Everything about Seattle number wise (minus the win column) says this team is mediocre. Yet, here they sit again .5 games back. Creeping up and poised to take first place. How much longer are they going to keep winning? How much longer are the Rangers not gong to take advantage of runners in scoring position, play bad defense, etc? Are the Rangers ever going to get a good win streak going again or will they keep winning 2, losing 3-5, ad nausam. If Seattle gets 1st place in the West it will truly demonstrate be a pathetic and sad day.

how mediocre the West is and be a pathetic* (my 1 year old son deleted this line)

F***in Pineda..... thats all i can say

They may have Pineda but we have Ogando... so what's the next excuse? Basically, I've decided to accept the fact that the Rangers are no longer a team that are contending to get the WS, and even have little chance of advancing deep into the playoffs. Unfortunately, this is the path the FO chose to take in the off season. Just think, this team could have had Lee, Greinke, CJ, Lewis and Hunter as a starting roation with Ogando in the pen. The Rangers would have easily had been the best team in baseball. Of course this is assuming that it's true that Lee would have stayed if the Rangers were willing to guarantee the 7th year.

Regardless,

felix > CJ
Pineda > Ogando

its a grab bag for the rest depending on how each pitcher is playing. Seasons not over yet. and i simply have no faith in seattle's offense sustaining what theyve been doing lately. Literally the only difference btw seattle last year and this year is pineda and a new coach. I dont think thats enough to dethrone the AL Champs. Now that could be just me being biased. but i think we will right the ship. Whether it be via trade deadline deals, our pitching getting healthier, or our team simply coming together as a team better. but we will not give up this division easy. And we're certainly not going to hand it over the the seattle freakin mariners. the bottom dwellers of the division for years on end. But i agree with you we couldve had a ridiculous rotation, but unfortunately theres no use in getting worked up on what couldve been. we gotta work with what we've got... and i think we can.

It's not even July yet. Let's relax and see what happens over the next few weeks. Our schedule will significantly less difficult than it has been over the last few weeks and we should be able to separate ourselves from the rest of the pack.

I don't think anything Lee offered would have convinced him to sign here - he had already decided he wanted to go to the NL & back to Philly, where he always said he loved playing. Not this year, certainly, but eventually fans are going to be happy that he did go to Philly. It's stupid to give that kind of long contract to an old guy.

Tired... I mean anything TX offered...

@WWJDD

If what colby lewis has said is true, no, nothing would have kept him in texas, but he wouldntve gone to NY or anywhere else but MAYBE Baltimore if they had somehow made an offer. As we all know Cliff's daughter is extremely ill with leukemia. Apparently Philadelphia has one of the best specialty hospitals in the nation for children's leukemia treatment. That plus the enjoyment he had during his previous stint in philly basically made the decision for him. I only brought up baltimore because john hopkins hospital is pretty much the best there is. But if what Colby has told the media is accurate, that hospital, and the treatment his daughter received there is the main reason he returned to philly. Children's is a great hopsital, and so is St. Jude's, however I dont belive they have a leukemia specialty unit. if so, we mightve stood a better chance. Cliff put his family first, and its very hard to fault him for that even though it did put us in a tight spot

Hate to double post like this, but its unrelated to the previous response. If there is one thing rangers mgmt should be faulted for was their mis management of the Grienke and even Garza situation. Ive heard varying accounts of what happened, and this might be one reason greenburg is gone.... however i think we had the peices to get one of those deals done. I know the kicker with Greinke was they wanted Andrus, but I'm sure we couldve worked something out with another player. Moreland was the deal breaker with Garza, and i agree with the FO on that one as well. i would not give up moreland for Garza. That being said, again I think that there were other avenues that could have been pursued to obtain him. Same goes for Marcum. How was the FO not aware he was available? its the things like that that irritate me.

@DcAggie
I can't site the source but it was posted on this site at one time that KC did not want Andrus... or at least the last offer did not include Andrus in return. It's not that I don't believe you but do you have or happen to know the source of KC wanting Andrus? I know it's kind of like beating a dead horse but I feel as a fan I have the right to know to what extent the Rangers' FO is willing or not willing to go to put together a winning team.

From what I remember I think it was Engel Beltre, Derek Holland, M. Perez and one other that I can't remember (but it wasn't Andrus).

you could be correct... and i dunno about you but if that was the deal that makes me even angrier...I wouldve made that deal in a second. i dont think it wouldve even taken that long.

I'll try to do some research and find out cuz now i'm all worked up. lol!

@Dark
depends on the source. Newberg report says no Andrus, Baseball Prospectus states Andrus. So bottom line probably on JD and Nolan know for sure

Well, I'm thinking the other player may have been Profar so the price was definitely steep. I will look for the post on this site... I think it was in the forum also.

Okay, so I found the post and apparently it comes from Heyman but the asking price, IMO was actually much less. Here's the link:

Okay, that didn't work all... one more try:
Greinke package

I hate to tell you guys but Lfloyd was absolutely right when he said that deal was absolutely stupid. Greinke is a nice player but I don't consider him in the top ten starters in the league at this point. and Garza might be a top twenty but I tend to think that's a stretch.

If were talking about guys that can make a difference in the playoffs I don't think they're the guys that can matchup favorably with other contenders TORP's. Would you really feel comfortable pitting Greinke against Sabathia in game one of a playoff series. I would't. I like CJ in that matchup far better.

Sure Greinke and/or Garza would provide depth to the rotation but you don't trade that many premium prospects for added depth. Even if you remove Beltre from the list it's to much Greinke. The FO played the off season exactly the way it should have. They didn't mortgage the future for a couple of fringe TORP's that have always been overvalued.

the media as usual is pressing the panic button..no need..when you guys looked at the schedule, what would you have considered an acceptable record during this road-heavy stretch? (talkin tb, cle, minn, nyy and atlanta) thats 17 out of 20 on the road, and we had no idea before the season cle would be a first place team..that is an incredibly difficult road stretch and the rangers came out of it with NINE WINS AND EIGHT LOSSES..never mind how they got there, they finished 9-8 and are still in first place with the EASIEST part of the schedule in the next 3 weeks. JUST RELAX!

The next two weeks is a perfect time for Texas to add a little distance. Interleague matchups with Houston (without their best player in Pence), the Mets, Houston again and Florida. If we don't put at least two games back onto the lead in this stretch, I will be very surprised (and worried about this team's ability to repeat).

roy wins this thread

A winning record over that road schedule is just fine, no matter how the streakiness of it may seem to expose serious flaws. That's what baseball do...even genuinely dominant teams (100 win teams) lose 2-3 games a week.

I do have to disagree on one thing. Greinke is a great pitcher with the ability to improve and become even better. I think peiople are looking upon him to negatively due to the fact that he played for the Royals. youre not going to get alot of wins playing for them, especially during his tenure. The ONLY worry you have to have about Greinke is that his social anxiety issue comes back, however for the past 3 years he hasnt seemed to have a problem with that. Is greinke worth those prospects. To me yes. but to each their own. Put Greinke behind our defense and he'd absolutely be a top 10 pitcher. you cant say that about CJ right now. so if it came to having Greinke this year going agains CC in game one of the playoffs... i'm taking Greinke over CJ. Dont get me wrong, CJ is very good. Top 20 good but even on this team he's not top 10. Again, just my opinion.

This a great thread.
First we look like we turned the corner in ATL, 2 out 3 there is much better than any of us could have hoped after the Yankees and Twins series. So with the Astro's and Mets coming up and Seattle has to play Nationals, Marlins, Braves.

Trading all that talent for Grienke would have been stupid. That is any of the options you guys have thrown out. See Justin Smoak (sp).

As far as Cliff Lee goes I think it was 6 years guaranteed and we would only give 5 with an option for 6 am I wrong? If he used us and never intended on signing with us then he is a sorry SOB and I have no use for him. If his daughter was his only deciding factor then he could have worked a deal with the Philly's and got the contract he did without the circus act. To tell you the truth I think the FO screwed up in not signing him. The speculation that he might break down at the end of the contract and leave us handcuffed vs the almost assuring us playoff wins over the next few seasons. I would gladly take that over the mess we have now, needing to trade more prospects for more rent a players.

The division might be week but as long as we have Rhodes and DO pitching when we have less than a 8 run lead or 8 run deficit we are in danger of loosing this division. I have never seen 6 million wasted so easily. Really 3 million for Rhodes...

15 of the next 18 are home, which should help to even up the disparity between the Mariners & Rangers. The Mariners have played six more home games than the Rangers have.

The Lee decision has been discussed ad nauseum. He simply didn't want to come back and chose Philadelphia, which I do not blame on the front office. KC wanted to ship Greinke out of the AL, again not much to be done there. I don't get the wringing of the hands about Garza. Have you seen him pitch this year? He's basically Derek Holland without the price tag. Thank God they didn't make that deal.

Except for the first 10 games, the Rangers haven't played all that well. That said they are in great position considering that fact. If the lineup comes close to getting their averages up to their career averages, this team will be fine.

Yay to Rich P for yet again getting it right, in my opinion. I don't think the FO did anything wrong other than the Neftali Feliz waffle - he probably should have been in the rotation after being stretched out like that for a month in ST. The bullpen has been shyte, but you can't really blame the FO for that - they were really good last year with basically the same guys - who knew O'Day would get hurt, and who knew that Rhodes would suck, and that Lowe would be so bad early on? On paper they had a solid, deep bullpen coming into ST. Just goes to show you that what's on paper means nothing.

Hopefully the arrival of the trio of Hunter, Feldman, and O'Day will really rejuvenate this team and help them get back to a stable place where they can put up some win streaks again.

First of all, Lee liked playing for Philly. he wants a WS ring and felt playing for them insured his best chance to get back to the Big Show. He also wanted to be part of the Phab Pfour - less stress. Plus, I thought it was his son that was ill but is now in remission and a healthy 8 or 9 year old.
The Greinke deal: Folks, KC asked for too much from all AL teams because they wanted to move him to the NL. Less chance of him causing them future grief in the NL
There's not much you can expect from our FO in those circumstances. Garza, no big deal in my mind.
Moving on: There's slim pickings out there for TORP without selling the whole farm plus the competition from other contending teams will up the price even more.
We've got some hope with reinforcements coming.
Real issues: stuttering offense, shabby defense, 'hold your breath' BP and now Catcher and most importantly INCONSISTENCY ON ALL FRONTS with only exception being CEEEEEJEEE. Even when he doesn't have his good stuff he battles through for the team.