Saturday Morning Rangers Notes: The "El Magico" Edition
Joey Matschulat
Thought an interesting point was raised by one well-known sports talk radio personality on Friday -- okay, it was The Ticket's Mike Rhyner -- when he noted that the public's focus on the Ron Washington cocaine bombshell was beginning to shift a little bit away from the incident itself and devolve into a he-said, he-said dispute, with Dallas/Fort Worth's two major newspapers of record taking opposite sides on the sordid blackmail allegations, and the organization itself denying everything. Read into all of that however you'd like.
If another halfway-original thought of some actual value strikes me, I'll likely pass it along, but here's my one closing thought for now: the dichotomy between the stories of team president Nolan Ryan (who told "Dunham & Miller" on Friday morning that, at the time, neither he nor general manager Jon Daniels informed now-outgoing owner Tom Hicks of the Washington situation) and Hicks (who says he was involved in the team's original decision on Washington back in July) is not only awfully damn amusing, but also indicative of the disconnect between ownership and management that became all too apparent last year. By the way, who isn't far more inclined to believe Ryan over Hicks than the other way around at this point?
● The consensus appears to be that Tommy Hunter (left oblique strain) will be out of commission for 1-2 weeks, although this has the distinct look and feel of one of those sorts of injuries that often lingers beyond the predetermined recovery window. Case in point: in late June 2004, then-Athletics ace Tim Hudson complained to the press about being placed on the 15-day disabled list with an identical injury (left oblique strain), asserting that it was an unnecessary measure and proclaiming that he would be "at 100 percent in two weeks." A few setbacks and simulated games later, Hudson was activated ... after 46 days. It's just one example, and perhaps an extreme one at that, but the point is that Hunter might not be good to go until middle-to-late April at the very earliest.
So, where do we find ourselves now? Revisiting the No. 5 starter odds chart I constructed back on February 10th, I'd suggest that Matt Harrison, originally listed as a 15-to-1 long shot to make the Opening Day starting rotation, is now probably more along the lines of 2-to-1; granted, that's attributable to both his rising spring stock and the fact that another spot has opened up. C.J. Wilson's difficult to pin down, but he's obviously higher than 5-to-1 at this point, and I'd be lying if I said that the possibility of a "left-handed Ubaldo Jimenez" in the mix, even one that was only effective for 120-130 innings, didn't light my eyes up.
Brandon McCarthy (4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) grappled with his command early in his latest rotation audition on Friday afternoon, going walk-single-walk-grand slam before recording an out, but he did settle down nicely thereafter, docking a bit of velocity from his cutter for the sake of command and leaning more heavily upon his change-up; what remains unclear is how much damage that early-game sequence did to the way he's perceived within the organization. Should both Wilson and Harrison win their rotation bids, I'm divided as to whether McCarthy should function as a long man or work as a starter at Triple-A Oklahoma City. I'd grudgingly lean towards the former, I suppose.
● If you've ever encountered the phenomenon known as "information overload" in your everyday life (hint: you have), you probably know that it pervades internet baseball coverage as well; the ever-growing breadth and quality of such means that there's always going to be recently published stuff that you would find most interesting, except that you just don't have the time to fully consume it and appreciate its significance. This problem is exacerbated for people like me and Adam Morris and Jamey Newberg, in that we often feel obligated to at least mention -- if not outright discuss -- important team-related matters. Consequently, a few of the stories sometimes slip through the cracks.
Such was the case here when 16-year-old Colombian catcher Jorge Alfaro was signed by the Rangers for a cool $1.3 million back in January, yet the news (inexplicably) failed to receive a front-page mention. The gravity of that error has become increasingly apparent over the last several weeks, as Alfaro -- who you might say is the developmental antithesis of catcher-turned-outfielder Cristian Santana, as the 6' 1", 185-pound Alfaro is himself a converted outfielder -- has exploded onto the prospect scene to the extent that Jason "El Magico" Parks, Baseball Time in Arlington's resident prospect expert, is "tempted to call him a legit top 10 player in the system right now":
[Direct link available here. Video courtesy of Scout.com's Jason Cole, whose prospect coverage out of Surprise has been mind-blowingly sharp.]
Wrote Parks of Alfaro, whose apparent current standing as the system's top catching prospect was cemented by Tomas Telis's season-ending elbow surgery: "Alfaro punishes fastballs, showing good weight distribution during a quiet load and excellent extension at the point of attack ... His balance at the plate is impressive, allowing him to use his lower half to generate bat speed ... Well above-average arm strength and quick release ... Extremely unrefined, but has the raw tools, work ethic, and intelligence to eventually develop into an above-average catcher ... I can't think of a player I'm more excited about at the present, and I'm tempted to call Alfaro the most promising 16-year-old I've seen on a baseball field. Yes, I just said that as well." Chew on that for a little while.
● Based on the line of discussion that ensued after I questioned whether Julio Borbon was really the Rangers' long-term solution in center field or more of a short-term stop-gap measure, it would appear that -- surprise, surprise! -- people are higher on him than I appear to be ... but Kevin Goldstein's take on Borbon nicely encapsulates where I fall on Borbon right now: "If the walks come around, everything could change, but for now, the system sees Borbon hitting a solid-yet-unspectacular .286/.335/.394 at the top of the Rangers' lineup without a lot of growth potential from there. He's the kind of player a team is happy to have, while they keep an eye out for something better."
Reader Comments (5)
I've got no beef with Hicks at this point, but I don't believe anything he says anymore than I could pick him up over my head while doing the "Cotton Eyed Joe".
McCarthy, "Amarillo by Mornin", actually OKC but I couldn't think of a song. When there's an opportunity and he's earned a promotion, put him on the showcase schedule and move him when someone else has a need.
Agree with JP on Alfaro, squares the ball up, very disciplined mechanics for a youngster, lets the ball get to him, nice, gives me "Sweet Emotions".
A question due to brain lock the morning. When does a signee such as Alfaro have to be added to the 40 man roster?
I became excited when I saw this video of Alfaro:
http://vimeo.com/7227188
I believe I am correct in saying he is 16 years old - SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. Above average arm and nice feet and hands behind the plate -- he's no Pudge Rodriguez but certainly he's no clumsy Max Ramirez back there either.
And watch the video at the link I provided and you can tell this guy is a hitting machine. Listen to the sound of the ball+bat - it's sweet, it's different and it probably points at a guy who is on the fast track to Arlington.
I wouldn't doubt he's here in a couple of years if he just fix a little of this and that behind the plate.
By the way, I fail to see Alfaro on Newberg's top 72 list - he was signed shortly after the list came out. I wonder where he'd be on that list, considering Profar is something like #6 - my guess is he's actually a better prospect than Profar (an uneducated guess, btw.)
"A question due to brain lock the morning. When does a signee such as Alfaro have to be added to the 40 man roster?"
Generally speaking, a team can abstain from adding an international signee to its 40-man roster for five years after the date of his signing. The advantage in the Rangers' signing of Alfaro after the 2009 minor league season is that it effectively gives Texas one additional development year, a luxury not afforded to prospects like Jurickson Profar (who signed during the season).
This is one of those quirky procedural matters that can become really confusing in very short order, but let me take a stab at clarifying it: even though Profar signed at the July 2nd deadline last summer and Alfaro signed after Jan. 1, both players signed 2010 contracts; the reason behind Alfaro doing so should be obvious, while in Profar's case, he wasn't eligible to play in 2009 regardless, as he wasn't going to meet the stipulation of turning 17 by the end of the season (around Labor Day).
Profar's situation is such that he exhausted the first year of his five-year pre-option window in 2009, the year in which he signed his first pro contract, meaning that he'll use up years 2-5 in 2010-2013. Alfaro, being a 2010 signee, will use up his first year this season and consume years 2-5 in 2011-2014. So, as far as I understand things (note: I've leaned heavily on the writings of BA's Matt Eddy here), Profar will require 40-man roster placement after the 2013 season, whereas Alfaro's placement will be deferred until after the 2014 season, when he'll be a few months beyond his 21st birthday.