep in a well-documented financial crisis.

Texas is not and will never be able to spend with teams like the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox, at least not as long as Hicks is the owner. Despite being the 7th largest market in baseball, Texas is currently 22nd in the league in payroll. And while a high payroll doesn't guarantee wins, a low payroll means a team can't afford to make many mistakes and hope to remain viable. The Yankees can afford to trade away their entire minor league for a single player; if things go south they'll just buy more. Texas doesn't have this luxury.

The Rangers have had a great first half of the season and with any luck will find themselves battling it out with the Angels and Mariners in the AL West for the rest of the year. It's simply not the time to be trading away young studs, even if it's for possibly the best pitcher in baseball.

AA All-Star Game Comes To Frisco

Frisco RoughRiders Press Release:

The South and North rosters both had some powerful bats, but it was the pitching that dominated the 73rd Texas League All-Star Game at Dr Pepper Ballpark as the North edged the South, 2-1. The North was led by Corey Smith who went 2-for-3 with a run scored, earning All-Star Game MVP honors.

In the second inning, Smith, Hank Conger, and Tyler Henley each reached on three consecutive singles to load the bases and bring Mike Trumbo to the plate. Midland’s Jason Fernandez hit Trumbo to plate Smith and give the North Division a 1-0 lead. The score stayed like that until the eighth when Nate Sutton reached base for the North, stole second base, and scored on an RBI single by Kurt Mertins, giving the North Division a 2-0 advantage. The South would snap their scoreless streak with a run in the eighth frame when Midland’s Josh Horton hit an RBI double to put the South on the scoreboard.

Eight North pitchers combined to throw nine innings of one-run baseball, despite the South out-hitting the North 7-6. Fernandez took the loss for the South while starter Trey Hearne earned the win for the North. The South combined to strike out 12, including three by San Antonio’s Mat Latos.

Frisco’s Craig Gentry and Manny Pina combined to go 0-for-4 while South starter Kasey Kiker had an excellent first frame, striking out one and not allowing a baserunner in his only inning of work.


Box Score

Kiker A Mixed Bag, Frisco Gets Big Win

I made another trip out to Frisco last night to see the RoughRiders finish up a three-game set again the Midland RockHounds.

Frisco sent top prospect Kasey Kiker to the mound and looked both like a world beater and like a guy still in need to seasoning. Kiker started the game in grand fashion, striking out the first five hitters he faced, keeping them off balance with a nice change-up and a fastball that he was able to spot. He was working quickly off the mound, taking very little time in between pitches and keeping the RockHound hitters off balance.

But from out of nowhere, Kiker began to struggle, first by walking RockHounds catcher Josh Donaldson (who went 2 for 2 with 2 walks in the loss) then hitting the next hitter, designated hitter, Corey Brown.

From there Kiker would show moments of greatness but was, for the most part, a mixed bag. Despite striking out seven of the eighteen betters he faced, Kiker also walked three, surrendering three runs (two earned) in 3 2/3 innings (Kiker is on a strict pitch count).



When pitching from the wind-up, Kiker looked like a Major League Pitcher. He worked quickly, had good command of all his pitches, and gave off and air of confidence. But with runners on base and pitching out of the stretch, he didn't retain the same pitch command, began working very slowly and seemed to be overthinking things on the mound.

Texas' top hitting prospect, Justin Smoak was also a bit Jekyll and Hyde, going 1 for 3 with a walk and two run scored but also commited a throwing error which led to a run for the RockHounds.

Second baseman Guilder Rodriguez supplied some fireworks, going 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI sacrifice fly. He also had the two most exciting plays of the night: one, a triple that he legged out in the 4th and the other, a single that the RockHounds centerfielder misplayed, allowing Rodriguez to hustle to third in the 6th. He scored both times.

Relievers Andrew Laughter, Pedro Strop and Jose Diaz pitched a combined 5 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out five. Strop and Diaz both hit the upper 90's with their fastballs with Diaz topping out at 98 more than once.