Friday, July 29, 2005

My Friday Bag

DallasNews.com is almost impossible to use these days with those new pseudo-pop up ads. Between the weight loss ad that makes you sit through it for 10 seconds, and the new Cowboys Season Tickets ad that moves with you while you scroll to increase your blood pressure, I am about ready to boycott. Yeah, that will make them change it.

Mets continue to ponder Soriano and Soriano continues to audtion well…

My Views on Soriano and what to do with him? Allow me to remind you:

From the June 18th edition of the blog:

He currently leads the Rangers in Home Runs, 2nd in RBI’s, tied for the lead in Total Bases, 2nd in Slugging, and 1st in Runs Scored. He also has more errors than any player in baseball that doesn’t play shortstop, and for that matter, is 3rd in the big leagues in errors for anyone at any position. He, of course, is Alfonso Soriano.

He is the lightning rod of the Texas Rangers. Whether it is a talk show, a message board, or a conversation around the water cooler, he is the guy who Rangers fans share a love/hate relationship with. Is he the best 2nd baseman in baseball, or is he a dog who needs to be dealt?

Depends who you ask.

At the end of 2005, he will be eligible for arbitration. That means he will likely get a sizeable raise off of his $7.5 million salary. That means he may not be long for the Tom Hicks financially frugal plan. He isn’t home grown. He occasionally reminds people of Juan Gonzalez with his casual play and inconsistent concentration, and he also made it pretty clear he had no desire to play in the outfield here when the Rangers dealt for him last spring.

Can the Rangers invest the future in Soriano? Can they marry him to his beloved 2nd Base position? Many will say that this would not work long-term given his defensive liabilities, but if you don’t like his 11 errors, can you really be eager to give his job to Ian Kinsler who would be the next in line since he has 14 errors in Oklahoma City?

Does he get criticism from fans and media because he really has huge holes in his game? Or, is it perhaps a byproduct of him not being a home-grown son, like Blalock, Teixeira, and Young. Young of course was technically not home-grown, but he has never played an inning in another uniform. Soriano played for the hated Yankees, and seems to not be a stereotypical “Buck guy”. He has flare, he showboats a bit, and he blows the occasional routine play. These are not things his skipper cares for.

I write this today because I am not sure I know the answers. I watch him play, and I think he is a valuable middle-of-the-lineup guy who the Rangers should be discussing an extension with. I do concede that those conversations should include serious discussions about an Outfield or Designated Hitter assignment, and therefore should be held in the off-season so as to not rock the boat in mid-June. But, I read my email or the newspaper, and I am told that he is what is wrong with the Rangers. Is Fraley wrong? Is the Rangers Fan wrong? Or are my own eyes?

Look, I don’t like his defense, either, but I could live with one butcher in the infield, if he will occasionally make a spectacular play (see his throw on Friday night to the plate) and the rest of my infield is gold glove caliber. I could really live with him playing an outfield spot. His bat can carry you through many tough days even if his “Runners in Scoring Position” average is down this year. He can flat-out rake. If he would settle for a 4-year/$40 million dollar deal, I would sign it tomorrow morning.


Little has changed since June 18th, except the reality that they are moving him this weekend. Oh well.

Evan on the struggles of Chris Young


Young, who lasted four innings Wednesday, has seen any hopes for Rookie of the Year honors wilt with a horrid 10.18 ERA for July. In four of his last five starts, he's failed to get through five innings. And he's averaging an unworkable 21 pitches per inning for the month.

Rangers pitching coach Orel Hershiser, however, said he is not concerned by Young's struggles. He considers Young's season as a whole – the 8-6 record, the 4.50 ERA and a team-best 100 strikeouts in 115 innings.


Stars do something they had to do: Sign Shawn Belle …I really like what I have seen of this kid. Not sure if he is ready yet, that may depend on the signings of Zubov and Hatcher, but I would buy stock in him…

Razor has a blog now

Can you do a sports media column 2 days after the Radio Ratings come out and not mention them? The Star-Telegram says, “Yes, you can”

The Mick-a-roo on Drew Bledsoe

It is fairly obvious, I don’t have much to offer you today. Its Friday. Sue me.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was it just me, or did Cuban actually say that the "we'll continue to jigger with the roster" during the interview yesterday?

I hate the P1!

Anonymous said...

I heard that too, but Bob and Dan laid out nicely.

Bob sure is cranky this morning!! Complaining about the DMN, begging to be sued, and admitting that he has a bag today..what's wrong?

Oh yeah, Hansen takes another hour on Friday starting next week....that explains it.

Thanks for ruining my Fridays Dale!!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I don't have any problems on DMN's website. Just lucky I guess. Plus, hearing Soriano trade talk is starting to whip me just as much as ANY Kenny Rogers talk.

Anonymous said...

the DMN site sucks donkey balls lately, they need to get rid of all the darn ads. I thought that was the reason that we registered, to avoid those.

Anonymous said...

The DMN website does suck. I have no stake in pushing them, but the Firefox web browser does a great job of filtering out the popups. And it has fewer security canyons than IE...

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Dale has a gigantic bag of nothing whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

Is there a more unnecessary hour of radio than the Dale Hansen Show? Nothing comes immediately to mind.

Anonymous said...

The 2 hour beating of Norm is just as bad, if not worse.

Mike

meredith said...

All hail the greatness of Mozilla Firefox.

Also, Bob - an Eagle gets shot and it doesn't make it on the blog? You're slacking in your Iggle hatred.

Anonymous said...

the ratings just showed that the little ticket came in #12, stru-gel-ling... but that is higher than ESPN and Fox...

Anonymous said...

How about Meredith posting some DFW male 25-54 noon to three ratings?
Can you look that up somewhere withoput paying money for it?

Anonymous said...

The 2 hour beating of Norm is just as bad, if not worse.

Norm's not so bad, but the ultimate trump card in this thread of discussion is the 3-hour beatdown of Dan Patrick without Rob Dibble. Talk about something to fall asleep to...

Anonymous said...

Norm needs to do the show, if only to generate the genius drops. Without Norm drops, there is little reason for the ticket.

By the way, during the Gabe interviews, did anyone else think Bob and Dan were reecreating the John Carpenter - Bob Crane scene in Crane's basement from Auto Focus?

Anonymous said...

The DMN website does suck these days. Unfortunately I'm stuck with IE (and therefore DMN's popups) while at work. Just makes me miss my Mac with Firefox at home all the more because I don't have to put up with the ad crap there.

Anyways...word is the Stars are looking to deal up into the top 5 of the draft tomorrow, so we'll see if they end up pulling a trade this weekend...

Sturminator said...

How about Meredith posting some DFW male 25-54 noon to three ratings?....

8.3 - beat by KESS (spanish)
2nd place. Better luck next time.

Anonymous said...

If Chan ho is traded and then Soriano is dealt, then the Rangers will have the financial flexibility to FORTUNATELY not win a championship and ensure that the team doesn't bring in any offseason help since it would be overpriced. DING DONG.

Dear Mark "yellow rose of" Teixiara,

It was nice to have you around while we could. I just want you to know were not mad at you for turning and taking the baseball anti-christ's hand and walking out of town. You deserve better. Thanks for the memories and see you in Cooperstown.

Love,

Downtroden RAngers fans

Anonymous said...

must be a bummer to know that you will probably never catch that spanish station again for the rest of your life. the only hope is that north texas nissan doesn't care about the dirty mexicans. or else you'll soon have to give your xterras back and spend your own money on a car.

Sturminator said...

I am pretty sure we are ok as the #1 English station in DFW amongst men. Thanks to you guys. We just need more Spanish Stations to go on the air, to dillute the ratings of their stations, too. Perhaps, a Spanish Sports Ticket is right around the corner.

Anonymous said...

Oh that's right. I forgot that soon there will be 20 Spanish station fighting for those 9 points.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the ratings information Bob, since the only thing you can find is the overall ratings.
Well, I guess the best thing to do now is salary disclosure.