Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Sell! Sell! Sell!

The Rangers lost again last night, and yet, so did the Angels and A’s in the pathetic AL West, so the Rangers remain ½ game back.

And the trade deadline comes closer.

I would not do a thing with this team in the name of winning in 2006.

I am sorry. I would not give up a single future asset for this team. They are the dictionary definition of average. They play hard, but their lineup is feeble. Their rotation is erratic. And, their bullpen is frustratingly average aside from their closer.

They are getting tossed around the diamond by a team that is missing its entire starting outfield, and New York may not even make the playoffs.

They just aren’t very good. Now, they also aren’t very bad. They are average. They are 81-81 waiting to happen. And unless you can get a huge run producing bat to stick behind Tex, there is no trade that can save this thing.

In 2006, the Rangers have played 101 games and are led in home runs by Brad Wilkerson with 15 measly knocks. That paces out to barely 24 home runs. 24!

We all spend time blaming the pitching staff, and although they are certainly not fabulous, let’s not forget that this 2006 Rangers lineup is about as feeble as any Rangers lineup we have seen since the Ballpark opened. The Rangers are currently 8th in the AL in Home Runs, and 7th in Runs scored. This while playing half of their games in the Ballpark in Arlington, the AL version of Coors Field.

The bottom line is that they are led by their 8th hitter in Home Runs, while the rest of their lineup consists of Michael Young, an underachieving Mark Teixeira, and a collection of 7th hole and 8th hole hitters.

Kind of makes you wonder why they traded Phil Nevin. I endorsed it since it meant more Jason Botts. But, he plays in Oklahoma now, and the Rangers do not consistently score runs.

They have no player in the top 30 in AL Home Runs, and no player higher than 19th in RBI’s.

We have finally found a Rangers team that can’t hit.

Even though ½ game out, this team needs to sell, not buy.

Fraley on Eaton’s debut


With the Rangers anticipating a midseason shot in the arm, they took a kick in the groin with a 7-4 loss to the New York Yankees at Ameriquest Field.
Eaton, who missed the first 100 games because of a torn tendon in the right middle finger, had a dynamic opening. He held the Yankees hitless for 3 2/3 innings on only 49 pitches.

"And then the proverbial stuff hit the fan," Eaton said.
He threw 29 more pitches without getting another out. Eaton allowed the last five batters faced to reach base on two walks, a hit batter, a walk and an infield single. He gave up a 2-0 lead in that jarring stretch, and the Rangers never recovered.

This typified Eaton's career.

An American League scout at the game said Eaton can be very good, or very bad. He was both in the span of four innings.


Meanwhile, the controversial decisions of Tom Hicks continue: He extends Doug Armstrong for 3 more years! …I love Army, but this is a very generous move given the recent results on the ice…


Armstrong, 41, has worked for only one NHL organization in his career. He was hired by Bob Clarke and the Minnesota North Stars in 1990 as the director of team services and moved up to assistant GM in 1992. He was named to replace Bob Gainey as general manager of the Dallas Stars on Jan. 25, 2002.

Stars owner Tom Hicks said he likes Armstrong's ability to adapt to the NHL's salary cap.

"It's like building a giant jigsaw puzzle, and all of the pieces have to fit," Hicks said. "We want to win the Stanley Cup next year, but we want to contend for the next five years or 10 years, and that's going to require we have a general manager who can think outside the box, be flexible and be smart. I feel very comfortable we have the right man in Doug."


As the college season nears, The Horns are not sure who is the QB


When Ohio State comes to Austin on Sept. 9 in Week 2 of the season, Smith will be the Buckeyes' clear choice at quarterback. It will be the Longhorns who may well be playing two quarterbacks – Colt McCoy and Jevan Snead – cringe-worthy material for fans who recall the divisive Chris Simms-Major Applewhite era.

"Whether we'll play two quarterbacks against Ohio State is an unanswerable question at this point," Texas coach Mack Brown said Tuesday at the Big 12 media days in Kansas City. "We'll probably have a decision made during the week, and it's one that could change during the game.

"But we will not worry about public perception at all. Our job is to win games. So because people got mad over two before, that will not affect us in any way.
"Everything we decide will be based on what we think we should do to win the game. Two quarterbacks opens you up to more questions. It opens you up to more criticism. But our job is to win the game."

The replacement for Vince Young is all anyone wanted to talk about with Brown on Tuesday. And Brown readily admits he wants to play just one quarterback. He just doesn't know when redshirt freshman McCoy or true freshman Snead will emerge as the clear favorite.

But even if one emerges as the go-to guy, Brown said he'll play the other to gain experience in case of injuries.

"At a place like Texas, losing your quarterback to injury doesn't give you the right
to lose the rest of the games," Brown said. "So depth is really, really important at our place. And we've got it at every other position except that one right now.


More good stuff from the Boys blog …this time on Julius Jones…

Being really white, I have only recently discovered ghost-riding. But, thanks to Youtube.com, here is a demonstration of stupid people and their cars. Ghost-riding appears to be the idea of starting your vehicle, and then getting out of the car as it drives on its own.



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

According to Army the Stars have the best depth since 1999. It reminds me of Jerry Jones predicting Super Bowls when we all knew the Boys were going to be 5-11. The Stars look like a 6 or 7 seed to me.

Bone
out.

Anonymous said...

'Ghostride the whip?' - gay

Unknown said...

FINALLY rangers talk. and just in time to be dismissed in favor of training camp talk.

but yeah...soriano would sure as hell be a good ranger right now. mark mcguire maybe?

Anonymous said...

Well, the Rangers got us this far into July so I can't complain too much. However, who is going to be left to pitch for us next year?

Eaton...ssssssspare.

Come on Cowboys talk!!!

Anonymous said...

I love humanity. So rangers cannot hit and cannot pitch, and you wouldn't trade anything? How about trade Young? His value has never been higher, and how much more upside does he have?

Anonymous said...

Trade Young? And replace him with what?

Trade Tex instead. You know you probably CAN resign Young, and that there's a great chance you CAN'T resign Tex.

Your replacement for Young is... Meyer? Derosa? Arias?

Your replacement for Tex is Botts. At least he's shown he has the potential to hit and you can controll his contract for a while.

And get rid of freaking Barajas. He's not that great offensively OR defensively. Laird is better in both respects. Trade him before he stops being so overrated.

Anonymous said...

I would trade Kevin Mench for a cold six pack of beer. On second thought it doesn't have to be cold.

Anonymous said...

that first video reminds me of one of the hits Lindros has suffered in his "career." Stars will miss the playoffs, and Hicks has to pay Turco till 2010 and Army till 2011. Comical.

Unknown said...

question:

what are the odds that the kid in the first video is now dead, like rhyner.

Anonymous said...

Ghostriding is seriously retarded.

-JB

Anonymous said...

I'm just glad that the rest of The Hardline will be back tomorrow. If I have to sit thru one more afternoon listening to Greg constantly interrupting his guests and co-host I'm going to put a bullet in his brainpan. He won't let anyone finish a single damn sentence without Rhynes and Snake there to keep him in line...

Anonymous said...

The kid in the first video did indeed die. However, Bob did not link the entire video.

The full story:
The kids in the car were bullies who would drive by younger kids on bikes and push them over. (Kinda funny bit). Before this kid falls out of the vehicle, him and his buddies are laughing about knocking kids off their bikes.

These bullies see a potential victim and dead guy leans out. Victim sees him and turns his bike to the left suddenly (you can see the attempted victim in the top of the video riding away from the car). The dead guy leans out even more and slips. Obviously, things went horribly wrong.

The rest of the story: Dead guy's parents of course sued both car owners. Last I heard, the big determination is whether this was an "auto accident" which would be covered.

Anonymous said...

In my profession, we like to call that "The Self-Correcting Problem." Darwin's theory, right before our very eyes.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, so that video is a comedy! It is funny. Teenagers are dumb.

Post of the day: I would trade Kevin Mench for a cold six pack of beer. On second thought it doesn't have to be cold.

Go Rangers. Please.

Unknown said...

if the rangers dealt blalock and mench, they could get a ton in return. also, i actually wouldn't mind seeing them go. as opposed to chris young.

but i wouldn't want young or tex involved in any trade.

Unknown said...

yo attny dan, re: andrea yates

i thought that to be considered not guilty by reason of insanity, you have to be found to not have been able to understand/appreciate what you were doing is wrong at the time you committed the crime. and that is determined by whether you knew that society would consider what you did wrong, at the time you did it. so it's not whether you considered it wrong yourself.

is that right?

help me attnydan, you're my only hope.

Anonymous said...

Someone should pull an Uncle Teddy on her crazy ass.

Anonymous said...

Yates' attorney Wendell Odom expressed a similar view: "It's this simple: this lady never did anything wrong in her own life. She's mentally ill. She wakes up one morning, she drowns her five kids. Come on, we all know she's insane. It's a shame it took this long to finally get the right verdict."

Ummmmm. Is she insane? No. Was she found to be insane at the time of her insane bit of insanity? Yes. Even her attorney is confused!