Week One

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Oh, so many things!

The Texas Rangers have lost 4 games and won 2; why do I feel so much better about the season right now?

What did I do?

Joey Gallo:  plate discipline is up, swinging strikes are down, and that's all it takes for Joey Gallo to do Joey Gallo things.  I wasn't impressed with his approach in his first few at bats, but Gallo just took a deep breath, centered himself, and then did something different.  That's the key, my friends.  Saying Joey Gallo is a success if he hits the ball hard is not accurate.  If Joey Gallo hits the ball right, then he's hitting the ball hard anyway.  He's a monster.  When Joey Gallo makes the pitcher throw HIS pitch, then Joey Gallo is a success.  Gallo is batting .200, slugging .500, and after another couple of good games, he'll likely have an OPS approaching 1.000.

That'll do, Joey.

Nomar Mazara:  .417/.462/.750/1.212.  Is he going to do this all year long?  Of course not.  But misplaying fly balls and running when you shouldn't (he'll learn, this guy is YOUNG) can be forgiven when you're batting enough for two people.

Carlos Gomez:  His bat isn't so hot, but it's as good as Ian Desmond's second half last year, and the defense is better.  For much less money.  Plus, we know the bat is still in there somewhere.

Rougned Odor:  .318/.348/.773/1.121.  And he does it while being Rougned Odor, which is a plus.

Elvis Andrus:  OPS over .900, which somewhat negates the need for dazzling glove work.  Elvis's glove has been fair to middling and occasionally sparkling, so we'll just have to see what we end up with.

Robinson Chirinos:  "Hey, Robbie, get in there and just do what you do. Make Martin Perez better, hit for power."  "Yeah, boss."  Does it.

Yu Darvish:  Hey, would you believe a huge number of Rangers fans, including people who write regularly about the team, still think Darvish is an overhyped, prima donna bum?  I'm on board with Texas trading him, now....just so people will STOP WHINING about the guy.  Darvish is a Top of the Rotation pitcher on any team that doesn't have Clayton Kershaw, or whoever is having his one-off Cy Young year.  I suspect he looks so bad to people when he's "off", only because he looks so good when he's on.  We've heard for a couple of years now, when Cole Hamels is "off", that he still finds a way to get 18 - 20 outs, limit runs (sometimes) and keep his team in the game (sometimes).  "That's the definition of an Ace, right there, ya sumbitches!"

Yeah, well, it's also the definition of Yu Darvish in the MLB.

Cole Hamels's performance was a mixed bag.  The good news is that the warning signs are the kinds of things that can easily smooth out over a few games.  In fact, he has some of the same problems, statistically, that Darvish has.  The difference between the two is that, again statistically, Darvish kept the game more under control than Hamels did.  Not by a big margin; it's important to stress that.  I am NOT saying "Darvish is clearly good and Hamels is clearly bad"; not at all.  But Hamels doesn't throw as hard as Darvish, and he's older, and he had a lot of warning signs last year, too...

I guess I'll just say that Hamels's situation is "developing".  My best case prediction is that he'll do about what he did last year, except he'll have 1 or 2 fewer good games.  Which will make him a pretty decent pitcher.

Slow pitch.

Martin Perez:  Martin Perez is the best pitcher on the Texas Starting Pitcher staff after one week.  If he did this in every start, and made every start (he will do neither), he would be a 9 bWAR pitcher and a controversial Cy Young winner, probably.  The good news is that when you regress him back a bit, and figure the negative bits of his game will player a bigger role, then maybe Perez will still be a 3 or 4 WAR pitcher for Texas this year...which is EXACTLY what they expect and want from him.

That's all of the really good stuff.  I know people want to grouse about the bullpen, but the bottom line is "It is what it is".  I don't like the closer role, but Jeff Banister does, and by all accounts buys into the psychological part of "being a closer".  Ergo, Sam Dyson will be the closer until Jeff Banister believes his ego is crushed (never mind his arm).  I don't get it, but that's how Banister rolls his bullpen.  Bush is good.  Jeffress seems locked in, and can probably do a lot more than he's been doing...but that's up to the manager.  Claudio...man, he really has made an art form of multi-inning relief.  That's something that Texas has clearly tried to develop with a handful of of their relievers...and if you haven't noticed, it's something that's becoming more prominent throughout MLB (Trevor Bauer, anyone?)  Claudio and Barnette have both proven out what I wrote last year in some of my xFIP posts:  they're both much better than their reputation, and their appearance.  If only Banister would do with closer what he's doing with the rest of the bullpen.  Say, with Jose Leclerc, the man who owns a .273 WHIP, 12.3K/9, and NO WALKS.  That sounds like closer to me.

Hm.  So I guess I wrote about the bullpen anyway.

The ugly stuff, or "why the Rangers won't win 100 games"(at this point):

Napoli:  I suspect he'll keep doing what he's been doing (hit a dinger a week) with bad 1B defense.  He'll go the DL eventually, possibly the 60 day and his year will be over.  I suspect he's already hurt, based on how he's moving.  Could be wrong.  I also suspect, despite media reports, Texas didn't try all that hard to sign Napoli, but there was enough doubt in the slugging department that when he got cheaper than anyone ever thought, Daniels just said "what the hell" and called his agent.

Choo:  He'll either come around, or he won't.  Probably he'll be hurt soon.  This is his fourth year with Texas; he's signed for three after this.  And like Josh Hamilton, I just don't see how he contributes all that much from this point onward.  He's been hurt more than I think anyone really foresaw, except for some guy in the comments section somewhere who said it from the time Choo was signed.

Lucroy:  Now would be a good time to sign him to an extension.  I would go five years, but it would have to be creative to be worth the money.  Catchers carry a lot of risk, but it's Lucroy's bat that gets cold, not his hands or mind.  Just my 2 cents.  Also, no; I don't seriously think Lucroy will be a drag on the team all year.  But he sure has stunk so far.

Beltre:  Doesn't belong on this list.

Did I miss anyone?  Disagree?  Let me hear it.

The Rangers Are 1-3

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Isn't winning fun?

  • A.J. Griffin took the mound tonight, and immediately put his defense to the test. By defense, I mean Carlos Gomez. In the top of the first inning, Gomez recorded all three outs in center field, one a ball that he tracked to the wall and saved from being what looked as if it would have otherwise been a home run. Way to go, Carlos.
     
  • In the bottom of the first, Gomez became a catalyst for the offense. He led off with a double, advanced to third on a Shin-Soo Choo groundout, and then on a weird play in which Nomar Mazara hit the ball to first base, bolted for home on contact. He slid around the tag at home, getting his hand on the plate and giving Texas a 1-0 lead. Also, it was ruled that Yonder Alonso hadn't touched first base, so Mazara was ruled safe.
     
  • Rougned Odor continued his powerful start to the season, belting his third long ball of the season and putting Texas up 3-0 heading into the second inning.
     
  • Griffin had a painless second inning, holding the 3-0 lead he was given. In the bottom half of the second, Joey Gallo led off with a walk and advanced on a groundout by Elvis Andrus. Jurickson Profar walked, and then Gomez was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Choo.
     
  • Choo singled on a hard-hit ball to center field, making it 4-0 Texas. Then, Mazara provided the highlight play of the game, hitting a grand slam to straightaway center field and making it 8-0 Texas.
     
  • At that point, it was thought that the Rangers could coast to the finish line. Of course, if you've watched the first three games of the season, you probably didn't yet feel comfortable. Griffin gave up a three-run home run in the third, then a solo shot to Khris Davis in the fourth.
     
  • In that fourth, Griffin attempted to keep an errant throw from bouncing out of the field of play and found himself on the ground. He appeared to have suffered some scraping on his pitching hand, and was promptly pulled from the game in favor of Alex Claudio. Griffin's final line was 3.1 IP, four hits, four runs (all earned), two walks, and two strikeouts. He wasn't exactly sharp, giving up a lot of hard contact, and even before the tumble near the camera well, he didn't appear to be long for this game. I tend to wonder if Mike Hauschild will get a shot sooner rather than later.
     
  • In the bottom of the sixth, Elvis Andrus led off with a double of his own. Following that, Profar got ahead in the count 3-0, then ended up striking out in one of the poorest sequences of hitting I think I've seen so far in 2017.
     
  • Carlos Gomez followed with an RBI double of his own, and Mazara singled on a ball to left field that was, quite possibly, a more impressive piece of hitting than his grand slam earlier in the game. The hit scored Gomez from second, making it 10-4.
     
  • In the bottom of the eighth, Mazara hit another ball to left field. The Big Chill has easily been the most impressive part of the young season so far, and much of that has been due to his plate coverage skills. After initial success followed by some struggles in his 2016 rookie campaign, it's a good bet that Nomar will end up being an important part of anything the Rangers do in 2017.
     
  • Jose Leclerc came in to work the ninth inning. Stephen Vogt reached on a Rougned Odor error and later scored on a Yonder Alonso double. Marcus Semien then grounded out to end the game, with the Rangers winning 10-5.
     
  • Not a bad first win of the season, at least as far as the offense was concerned. The starting pitching needs to be better, but will have a chance to begin righting the ship tomorrow evening as Yu Darvish takes the mound for the second game of the series.

So You Don't Like the New Broadcast Crew

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Three games into the 2017 season, a hot topic on Twitter has been the state of the newly-revamped television broadcast.

Specifically, Emily Jones has taken on a larger role that was once reserved for Jim Knox, Dave Raymond is your everyday play-by-play guy, and C.J. Nitkowski joined the fold as a color commentator.

Tom Grieve will presumably still be involved in broadcasts during the season, but for now, the opening series of the season was mostly a blend of new with just a hint of familiarity in Emily Jones. And the response has been varied. Some love the change, others hate it and want the old broadcast back.

Now, I've made my opinions about Nitkowski public in the past. He seems like a well-spoken and intelligent former ballplayer. My only gripe has always been his insistence on "former MLB players" being a group that somehow holds more weight in baseball discussions.

That being what it is, I've found him to be at least refreshing compared to the normal goofball takes that come with Tom Grieve. As with any baseball broadcast, you're going to have lulls in the action where "filler" conversation is necessary. And Dave Raymond, who will only get better as time goes on, could afford to be a bit more enthusiastic at times. But again, that will improve.

For years, the Rangers were just another baseball team. With a noted lack of real success, the target audience was just different. And so things like "Cookie Talk" probably played well with those audiences. Approaching nearly a decade of sustained success, however, I'm just not sure that formula works anymore. So the more time goes by, the more I'm good with the change.

Still dead-set against it? Then I'll just leave this here from the eighth inning of a tie game against Seattle in 2014.

The Rangers Are 0-3

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I think it's fair to say that the bullpen needs a bit of fine-tuning. Some thoughts:

  • Cole Hamels took the mound tonight, and early on, looked very dominant, not allowing a base runner until the fourth inning. Things were looking pretty excellent.
     
  • In that fourth inning, Francisco Lindor hit a ball to left field, where Nomar Mazara was playing tonight. Mazara -- who hit an upper-deck home run to right field in the first inning -- should have made the catch, but instead, there were men on first and second with no outs. This became important later, as Jose Ramirez, with two outs in the inning, singled in both runners, tying the game at two runs apiece.
     
  • Cleveland plated another run in the fifth inning to briefly take the lead, but an offensive barrage gave Texas a 5-3 advantage heading into the sixth.
     
  • The sixth was where Hamels struggled mightily tonight. He faced six hitters on 28 pitches, giving up a home run to Lindor. No matter, Texas still held a 5-4 lead as Hamels ended his night.
     
  • Elvis Andrus hit a solid home run to left field to make it 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh. Tony Barnette had worked a scoreless top half of the seventh, and with Matt Bush and Sam Dyson waiting in the fold, a 6-4 lead felt somewhat comfortable.
     
  • Bush did his part, working a scoreless eighth. Good job, Matt.
     
  • Sam Dyson, however, continues to be erratic to begin the season. His five earned runs allowed in the ninth bring his ERA on the season to a whopping 72.00 (not a typo), and perhaps most concerning were the back-to-back walks to the ninth and first place hitters in the Cleveland lineup. The first loaded the bases, while the second walked in a run to bring the score to 6-5.
     
  • Of course, the one thing you can't do is give up a grand slam, which Dyson did to Francisco Lindor. Lindor is one of the most exciting young players in the league, but I'm not sure Rangers fans will be too sad to see him go.
     
  • 0-3 isn't ideal, and perhaps most concerning has been the inability to shut down games late, but at least there are 159 more of these to go. That might not feel like much consolation right now, but at least there's an off day tomorrow for the club to regroup.