A couple of links to check out

I’ve been pretty busy dealing with various “real life” things the last few days, a kid who is sick, my own recovery, and a wife who is heavy into the 24 hour version of morning sickness. :) A few links that were sent my way I haven’t had a chance to point out, but I’ll do so now.
Sully Baseball
First up is from a blog called “Sully Baseball“. It’s named that because the guy who runs it is named Paul Sullivan. In his own words, here’s why this link is of interest to folks who frequent my site… “I’ve been comparing the all time homegrown roster versus the all time acquired roster for each team. I’ve done a bunch of them and I just finished one for the Rangers.“. The fellow is an admitted Red Sox fan with “Not a lot of knowledge of the Rangers”. He did however, put together a decent cross section of all time homegrown players for us.
Here’s his team for home grown Rangers:
C – Pudge
1B – Mike Hargrove
2B – Ian Kinsler
SS – Roy Smalley
3B – Dean Palmer
LF – Juan Gonzalez
CF – Oddibe McDowell
RF – Jeff Burroughs
DH – Ruben Sierra
SP – Kevin Brown
SP – Kenny Rogers
SP – Bobby Witt
SP – Rick Helling
SP – David Clyde
RP – Tom Henke
RP – Darren Oliver (Oliver was a starter with the Rangers, I thought)
RP – Danny Darwin
RP – Jeff Zimmerman
RP – Steve Foucalt
BENCH – Pete O’Brien
BENCH – Mark Teixeira
BENCH – Rusty Greer
BENCH – Tom Grieve
BENCH – Jim Sundberg
BENCH – Hank Blalock
The only major complaint I have is that Rusty Greer is not a starter. :) He also lists a starting lineup for imported players. What do you think of his choices?
Dallas Observer
The other link comes from the Dallas Observer. It’s entitled “A Wishlist for Jon Daniels“. He talks a lot about the details of what the team needs (it’s a pretty good summary), but does have a point by point list which I’ll get into.
Ben Sheets: They get so far as to say “don’t eff this up”. I agree, while not the sexiest signing, it could have a big benefit for us. His pitching coach is here, and Nolan Ryan is here. I think this can work, and think we should sign him. The fact that we have not so far tells me we’re playing games over money. We’ve lost a bunch of guys like that in the past, I hate playing the game of contract chicken.
Randy Johnson: I think this would be OK if we sign him, but I don’t think a ton would be different if he did not. As I’ve stated before, I’m indifferent towards him being here.
Ian Kinsler to LF: They say “Wise up and realize that Ian Kinsler sucks as a second baseman. Then, bite down hard and move him to left field.” I can’t agree with that. We have enough of an issue in the outfield without moving Kinsler there. His defensive numbers are better than his reptuation seem to make him out to be. Besides, if you move him to LF, then we need someone for 2B. I don’t think Young wants to go back there, and my gut says that Elvis isn’t ready. Plus we still need a full time 3B, I can’t see how this would work.
Byrd & Salty to Boston for Buckholz: I can’t see Boston moving Buckholz at all. This is s stupid idea on the grounds they won’t move Clay at all. The deal I’m OK with, but since Boston has stated “no way”, I think it’s silly to just pile on more players to get him.
Keep your options open: Ran out of ideas eh? This is such an open ended vague remark, that it tells me they ran out of ideas to put on the list. Every GM “keeps their options open”. Kind of a dumb remark, if you ask me.
While I like the free-form start of this article, the individual points aren’t things that will work, or are realistic for the most part. Still, you should definitely check this out if you have not.