Saturday Morning Rangers Notes: Au Revoir, Jake Peavy

If ever you should begin to underestimate the value of a good night of rest, try running 18 hours on four hours of sleep.

Trust me, you won't do it again.

● The top Texas Rangers-related news story of the day isn't so much a story as it is a vague second-hand assessment of Jake Peavy's apparent thought process as the San Diego Padres attempt to recoup fair market value for their ace.

Vague, second-hand, and indubitably important:

Padres ace Jake Peavy is seen as accepting a trade to at least any of his top five choices -- the Braves, Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers or Astros -- and perhaps a few others, though his no-trade provision allows him to reject any deal. Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, who told SI.com that his client is "reeling'' from the Padres' sudden interest in trading him (and possibly also from their new plan to rebuild), said his client would prefer the National League and has turned down one American League team already.

While Axelrod declined to say which team Peavy rejected, one person familiar with the situation said he believed that Peavy has told the Padres he would veto a few AL teams, including the Rangers. After years at pitcher-friendly Petco Park, it's understandable Peavy would not want to try out that bandbox in Texas. The Yankees also have shown interest, and Axelrod indicated that Peavy has mixed feelings about them, suggesting he hasn't closed that door completely.

Bullet dodged? Not quite yet, unless you consider "one person familiar with [Peavy's] situation" to be the ultimate authority on whether he would indeed invoke his no-trade clause if the Padres and Rangers reached an advanced point in trade negotiations. I know I don't.

But the already slim chances of Peavy toeing the Ballpark's pitching rubber in 2009 -- excluding a late-June home series between the two squads -- continue to evaporate. And considering where this organization is right now in its development, and considering what yet lies ahead of this organization before long-range viability as a post-season force can be successfully attained, I think we have to regard this latest development in a positive light.

In short, this is very likely good news.

● Don't allow yourself to be overcome with feelings of sanguinity just yet, because that mention of Peavy from Jon Heyman did not account for the entirety of the Rangers mentions in that SI.com piece:

The Mets, Rangers and Indians are believed to be three teams looking to sign star Rockies closer Brian Fuentes, who had a special season in his walk year. (And he will walk, as the Rockies can't afford him.)

[...] Fuentes' take is expected to be along the lines of $36 million over three years, a relative bargain.

New York is purportedly perceived by some as the favorite to ink the 33-year-old southpaw, who logged a 2.73 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 62.2 relief innings with Colorado in 2008 and tallied 82 strikeouts to just 22 walks to go along with his 30 saves.

Texas could certainly benefit from a bolstered bullpen (heck, what team couldn't?), but ask yourself a question: is this really the best way to utilize scarce monetary resources? Is the addition of one really good late-inning reliever -- one that's already getting on up there in age, and one that was worth less than an extra half-win than Eddie Guardado in 2008 -- going to push this team that much closer to contention?

I sincerely doubt it. Then again, general manager Jon Daniels has identified the bullpen as one area the team could definitely improve through free agency this winter, so take that as you will.

● Michael Young was named the 2008 winner of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award on Friday -- another Players Association-derived honor, voted on by all Major League players and given to "the player in either league whose on-field performance and
contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of
achievement" -- and received a $50,000 donation to the charity of his choice, while Josh Hamilton was fittingly assigned the label of Rangers Player of the Year, as voted on by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the BBWAA.

Hamilton has also been named to the Sporting News AL All-Star team, joined in the outfield by Chicago's Carlos Quentin and Cleveland's Grady Sizemore

● ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote on Friday that prospective Rangers pitching coach Rick Peterson would be "perfect for what [Texas] needs," which is evidently "someone who can help to create and foster an organizational philosophy on pitching."

Also from Olney: the Florida Marlins have become more receptive to the idea of dealing some of their arbitration-eligible players, but their short list does not include Ricky Nolasco; rather, first baseman Mike Jacobs, left-hander Scott Olsen and reliever Kevin Gregg have been deemed somewhat expendable. Word is that the Marlins would have to be "completely overwhelmed" to make a deal otherwise.

We'll see.

● Finally, The Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown has calculated the Rangers' marginal cost per win in 2008 to be $1,885,512 per win, the fifth-lowest sum in the American League and eight-lowest in the majors.

Seattle predictably blew away the field ($8,634,999 per win), while Florida's two ballclubs both accounted for the only six-figure totals in the study; Tampa Bay spent $679,764 per win, while Florida clocked in at a ridiculous $305,784 per win.

Enjoy your Saturday, because I have a sinking feeling I won't be.

Comments

[JDolla$]

Considering that some of this pitching surplus in the coming years will find its way to the bullpen, it might be good to just try to sign a couple of the "oldies" to 1-year deals. For instance: Russ Springer and Darren Oliver. It'd be cheap, and those guys (or guys of their caliber) are available and can probably be had. And they'd probably be better than what they have now.

[Keynes]

Darren Oliver looks like he'll fit the type A formula. But another Eddie Guardado back there looks like a good fit to me.