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.

Rangers Add An Arm; Feliz To Rotation?

Yesterday afternoon, the Texas Rangers acquired Clay Rapada, a left-handed reliever from Detroit, for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Rapada is a sidearm pitcher who Texas is hoping will compete for a spot in the bullpen at spring training.

The move appears to be the Rangers' attempt to bolster the relief corps to the point that they could consider moving stud fireballer Neftali Feliz into the starting rotation.



Rapada, 28, appeared in just three games for the Tigers last season and is 3-0 with a 4.94 ERA in 27 1/3 major league innings. He has 21 strikeouts and 18 walks. Last season for Triple-A Toledo, he had a 2.20 ERA against left-handed batters with 23 strikeouts and six walks in 16 1/3 innings. That makes him a candidate for the situational lefty spot in the bullpen, a spot held down by Eddie Guardado. Guardado is expected to retire.

"Rapada's had quality success against left-handed hitters, mostly in the minor leagues," said Rangers GM Jon Daniels, who said Rapada switched from a more conventional pitching motion to a sidearm delivery when he was with the Cubs a few years ago. "Like a lot of guys, he scuffled early on in his career in the big leagues. He'll come in and compete for a spot."

To make roon for Rapada on the 40-man roster, Willie Eyre was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Rapada is also an affordable option for the cash-poor Rangers, as he's not arbitration-eligible and would make less than $500,000 if he's on the Opening Day roster.

Texas Takes Lead In Wild Card Race

Should we go ahead and finally admit that this Rangers team isn't like virtually every other Rangers team we've seen since they moved to town from Washington back in 1972?

After watching Frankie Francisco undergo a complete and fantastic meltdown in the first game of the Red Sox series, most longtime Rangers fans has to take a step back, let out an all-too-familar sigh and think, "There it is. There's the catostrophic moment. The season just ended."

I did. I admit it.

But whether it's the quality of the veteran leadership on this team, or maybe the beautiful ignorance of youth, or perhaps it's just the fact that for damn near the first time in the history of this franchise it's actually got some pitching, these Texas Rangers are not going away.

Texas controlled the series from the start, taking an early 2-0 lead in game one when Michael Young connected for his 20th homerun of the season.

But after the normally reliable (and often dominant) Frankie Francisco fell apart on the mound to the tune of six earned runs in 2/3 of an inning, it was hard to think anything but the worst.



But much like they've done all season long, the Rangers regrouped, came back out on Saturday night and, thanks in part to a big nights by a returning Ian Kinsler (2-for-3 with a solo homerun and a walk) and the ever-maturing Derek Holland (6 2/3 innings, 2 earned runs), dropped the Red Sox 7-2.

Rookies Julio Borbon and Neftali Feliz added tot he big night by turning in huge performances as well.

Borbon, hitting leadoff, went 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 4 stolen bases. Texas stole 8 bases on the night, keeping constant pressure on Boston's defense.

Neftali Feliz pitched two innings of lights-out baseball, striking out three en route to his first career save.



The win set up a huge final game on Sunday to determine who would take the lead in the AL Wild Card race.

Texas got another gutsy performance from Dustin Nippert who is really beginning to make believers out of a good many of the naysayers.

C.J. Wilson was an adventure in the 8th, allowing two baserunners before striking out the side and giving way to Frankie Francisco.

Itching to get back out on the mound after Friday nights debacle, Frankie came up huge for the Rangers, needing just 10 pitches to retire the side in order. The performance had to be a huge phycological boost not only for the closer, but for his teammates as well.

"I believe if I can go out there and spot my fastball where I want it, I can get any hitter out," said Francisco. "I just approached them the same way: Just try to hit my spots, and I did."



With the series win, Texas moved 1/2 game ahead of Boston in the Wild Card Standings and, with 6 weeks to play in the season, and with the way things seem to be coming together for the team, one has to figure that Texas will be in the hunt up until the end.

Rangers Roll On, Take 2 Of 3 In Cleveland

In game 1 of the series, Texas looked like a team feeling the effect of a tough emotional series with the Angels. The offense was terrible, swinging wildly at pitches way out of the strike zone. Even when they managed some sort of contact with the ball, it was far from solid. Texas made Indians starter Aaron Laffey look like an ace, doing everything in their power to ensure the loss.

Dustin Nippert, making his first start since officially being named to the rotation, looked fine save for one bad inning. In the 3rd, it all came undone for Nippert as he allowed a couple of bloop base hits to snowball, surrendering five runs before the inning was done.

"That third inning was a disaster," Nippert said afterward. "I have no idea what happened."

To his credit, Nippert hung tough, remaining in the game, eating up six innings while spelling the bullpen. In the process, he struck out a career high 10 batters and at times looked dominant.



Omar Vizquel and Josh Hamilton were the lone bright spots for the Rangers offense. Each player had two base hits on the night but it was nowhere near enough to overcome the entire lineup hitting 0-for-4 with men in scoring position.

"We were just a flat team coming off an off-day," outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "We have an offense that can come back and score runs and negate that one inning, but tonight we didn't do it. Tomorrow we just have to come out focused and score early."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game two got off to a much better start as the emerging Tommy Hunter came out and set the tone on the mound for the night. After getting into a 1st inning jam, Hunter managed to get a double play to get out of the inning. He proceeded to toss another 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out five while not walking a single hitter.

"Tonight, Tommy Hunter was tough," manager Ron Washington said. "He had everything going for him. I don't think you expect him to throw 7 2/3 [innings of] scoreless ball every night, but you expect him to keep us in the game. He has shown the repertoire to keep hitters off-balance, and as long as he keeps it over the plate, he has a chance to keep us close."

"It's just fun going out there and winning," Hunter said. "It's fun going out there and being a part of something and know you had something to do with it."



Josh Hamilton continued his hot hitting by drilling a 2-run double in the gap in the top of the 3rd, giving Hunter all he would need to pick up his 5th career win.

C.J. Wilson came in to record the final five outs but all anyone, including Indians manager Eric Wedge, wanted to talk about was Tommy Hunter's performance.

"I thought he was real good. I was very impressed by him," Wedge said. "He threw his fastball where he wanted to. He worked both sides, he was down. He really worked his breaking ball early and mixed in his changeup as it wore on. We had a lot of quick outs and that was because of his command. Another thing that stuck out to me was his poise out there. He seemed very relaxed."

"It's the same thing he's done for us since he got up here," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "He battled for six or seven innings. We went with a lot of curveballs, but that's what was working. He got ahead of a lot of hitters and stayed ahead."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cleveland picked up a run early in the final game of the series but, much like he's done all season long, Scott Feldman simply regrouped and battled back to give the Rangers six innings of six strikeout, one run baseball.

"Their pitching the last couple days has been very good," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "I was really impressed with their pitching this entire series. They've always hit, but the difference this year is their pitching. It has to start with the starting pitching. We were able to shut them down and score a couple runs the first night, and that's exactly what they did to us these last two days."

Neftali Feliz came in and unleashed his 100mph fastball on an Indians offense that had been hitting close to .300 since the All-Star break before Texas came into town. Feliz pitched two innings of shutout ball, striking out five of the six batter he faced.

"I go out there, pitch six innings and get five or six strikeouts," Feldman said. "He matches me in two innings. Pretty impressive."



Josh Hamilton continues to make huge strides in his attempt to shake off what had become a season-long slump. Hamilton went 4-for-4 on the day with a couple of doubles and two RBI. He is now 9 for his last 10.

"This was a good series," said Hamilton. "[The Indians] have been playing well. Hopefully we can go back with some fire under our tails against Boston."

Frank Francisco pitched a scoreless 9th to notch his 16th save of the season.

Texas will have Friday off as they head home for a 3-game series with Boston, followed by a big 4-game home series with the Minnesota Twins.

Feliz Impressive In Debut But Texas Falls Late

Believe it or not, this actually got worse after C.J. Wilson's 3-run, 9th inning meltdown which gave Oakland the 3-2 victory.

Following Rajai Davis' 2-run, walkoff triple, Nelson Cruz came up lame in right field and had to be asisted off the field. He apparently sprained his ankle and will probably miss at least the next few games. If it looks no better by then, Cruz make find his way to the 15-day disable list.

"The ball hit off the wall and I was trying to block it," Cruz said. "Then I tried to turn and the foot got stuck in the metal part of the wall. My ankle turned."

Cruz's injury could not come at a worse moment for an offense that has been struggling to find itself since the beginning of the season.

Dustin Nippert, again making a last second spot start, pitched very well for the Rangers, going five innings while striking out five and allowing just one hit. He left with a 1-0 lead.

Rookie sensation Neftali Feliz made his major league debut in the 6th inning, striking out the first four batters he faced, throwing a fastball that topped out at 101 mph. Overall, Feliz pitched two innings of hitless baseball.

"Pretty impressive debut," manager Ron Washington said. "Not so much the strikeouts but the way he filled up the strike zone with strikes."

"When I first got up there, I felt a little nervous," Feliz said. "But once I threw the first pitch, I knew what I was doing and felt comfortable."

The bullpen continued to post shutout inning up till the 9th, when C.J. Wilson came in and imploded, allowing four hits, including the game-winner by Rajai Davis.

"Sometimes you get beat by the long ball, sometimes you get beat by the short ones," Wilson said. "Absolute luck, that's all it is. All of them were lucky hits, dude. They didn't hit any of those balls hard."



Oakland rookie starting pitcher Brett Anderson dominated the Rangers for 7 2/3 innings, striking out 8 while allowing just two runs.

"Brett was great," A's manager Bob Geren said. "There's a lot of home run hitters on that team, and I thought he tied them down well. ... He was pretty pinpoint with his control, really. He commanded both sides of the plate. He had the perfect game plan, and he executed it."

Michael Wuertz picked Anderson up, pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, nabbing his 6th victory of the year.

"That was a tough one right there," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We had them right where we wanted them to be, and we had the right guy in the game."

Top Prospect Makes His Way To Arlington

The Neftali Feliz Era has begun. Well, sorta....

Feliz was called up from AAA Oklahoma City and will work out of the bullpen for the foreseeable future. Overall, the young flame thrower was 4-6 with a 3.49 ERA in 77 1/3 innings at Oklahoma City but, after beginning the season as a starter, was moved to the bullpen where he was more effective, going 1-1 with 20 strikeouts, three walks and a 2.16 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

Red Hawks pitching coach Terry Clark said Neftali was very excited when he heard the news of his call-up.

"He was emotional,” Clark said. "First time, going to the big leagues, and he cried a little bit. He’s really happy, and I’m really happy for him.”

With the starting pitching incurring a rash of injuries the past month or so, having a fresh power arm in the bullpen could be just what the Dr. ordered.



"We think he has the ability to help us or we wouldn’t have brought him up," general manager Jon Daniels said. "We’re not expecting him to come in and save the day. He’s here to make a contribution. He’s improved in the areas we’ve asked him to work on. He deserves the opportunity."

It is doubtful Feliz will see any time this season as a starter as the Rangers believe he will be most effective in a relief role at this stage of his career. Feliz has an electric fastball but has struggled at times with his control when employing his secondary pitches.

To make room for Feliz on the 40-man roster, starter Matt Harrison was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. Harrison is out the rest of the season after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome.

Feliz's call-up is just the latest in what has been a major pitching youth movement this season for the Rangers. Derek Holland has been both a starter and a reliever since his call-up in May and Tommy Hunter has been very impressive thus far in his role as a starter.

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.

Scouts Praise Young Rangers

Several notes from Major League Scouts regarding some of Texas' top prospects:

Justin Smoak: “He’s just fun to watch — he certainly looks like he belongs in big-league games, and the team doesn’t miss a beat with him out there. He’s going to be better than (Chris) Davis. He’s going to be an All-Star, no question about it.”



Smoak hit .280/.357/.600 in 25 at-bats this spring.

Taylor Teagarden: “Teagarden is just an unbelievable defender, and he really shuts the running game down. And I think he’s going to hit. He’s narrowed the gap offensively more than Salty, who has gotten better behind the plate defensively. It’s a nice problem to have.”

Teagarden hit .300/.364/.700 this spring, exhibiting command of the pitching staff when working behind the plate.

Elvis Andrus: “He’s been much more consistent with the glove, and the Rangers don’t need much from him offensively. He’ll hit .255-.260 with seven home runs and be fine.”

Andrus showed some real brilliance with the leather, making several gold glove- caliber plays.

Neftali Feliz: “Every bit as good as advertised — he was up to 98 mph when I saw him. If I have to find something not to like, sometimes he’s a little flat through the zone and he needs to learn how to adjust to getting hit and for now, he just tries to throw harder.”

Derek Holland: “I saw him all list year and he just looks more and more polished each time I see him. He topped out at 96 mph for me and his breaking ball was much better.”