tOfficially Official 2016 Spring training thread

[romeo212000]

Here are my offensive and pitching performance predictions for our regulars and starters for 2016.

Pitchers------ERA

Darvish-------3.00
Lewis---------4.70
Hamels-------3.60
Holland-------3.40
Perez---------3.70

Hitters-------HRs and Avg.

Andrus---------9 .275
Beltre---------17 .285
Chirinos-------10 .235
Choo----------20 .270
Deshields-------4 .255
Desmond------20 .255
Fielder--------22 .295
Moreland------19 .270
Odor----------21 .285

I didn't include Rua, but I think if he gets to start in 80 games or so he will hit about.240 with 7 HRs. If he gets to start in 130 games he will hit about .275 with 15 HRs.

Think you're a little low on some home runs.

 

[saddles]

Think you're a little low on some home runs.

Make some guesses. It will be fun at the end of the year to review what we thought and see how close or how far we were from reality.

 

[jta4437]

Here are my offensive and pitching performance predictions for our regulars and starters for 2016.

Pitchers------ERA

Darvish-------3.00
Lewis---------4.70
Hamels-------3.60
Holland-------3.40
Perez---------3.70

Hitters-------HRs and Avg.

Andrus---------9 .275
Beltre---------17 .285
Chirinos-------10 .235
Choo----------20 .270
Deshields-------4 .255
Desmond------20 .255
Fielder--------22 .295
Moreland------19 .270
Odor----------21 .285

I didn't include Rua, but I think if he gets to start in 80 games or so he will hit about.240 with 7 HRs. If he gets to start in 130 games he will hit about .275 with 15 HRs.

Pitchers------ERA

Darvish-------3.80
Lewis---------4.40
Hamels-------3.30
Holland-------3.60
Perez---------3.70

Hitters-------HRs and Avg.

Andrus---------7 .270
Beltre---------23 .285
Chirinos-------12 .230
Choo----------21 .280
Deshields-------4 .265
Desmond------19 .260
Fielder--------25 .290
Moreland------18 .270 & Rua -------10 .265
Odor----------18 .275

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Apparently tonight's lineup will be the Opening Day lineup, only with Chirinos starting on OD.

 

[romeo212000]

Apparently tonight's lineup will be the Opening Day lineup, only with Chirinos starting on OD.

Desmond at 6 looks nice.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

Desmond at 6 looks nice.

You're telling me... if things click throughout, I'd take our 1-7 over anyone's.

 

[saddles]

You're telling me... if things click throughout, I'd take our 1-7 over anyone's.

If we get the post-ASB Elvis from last year then make that our 1-8.

 

[romeo212000]

Pitchers------ERA

Darvish-------3.50
Lewis---------4.60
Hamels-------3.20
Holland-------3.40
Perez---------3.80

Hitters-------HRs and Avg.

Andrus---------10 .270
Beltre---------25 .290
Chirinos-------10 .230
Choo----------24 .285
Deshields-------3 .275
Desmond------23 .260
Fielder--------25 .305
Moreland------20 .275 & Rua -------10 .270
Odor----------20 .280

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

This game could have gone better.

 

[Bmurph]

This game could have gone better.

Uh you don't say, box score looks fugly

 

[Bmurph]

If you can find someone that would be great. If not I will open up the league on Yahoo to fill the one remaining spot.

Ok my guy joined, so league is full now. Ready for the draft tomorrow. Cmon real baseball!

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Shawn Tolleson: Shakes off mid-spring back problems
by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire
Shawn Tolleson , limited by a back injury to start the spring, has been able to throw as scheduled over the past two weeks.

Tolleson is expected to make at least one more appearance over the weekend as a final preparation for the season opener Monday. He'll begin the year as Texas' closer, but manager Jeff Bannister was quick to remove Tolleson from that role in the postseason in favor of Sam Dyson so the leash figures to be a bit shorter here than with more established closers.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Colby Lewis: Knee issues not a concern as season opens
by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com
Lewis allowed 23 hits and 15 earned runs in 16.1 innings this spring.

Lewis' numbers from 2015 hide a declining K/9 rate, but he was able to pitch on a regular rotation this spring despite offseason knee surgery.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Rougned Odor: Four homers paces Texas hitters
by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com
Odor's four home runs led Texas' hitters in Cactus League play.

Odor will be looking to build upon a very successful 2015 season in which he swatted 16 homers in 120 games.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Ian Desmond: Experiment in left field successful
by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire
Ian Desmond is set to break camp as Texas' starting left fielder.

Desmond was able to acclimate to his new position and managed to hit .349 in 43 at-bats in a very successful spring training. He could face some playing-time pressure when Josh Hamilton returns in mid-May, but his spot in the everyday lineup is secured until at least then.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Adrian Beltre: Opens the season healthy
by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com
Beltre finished up Cactus League play hitting just .237 in 38 at-bats.

The biggest concern for Beltre these days in his health, and he was able to shake off some early spring leg soreness without additional setbacks. He's been held under 20 homers for two straight years now, but his 10-homer/56-RBI finish over the final 60 games suggests he's not quite done yet.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers' Mitch Moreland: Healthy spring training
by RotoWire Staff | Special to CBSSports.com
Moreland finished Cactus League play with a .806 OPS in 39 at-bats.

Moreland will open the season as the Rangers' everyday first baseman, but could find himself being platooned against left-handed pitching if Ryan Rua is able to handle first base defensively.

 

[Bmurph]

MLB Announces 80-Game PED Suspension For Taylor Teagarden

By Jeff Todd | April 1, 2016 at 5:44pm CDT

Free agent catcher Taylor Teagarden has received an 80-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy, per a league announcement.

The eight-year MLB veteran — who appeared briefly last year with the Cubs — was shown in an Al Jazeera documentary late last year discussing his apparent use of PEDs. It’s unclear whether that evidence provided the basis for his suspension, though the announcement does not refer to any failed tests or alternative grounds for the decision.

Major league baseball has teamed up with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to investigate the allegations against Teagarden and others in the above-noted report, which also cited long-time major leaguers Ryan Zimmermanand Ryan Howard — along with stars from other sports — as possible PED offenders.

Of course, it’s important to note that the documentary did not provide anything close to the same level of evidence against those other players as it did with regard to Teagarden, who was surreptitiously taped by a British track athlete posing as an interested PED buyer. Both Zimmerman and Howard have filed a lawsuit alleging defamation against the news agency, while the league has yet to give any indication as to the status of its investigation into the two veterans.

Tegarden, 32, had not signed with an organization when the report aired, and perhaps unsurprisingly has yet to do so since. He has topped 100 plate appearances in a single season only once — back in 2009 with the Rangers — but has been a popular depth piece for quite some time. There’s some pop in his bat, but Teagarden also carries a 34.5% career strikeout rate. All told, he owns a .202/.260/.376 batting line with 21 home runs over 563 major league plate appearances.

 

[donaldson79]

Count MLB commissioner Rob Manfred as being of the opinion that bat flips in baseball are perfectly okay.

Manfred appeared on ESPN’s Mike and Mike on Friday morning, and he backed Bryce Harper’s recent call for more expression in the modern game.

“I think it’s always been true in baseball that, with respect to what happens on the field, not the rules, but the way players conduct themselves, that each generation of players defines what’s acceptable baseball. It’s not always been exactly the same,” Manfred said when asked about the old school vs. new school debate. “I kinda line up with Bryce Harper on this. I think that we’ve got a great generation of young stars coming into the game. And just like Goose [Gossage] and his peers decided certain things were okay, certain things weren’t, this generation is going to define what the game looks like on those topics.”

Manfred was then asked if he, as a fan, took issue with Jose Bautista’s bat flip in the 2015 ALDS.

“If I were a player, I wouldn’t do that,” Manfred admitted. “The fact of the matter is, what he did did not offend me. It was a very, very exciting moment at a point in time of great excitement for that particular franchise, one that hadn’t been a great team for a long time. You know, it’s one of those moments that happens and it’s exciting, people liked it, and probably on balance, it’s good for the game.”

 

[romeo212000]

I have no problem with Bautista's bat flip. I also have no problem with Dyson planting one on his hip if he gets the chance.