@Kristen, I agree he isn't an ideal #3... I'd bat him 5th. A lineup of Andrus, Kinsler, Beltre, Murphy, Berkman, Cruz, AJP, Moreland, Gentry/Martin would be respectable, and somewhat similar to that of 2010 in nature. I know Berkman isn't the fastest cat, but walks are a lot more valuable than strikeouts. He offers good value as a strict DH.

Murphy batting cleanup. Lol.

i'd much rather have andrus, murphy, kinsler, beltre, berkman as the top of the order. optimal lineup rules say your best hitter goes 4th, and your other two best hitters go 1 and 2. murphy gets on base, makes contact, and doesn't strike out. kinsler can give some power if he doesn't have another 2012, and you don't have the speed issues in the 3 hole you do with berkman. the only problem is whether or not berkman can give protection in the lineup for beltre. those knees better hold up.

@Seventy8 Have you seen his OBP lately? If he repeats his 2012 campaign (.304/.380/.479/.859), I'd be happy to have him batting 4. It splits lefties up, adding Berkman as a switch behind him would give opposing managers fits strategy-wise, then having cruz in between him and AJP splits lefties a little more. You can't have Berkman, Murphy, AJP, Moreland all in a row.

I need help.

I have heard many say that Berkman is a jerk.

Other than his comments about Texas I see no reason to believe he is a jerk.

What he said about Texas was a sports hate type activity and my hate for him then was predicated on his sports hate for my Rangers. Now that he apologized and has signed with us I see no reason to sports hate him anymore.

But all of this is beside the point when considering whether he will be a clubhouse liability.

Why do you think he will be a chemistry liability excluding any talk of his now infamous critical comments concerning the Rangers?

Why is everyone saying he is a jerk?

Joe, if you have noticed on this forum at times, for someone to stress a point of view will use terms like idiot, jerk, and those often are the more kinder terms. It would have more credibility if they had personal knowledge. Berkman is a bit of a prima donna, but find a pro player with a lifetime ba of around .300 or above who is not. One criticism is that he will hit into a lot of double plays and he has bad wheels. and this could prove true. But at 35 [2011] for St Louis [ and Pujols in the lineup with a below .300, and the first time in his career], Berkman in 587 plate appearances had 31 hr, 94 rbi, 92 w , 93 Ks on .301/.412/.547/.959 splits, with 7 grounded into double plays.[ Josh had 9 last year]. This was a year typical over his career, mostly with the Astros, when healthy. And the thought is he will be the DH, with a little firstbase, so this should take a huge stress off especially his knees. Still se Berkman in the #3 hole. Washington is a traditionalist,so his batting order will resemble last years with Berkman sliding into Josh's old batting order position, Pierzynski sliding into MY's and Martin into the 9th slot, just behind Profar..

Berkman is garbage

Berkman is a.dinosaur thanks for.the dinosaurs

Actually the we have accepted Stanton or Upton, you tried now leave my studio

What is berkman going to hit from? A wheel chair!!!

les,

I see what you mean but AROD is an asshole prima donna. The Yanks first basemen (I won't name the evil word) is an asshole prima donna. Those guys have said things that deserve those titles like "When I joined the Yankees it was like I was playing with men and not boys anymore." Anyways, I don't see any of that with Berkman. He is not everybody's best friend but I see no reason to think he will be all that difficult of a person. If anything I like certain things about him, he is a sick competitor, he is a vocal Christian, he puts up sick numbers, he speaks his mind, he is upfront and doesn't bs (ie he basically said a team needed to "buy" him out of retirement). Anyways, I'm not saying you are disagreeing with any of this.

Joe, I tend to agree you with on A. ROD, and what I see most annoying is his see -through persona he projects. Teix is just an East Coaster. where in his picture .nothing in this country ever happens or counts, unless it is in the Boston - D.C. corridor, so New York is a good location for him. Berkman, Pierzynski, Lindblom, the club house is a changing:; if nothing it should be entertaining, and the interviews and quotes will certainly not be stereotypical or routine. The Rangers should also add one more starter, according to a Levine radio interview. I would like to see them sign either Daisuke Matsuzaka or Carlos Zambrano. Picture this: the Z-man pitching to AJP, while the Puma is holding Josh on first. PRICELESS.

Thank you Joe for spewing more of your dull-witted Christian bullshit. You go from calling former Rangers Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira evil asshole prima donnas, and justify Lance Berkman being a "vocal Christian" to justify him not being a bad dude. Well done.

To be honest with you, I don't care if Lance Berkman is a jerk. I don't care if A.J. Pierzynski is a jerk. I couldn't give a fuck less about their moral standards and how well they match up with your own. All I care about is us getting them on relatively cheap one-year deals, and the prospect of them holding up their end of the bargain by mashing some baseballs around while antagonizing the Angels a couple times apiece.

I was not "justifying" Berkman being a vocal Christian.

Neither I nor anyone else needs to justify that because it is a good thing buddy.

I love you Eric, in the Christian sense. I am praying for your soul. I think you are a good guy under all that bombast.

It's not a bad thing, but it's not automatically a good thing. It's preposterous that you assume so. It offends me probably the same way it offends you when people want to take down nativity scenes from public forums around the holidays.

And if everything is fair, I know a much higher percentage of shitty people who claim to be believers than those who abstain to religion. In fact, almost every atheist I know is a good person.

@Joe
I sports-hated Berkman too. And your original comment got me thinking. I did some internetting and came to the conclusion that he's probably going to be great in the clubhouse. Sounds like he'll keep it light-hearted in there during the grind. But what the hell do I know?

So I'll just point out that we now have both Tiny Elvis and Fat Elvis on the roster.

Could you guys keep the damn religion off this forum. Christianity, atheism, whatever. I'm tired of seeing these childish pissing contests. Eric, you do not have to comment on every faith based comment made on here. Just out on your big boy pants and deal with it.

If he's healthy, meaning swinging the bat 9/10 of the season, he hits 30 HR.

Thank you for the advice, Romeo. I don't believe I'll be using it.

Like I said on another topic: I'm all about fairness. I can play devil's advocate about things I don't care about. When it comes to things I do care about, I'm just going to say what I think needs to be said. I'm in the heavy minority on the topic.

You can choose to use it or not. Just know that you make a bigger issue of it by screaming about it than if you just let it pass. You get offended by some of it? Well guess what? Everybody is looking for something to be offended over. The world would be a far better place if people just kept their own nose in their own damn business.

http://fralfonse.blogspot.com/2013/01/john-135-42-they-followed-jesus.html

@Joe

These were my favorite parts:

Most of the atheists I know grew up in a very strict and severe Christian household. Although they were introduced to the Bible at an early age (and they learned it by heart) they never experienced a loving God’s heart. And since God is love, is there any wonder why God would not be rejected? Where there is no presence of love, there is no presence of God. God does not reside in hell.

What chance is there of winning the Powerball or Mega millions lottery? One in a billion. What chance is there of God existing? Fifty-fifty. After all, either God exists or He doesn’t. But if he does and I believe, then I just won the jackpot!

I prefer to talk to the Lord and listen to His every Word, for not only did He speak like no other, but He spoke directly to me; to my heart and mind.

Following Jesus is no different than following others, just better and smarter.

The direction you've led me in with this recommendation tells me pretty much everything I need to know in terms of your posting style. Coming from a loosely conservative family who exercised a lot of care, and love, this guy really doesn't handicap the psyche of an atheist, which leads me to believe he's either (a) never been in contact with very many or (b) has himself rejected any who disagree with his ideologies.

The foundation of this article is based on "God is love," yet he basically shits on anyone who doesn't share the mindset, through various statements, which culminate in "Following Jesus is no different than following others, just better and smarter."

Wow. Really blowing my mind with such theological grace on that one.

The truth is, and this is a fundamental truth -- not a superstition -- living in the age of wisdom, which we currently are, has slowly started driving individuals away from ignorance and closer to what's real. Rational people appreciate what's real. We like real people who aren't afraid to challenge blind traditionalism.

Guys, stop this shit. This is a damn baseball forum.

Joe, you have no business bringing that stuff on a baseball forum. I understand your need to witness, but there is a time and a place and this isn't it. You just look like an instigator.

Eric, be the bigger person and don't take the bait. You're just as guilty as joe is and you're showing two things. 1) your lack of maturity because you simply cannot back down from this pissing contest. 2) your ignorance on the matter evidenced by this statement among others.

The foundation of this article is based on "God is love," yet he basically shits on anyone who doesn't share the mindset

I'm not going to sit here and debate this with you on a baseball forum and neither should you. You have my email if you want to contact me. I have defended you to the trolls and petty posters in here who lash out in ignorance, but your doing yourself no favors right now. Ignore these guys and they'll go away. You're just as bad as the people you're railing against.

More baseball talk, less off-topic talk.

What Berkman may say, or his personal life off the field, is hardly important to how I feel about him as a Ranger. What matters to me is that, if he's healthy, he could possibly hit 25-30 HRs and take 90-100 walks for a really good OBP and wRC+. Having that, as opposed to whatever Young might have given the Rangers this year, will be a huge improvement if it happens.