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My Globe Life Field Tour

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I took a tour of the new Rangers park earlier this week, on Monday in the first hour public tours were available.  I tried to get the FIRST tour, which was Monday at 10AM, but that and the second tour were already sold out within 3 minutes, I got the third one at 10:45AM.   So off I went to Arlington, a drive I’ve made out I-30 a boatload of times over the years, but this one was  odd. Going to our new park for the first time since it was completed, but NOT for a baseball game.   This is the story of what I saw…

I got there a little early, and I looked around the gift shop (which seems larger overall, but the space inbetween items is still just a small as the old place.  They didn’t use the additional space in the gift shop to make it easier to walk in there, they used it to put more stuff in there. [Read more…]

Ballpark in Arlington Ticket Pricing

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Those who know me know I’m a bit data obsessive once I get behind an idea. My history of uniform numbers is one thing which has gotten me some notice. However, I’m back with another one. It’s about pricing of seats at the now “old” Ballpark in Arlington.

Earlier this season, when talking about the new ballpark in the Facebook group I’m in, folks snarked in with “Everything will be going up” in price, with the implication that if we didn’t have a new park, prices wouldn’t be going up. That always rubbed me the wrong way. New ballparks are not an absolute guarantee that prices would be going up.  Now I’m no fool, prices go up all the time, and they likely would, but the implication that if we stayed where we were prices wouldn’t have gone up always bugged me.  However, that thought led me to wonder….  How often did prices go up in our current park?  I always know a few core facts. When the place opened in 1994, a seat down the front row was $16, and in the last year of the park, the price of a seat in the last row behind home plate was around $26 (more on “around” later). So prices went up for sure – but the path and frequency they took to get there was lost to me.

I then realized that I had the material at my disposal to find out.  I undertook an obscene level of research on the pricing in the ballpark, and produced a spreadsheet that will show you the price of a ticket in any year of the park in any section. It’s a ridiculous amount of research – it took me most of the year to complete it. I had access to some old documents that I had saved from the 90’s, I had access to all the media guides, and a handful of sales pricing sheets. So I started in on the spreadsheet. It quickly turned out to be a monster of a project, and I had to start over from scratch once when I realized my initial idea for getting the info out was unworkable.

So that’s what this is. A summary of my research into the prices of the ballpark. Given the massive amount of info on here, I made it a publicly viewable spreadsheet. I will point out a few of the highlights in this article, but leave it up to you to view the raw data for specific sections.. [Read more…]

Thoughts on 2020 Roster

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As I write this, Game 7 of the World Series was last night (Congrats Nationals!).  Now that the season is formally over, I started thinking about the 2020 roster, and thought I’d take a few minutes and jot down some thoughts on the various players on the roster, and what I think will happen with them.  I’m going to break them down into groups of players – not by position, but by their contractual status.

So I went down the roster, and looked at everyone on it, and had some comments on each player (although towards the end, I cheated and lumped several of the bullpen guys together). [Read more…]

How Many in 2019?

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Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”. I’ve done this for the last several seasons (2019 will be the 12th season I’ve kept track of this), and it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve also gotten some positive feedback on it, so it’s become a permanent feature here.  If you’d like to see the final tallies for the other years I’ve done this, you can still see them with links at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, this post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2019.  I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes.

The most recent additions will be on the top of the list.

Total players in 2019: 52
Total pitchers used in 2019: 33
Total position players used in 2019: 19
Total players making major league debut: 14

  • #52 – Luke Farrell (Aug 23 – replacing Locke St. John (optioned to AAA))
  • #51 – Jonathan Hernandez (Aug 20 – replacing Phillips Valdez (optioned to AAA))
  • #50 – Brocke Burke (Aug 20 – replacing Ian Gibaut (optioned to AAA))
  • #49 – Nick Solak (Aug 20 – replacing Nomar Mazara (10 day DL))
  • #48 – Ian Gibaut (Aug 16 – replacing Pedro Payano (optioned to AAA))
  • #47 – Kolby Allard (Aug 9 – replacing Scott Heineman (optioned to AAA))
  • #46 – Emmanuel Clase (Aug 2 – replacing Kyle Bird (optioned to AAA))
  • #45 – Jose Trevino (Aug 2 – replacing Tim Federowicz (DFA))
  • #44 – Scott Heineman (Aug 2 – replacing Asdrubal Cabrera (DFA))
  • #43 – Rafael Montero (Jul 22 – replacing Shawn Kelley (10 day DL))
  • #42 – Taylor Guerreri (Jul 16 – replacing Willie Calhoun (optioned to AAA))
  • #41 – Pedro Payano (Jul 6 – replacing Locke St. John (optioned to AAA))
  • #40 – Jesse Biddle (Jul 1 – replacing Shelby Miller (DFA))
  • #39 – Locke St. John (Jun 20 – replacing Drew Smyly (DFA))
  • #38 – Peter Fairbanks (Jun 8 – replacing Joe Palumbo (optioned to AAA))
  • #37 – Phillips Valdez (Jun 8 – 26th man DH player)
  • #36 – Joe Palumbo (Jun 8 – replacing David Carpenter (DFA))
  • #35 – Tim Federowicz (Jun 7 – replacing Isiah Kiner-Falefa (10 day DL))
  • #34 – David Carpenter (May 31 – replacing Zack Granite (optioned to AAA))
  • #xx – Zack Granite (May 29 – replacing Kyle Bird (optioned to AAA))
  • #33 – Willie Calhoun (May 15 – replacing Elvis Andrus (10 day DL))
  • #32 – Wei-Chieh Huang (Apr 26 – replacing Jeffrey Springs (optioned to AAA))
  • #31 – Ariel Jurado (Apr 26 – replacing Taylor Hearn (10 day DL))
  • #30 – Taylor Hearn (Apr 25 – replacing Wei-Chieh Huang (optioned to AAA))
  • #29 – Brett Martin (Apr 19 – replacing Kyle Bird (optioned to AAA))
  • #28 – Danny Santana (Apr 13 – replacing Rougned Odor (10 day DL))
  • #27 – Patrick Wisdom (Apr 7 – replacing Ronald Guzman (10 day DL))
  • #26 – Adrian Sampson (Apr 1 – replacing Kyle Bird (optioned to AAA))

#25 to #1 (no particular order): Kyle Bird, Jesse Chavez, Kyle Dowdy, Jeanmar Gomez, Shawn Kelley, Jose Leclerc, Lance Lynn, Chris Martin, Shelby Miller, Mike Minor, Drew Smiley, Jeffrey Springs, Edinson Volquez, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jeff Mathis, Elvis Andrus, Asdubal Cabrera, Logan Forsythe, Ronald Guzman, Rougned Odor, Shin-Soo Choo, Delino DeShields, Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Hunter Pence.

Players making their Making Major League Debut are bolded

Roster Notes:

  • Of the opening day 25 man roster, 2 players made their Rangers AND major league debut (Kyle Bird, Kyle Dowdy)
  • Of the opening day 25 man roster, 9 players are making their Rangers debuts. (Bird, Dowdy, Gomez, Lynn, Miller, Smiley, Cabrera, Forsythe, Pence)
  • Previous years counts for major league debuts.. 2018 (1, Tocci), 2017 (2, Hauschild, Robinson), 2016 (1, Barnette), 2015 (6, DeShields, Kela, Klein, Rua, Smolinski, Verrett), 2014 (1, Seth Rosin), 2013 (2, Leury Garcia & Smokin’ Joe Ortiz), 2012 (2, Darvish & Ross), 2011 (1, Mason Tobin), none in 2010, 2009 (1, Elvis Andrus), and 2008 (1, Kaz Fukumori).
  • Players with “xx” in front of their names on the list were players that were recalled, on the 25 man roster, but did not actually play.  The team doesn’t count those as players who played.  I do (because they were here), but the team doesn’t.
  • Wei-Chieh Huang was originally brought up Apr 23rd, sent down on the 25th, and brought back on the 26th.  Between the 23rd and the 25th he didn’t actually pitch.

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32 Teams, No DH, 154 Games, and more

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There is a very cool article from Jayson Stark on The Athletic now. It’s very cool, very detailed, and talks about the coming major changes to MLB. We’re not talking small stuff like pitch clock or mound visits. But radical, larger changes like the implementation of the DH across all baseball, expansion to 32 teams, radical realignment, and the possible elimination of the AL & NL leagues into one single large league.

Now he just doesn’t throw out ideas without backup. That’s what social media & Facebook groups are for (haha). He has well thought out remarks on all of this. Unfortunately, it’s behind the paywall, so you can’t read all of it, but I do want to take a moment and say a subscription to the Athletic is spectacular. I got in there because I had signed up for Levi Weaver’s own local service, and when he started with the Athletic, my subscription carried over.  If you use my link, you can get 25% off a subscription, and if you sign up, I get $10 from them, so go – check it out.

Anyway, I’m gonna touch base on all of what he said with my own thoughts on it. [Read more…]

Free Drinks at Rangers Ballpark

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Well, OK, by “drinks” I don’t mean booze.  I mean a soft drink, like a Coke or a lemonade or something…

Don’t know who knows about this one, but I thought I’d pass it on. The Rangers for awhile now have had this booth on the concourse behind home plate and the “Guest Services” area. See the pic in the post.

Anyway, if you fill out the coupon there, you pledge to be a “Good Sport”, which basically means you don’t drink anything (alcoholic) while you’re there.

For the last few years, it’s been really good.  However in 2019, they changed the terms, and made it far more restrictive, and to be honest, to the point where I don’t know if I want to bother with it anymore.

You still go there and sign up, and you do get a coupon.  Despite the coupon physically being the same from last year (and saying fountain drink), they no longer give you a cup which you could use to get a soft drink.  All they give you is one 12oz CAN of soda.  Either Coke, Diet Coke, or Dr Pepper.  That’s it.  No other options.

On top of that restriction, where you get them is now far more restrictive.  You used to be able to turn them in at any stand anywhere.  NOW there are only THREE STANDS IN THE ENTIRE BALLPARK that take the coupons.  Two of them are right behind home plate near the place you fill out the form for the card.  The other one is in the 300 level.  There’s NOTHING in the 200 level.  I took a picture of the sign they had at the table showing where you can redeem the cards now.  It’s below.

The program is STUPID restrictive now.  I haven’t drunk fizzy drinks in years now, so I’m pretty much out.  I would always get lemonade or Powerade.  I got a Diet Coke on opening day, and took three sips of it, and then threw the rest out – I can’t drink fizzy drinks anymore, just tastes awful.  ALL of them.

So if you’re not into Coke, Diet Coke, or Dr Pepper, then they’ve changed this so much it’s not worth it.  Which sucks, as this used to be a great way to save money.  I don’t know whether this was Budweiser doing this, or the Rangers offices, or the food service company – but someone decided too many freebies were being given out apparently, and restricted the hell out of the program.  That is sad.  :(

 

One of the only three things you can get with a coupon now

These were the original terms I had on this post when it was good for the last several years.
THESE ARE NOT CURRENT TERMS ANYMORE AS OF 2019…

They give you a voucher for a free soft drink in the park. I use it every time I’m there to get a free lemonade.

On Dollar Hot dog nights, it’s even better – last one I had a drink and three hot dogs for just $3 at the ballpark.

Now it’s an honor system thing for sure.  There’s nothing stopping you from signing up for that, and then walking straight to buy a beer.   But that’s uncool.   If you don’t drink at the park, you might as well do it.  Free medium soft drink at ballpark prices is nothing to sneeze at.  :)

Texas Rangers Set 2019 Roster

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The Texas Rangers made the following roster moves today to get to the opening day limit of 25 players:

–Selected the contracts of RHP Jeanmar Gomez, INF Logan Forsythe, and OF Hunter Pence from Triple-A Nashville.

–Designated RHP Connor Sadzeck for assignment.

–Optioned OF Zack Granite to Triple-A Nashville.

–Assigned RHP Adrian Sampson to Triple-A Nashville.

–Placed LHP Yohander Mendez (right UCL sprain) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to March 25.

–Placed RHP Luke Farrell (non-displaced jaw fracture) on the 60-day injured list.

The numerical roster is attached.

TEXAS RANGERS OPENING DAY ROSTER

PITCHERS (13): Kyle Bird, Jesse Chavez, Kyle Dowdy, Jeanmar Gomez, Shawn Kelley, Jose Leclerc, Lance Lynn, Chris Martin, Shelby Miller, Mike Minor, Drew Smiley, Jeffrey Springs, Edinson Volquez.

CATCHERS (2): Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jeff Mathis.

INFIELDERS (5): Elvis Andrus, Asdubal Cabrera, Logan Forsythe, Ronald Guzman, Rougned Odor.

OUTFIELDERS (5): Shin-Soo Choo, Delino DeShields, Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Hunter Pence.

10-DAY DL (1): RHP Luke Farrell.

60-DAY DL (2): OF Scott Heineman, LHP Yohander Mendez.

The Rangers have 40 players on their major league roster.

Texas opens the 2019 season on Thursday against the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Park in Arlington at 3:05 p.m.

Corporate Sponsorships IV

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ameriquestbell2016About eleven years ago I wrote an article for my Rangers site on Ballpark names and corporate sponsorships.  At the time, I thought about how many stadiums were left that don’t have corporate names.  Things have changed since I wrote that article, including at the Rangers home in Arlington.  So I’ve decided to revisit that article and update it for all the changes since the original piece.   Some info is harder to find – the primary source I used back then doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ve inquired with a few people with the Rangers about where to find that info publicly, and haven’t found a good updated source of info.  So I’ll do my best to find the info – but a few below will say “N/A”, because I couldn’t find the info, not because I didn’t try.

NOTE: I published v2 of this article in July of 2016, and v3 in August of 2017.  The only change between v2 & v3 is that I moved SunTrust Field to “current” vs “future”, and I updated some text and used the name of the new Rangers Park in 2020, as that was announced on Aug 24, 2017.  The only difference between v3 & v4 is the addition of the new Rays park announced in July 2018.  I also added a name change Seattle Mariners on Dec 19, 2018 and a name change for the San Francisco Giants on Jan 10, 2019. [Read more…]

Apparently I was Bored Today

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Here’s a Rangers starting lineup with uniform numbers all under 10.  No repeat numbers, either.  :)

C – Pudge (7)
1B – Mike Napoli (5)
2B – Scott Sheldon (4)
3B – Wayne Tolleson (3)
SS – Elvis Andrus (1)
LF – Al Oliver (0)
CF – Leonys Martin (2)
RF – Larry Parrish (9)
DH – Dick Billings (8)
SP – Rob Bell (6)

DH made it easy to stick anyone there.  I didn’t want to use another catcher there (Lord knows there’s enough “8” catchers), but you rarely see catchers as DH’s.  Dick Billings got on there because I wanted an early Ranger on the list.  Plus the DH came into being the second of his third years with the Rangers.

I may have over thought this a bit.  :)

How Many in 2018?

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Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”. I’ve done this for the last several seasons (2018 will be the 11th season I’ve kept track of this), and it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve also gotten some positive feedback on it, so it’s become a permanent feature here.  If you’d like to see the final tallies for the other years I’ve done this, you can still see them with links at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, this post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2018.  I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes.

The most recent additions will be on the top of the list.

Total players in 2018: 50
Total pitchers used in 2018: 30
Total position players used in 2018: 20
Total players making major league debut: 9

  • #50 – C.D. Pelham (9/4 – September Callup)
  • #49 – Adrian Sampson (9/4 – September Callup)
  • #48 – Zac Curtis (9/1 – September Callup)
  • #47 – Connor Sadzeck (8/31 – replacing Cory Gearrin (traded to OAK))
  • #46 – Drew Hutchison (8/5 – replacing Brandon Mann (DFA))
  • #45 – Jeffrey Springs (7/31 – replacing Keone Kela (traded to Pirates))
  • #44 – Eddie Butler (7/27 – replacing Cole Hamels (traded to Cubs))
  • #43 – Willie Calhoun (7/20 – replacing Nomar Mazara (10 day DL))
  • #42 – Cory Gearrin (7/9 – replacing Austin Bibens-Dirks (optioned to AAA))
  • #41 – Ricardo Rodriguez (7/5 – replacing Chris Martin (10 day DL))
    NOTE: Ricardo was first called up on Jun 18, but sent down without playing.
  • #40 – Yovani Gallardo (6/17 – replacing Brandon Mann (optioned to AAA))
  • #39 – Jose Trevino (6/15 – replacing Chris Martin (10 day DL))
  • #38 – Austin Bibens-Dirks (5/24 – replacing Brandon Mann (optioned to AAA))
  • #37 – Ariel Jurado (5/19 – replacing Matt Moore (10 day DL))
    NOTE: Jurado sent back down next day.
  • #36 – Hanser Alberto (5/15 – replacing Adrian Beltre (10 day DL))
  • #35 – Brandon Mann (5/13 – replacing Yohander Mendez (optioned to AAA))
  • #XX – Eliezer Alvarez (5/7 – replacing Drew Robinson (10 day DL))
    NOTE: Alvarez was sent down after 1 day, did not actually play, so doesn’t officially count.
  • #34 – Carlos Perez (5/3 – replacing Juan Centeno (DFA))
  • #33 – Yohander Mendez (5/3 – replacing Nick Gardewine (optioned to AAA))
  • #32 – Renato Nunez (4/16 – replacing Ryan Rua (optioned to AAA))
  • #31 – Ronald Guzman (4/13, replacing Elvis Andrus (10 day DL))
  • #30 – Isiah Kiner-Falefa (4/10, replacing Rougned Odor (10 day DL))
  • #29 – Tony Barnette (4/10, replacing Doug Fister (10 day DL))
  • #28 – Martin Perez (4/5, replacing Jose Leclerc (optioned to AAA))
  • #27 – Bartolo Colon (4/2, replacing Nick Gardewine (optioned to AAA))
  • #26 – Nick Gardewine (3/31, replacing Delino DeShields (10 day DL))

#25 to #1 (no particular order): Matt Bush, Jesse Chavez, Alex Claudio, Jake Diekman, Doug Fister, Cole Hamels, Kevin Jepsen, Keone Kela, Jose Leclerc, Chris Martin, Mike Minor, Matt Moore, Juan Centeno, Robinson Chirinos, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Joey Gallo, Rougned Odor, Jurickson Profar, Shin-Soo Choo, Delino DeShields, Nomar Mazara, Drew Robinson, Ryan Rua, Carlos Tocci

Players making their Making Major League Debut are bolded

Roster Notes:

  • Of the opening day 25 man roster, 1 player is making his Rangers AND major league debut (Carlos Tocci)
  • Of the opening day 25 man roster, 8 players are making their Rangers debuts. (Chavez, Fister, Jepsen, Martin, Minor, Moore, Centeno, & Tocci)
  • Previous years counts for major league debuts.. 2017 (2, Hauschild, Robinson), 2016 (1, Barnette), 2015 (6, DeShields, Kela, Klein, Rua, Smolinski, Verrett), 2014 (1, Seth Rosin), 2013 (2, Leury Garcia & Smokin’ Joe Ortiz), 2012 (2, Darvish & Ross), 2011 (1, Mason Tobin), none in 2010, 2009 (1, Elvis Andrus), and 2008 (1, Kaz Fukumori).
  • 1 guy is on an Opening Day roster for the first time (Tocci)

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