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Sosa on the Roster [ UPDATED 2 ]

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In a move that will surprise probably nobody, it was announced this afternoon that Sosa will be added to the 40 man roster, and will be with the club on opening day.
I’ve not seen a corresponding drop from the 40 man roster, so it may not actually be “official” yet, this could just be a “we’ll make the move later, but you’re on”. I wonder who loses their job gets cut from the 40 over this one.
UPDATE: This article says that Hairston will be added to the 40 as well, and also goes on to say that it’s not a guarantee they’ve made the club – but why they’d add someone to the 40 on Mar 15th or so and not have ’em break camp is quite odd.
UPDATE 2: Forgot to mention this before. Sosa’s guaranteed salary is $500,000. He can earn a total of 2.2 million in performance bonuses. They’re all tied to plate appearances. Here’s the breakdown:

  • $200,000 each for 200, 250, 300
  • $250,000 each for 350, 400, 450, & 500
  • $300,000 each for 550 & 600

He can also earn a $200,000 bonus on top of that if he would earn Comeback Player of the Year

ST14: Hairston powers Rangers to extra innings win, 9-5

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070314&content_id=1843017&vkey=spt2007gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

Without looking it up, I believe this was the first extra innings game the Rangers have participated in this spring. Could be wrong, but that’s what I’m thinking as I sit here to type this. Due to some upheaval at church and my responsibilities to that, I’ve been unable to even watch the last few games in a box score refresh. So looking backwards, I’m going to take a slightly different stance on “reporting” this game:

  • No Michael Young or Mark Teixeira. That’s not good.
  • Jerry Hairston went 2-5 with 3 RBI. That’s good.
  • Gerald Laird, our #1 catcher was 0-3 again. That’s not good.
  • Brandon McCarthy gave up two home runs in four innings. That’s not good.
  • Bruce Chen gave up 1ER in 3.2IP. While that’s technically good, I say it’s not good. ;)
  • Sammy Sosa did not play, so his name did not dominate the first 3-4 paragraphs of the various newswire stories for this game. That is good.
  • Ian Kinsler & Ramon Vazquez had home runs. That is good.
  • Pete Rose said he bet on Reds games all the time now. I don’t care anymore. Just put him in the HOF, but keep him banned from baseball.

Hopefully Michael Young isn’t out too long. The Rangers site is listing him as “indefinitely out” – which I always hate hearing. If this was the season, I’m sure he’d be on the DL.

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ST13: Rangers lose game and Young to White Sox, 12-8

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070313&content_id=1841657&vkey=spt2007gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

The story of this game should have been the Rangers facing off against one of their former stud pitchers, John Danks. Not the four or 5 paragraphs of Sammy Sosa the AP News wire story talked about. Or what more Ranger fans were concerned about, that being the beaning of Michael Young – who required a hospital trip and a surgical procedure to fix some damage from being plunked with a pitch. Mark Teixeira is also out too, which is never good.
As for our pitching… Ron Mahay didn’t give up any runs. That’s about all I can say good about that.
John Danks gave up 2 runs (1ER) in his two innings of work. I would have liked to have SEEN that, but I couldn’t – stupid no broadcasts in Spring Training! :) Gavin Floyd, who I know from Philadelphia as an underachiever really stunk up the joint. 9 hits, 2 walks, 6ER in 3.2IP. That’s kind of what I remember from his Philly days. Unfortunately, another former Philly boy, Vicente Padilla wasn’t that much better in the stink department this day. The best thing you could say is he didn’t walk anyone.
Sammy Sosa was 2-3, and Marlon Byrd was 2-4. Hairston & Sosa doubled, all the rest of our hits were singles. Still, I’m more concerned about how long it will take Michael Young to bounce back from his injury.

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Roster Cuts

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  • The following players were optioned to AAA: Edinson Volquez, Armando Galarraga, Daniel Haigwood.
  • The following players were reassigned to minor league camp: Thomas Diamond, Eric Hurley, Jose Vargas, & Scott Rice. [ Link ]

First spring cuts

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070313&content_id=1840799&vkey=pr_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

The first cuts of the spring were announced today. Here they are:
Optioned to AAA: Edinson Volquez, Armando Galarraga, Daniel Haigwood.
Reassigned to Minor League Camp: Thomas Diamond, Eric Hurley, Jose Vargas, & Scott Rice.
Most of these are procedural in my opinion – the only one of these names that had a realistic shot of making the club was Volquez, who by all accounts has been very wild this spring.
According to the official press release from the Rangers, there are now 52 players on the club’s spring training roster. Of the 52 players remaining in camp, 26 are pitchers, six are catchers, 10 are infielders and 10 are outfielders.

The Ballpark’s Home Run Porch

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There’s an article online about which ballpark has the best seats.
They rank The Ballpark in Arlington’s Home Run Porch as #11 on the list, right behind the Green Monster Seats in Fenway (which I thought would be higher than that, actually). Here’s what they said about it.

This section has overhead electric fans to cool you on those 100-degree windless Texas evenings, when Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock sends souvenirs your way.

I have never liked the Home Run Porch for a couple of reasons, one is in direct conflict with what they said. Yes, there are fans, but they’re so useless, they might as well not be there. In the upper home run porch, the fans are so far away from you that it’s stupid that they even exist. The lower home run porch is closer, but they’re still to far away to be effective.
I’ve sat in both the upper and lower home run porches, and I don’t like either of ’em. There is almost never a breeze there when I have sat, despite the acclaimed “jet stream” in the place. The worst part is that you can’t see the scoreboard, because it’s on top of you. I’ve been hearing rumours that they may rip out Sections 301-307 and install a second jumbotron up there. That would make the home run porches a bit more tolerable, but I am NOT a fan of sitting there at all. I have more fun out in the bleachers in center than the HR porches.
I wonder if the people who wrote that article ever actually SAT in the seats, or are just looking at ballpark design blueprints and pictures to determine these things.
If you ask me, I’d say anywhere in PNC Park. That place has one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever seen.

ST12: Rangers win beanball game, 11-7

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070312&content_id=1839708&vkey=spt2007gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

The Rangers and Brewers played two games today. Only one counted in spring standings, but there was a lot of beanings, in both the “A” game, and the “B” game. In all, six guys got hit. With that many, unless you had ME pitching, you would think that the latter ones would have been retaliation. Just seemed like a lot. From reports, the one for Nelson Cruz was a bad one, as he was hit on the head, and didn’t move for awhile. Was taken to the hospital, had Xrays, cat scans, etc… Never like to hear those words in a baseball game recap.
Ranger pitching was a tad unusual this game. Normally in the spring, I’m saying something like “it doesn’t matter this guy gave up 27 earned runs in two innings, as he won’t be with us in April anyway”. This game turned that on it’s head. We used a total of six pitchers. Three either will be, or have very good chances to be with us. Those are the three that gave up the runs. The other three, the ones who won’t be here in April (or just are guys I’ve never heard of) are the ones who pitched shutout ball. Now to be fair, Kameron Loe was the starter and gave up two runs, but they were all unearned. Koronka gave up three as well, but only two were earned. CJ Wilson gave up two (both earned). That was a bit unusual.
Offensively it was another “scatter” game. We had twelve hits, and nobody had more than one. The park we played in must have been HUGE as Sammy Sosa got a triple. Kenny Lofton, Brad Wilkerson, and spring training catcher Kevin Richardson all had doubles for their hits. We also had home runs from Miguel Ojeda & Nate Gold. So the majority of our hits (8 of 12) were extra base hits – that’s always nice to see.
Michael Young and Kenny Lofton both committed errors. And then there’s the beanings I mentioned before.

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ST10: Rangers shut out by Angels, 2-0

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070311&content_id=1838332&vkey=spt2007gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

Not much to say about this one. Great pitching on both sides. Only hiccup was Scott Feldman in the 8th, who gave up the two runs. Other than that, every other pitcher on both sides was unscored upon. Including three perfect innings by Jamey Wright.
Michael Young now has about 600 hits in the last 3 or 4 games, he’s batting over 1.000 I think. :)

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ST9: Faux Rangers lose to Giants 13-9

Posted by on at http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070310&content_id=1836805&vkey=spt2007gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex>MLB.com Recap

Isn’t there supposed to be a rule in spring about fielding a representative team on road trips? Our starting lineup this game had just one regular in it, Gerald Laird. The other starters were mostly guys who likely won’t be with us in April, with he possible exception of Jason Botts; maybe Marlon Byrd – but my point is that most of these guys aren’t the real indiciative lineup.
And as you go down the box score, not many of the guys they were pulled for were destined to be with the big club, unless you get into pitchers – most of those guys would be. Which actually makes it feel worse, as we gave up a boatload of runs and hits (13,17 respectively). What’s amusing to me is the text based box score that I copy during Spring Training doesn’t even have the pitchers’ lines listed. :) Ugly all over the place. 22 runs and 31 hits.
Blech.

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