With the signing of Dave Bush, the Rangers added yet another mediocre pitcher to a ST full of them. This reminds me of something I see quite regularly. I am still in college so much of my free time is spent at bars and parties. One thing I always notice is the dudes that hit on every chick they meet. I mean it is bad. I've got a friend or two that are bad about that and I just don't get it. I've realized that they buy in to the "if you plant a million seeds, one is bound to grow" philosophy.

That is kind of what the Rangers are doing IMO. I think they are bringing in players like Bush and Webb to put with guys like Holland, Hunter and Feldman in hopes that at least 2 can be average to slightly above average. I have no idea if this philosophy will work for the Rangers because it rarely works when applied to the world of women. But then again what really does?

I'm much more optimistic about our young guys. I think at least one or even possibly two of Kirkman, Feliz, and Holland are set to have break out years. I would hate it if we waste too much time on Feldman, Harrison, and Bush. I say the rotation should be (only if they prove themselves of course):

Wilson
Lewis
Holland
Feliz
Kirkman (and if one of these three doesn't make it I would take Webb or Hunter)

and at Round Rock

(with one of these as long man of course)

Hunter
Webb
Feldman
Harrison
Bush
Hurley
Beltre

You laugh, but look at last year, CJ and Colby were totally unproved. CJ was a bullpen guy who threw too many pitches and Colby was the Japan Cobra. I think it can happen that two of our higher upside guys break out. I think it is going to happen.

And yes, your analogy is very good. Lets not waste time going after the dime-a-dozen girls with less appeal, but rather those more worthy of our time and attention. That's the difference between a desperate loser and a guy who has confidence in his ability.

Lfloyd - Not a bad analogy, but when the market is thin, this is what you do. In 2010, the Rangers were forced to do this because of their budget issues. In 2011, the pitching market has been Cliff Lee/Zach Greinke and the rest. There may be a few choice targets that become available during the season, but for now it's time to scattershoot. I have a feeling that if Bush doesn't work out in ST, he won't make the opening day 25.

I think Bush is more of insurance. I doubt they are expecting much from him. Bush is more like the easy rebound girl if you know what i mean

Yes, let me say this was more of a humorous observation rather than a condemnation of our approach.

I guess to further this trend of similes, I'm hoping we follow the theme of the movie "She's All That" with Mike Maddux playing the Freddie Prinze Jr. role. Mike has accepted the challenge (put forth by JD) to take a flawed pitcher with some redeeming qualities, and turn them into the "prom queen." We have several of those candidates on our roster so we shall see what happens.

And I know these posts aren't as serious as we are accustom to at BBTIA, but I'm bored. I've got my spring training tickets bought and I'm just spinning my wheels until baseball season.

As a female TR fan, I find this line of thinking very interesting. It's not a boring analogy at all but did elicit a smile when I read it.....

Its not so much that I am against signing guys for depth who could be league average or just above, its just that we need to make sure we put our priorities in our higher upside guys and make sure that they can't contribute before we shift gears and start looking for guys like Bush to contribute.

We need to risk it with our high upside guys before we fall back. We need to put more emphasis on the possibility of guy breaking out than on the possibility of a guy like Bush contributing what he has in the past.

I guess the analogy starts to break down at this point,...

Your analogy was almost spot on, but you left out that it's getting near closing time, and the crowd is starting to thin. What remains is beginning to look pretty darn good, given the alternative of going home alone. Throw in a side bet of who doesn't get laid this weekend, and you start to see some guys falling all over themselves to hit up every girl left in the bar.

Those are referred to as shadow girls.

Shadow Girl: One who dances with everyone until the lights come one, when she scurries to the shadows in hopes of fooling some drunk in to taking an ugly girl home.

A 2 at 10 pm is a 10 at 2 am...

Knew a guy in college who would go out on the quad and just start asking girls to sleep with him. It was a beating, but if he was willing to sift through 100 "nos" he'd eventually get a "yes".

Seriously, though, I think it's better to have a reliable replacement level benchmark like Bush at Spring Training and say to the young guys "beat that dude out if you want a rotation spot", rather than hope the kids develop absent competition and scramble for a replacement level guy if they fail during Spring Training.

Every team's ST has a roster full of mediocre guys. Then at the end, you mix and match among them to fill out the bottom of your 25-man if you need them.

It's not so much of a philosophy as a matter of being realistic. If they FO could have anything they wanted, I'm sure they'd have a roster with nothing but gold glove cleanup hitters, aces and shutdown closers. Alas, they don't have a $500 million budget...

Haha! good one @ WSGJ

This music video is a good representation of the people who don't know how to hit on women.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thelonelyisland#p/u/0/tLPZmPaHme0

Someone hit the vent fan, the air has been fouled. Please try to control yourself jdb. I know sometimes you can't make it to the bathroom, but really, try to just stay away.