Baseball’s hot stove league is in full action, and once again, people in DFW are demanding that the Rangers get – everyone. Or ELSE.
If the Rangers “fans” in this area, had their way, they would get rid of every single player on the team that went to the postseason three straight years and replace them with something completely new with zero experience. They all cheered when MIchael Young was traded to the Phillies, because despite 10 years and the most hits in franchise history, he was never worth squat and never did one pod thing for this franchise. The ant them to unload the farm to get Justin Upton AND James Shields, send Josh Hamilton packing AND sign Zack Greinke.
(Note: As of this posting, Greinke has signed with the Dodgers, and the Rays have traded Shields to Kansas City)
This all seems familiar, Eerily, scarily familiar.
It’s 1999 all over again.
The Rangers had a team that made the playoffs the times in four years. But people had grown tired of every single person on the team and wanted something newer and flashy, like the kid looking at the Christmas shop window. So the team acquiesced and tore the entire team apart.
The let go of superstar Juan Gonzalez, trading him to Detroit. They let Todd Zeile and Marc McLemore go bye bye. (Admittedly, they were interested in bringing back Zeile but he double-crossed them.) They put their future in someone else’s supposed number one pitcher – namely, Justin Thompson, one of the guys they got for Juan. This carried over to the next year, where they threw money left and right at the likes of Andres Galaragga, Ken Caminiti and most notably Alex Rodriguex. Chan Ho Park was given a huge contract after 2001.
And what did all these signings lead to? The complete devastation of the franchise.
The Rangers would not return to the postseason for 10 years after 1999. It took a complete restructure of their development system to get them back to winning on the field, and even then they barely avoided bankruptcy because of what all those big contracts did to them.
It’s amazing how a lot of people don’t learn the lesson repeatedly – that making moves just for the sake of making moves does not a champion make, and that no one ever won the pennant in winter from giving the latest franchise-breaking contract to the current superstar free agent.
Remember the Angela of last year? Huge deals to CJ Wilson and Albert Pujols and it led to nothing. And this was after years of LA of Anaheim Orange County SoCal throwing money at Gary Matthews Jr, Torii Hunter and Hideki Matsui and it amounting to nary a playoff win.
The Yankees are finally feeling the pain of so many huge contracts over the years. They’re reduced to giving extensions to the likes of Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter just to keep them Yankees for life. For a team that had one of the most unproductive postseasons in history, THEY’RE the ones needing young, new life in their clubhouse. But they can’t because of whet they’ve tied up in the past.
As wholly disappointing as last year’s finish was, this is still a team that went tot he World Series for two years and led its division up until the last day. If everyone hadn’t burned out at the end due to too many games played (and that’s the one thing that, in hindsight, maybe Ron Washington messed up on in not giving starters enough rest earlier), things might have been different. Maybe it’s still too early to just quit on everyone in the current clubhouse just yet
The offseason isn’t over. Remember, the Rangers didn’t grab Yu Darvish until January, But even still, perhaps we need to stop whining about how much greener the grass appears onto either side when it’s been pretty lush here since 2010.
As the turn of the century proved for this team, making a whole bunch of moves and completely changing the team could mean a change in the standings. And not in a good way for Texas.
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ROWDY TIME SPORTS 
I remember as do others who love baseball and the Rangers and Michael Young. A lot of noise is made by those who were only bandwagon jumpers and sports media who want to keep people reading hot stuff not real stuff about the Rangers or baseball in general. Life is just a soap opera to some people.
We hear time and time again about how great the youngsters are down in the minors for this team. Perhaps it’s time to see how truely good they really are. Maybe, just maybe, this is the break they need to show their true worth. Add a veteran pitcher or two into the mix and the Rangers Front Office comes out looking ok.
Young was done. Hamilton was a headache. The kids need a chance to play.
What are your thoughts regarding First Base? Kinsler? Mitch? Olt?
Mitch is likely at first next year, with Olt an outside possibility. As much as people are going to be in outrage over this, Ian is likely back at 2nd next year. Apparently the word being spoken not just by Wash but by every coach that’s had him in the organization so far is that Profar just isn’t ready yet to handle the burden and grind of starting every day for a 162-game schedule. Not everyone can go from AA to a major league full time starter, even when they do homer in their first at-bat.
-Chris
PS – the previous comment made below was not mine. I think it was my mother’s, using a computer that I once used to post something on this site and thus still has the login as me.
I tend to agree with you on the idea of keeping Kins at 2nd. Even if Profar was ready, it’s hard to move a solid glove away from their natural position.
What are you hearing on the street in terms of free agent outfielders? Any truth to the rumors that JD and Wash possibly met with Cody Ross last night at Bob’s Steak and Chop House? Any chance we may be seeing a Cruz for Ross type trade in the works?