bit.ly The Texas Rangers, the Major League Baseball team controlled by billionaire Thomas Hicks, filed for bankruptcy after the planned sale of the team fell through. The Arlington, Texas-based company listed assets and debt of between 0 million and 0 million debt Chapter 11 documents filed today in US Bankruptcy Court in Fort Worth. Alex Rodriguez was listed as the Ranngers’ top unsecured creditor. Tags : baseball,players,mlb,phillies,dodgers,braves,major league,chicago cubs,alex rodriguez,base ball,mlb rumors,national league,chicago white sox,american league,espn mlb,baseball scores,free mlb,mlb scoreboard,cubs tickets,mlb playoffs,mlb world series,mlb live,baseball news
This is a great opportunity for Jed. If he plays well while Lugo is out, he may win the job permanently. Holding him back will be Lugo’s contract, which pays him $9 million a year through 2010. (There is a vesting option for 2011, but it doesn’t look like Julio will reach the 2400 PA needed.) It’s possible that if Lowrie plays well, the Red Sox send Lugo back to the position until they can trade him.
One thing that’s becoming clear; Blyleven should be some team’s pitching coach. I like him as an announcer, but I get the feeling I would love him instructing pitchers.
The Diamondbacks scored 4.44 runs per game in 2008.
I almost get the feeling Ralph Houk is managing this team. Ralph liked to lead off with his second baseman, no matter how high or low or player’s OBA. Felipe Lopez only fits the role of a leadoff man in that he has no power. Melvin compounds the mistake with Chris Young batting second. He projects to post the lowest OBA on the team. Given this poor top of the order, I’m not surprised the probable lineup ranks halfway between the best and worst lineups the Diamondbacks might assemble.
The saving grace of the team is their power. While they don’t have an outstanding slugger, seven of the players project to good slugging percentages. What they lose in failing to get on base they make up somewhat in moving the batters who do get on around the bases.
Plus, there’s a good chance that Marcels underestimate some of these hitters due to their youth. Upton, Drew and Young are all on up slope of their careers. Unless Eric Byrnes returns, none of the starting eight will have a seasonal age of 30 in 2009. With everyone either in or approaching their prime, the offense just might catch lightning in a bottle, much like the Rockies did two years ago.
Other teams in this series:
Texas Rangers (see this entry for a full explanation of this system).
We’re in the process of porting the blog from Movable Type to WordPress. My goal is to have the new look in place later today. My apologies for the lack of updates today.
You know, there’s always a thing where, Oh, rookies have to be here 2-1/2 or three hours before stretch. No. I’m not gonna be here three hours before stretch. If you’re here and you get your work in, it shouldn’t matter how early you’re at the field. You know what you need to do. That’s fine. You don’t have to be at the park three, four hours before the park if you don’t want. You don’t see nobody clocking in three or four hours before they have to show up to work. So, I mean, some people feel like they have to get here to read the newspaper or do crossword puzzles or get their mind ready. I feel like I come to the park, I have 45 minutes of stuff I have to do to get prepared for practice and get ready for the game. Five minutes might be watching videos. Fifteen minutes might be going in the cage. And then getting whatever other work I need.
Basically, Milledge didn’t want to go through the initiation of being a rookie. He may very well be right, but it didn’t sit well with the veterans.
The Red Sox just emailed that Jon Lester signed a five-year deal. This was reported a while ago, but the contract was just finialized. Here’s the story from the Boston Herald.
