Obviously Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, somethings you are more thankful for than others, but I never realized how thankful I am to have watched Josh Hamilton dominate on a baseball field in his prime until I read this post on LSB.

http://www.lonestarball.com/2012/11/22/3679456/thankful-for-five-years-of-josh-hamilton

The first thing I realized is how much I miss Josh Lewin, man was his enthusiasm something. Watching these clips from the past made me realize how great he really is and I can say I saw Josh Hamilton at his best. It was a mixture of feelings, excitement, dissapointment that he may be gone, frustration that he wasted his talent down the stretch this year, but regardless of all the things Josh has been these past 5 years (celebrity, hero, superstar, prima donna) I am thankful to have watched him play because he is special.

One more thought, what went wrong with Julio Borbon

He never made the next step, got hurt playing in winter ball and was sent to Round Rock where he immediately bitched and gave an interview about how he wanted a real chance and was willing to talk to other teams about a position. Average to below average fielding and definitely average hitting. Flashed some speed and stole some bases but gets caught a lot.

He put up 2 WAR at 24 I believe in his only full season (130ish games). The next year he got about 100 PA, going off memory so I might be wrong, and never came back. I know Wash seemed to dislike him, but I thought he had the ability to be an above average ML starter.

1.3 per Baseball Reference in 2010. His peripherals sucked, really. Also remember that for the most part in MLB the replacement level players rarely are everyday players....sad, too. He flashed a bit of talent but the concensus was that he just wasn't "getting it".

It seemed like Borbon didn't get a fair shake in 2011. It seemed like every time he came up late in a game that still mattered Was would pinch hit for him. Wash hadn't invested any trust in Borbon whatsoever.

@Hambone....Not exactly the case. To be truthful I thought about it because I did not remember that year the same way so I looked it up so that I remembered what happened. 2010 was supposed to be the year that Julio proved he could play. It went ok but he showed a lot of immaturity and nothing outstanding, replacing Hamilton when he was injured for a quarter of the season and getting playing time from Murphy.

2011 rolls around and because of the unknown of Borbon and Hamilton's injury history, the Rangers had secured Endy Chavez for the season for pennies. Borbon hurt himself early with a groin pull and when he had healed, Chavez was smoking hot at the plate and not embarrassing himself in the field so they sent Borbon down.

During the off season Borbon went down to the Dominican league and as I remember it the Rangers did not really want him to do that. He injured his ankle and was not ready for Spring training, hit poorly and then pulled a hamstring so he was optioned to Roundrock after coming off the disabled list. He is out of options now and when they do pull him back up, it will be a play or go away situation.

Looking at his PA and AB history, he wasn't pulled that often if much because he had over 3.2 games/PA's. I agree, I thought he was pulled a lot but looking back I think it was a perception thing in a very few instances. Liked him, wanted him to succeed but had to look back and see what went on. Hope this helps.

I see. I wasn't necessarily saying Borbon deserved more playing time, but it just seemed that Wash never cared for him much. I guess my memory on this subject was pretty selective.

What happened to Borbon was that he was the 4th best OF on the Rangers, and he shared the same platoon side as Murphy, who was much more valuable as a hitter. The constant Borboner misplays also insured that Wash would have him rot on the bench. 79 wRC+ and only 4.7 UZR/150 as an OF pretty much insured he wasn't going to force anyone out of the lineup. The only time Borbon ever hit was his first year, and it was mostly SSS from a hot first week or 2, and a high BABIP.

I ditto what you said about Josh Lewin. His dramatic calls give me chills. What an announcer