The Star Telegram in this morning’s edition says we’ve been offered Cliff Floyd in a trade (although the article doesn’t say for what).
Uh, no thank you. If we had not already brought in Richard Hidalgo, I can see thinking about Cliff Floyd, but not now. Bringing in Floyd now would mean you expect to play him which means there’s a problem with playing time for the guys already on the team out there (Hidalgo, Nix, Mench, Dellucci, Matthews, not to mention the next level in AAA). I can’t see any positive side to bringing in Floyd at this point.

The Ft Worth Star Telegram this morning is reporting here and here that Kenny Rogers has asked the Rangers for a two year contract extension, and might retire if he doesn’t get it. According to the articles, he feels (or maybe it’s Boras, as he’s quoted in there, too) he wants a two year extension at $5 or $6 million a year, plus there was hints at more money for this year, the second of the two year contract he signed.
Uh, hello? What happened to the contract you signed? You did great, so you want more money? I thought you were supposed to honor the contract you signed, not make a power play just because you did good in the first year. This really irritates me. One of the articles thinks it’s a power play, looking for one more year really, not two. I wouldn’t mind that so much, but two at $12 million? I don’t think so. I particularly liked this bit at the end of the second article…
Maybe, knowing he’ll be underpaid this season, Kenny simply felt obliged to ask for more. Maybe he’ll remember how great it felt to be a part of this team last year and show up for spring training, raring to go.
It’s a business. Rogers has been around long enough to know that better than anyone.
But a man is only as good as his word. Kenny gave his. Now he needs to stand behind it.
And if anyone thinks this bodes well for getting Teixeira signed long term before he’s arbitration or free agent eligible, think again. They both have the same agent.
/me sighs.

Rangers sometimes second baseman / sometimes outfielder Ramon Nivar was resigned today for the major league minimum. Not sure where he fits in anymore with all the other prospects we’ve picked up since he got his look. He’s likely a super utility guy at this point.
Speaking of this, the Major league minumum salary was raised from it’s figure of last year at $300,000 to $316,000. This increase was termed a “cost of living increase“. That’s pretty amusing, that they can’t get by on $300,000 and need a cost of living increase of 5.3%! Can I get something like that, please? I guarantee you I need the money more than they do.

This morning I got hooked up to another good baseball news blog entitled “The Baseball Muse Blog”. It’s run by a guy by the name of Brandon Wilson. He lives in Flower Mound, Texas, and is a local Rangers fan. This past Saturday was the Rangers Winter Warmup, a “watered down” version of the old Winter Carnival that the Rangers used to put on (but was deemed too expensive by the current management – sigh). But I digress. I could not attend thsi year’s warmup, as I had a lot to do around the house to get ready for my Super Bowl party.
So it was with much delight this morning that I read Brandon’s blog entry on the Winter Warmup. It was extremely detailed. He appeared to attend all of the “Chalk Talk” sessions with various speakers (Jon Daniels, Buck Showalter, Orel Hershiser, & Mike Young. I suggest you take some time and read this, it was very enjoyable.