2017 Texas Rangers offseason thread

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Well, here we are, sadly.

Do the Rangers make trades? Sign pitching? Land Otani, or his alter ego Ohtani?

The Ephland Show wants to hear from YOU.

 

[DT LUNA]

Well, here we are, sadly.

Do the Rangers make trades? Sign pitching? Land Otani, or his alter ego Ohtani?

The Ephland Show wants to hear from YOU.

I propose that negative comments be banished and "pesky"be removed from the baseball dictionary forever.

 

[Kelleyman]

Well, here we are, sadly.

Do the Rangers make trades? Sign pitching? Land Otani, or his alter ego Ohtani?

The Ephland Show wants to hear from YOU.

Is this perhaps the 2017-2018 offseason? Asking for a friend

Gonna have to change my postscript

 

[Kelleyman]

How did we get here? What went wrong?

We sure had complete turnaround in one run games. Bullpen and late inning scoring. Huge regression.
Way too many strikeouts. SP was adequate but going to have to replace at least 2. Think we are in Otani hunt but really a flip of the coin if we get him.

 

[Nightcrawler]

The way this team was playing..... thank god this thread is finally here.

 

[Nightcrawler]

How did we get here? What went wrong?

We sure had complete turnaround in one run games. Bullpen and late inning scoring. Huge regression.
Way too many strikeouts. SP was adequate but going to have to replace at least 2. Think we are in Otani hunt but really a flip of the coin if we get him.

The Dyson explosion and the Beltre injury in Tampa seemed to be big back breakers for this team.

Dyson single handedly lost about 6 games before Rooster finally had the balls to jettison him. We seemed to have momentum and were about to win 2 out of 3 in the " Reid Ryan" bowl, then Beltre went down again. The team fought on for awhile, but couldn't overcome losing him again. Not having Beltre at the start of the season also seemed to hurt.

I know the guy is old, but this team really needed him in the lineup more.

 

[DT LUNA]

My first thought for 2018 is what is Beltre's intent? He could effect the way FO does business.

 

[saddles]

How did we get here? What went wrong?

We sure had complete turnaround in one run games. Bullpen and late inning scoring. Huge regression.
Way too many strikeouts. SP was adequate but going to have to replace at least 2. Think we are in Otani hunt but really a flip of the coin if we get him.

We won way more one-run games than was normal last year and that inflated our record beyond our talent level. I think that showed up in run differential last season and in our quick exit from the postseason. Then we lost talent from last year heading into this year. One of our best hitters is a guy who is too old to stay healthy for more than 85 to 100 games. Another of our better hitters(Odor) has some big holes in his game and he regressed. We just weren't going to be good enough to make any noise in the postseason. The implosion of our pen made even appearing in the playoffs impossible.

We are a long ways off from being able to reach another WS and that has to be the goal. Being an 85-88 win team that hopes to catch lightening in a bottle n the playoffs should not be a goal.

I would go after Otani and Darvish. I would trade Hamels if we can find a trade partner. Find a place to trade Choo to as well. In my opinion we should trade Odor and make becoming strong defensively up the middle a priority.

I like the progress the DeShields has made, but if we can eventually add a great defensive CF who can hit for a decent average I would consider trading Delino, but that might be another offseason away.

At some point between now and the beginning of 2019 we need to go after a proven closer and move all of these guys in the pen back a notch to a place where they can be more successful.

I would start 2018 with both Guzman and Calhoun in a starting position on the big league club. Let them grow and adjust in 2018 so they will be ready to contribute more in 2019. Doing so would require deciding very soon to do that as we would not be able to wait and see what kind of ST they have.

 

[saddles]

My first thought for 2018 is what is Beltre's intent? He could effect the way FO does business.

The opposite may be true. How the FO handles the offseason may determine what Beltre wants to do.

 

[Kelleyman]

We won way more one-run games than was normal last year and that inflated our record beyond our talent level. I think that showed up in run differential last season and in our quick exit from the postseason. Then we lost talent from last year heading into this year. One of our best hitters is a guy who is too old to stay healthy for more than 85 to 100 games. Another of our better hitters(Odor) has some big holes in his game and he regressed. We just weren't going to be good enough to make any noise in the postseason. The implosion of our pen made even appearing in the playoffs impossible.

We are a long ways off from being able to reach another WS and that has to be the goal. Being an 85-88 win team that hopes to catch lightening in a bottle n the playoffs should not be a goal.

I would go after Otani and Darvish. I would trade Hamels if we can find a trade partner. Find a place to trade Choo to as well. In my opinion we should trade Odor and make becoming strong defensively up the middle a priority.

I like the progress the DeShields has made, but if we can eventually add a great defensive CF who can hit for a decent average I would consider trading Delino, but that might be another offseason away.

At some point between now and the beginning of 2019 we need to go after a proven closer and move all of these guys in the pen back a notch to a place where they can be more successful.

I would start 2018 with both Guzman and Calhoun in a starting position on the big league club. Let them grow and adjust in 2018 so they will be ready to contribute more in 2019. Doing so would require deciding very soon to do that as we would not be able to wait and see what kind of ST they have.

At least we picked up Cashner. Lol.

Thinking it will be very difficult to start Guzman and Calhoun unless we move Choo which could happen. However despite the trend guys who make contact especially when needed in late innings has trended down for Rangers.

We need SP

 

[saddles]

At least we picked up Cashner. Lol.

Thinking it will be very difficult to start Guzman and Calhoun unless we move Choo which could happen. However despite the trend guys who make contact especially when needed in late innings has trended down for Rangers.

We need SP

It will be difficult in more ways than one, but it is time to make difficult decisions and do difficult things in order to eventually return to the WS.

 

[Kelleyman]

It will be difficult in more ways than one, but it is time to make difficult decisions and do difficult things in order to eventually return to the WS.

Well I think moving a starting position player for pitching might need to be done. Question is who is untouchable if there is such a thing

 

[saddles]

Well I think moving a starting position player for pitching might need to be done. Question is who is untouchable if there is such a thing

We will probably have to settle for trading guys for AA and AAA starting pitchers and hope they are ready by 2019. If we can find what will eventually be a #3 and #5 through trade that would be great. Going hard after Otani and Darvish is the key though. Darvish liking it here and us having more money than most teams to spend on Otani are the only reasons why I hm holding out a glimmer of hope of getting that accomplished. Then in 2019 we would have a rotation of

1. Darvish
2. Otani
3. Trade Acquisition
4. Perez
5. Trade Acquisition

If that doesn't work out then you would have to try and get lucky by finding a couple Cashner and/or Colby Lewis types until guys like Ragans, Matuella, Cody, Mendez, Martin, Palumbo, Crouse, Jurado and Speas come along over the next 2-4 years.

 

[DT LUNA]

Pitching is our first concern but another is hitting. BA/OBP must improve. Those two things hampered us all season and must be dealt with. Then defense at 2B and CF needs an upgrade. How all that happens is a major chore.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I think we should start next year with Hamels, Cashner, and Perez as 3 Sp's and go from there. We definitely need more tho. Would be real nice to get ohtani. I doubt Darvish is interested in a return trip. I'll probably punch a hole in the wall if ohtani joins the dodgers, if he does, it would make you think that if we kept Darvish, our chances of getting ohtani were better off. Oh well the whole things complicated and we don't know the whole story.

 

[Kelleyman]

We will probably have to settle for trading guys for AA and AAA starting pitchers and hope they are ready by 2019. If we can find what will eventually be a #3 and #5 through trade that would be great. Going hard after Otani and Darvish is the key though. Darvish liking it here and us having more money than most teams to spend on Otani are the only reasons why I hm holding out a glimmer of hope of getting that accomplished. Then in 2019 we would have a rotation of

1. Darvish
2. Otani
3. Trade Acquisition
4. Perez
5. Trade Acquisition

If that doesn't work out then you would have to try and get lucky by finding a couple Cashner and/or Colby Lewis types until guys like Ragans, Matuella, Cody, Mendez, Martin, Palumbo, Crouse, Jurado and Speas come along over the next 2-4 years.

If we got Darvish and Otani, I would trade Hamels for more pitching. Hard to think we could get both but anything is possible. I hate losing Darvish. He could have done better but still very under appreciated in my book.

I think one of minor league starters will emerge for the number 5 spot

We are going to have to figure out who we keep too and who we roster and protect from Rule 5 late this year

 

[Kelleyman]

Pitching is our first concern but another is hitting. BA/OBP must improve. Those two things hampered us all season and must be dealt with. Then defense at 2B and CF needs an upgrade. How all that happens is a major chore.

There is an articl out there with Banny implying that all the coaches are no shoe in to be back. Pretty much agree with you. Odor just might improve though. He is still young and pretty athletic

 

[Kelleyman]

I think we should start next year with Hamels, Cashner, and Perez as 3 Sp's and go from there. We definitely need more tho. Would be real nice to get ohtani. I doubt Darvish is interested in a return trip. I'll probably punch a hole in the wall if ohtani joins the dodgers, if he does, it would make you think that if we kept Darvish, our chances of getting ohtani were better off. Oh well the whole things complicated and we don't know the whole story.

Cashner is not under contract and I don't think they offer more than the tender and then hedge bets with at best a 2 year offer. No guarantees at SP other than Perez and Hamels.

 

[DT LUNA]

There is an articl out there with Banny implying that all the coaches are no shoe in to be back. Pretty much agree with you. Odor just might improve though. He is still young and pretty athletic

He can improve and I hope he will but it has to be in both areas.

 

[DT LUNA]

Cashner is not under contract and I don't think they offer more than the tender and then hedge bets with at best a 2 year offer. No guarantees at SP other than Perez and Hamels.

Doubt he would accept a QO