There’s a lot of rumours about which free agent will end up where. The movement starts this weekend. One of the more “out there” rumours is one of Barry Bonds coming to Arlington. I think if he didn’t have the roids contoversy, then I think most people would probably be OK with that move. Offensively he can still bring it, but he’s a total liability in the field.
However, I don’t think it can completely be ruled out. From a purely baseball side, I’m sure he could help in the lineup, and we all know about left hander power hitters and our home run porch. From a complete “blinders on” mentality, that probably would be good. But as we all know this instant headline media obsessed culture we live in wouldn’t allow that. There’s a boatload of baggage with Bonds.
That brings me to the reason for writing this. The last few years, you go outside of San Francisco, and Bonds gets almost universally booed. Heck, the fans in Philly had some rather imaginitive sings when he was there.
It makes me wonder. If Barry Bonds signed here and was a Texas Ranger in 2007, do you think he’d get booed at his own home games? I’d love to hear what some people think about that issue.
This seems like a good time to bring up the story again of how my wife met Barry Bonds some years ago, and he refused to pay $2 for a couple of cookies and milk from a mall stand she was working at.

The last 24 hours have been a real high for Ranger fans. I think the majority of us will say that the hiring of Ron Washington is a positive for us. I personally wasn’t one of the people with pitchforks and torches running behind Mr. Showalter, but I can see the arguments for change. Ron Washington’s choice surprised me. I fully expected it to be Wakamatsu or Hillman. I figured Washington was a serious candidate, but didn’t think he would be picked. Now that he has been, it just “feels” right. Can’t quantify that with any hard facts, I just get the feeling based on what I’ve read from Oakland players that this will be a great move for us.
It’s in the wake of this high that I found some other information about the 2007 season that I don’t believe has been mentioned anywhere before. Most of this is good. One thing if I understand it correctly is not good. Today in the mail, I got a flyer with various group ticket options for 2007. There is a schedule in here, which shows times for the 2007 games; that was new information. The 2007 promotions schedule is also in here. Neither of these pieces of information are on the Rangers site as of this posting. Here’s a summary of the bullet points from reading this flyer:
Not good stuff:

• Parking next season will be $12. Actually that info did not come from the flyer; I knew that back in October when I pre-paid for some parking. So that’s a change.
• It would appear that the Rangers are adopting that “charge higher ticket prices for higher profile opponents” thing that’s been floating around for awhile. The reason I think this is happening is the flyer has several different kinds of rates for group tickets. One of them is “Big Games”. In that section appears the text… “These are the biggest games with the best opponents on the best nights. Access reuglar gate prices and avoid paying premium individal prices for Yankees and Red Sox games.“. Now while this does not explicitly state they’re charging higher for Yankees/Red Sox games, it reads that way to be cause of the “premium prices”. I could be wrong about that, I can see where it could be translated another way, but the fact that they have a category called “Big Games” makes me think that’s what they’re doing.

Other Stuff:

• Every single home game in June, July, & August has a start time of 7:35PM. There’s one exception to that, the Sunday game on Jul 8, before the All Star Break is at 2:05, but all the other Jun/Jul/Aug home games are 7:35. Good, good, GOOD. I just wish the ones in April, May, & September were like that, too (they’re still 7:05). But I’ll take this. It’s a good move, as I have to drive 34 miles from my house to the Ballpark through the downtown Dallas mixmaster.
• Sunday day games in April, May, & September return to their old time of 2:05PM instead of the 1:05 they’ve been at the last few years. Weekday day games remain at 1:05.
• It appears they’re adding a regular promotion. There appears to be a $2 T-Shirt Tuesday on many dates. From the name it appears you can get a T-Shirt for $2, but that’s all the info on that promotion. I expect we’ll be able to buy some of the lesser T-Shirts for $2; I’m sure we’ll hear more about that later.
• Initially, there’s only three bobbleheads listed. I know these things tend to change/get added once the season gets going, but that’s all that’s listed for now. Two of them are “connected” in some capacity. The ones on May 4 & May 11 are a “Doubple Play Combo Bobblehead”. One is Mike Young, one is Ian Kinsler. How they’re “connected”, I don’t know.
• The usual promotions are here. Fireworks, Dollar Hot Dog night, Autograph Wednesdays, $1 Ice Cream Sundays, etc…

So the only real “bad” news out of this is the “Big Games” concept. The $12 parking isn’t much fun. If management wants less empty seats, they need to make some incentives towards the fans like Tampa Bay has been doing (free parking!). Yeah, I know – we’ll hear the line about “Win, and they’ll come”. Sure, that’s true, but I went to a lot of games late last year, where the number of empty seats was OBSCENE. I can tell you why. Too DAMNED expensive. And the tickets aren’t the problem. Gas, parking, cost of food, etc, etc, etc. THAT’s where the cuts need to be made. Not another half price ticket deal. Not a free pair of tickets once in a while (that’s nice, though). The tickets are actually the cheapest parto f the equation when coming to the game. Oh look, there I go ranting about cost of attendance again. If I’m gonna stop doing that, I need a REAL incentive to come out more often. Not more bobbleheads or a half price ticket (which by the way even at half price is still more than it should really cost, but that’s another rant).
I’ll have the 2007 schedule online shortly with the times in this flyer.

As I’m thinking of what to do with the site in 2007 (just minor tweaks, nothing elaborate), I had a thought. Would anyone visiting this site be interested in having those open comments posts I see on a lot of other sites?
Traditionally I’ve resisted them, since I’ve never been a big fan, but I was wondering if folks here would like to have them.
Please let me know. If I don’t hear more than a couple of comments, then I’ll assume nobody cares, and not bother.

Interesting article.
Great blog on the Giants, though. Just offering the link with no commentary on my part.

I’ve seen a few articles over the last year or two which claim that Mike Young is not a good defender. One of my favorite sites just revived this silly notion in a report today on moves they’d make. Here’s what they say:

Rangers: Trade Mike Young to the Orioles for Erik Bedard. OK, I just pulled this deal out of my ass. But in Bedard the Rangers get a 28 year-old who keeps the ball in the yard and has three years until free agency. Young, while a great player, is poor defensively and will be 30 next year. He has two more seasons under contract at a very reasonable price.

I’ve watched him day in day out for several years now, and I do not understand this “poor defensively”. I just do not understand it. I have come to the conclusion that people who say things like that have not watched him enough to have an informed decision on the matter. That issue aside..
Mike Young straight up for Eric Bedard? Uh, no. If I’m moving Young (which for the love of God I hope does not happen), then it better be for SEVERAL players, not just one. And one of them had better be Bedard.
I’m a fan of mlbtraderumours, but not of this story. Ugh.

So, the World Series has ended. Congratulations to the Cardinals. Personally, I wanted the Tigers to win primarily because they had several ex Texas Rangers on their team (Pudge, Rogers, Monroe, Thames, etc)… But I’m OK with the Cardinals winning, even though Scott Rolen is on the team. Being a former Philly boy, Rolen gets the big ol’ Booooooo from me. I might live in Dallas, but you can’t take the Philly boy out of me.
Here’s a recap of my selections. I had two groups of picks. What I thought would happen, and what I wanted to happen:
What I thought:
ALDS: Twins/A’s: Twins (wrong)
ALDS: Yankees/Tigers: Yankees (wrong)
NLDS: Cardinals/Padres: Padres (wrong)
NLDS: Dodgers/Mets: Mets (right)
ALCS: Twins/Yankees: Yankees (wrong, didn’t happen)
NLCS: Padres/Mets: Mets (wrong, didn’t happen)
WS: Yankees/Mets: Yankees (wrong, didn’t happen)
What I wanted:
ALDS: Twins/A’s: Twins (wrong)
ALDS: Tigers/Yankees: Tigers (right)
NLDS: Padres/Cardinals: Padres (wrong)
NLDS: Dodgers/Mets: Dodgers (wrong)
ALCS: Tigers/Twins: Tigers (half right)
NLCS: Dodgers/Padres: Dodgers (wrong)
WS: Tigers/Dodgers: Tigers (wrong)
So, as you can see, I didn’t do too well. I actually had posted longer drawn out reasons why I wanted the teams I wanted, so it wasn’t as random as a coin flip, but heck, it didn’t matter. I was wrong. :)
Now the real fun begins. The World Series is over, and I expect the new CBA to be ratified pretty quickly, so we can get down to the business of baseball. It’s odd, as I’ve gotten older, I seem to enjoy the off season a lot more, even though it seems to be filled with more and more unimaginable tales of higher paychecks. :)
We can also get onto picking a field manager. Hopefully that doesn’t get strung along too much. In the spirit of predictions, I expect it will be Don Wakamatsu chosen. Mostly because of his built in knowledge of the players, there’s no learning curve that someone new might get. Of course, now that I picked him, he will not get the job if my story above is any indicator.

As I’ve gotten reminded about in email, I’ve been pretty quiet lately. Part of that is that not a lot has gone on in Ranger land. There is the search for a new field manager to replace Buck Showalter. That’s part of the problem. I don’t think I’m qualified enough to offer any kind of brilliant insight into any of the candidates. There’s been a lot said by the other local fans (Jamey, Lone Star Ball, etc), that my words wouldn’t offer anything brilliant. :)
I still am not sure which way they’re leaning. There is the quote that Wakamatsu is the favorite, but beyond that, I haven’t heard much about which way they’re leaning (which by all rights we shouldn’t anyway).
The only thought of my own I can add here is that I don’t think Ron Washington will get it, as he’s more likely to want the manager’s job of his own team than to jump ship over here and manage the Rangers.
Hopefully we’ll find out soon. That is after the World Series due to Selig’s “don’t announce any big news like that during the World Series” edict.

Anyone who knows me knows I can’t stand the Yankees, but what happened today in New York is really sad.
As I’m also a Phillies fan, I knew Lidle from there, and something must have been seriously wrong for this to happen.
My prayers will be with his family, for sure.

In this day of the “Ricoh scouting report”, and “Great American Ballpark”, and the “phone company call to the bullpen” comes this story… I thought I had seen it all, but then I suppose I should not be surprised by this. The 7-11 company has figured out a way to get a really subtle sponsorship. They’ve purchased the actual start time of the games! What’s next? Some popular hair dryer company sponsoring the air driven hand dryers in the bathrooms? Perhaps if Marge Schott were still around, she could sponsor some pooper scopper thing for Schotzie.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox have agreed to start weeknight home games at 7:11 p.m. under a sponsorship deal struck with the convenience store chain known for its Slurpee frozen drinks, the team announced Wednesday.
White Sox spokesman Scott Reifert would not disclose the value of the three-year deal with Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc., but he said the revenue it generates will probably be reinvested in the team or its ballpark.
The new start time does not represent a drastic change since many weeknight games at U.S. Cellular Field currently start at 7:07 p.m., Reifert said.
“We’re just talking about four minutes, so it’s not much of an inconvenience for the fans,” he said.
Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman 7-Eleven, said the company has been working to develop sponsorship deals with other sports teams and entertainment venues.
The Chicago area was targeted for such a deal because of its high concentration of 7-Eleven stores, she added. There are more than 180 of them in the area.
“Every time the media announces the game’s start time it will be a gentle reminder of our sponsorship,” Chabris said.

I was watching the Tigers / A’s game last night, and was listening to Lou Piniella in the booth. Whenever I think of him, I think of what happened against the Rangers on September 18, 2002. I looked back in my old entries, and this is what I wrote about that game:

This is the time of year that folks who root for bad baseball teams find ways to do other things. I’m no different. Last night I spent a lot of time watching the Monsters Inc. DVD that I got in yesterday. :)
I tuned in late to the game, and guess what? We lost in extra innings again. However, by far and away the most entertaining thing of the game that I watched was Lou Piniella’s blow up after Mike Young made a spectacular play at second to get (at least by the umpire’s call) an out. Lou of course came out and had a major Lou meltdown. Quite funny to watch, ESPECIALLY as the umpire kept his cool and didn’t say a word, just kind of stood there and let Lou spew. I’m fairly sure that egged Lou on a bit more than he might have. Was also nice of the TV folks to leave the game on Lou, and not cut away to commercials, so we could see it all. There’s only one picture below of this, wish there were more stills. Quite quite funny.

For those that don’t remember it, check this out – I found a video of this when looking around for something else.
As a Rangers fan however, it makes me sad, as it shows Travis Hafner in a Rangers uniform. Grrrr. He should still be in that uniform. Thanks Mr. Hart.