Who knew first place could be this uncomfortable? The Rangers lead the AL West, but they're tied with the Angels, just a game ahead of the A's and just two games ahead of the Mariners. Here's the latest on the defending American League champions…
- Some rival scouts told Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that if recently-signed Rangers outfield prospect Leonys Martin were available in the upcoming draft, he'd be one of the most highly-coveted players around.
- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News hears from Rangers officials that Martin is a "plus defender with a good arm," who is "instinctive" and "has a chance to have an impact on the bases."
- The Rangers called up Mark Lowe and optioned Pedro Strop to the minors in an effort to improve their bullpen, according to Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com. I'm guessing we'll hear lots about the Rangers' 'pen at MLBTR this summer unless it gets healthy in a hurry.
- Brandon Webb, who is trying to pitch in the majors for the first time in over two years, will throw out of the bullpen and work on his mechanics instead of pitching in a game at extended Spring Training tomorrow, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.
I can’t believe it’s been two years since Webb has pitched in a ML game. It seems like just yesterday he was winning Cy Young Awards and carving up hitters with that sinker.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see one success story from pitchers battling back from serious injuries like this? I look at a guy like Mark Mulder, sure, he wasn’t AS dominant but he was a good pitcher. Injuries got the best of him and derailed his career. It’s too bad how easily players can go down for their careers with one bad pitch.
Yeah, I’d really love to see Webb come up and do well for the Rangers this years. I feel like I’m always rooting on some great pitcher who just was destroyed by injuries. I mean, this year there’s Webb and Santana. Next year, I’m really hoping for Wainwright and Strasberg to come back strong. I know the latter two are just going through TJ whic is less severe than the shoulder ailments Santana and Webb are recovering from, but there’s no such thing as a sure thing; so I’ll be sure to have my eyes on them.
You make a great point about guys like Mulder and Prior who just throw that one pitch and it’s over. Being a Cubs fan and seeing both Wood and Prior go down with injuries all the time was probably the hardest to watch though.
Yeah, Wood and Prior had such bright futures. They showed in such a short window of time how dominant they can be. It’s said that they were overused. That much may be true, but come one, let’s face it, one wrong delivery and your career is over. They both tried so hard to come back and I have to say Wood has done pretty well for himself in the pen. Must be nice having in back with the Cubs.
Yeah, I’m still actually hoping to see Prior in the Bigs one more time. Even if it’s just as a Sept. call up out of the pen. It is cool to have Wood back though. I really didn’t like it when he went to Cleveland, since I was hoping he would be a Cub for life. Still, it’s great to see him back in the Cubbie Blue.
I’m with you on that one. I’ve been waiting for Wang for so long. Santana is probably my favorite baseball player, so definitely hoping he bounces back strong!
PS: Don’t take that second sentence out of context, please.
I read it without that thought in my mind. Once I read your last sentence and reread it again, I had to “lol”.
Wang is another one of those guys. He won like 19 games two years straight for the Yanks, and while I know wins don’t mean a whole lot and he had the Yanks line up behind him. I still think it’s a testament to his durability over those couple of years. I actually haven’t heard anything on him in a while. Any updates?
Wins usually mean you consistently pitch quality starts and get run support.
From 2005 t0 2008 he was 54-20 with and 3.79 ERA and 1.293 WHIP. He wasn’t a dominant guy, and it wasn’t like he never had an off day, but there wasn’t a lineup that he couldn’t keep under control enough to give his team a chance to win.
I would like to see him make it back.
Webb and Wang must play chess with one another in the offseasons.
Are we serious right now? We’re sending Strop and his ERA’s in the 1’s down while Tomko and his 7.35 ERA stays?!
Alright man. Let’s get real. It’s Brett Tomko. I think that’s all I need to say.
That should only further prove my point lol
…that Tomko is a solid, if not fantastic, Major League pitcher?
All joking aside. I was surprised to see Strop go as well.
“Some rival scouts told Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that if recently-signed Rangers outfield prospect Leonys Martin were available in the upcoming draft, he’d be one of the most highly-coveted players around.”
Here’s an earlier MLBTR comment:
“ESPN’s Buster Olney talked to three talent evaluators about Martin in April, with one saying he’s “similar to Juan Pierre, with a better arm.” Another called him a “capable, average major league center fielder,” questioning the price paid by Texas.”
In summary:
“…one of the most highly-coveted players around…similar to Juan Pierre…capable, average major league center fielder…”
Juan Pierre…Average major league center fielder = highly coveted? In this year’s deep and talented draft?
I love these anonymous evaluations because you never know if the evaluator is being honest or not very good at his job or just sticking it to a team as these comments are certainly at both ends of the spectrum.
Maybe this comment sums it up best:
“…hears from Rangers officials that Martin is a “plus defender with a good arm,” who is “instinctive” and “has a chance to have an impact on the bases.”
If this guy is highly coveted, how come the Rangers didn’t say anything at all about his bat?
Why do you care so much?? are the scouting reports of him now supposed to comfort you in some way?
obviously the rangers feel that this guy is going to be good or they wouldnt have given him that contract, is that not enough?
Sit back and reserve judgment after you see him play for a few years.
This guy would be highly coveted as a Pierre type with a better bat. They don’t talk about his bat because there are still some holes in his swing to fix.
But they could have said something positive about his hitting ability. It seems like a lot of money for a guy with “some holes in his swing to fix” especially if it’s more than one hole.
“he’s like juan pierre” is a comment on his hitting ability
That comment was from one of the many anonymous evaluators. I was looking for a comment from the Rangers.
Pierre is also a decent ballplayer. Awful OBP, but he has pretty good value as a base-stealer and defender.
“obviously the rangers feel that this guy is going to be good or they wouldnt have given him that contract, is that not enough?”
Of course not because the evaluations are wide-ranging. Once again, if he’s worth the money, why didn’t the Rangers have any comment about his hitting…either average or power? It’s a legitimate question. If you don’t have an answer, so be it.
By your train of thought, no one should question any signing because the player has to be worth it simply because the team paid him. In your world, every time an amateur player is signed to a professional contract, this board should remain quiet on the signing until years go by and the player either proves or disproves his worth. When the 2011 draft occurs in June, you want no one to give their opinion on the draft signings until 2013 or 2014 when there’s a track record of performance?
“Sit back and reserve judgment after you see him play for a few years.”
Do you sit back and reserve judgment on any of your opinions and wait to see if they come to fruition? What’s the purpose of having an opinion if you can’t voice it? That’s what the comment section of this blog is for…our opinions which stimulate discussion. But it doesn’t include the simplistic and obvious “wait a couple years”.
My opinion is that these scouting reports are wide-ranging and could be intentionally misleading. Since I can’t tell them apart, I have no idea whether this kid is worth the money and the Rangers not commenting on his hitting didn’t help…that’s my opinion.
If anyone can provide credibility to any of the scouting reports, I’d appreciate hearing it today…not in a couple years.