7/8/13 View from the Bench

 A few things out there and on my mind today:

•  Gerry Fraley talks about the debut of Manny Ramirez at AAA Round Rock last night. Ramirez was 1-3 with a single and a walk.

Edit: Furthermore, ESPN Dallas is now reporting that Mike Olt received some instruction from Manny Ramirez. Ramirez looked at some tape of Olt's swing, identified some issues, and worked with him in the cage. Not earth-shattering by any means, but nonetheless cool.

• Fraley also talks about Yu Darvish insisting that he's a breaking ball pitcher. Says Darvish:

I think I threw too many fastballs. I’m a breaking-ball pitcher. I should have thrown more breaking balls, not just this outing but the last one, too.

In no way do I agree with Darvish's assessment of his own repertoire, rather I feel as if he's actually just tired of answering questions as to why he's been ineffective recently. The results don't lie, and Darvish is a better pitcher when he's dealing a heavy dose of well-located fastballs. The location is key. At times, it seems as if Darvish relies far too much on the swing-and-miss instead of trusting his location. I think he'll get there, but he's prone to revert to old habits after a less-than-stellar start or two.

• Alexi Ogando is claiming that he's feeling better than he has all season. If true, his return would be a welcome sight in a struggling rotation and would likely (at least for now) spell the end of either Justin Grimm or Nick Tepesch in the 2013 rotation.
• I felt it necessary to save this one for last, just because of the lunacy behind it. Evan Grant opened Pandora's Box on the subject of Michael Young, and how we shouldn't rule out the possibility that Young could return to the Rangers at the deadline this season.

But I still wouldn't rule out the possibility of Young being a fallback as a RH DH/utility guy for the second half of the season here. Both Yanks and Red Sox want him and you could certainly make a case the Rangers could use him, too. Think it would be a move that would be welcomed in the clubhouse and give team an extra shot of energy. But it would also have to be as a supplemental role. He might be both a part-time DH and a part-time player. Young has veto ability on a trade, so he'd have to be on board with that. But I think he could help.

For my money, I can't imagine this is much more than sensationalistic writing and an attempt to earn a reaction, be it positive or negative. Whatever the case may be, I simply can't imagine the Rangers going back down that road, and can't imagine Young being willing to accept simply coming back in a "lesser" role. That ship has sailed, and there's a reason the franchise took a chance and signed Manny Ramirez. With Jurickson Profar also on the roster, the team has more options than making a desperate trade to reacquire the guy they just managed to trade away this past offseason.