Arod will retire in 2015 with 870 home runs, 3,694 hits, 2,499 RBI’s, and 2,477 runs scored.
So says a simulation of Arod’s career done by IGN on the MLB 2k7 videogame. Check out the full article, it’s actually quite an amusing read.
It does say that he remains a Yankee all this time, and that they win one World Series between now and 2015. :)
The Atlanta Braves website has an interview with Mark Teixeira up on their website. While not the most probing thing, it was a nice short read. You can check out the full piece here. A few samples:
CT: You live in Texas in the offseason?
Teixeira: Right. We live in Westlake, Texas, about 30 minutes from Arlington. We’re planning to stay there for the foreseeable future. We love where we live. For now, with two little ones, it’s too crazy to be moving. We like our home, and we have great friends. So, for now, that’s where we’ll stay.
CT: Who’s your best friend in baseball?
Teixeira: David Dellucci (Cleveland left fielder). I played two years with him in Texas (2004-05). We still keep in contact and try to see each other as much as we can.
Sosa wants $7 million to play in 2008? And he wants to be back in Texas? Not a chance. Not a chance at all. I kind of thought that if the pieces fell in the right order that I wouldn’t mind having Sosa return. Not that I think he should be first in line mind you (or even second), but as a fallback plan I wouldn’t be opposed. But $7 million for 08? No thank you. Nice to see #21 again last year, but not at that price.
UPDATE: There’s a great article called “Sammy Sosa’s Dream World” about this by Joey Matschulat over at Baseball Time in Arlington. Check it out.
Rod Barajas spent 2007 with the Phillies after some strangeness in a contract negotiation with the Blue Jays.
Anyway, he won’t be back in Philly, as the Phillies declined his $5 million 2008 contract, buying him out for $500k. (link)
I wonder if we’ll be hearing talks of him back here – one would think not, but if we move Laird as has been talked about, one never knows what might happen. Anyone think we’ll see Guillermo Quiroz or Chis Stewart back in 2008? I would think not.
OK, it lasted two days. I had to say something. :)
Congratulations to former Ranger Carlos Pena who won the AL Comeback player of the year award.
I remember when he was here thinking he was going to be the next big time 20+ year Ranger player, and he fizzled. Didn’t do great in either Oakland or Detroit. Of course he has a monster year in Tampa Bay, and his agent is Scott Boras. You think he’ll be staying there?
But that issue aside, it’s nice to see him figure it out. We’re in the market for a regular first baseman, what do you think? :) Shows you how long ago he was here, the mug shot pic I have has him wearing a red cap.
There’s an interesting article about Gabe Kapler up on mlb.com here. Talks about his time spent this past year as a minor league manager, and that he might be wanting to make a comeback in 2008.
I don’t think he’s an option here, but it’s still nice to keep up with what some former players are doing. From the article:
“Kapler, now 32, is a .264 lifetime hitter with 64 homers and 302 RBIs in an 850-game career (1998-2006) which has included stints in Detroit, Texas, Colorado and Boston.”
He does mention that Boston was the favorite place he played in the piece.
I’ll have more to say about tonight’s game some time tomorrow. It’s late, and I don’t feel like writing right now. However, I did want to say this. Really nice to see Rusty out there again. Nice tributes and letters. However, I wanted to post a few pictures I took.
After the ceremony was over, and Rusty was taking his “lap around the ballpark”, he got near where I was sitting, and he passed Michael Young. Michael Young tipped his cap to Rusty as he drove by. Most folks will not have seen that, but it was a great moment. I almost got a shot of it, but got it just as Michael put his cap back on his head.
Was also nice the folks who made their own “retired number” sign for Rusty Greer in left field:
As the trade was made official, a story popped up on the Dallas Morning News site that said that before Tex was traded to the Braves, the Rangers offered him a contract extension of eight years, $140 Million. That comes out to $17.5 Million a year. He turned it down.
That makes me think that when he hits free agency after the 2008 season, Scott Boras will start – START with a value of $20 million a year, and won’t take less.
NOW I think this picture is how a lot of fans will see Mark Teixeira, especially given his choice of agent, and the turning down of this kind of money. That’s similar to what Juan Gonzalez turned down with Detroit. Better hope that lightning bolt doesn’t hit again.
You know, I keep bringing up the name Mark Clark on my site here as one of the worst starting pitchers we’ve had in recent vintage. I decided to actually check on his numbers, and how they compare to the 2007 Rangers. It looks like I might need to make one of these guys my new “Mark Clark” on the site before too long.
Check out this comparison between the two seasons Mark Clark pitched with us, and the stats of the 2007 Rangers to date. The number of starts is actually quite similar. Clark pitched some relief in 2000, as did Loe & McCarthy in 07, those stats are accounted for in the overall ERA and WHIP numbers, I don’t know a way short of manually calculating based on old box scores to extricate the relief numbers from the overall numbers.
| Name | Starts | Record | ERA | WHIP |
| Mark Clark 1999 | 15 | 3-7 | 8.60 | 1.84 |
| Mark Clark 2000 | 8 | 3-5 | 7.98 | 2.04 |
| Kevin Millwood | 10 | 2-6 | 7.82 | 1.94 |
| Vicente Padilla | 13 | 2-8 | 6.28 | 1.68 |
| Robinson Tejeda | 13 | 5-7 | 6.49 | 1.56 |
| Brandon McCarthy | 11 | 4-4 | 5.90 | 1.57 |
| Kameron Loe | 10 | 1-6 | 7.40 | 1.67 |
That was far worse than I anticipated. Technically Mark Clark has worse numbers, but man – after looking at the actual numbers it looks like we have close to five Mark Clark’s in our rotation in 2007. Heck, Mark Clark would feel right at home this year, our numbers are just as bad as his was with us. To look back, here are my comments from when we signed Mark Clark, and from when we released him. I had forgotten how much I wanted to like him when we signed him.
Which one of our current guys would you nominate as the new “whipping boy” for my blog to represent everything that is wrong with Texas Rangers starting pitching?
Not with the Rangers though, he’s working for a high school in Argyle. Here’s a story which I read on the WFAA site this afternoon:
Former Rangers reliever John Wetteland, the MVP of the 1996 World Series with the Yankees, has been hired as an assistant baseball and football coach at Argyle Liberty Christian, the school announced Friday.
Wetteland, who is a member of the Rangers Hall of Fame, will be an assistant to head football coach Mark Bowles, and become the varsity and junior varsity pitching coach alongside baseball coach Johnny Isom.
Wetteland, 40, made four saves for the Yankees during the 1996 Series.
I still think he needs to be our bullpen coach. No offense to Don Chiti, who is probably fine, but I really want to see Wetteland out there. And Rusty Greer as our hitting coach should Rudy ever decide to retire.