Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Hope's name is Millwood



If I am going to carry the "Tom Hicks is not interested in winning anymore" torch, then I have to step up and offer my sincere congratulations to him when he appears to change his position. And this appears to be heavy evidence in that direction. With the signing of Millwood, the Rangers appear to have addressed major needs and in doing so, raised their player payroll to somewhere in the mid-70 million range. That is certainly not breaking the bank, but it is acceptable.

Meanwhile, it is not just spending the money, but spending the money well. Millwood seems to qualify on that front for sure. Now the Rangers have a chance to compete. I am officially excited.

Millwood signs to come to Arlington

Cowlishaw as optimistic as I am


At 31, Millwood qualifies as an ace in a 14-team league. He may not be the Angels' Bartolo Colon or even Chicago's Mark Buehrle. But Millwood is a pitcher that manager Buck Showalter can send to the mound on opening day, and he won't have to be faking it.

"Of all the pitchers we faced last year," Rangers All-Star Mark Teixeira said, "he was one of the top two or three as far as stuff and velocity. This makes our whole staff better."

Until a week ago, Chris Young was the Rangers' opening day starter. He went to San Diego in a deal for Adam Eaton that was questioned in this space primarily because it seemed the Rangers weren't getting anything for hitting prospect Adrian Gonzalez.

But Eaton has been better than Young, and now Eaton is a No. 2 behind Millwood. Former Phillie Vicente Padilla is No. 3 while prospects Kameron Loe and Juan Dominguez lead the charge for the back of the rotation.

Without having sacrificed too much offense, the Rangers have upgraded their pitching to something truly viable. The Angels and A's don't have to run scared at this point, but they can't laugh their way into the batter's box anymore, either.


Mike Hindman, of Newbergreport.com, had this offering this morning:


Aside from assembling what has an outstanding chance to become the best rotation this organization has seen in! more than a decade, Jon Daniels has done something else just as important: he's probably won back, for the organization, respect from it's nucleus of star hitters.

Mark Teixeira told the DMN's Tim Cowlishaw "We've got some veterans now that give us a chance. And they haven't had to give up any of their studs in the minors, so there's always the chance to do more. You've got to feel a lot better about this off-season."

I have to admit that just as much as I am happy to see Teixeira happy after witnessing his summer of discontent, I am marginally concerned by his choice of the words "they" and "their" with respect to the club's top minor league prospects. I hope that it was just a random choice of words and not meaningful on some conscious or sub-conscious level.

But his point is well taken: Somehow, Daniels! has completely reconstructed his rotation without using his most coveted trade chips, including big leaguers who have long been rumored to be necessary sacrifices to rebuild it. The Rangers emerge from this whirlwind of activity with not only Thomas Diamond, John Danks, Edison Volquez Joaquin Arias, Ian Kinsler, Jason Botts, Eric Hurley, etc. in the fold, but Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix, Juan Dominguez and (incredibly) Gerald Laird as well. For Daniels to have added three veteran starters and a setup guy and still be holding all of those cards is, quite frankly, astonishing.



This story cannot possibly be for real, but here it is: Jeff Reardon charged with armed robbery?


Reardon, 50, walked into Hamilton Jewelers at the Gardens Mall about 11:50 a.m. Monday and handed an employee a note that said he had a gun and the store was being robbed, according to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department.

Reardon fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police found him at a nearby restaurant, recovered the stolen money and charged him with armed robbery.


I swear I think this is made up…The Terminator made 2.5 and 2.6 million in 1991 and 1992 in Boston, back when that was a ton of money. Apparently, he has spent it all…

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Aside from Kobe scoring 62, the Mavericks have been in fine form. Last night, they
pounded the Pacers and keep rolling along. They really, really looked good at Seattle in the late stages Friday night, and then Indiana offered no resistance at all…



I think I am a relatively good human being. And it is the holidays. So, why then, do I feel great joy when I read the Cowboys cut Billy Cundiff? …Because he is a SPARE! Boy, the Cowboys may need to invest in a kicker one of these days…

Bledsoe stands to makes some money if things go right this weekend


Cowboys quarterback Drew Bledsoe receives a $250,000 bonus should Dallas advance to the postseason. Cowboys cornerback Aaron Glenn has a similar incentive, getting a $117,500 bonus for a playoff spot.

And wide receiver Terry Glenn has already cashed in. By catching four passes for 88 yards in the win over Carolina, Glenn now has 60 receptions -- good for a $75,000 bonus on top of the $150,000 bonus the wide receiver achieved for his 1,000-yard receiving season. His fourth catch, the game-winning touchdown, turned out to be the money ball -- the $75,000 catch.


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The Stars, who have not played well the last two weeks, dominate the Blues in St Louis, 6-1. Also, reports are that Trevor Daley was not hurt too badly on that hit last night from Mike Sillinger. Detroit is in town tonight. Nice…

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Boxing Day brought the return of Michael Owen to Anfield. In case you are not aware, Owen is one of the greatest goal scorers in futbol the last decade, and left Liverpool a year ago for Real Madrid. A few months ago, he returned to England, but signed at Newcastle, despite a flirtation with Liverpool. Well, he was back Monday, but never did anything, and my boys rolled: Liverpool 2, Newcastle 0 …Wow. We ain’t catching Chelsea, but otherwise, Liverpool fears no one…



I want to make triple sure that I thank that big loveable lummox, Ty Walker, for his fine work on the blog. I was in no position to blog in the land of “dial-up”, and it appears that Claudia was given a chance to gain more fans as well. Good job, Ty.

We have a million things to talk about, but not today. Today is catch-up day, and I am watching the Cowboys game this morning. We fill in for the Hardline all week, so we shall talk from 3-7 today…

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an Arsenal fan I'll preface the following with how disapointed I am in the Gunners this year. It would seem AW has finally outthought himself in not replacing Viera (cue sad music).

Now on to your Reds. There is no team (other than Arsenal) that I enjoy watching more. From the obvious Gerrard to to Xabi and the finger sucking (wtf?) Louis Garcia. That being said I LOVES ME some Peter Crouch. As a tall human it brings me great joy to see another tall human who looks so clumsy and out of place really dominate in the air and also be as strong on the ball as smaller players. Make no mistake, he was the man of the match yesterday and has been their second best player (Gerrard is a God) for a month.

It's too bad they won't catch Chelsea but to see them come back to the forefront of the EPL is a good thing (See: Cowboys).

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, Bob!

I hope the trip was good enough to ease the crushing pain of the Bears clinching at Lambeau.

A stocking stuffer for you: http://www.tatbgone.com/

Really excited to get BaD radio back..missed you guys.

P.S. Kudos to Ty

Anonymous said...

Early Ranger prediction.

Millwood and Eaton combine to go 9-15 and both miss lots of games due to injury.

Padilla starts the year 4-1, ends up 7-15 when the summer hits. Loe and Dom spare us to death.

Rhyner and Greggo commit ritual suicide in August when Texas falls to 20 games out of first. BaD Radio takes over 3-7.

I'm just afraid that this is setting us up for a massive let down.

Anonymous said...

way to ruin the party captain bringdown.

i dont see how this years rotation can be any worse than last year. while millwood,eaton and padilla wont be saviors, they certainly wont be as bad as a patchwork rotation.

eaton ill give you will miss major time due to injury, but i just dont think millwood will.

the big thing im concerned about is replacing soriano's offensive production, but i think wilkerson can do that and become the player everyone knows he can be.

Anonymous said...

Bold Prediction: Screw the Rangers

Anonymous said...

Bold Prediction:

Baseball Sucks Sucks

Anonymous said...

Bold prediction: ESPN will air 45 more pieces on USC before January 4th, with the over/under on UT pieces at 8. I'll take the under.

I know, there was no college football in this blog post. I'm just venting.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Jon Daniels has done more for the Rangers in the last month than Hart did in the last 4 years. I'm genuinely impressed with his efforts whether they pan out or not.

Sincerely,
Sick of the USC bandwagon

Anonymous said...

ok ut homers... do it for more than one year and you'll get your due
usc's lost what... once in almost 4 years?
come on

Anonymous said...

Is ESPN on the USC payroll?

1st, all of the bs on TV and .com

2nd, if ANY other team had a QB that did the espn promo, and was suspended for doing it, that player would still be suspended. But ABC\ESPN flipped out to much, and were worried about their ratings for the title game.

Rangers:

I hope that this rotation can help, but I am not excited.

Anonymous said...

This USC team is the best team ever. They could easily beat all teams ESPN is comparing them to, and I think ESPN should take it to the next level and compare them to the 85 Bears or the 92 Cowboys. I actually heard Texas might not even show up for the Rose Bowl because ESPN took a poll and 57% of voters think USC will win, so its pretty much a guarantee.

F ESPN and their knee pads.

P1 Mike

Anonymous said...

they keep saying usc is going for a third title in a row, but dont you have to win 2 before you can win 3? if i recall it was LSU who actually got the trophy 2 yrs ago not usc

Anonymous said...

Imagine this Ranger rotation with Kenny Rogers as your number 2, you could bump everybody else one spot back and have Kam Loe coming out of the pen. That would be up there with the best in the league.

F baseball sucks guy, I am sure there is a star wars blog somewhere you could go chat on. Around here we talk sportzzz.

P1 Mike

Anonymous said...

They're all the 2nd best center in the NBA behind Shaq?

Anonymous said...

I didn't say sportzzz suck. I said baseball sucks! Any game that Cecil Fielder played can barely be called a SPORT anyway. Go Cowboys. Go Mavs. Go Stars. Go Horns. F the Rangers. F baseball. F P1 Mike.

Oh and Baseball Sucks Suckss is a different guy than me. I agree with him, even if he is an unoriginal bastard.

Anonymous said...

Baseball Sucks, what do you do for 3 months in the summer after the Mavs get the playoff boot and before the beating that is Cowboy training camp? There is nothing better than paying 6 dollars to get into the Ballpark, sweating balls for 4 hours and dropping 50 dollars on 8 beers. Its a good time even when the Rangers suck.

P1 Mike

Anonymous said...

I actually get work done during those 3 months!

Anonymous said...

Baseball Sucks,
I totally agree.

Hockey Sucks,
I totally agree.

Soccer Sucks,
I totally agree.

But this is a sports site.

Anonymous said...

Baseball is a GAME! If you get to eat seeds, chew tobacco, stand around and scratch your crotch, all while never having to run more than 90 feet at a time, it is not a SPORT. I'm not a big soccer fan, but that is a sport. Hockey is a real SPORT.

Football = sport.
Basketball = sport.
Golf = game.
Bowling = game.

Baseball, golf, etc. involve great skill, but minimal athletic ability. I have much respect for their skill, but little for their athletic prowess (there are a few exceptions of course).

Long live sport. Fill in the spare time with games.

Anonymous said...

Sports? Oh GEEZ!!! Hey girls.