Baseball's two Texas teams are currently at opposite ends of the spectrum, with the Rangers having won 87 games (third-best in MLB) and the Astros having just 48 victories (last in MLB). Here are some links surrounding the Lone Star State's two teams that will soon share a division…
- The Rangers hope to have both Neftali Feliz and Colby Lewis back mid-season in 2013, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Lewis signed an extension with the AL West leaders earlier today.
- Astros owner Jim Crane's emphasis on building a strong minor league product is beginning to pay off, as evidenced by Class A Lancaster's championship, writes MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. McTaggart's piece provides a tremendously in-depth look at each level of the Astros' minor league system.
- SiriusXM's Mad Dog Radio interviewed Larry Bowa earlier today (hat tip: Andrew Fitzpatrick of SiriusXM). Bowa told host Chris Russo that he met general manager Jeff Luhnow and Crane in the process. Bowa sees value in Luhnow's sabermetric approach but told Russo that there's more to the game than the numbers can tell you. When asked if he is feeling the fire to manage another Major League team, Bowa replied: "…it’s a challenge and it would be something that I’d have to sit down and think about because they do have some talent down below."
Larry Bowa managing the Astros would be similar to Valentine managing the Red Sox minus the star quality.
On about 1/8th of the payroll too.
Not a fan of a Bowa hiring. He’s a bit too old to relate to the kids coming up through the system, and they’ll need patience, not a hot-headed manager (though he may have mellowed a bit). If Brad Mills can’t handle it, how would Bowa?
The Astros need an up and coming manager candidate who’s worked in then AL, and can grow along with the kids into a contender within 3-4 years. Crane got the GM hiring right, now they need to make a similar proactive move for manager.