Various Ranger Thoughts

1) Well, that didn’t take long. Jason Botts was sent back down today without having made an apperance as far as I can tell. CJ Wilson is brought back up. Given the state the bullpen is in now, we probably need another arm. Is Wilson it? Don’t know. At least Botts won’t get a chance to rot on the bench. When he comes back, I’d rather it not be as a bench player.
2) The quote by an unnamed player that appears in today’s FTW-ST article by Jim Reeves is pretty damning of Ranger management. The quote was “I’m not expecting anything, why would I?” in reponse to a move at the trading deadline. Now I don’t know who that is, but I have a hard time it’s someone like Marshall McDougall, or Sandy Alomar. It’s probably someone like Soriano, Blalock, or Tex. Why? Fringe players aren’t likely to make a quote like that – to me, that kind of statement is made by a player who is a leader, or at least is established. Could be Kenny, given his recent spate of negative happenings. Who knows? The point is if it’s true, then it means that players are getting agitated about the lack of moves. For the most part, I agree with Jim Reeves, although I think he takes it a bit too far. I agree something needs to be done, but I don’t think it’s quite as dire as Reeves makes it out to be.
3) Francisco Cordero should change his uniform number to 35. He appears to have become John Wetteland in terms of the scariness of some of his appearances. I love Wetteland, but he had a habit of putting men on before getting the job done. That’s what Cordero is doing (or worse, giving away the lead).
4) Juan Gonzalez is out for the season. [ link ]. I can’t say this surprises me. A quick look at some of his stats the last few years:

I have to say, it’s a better rate of money per at bat than any other player in history, even counting Arod. Juan made 600k for one plate appearance this season. I can’t imagine anyone giving him a major league deal next year, assuming he even tries. Someone’s got to sign him to a minor league deal.