Thursday Morning Rangers Notes: The "Thinking Positive" Edition
Elvis Andrus leaps over Daric Barton after an inning-ending force out on Wednesday, May 12.To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure Derek Holland was quite as brilliant visually as his brilliant pitching line would imply (6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but he was very, very strong nevertheless, and if he sets an every-fifth-day pace going forward that's anything close to what he did on the mound last night, I have a very difficult time imagining that Matt Harrison is going to reclaim his rotation spot -- from Holland, at least. And they might say that a player should never lose his job due to injury, but in this case the injury may have only accelerated what was an inevitable outcome all along:
● After not having amassed five homers in a single game since August 7th, 2009 at Anaheim (a game in which Omar Vizquel belted his first -- and still only -- homer since 2007), the Rangers halted that drought with 2,127 feet of home run distance on Wednesday evening, including Josh Hamilton's mammoth 439-foot blast that helped nudge his wOBA back above .380. There may still be a hint of that early-season tentativeness that we saw, but right now his offensive profile looks awfully similar across the board to that which he composed in 2008, and that's an extremely good thing for Texas if it holds up over the 162-game duration.
● Writes Bob Hersom of Jarrod Saltalamacchia's "yips"-related throwing plight: "In [Saltalamacchia's] last game, Tuesday night at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, 12 of his throws back to the pitcher landed either short of the mound or in center field. He had five errant throws in the first inning alone." As desperately as the Rangers require offensive support from the catching position (Max Ramirez's fine 3-for-4 performance notwithstanding), and as white-hot as Saltalamacchia's bat has proven at Triple-A Oklahoma City (.343/.400/.552 in 67 at-bats), Texas simply cannot trust a player who is so mentally misaligned that he cannot make the most basic of throws -- the risk is simply too great.
One of the things I've marveled at for quite some time is how we're fast approaching the three-year anniversary of the Mark Teixeira-for-everyone trade, and yet we still really don't know what exactly Saltalamacchia is. On paper, he's a career .251/.313/.388-hitting catcher who has honed his defense to the point where it's at least league average, and that has some value; however, that's effectively replacement-level offense translated to first base/designated hitter, so if this proves to be a long-term psychological issue that continually impedes his attempts to reclaim the big league catching job, the Rangers probably enter the 2010-2011 off-season searching for a new long-term solution there.
● One of the more frequent refrains in recent days/weeks has been that if the Rangers elect to dump Ron Washington, they should pick up Bobby Valentine, holder of a lifetime 581-605 record in eight seasons with Texas. I'm not qualified to judge whether Valentine would, in fact, be a suitable replacement, but it has been posited over the years that Valentine played a consequential role in the respective downfalls of Edwin Correa and Bobby Witt during the late-80s (pitch count data bears this out in Witt's case), and even during his later 1996-2002 managerial tenure with the Mets, Valentine oversaw 125-plus-pitch starts with some regularity.
Perhaps you're of the belief that Valentine -- and, to some extent, the way that coaching responsibilities are delegated within baseball -- has/have changed in the last 20 years, and don't consider his past managerial tendencies to be predictive of how he would perform as a manager today; that may very well be true. If, however, you're going to seriously entertain the notion of commissioning Valentine for a second managerial stint in Texas, I think you at least have to acknowledge his track record of overusing starting pitchers as a red flag, and determine whether it's really prudent to pair that alarming track record with the collection of young pitching talent that Texas has amassed.
71 Comments | in Analysis, Game Recaps, The Season
Reader Comments (71)
It is amazing how a homerific blowout of the A's cures all ills in the baseball world. At least for one day.
Firstly, there were many many questioning Evan Grant's assertion that Salty had the yips to begin with and even more questioned Grant's assertion that the problem remains. I guess those questions are now answered and obviously the need for a real catcher (now) would seem to be a priority.
When Jon Daniels was questioned in (one of the ) papers the other day, he somehow failed to mention the problem with Salty's yips, so I assumed this was some "made up story" by Evan Grant, as others seemed to think it was.
So what's the deal with Daniels hiding this fact from people who are unable to attend OKC baseball games? Not good.
If you can credit Boby Valentine for anything, you can credit him for the fact that he had a built-in excuse for bad pitching decisions - asTom House was his pitching coach - a man so fat in radical pitching ideas that he makes Mike Marshall and Bill Lee seem like conservative Republicans.
In other words, no matter how bad of a pitching handler Valentine was (is?), Tom House will always get the blame for it, as far as I am concerned.
Just for fun,Hhre's a parody of Yesterday I posted at LSB the other day about Salty:
Yips today, all my throws go wide of second base,
now it looks as though it’s here I’ll stay,
I’ve been having yips today.
Why I cannot throw, I don’t know, I cannot say.
They said something’s wrong, I belong in triple A – yay- yay-yay,
Yips today, can’t the pitcher take some steps my way,
then my underhand toss is in play,
Oh, I’ve been having yips today.
@t ball Love it
It appears the "highlighted" player of the Texeira deal will end up being the worst. Feliz, Andrus, and Harrison all contribute more.
Still, hard to argue the negative merits of Feliz and Andrus. The Rangers would do the deal for those 2 everyday for next 300 year.
I like it t ball.
Here's Derek Holland's pitch f/X data from last night:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=5&day=12&year=2010&game=gid_2010_05_12_oakmlb_texmlb_1/&pitchSel=502706&prevGame=gid_2010_05_12_oakmlb_texmlb_1/&prevDate=512
Perhaps relevant and perhaps not ... yesterday TEX assigned Taylor Teagarden to Frisco... and assigned Kevin Richardson to OKC.
Thoughts: Tells me that Saltalamacchia is not moving back up any time soon. Maybe Kevin Richardson can get Saltalamacchia's throwing straightened out... or maybe not. Maybe Teagarden will find he can handle AA pitching... or maybe not.
Maybe Max bumps Garko and Teagarden dropped from the 40man, Richardson added and activated.
Ok... enough said, I'm no longer on-board with the Bobby V. experiment. We definitely do NOT need a manager that's going to come in here and ruin arms.
Regarding Hammy; it looks as if Vlad is at least a threat to not pitch to Hammy... so things seem to be going well from that standpoint. Everythig begins and ends with Hammy...as he goes, the Rangers go.
@windingmywatch As I recall they wanted both Salty and Teagarden to start. The plan was for it to be a fairly short stay at AAA for Salty. If it was going to be longer they were going to send Teagarden to AA so he could start as well. If I'm remembering that correctly then this just seems to imply that the Rangers are staying with what they have for now rather than planning on a promo for Richardson.
Hey Pablo, don't forget about Cruz. If he comes back and even remotely resembles the player he was through the first few weeks, we're in for a real treat.
Salty not being able to throw back to the pitcher has got to rank up there with the all time oddest things in baseball. As I have posted before, I am not suprised that he was injured, but not being able to throw to the pitcher?
He isn't injured and he is working hard, but the ball doesn't get to the pitcher?
It just doesn't compute.
I just hope with his sake he doesn't have some progressive nerve damage injury/illnesss yet t be diagnosed and it is just the yips.
Still, what I find polarizing is that we have to hear this "official news" about the yips from an OKC reporter; none of the DFW crew apparently finds it to be "news." (with the exception of Grant, who never has officially reported it, has only said it in passing and in chat and Twitter.)
Just like: why aren't the DFW reporters digging in Ron Washington's past to see if taking coke at 57 was really his first time? When I ask them about the lack of digging, the local reporters won't even answer me.
So, I'm miffed. Must be some good old boy network with the Rangers that I am not aware of (officialy.)
Jon, I just don't see how this could still be any sort of physical issue. It seems that if you remove the simple task of throwing the ball back to the pitcher, he's been better than ever. He's got Rube Baker/Mackey Sasser disease.
The Rangers need to hire Jake Taylor to help with Salty's throwing issue. He seemed to straighten out Rube Baker pretty well in ML2
How about old man Vlad in right? He made that play at the wall about 15 feet to my right and gave a wave to the fans when everyone started chanting "Vladdy."
We made 2 great moves in the FA market this off season and one that is still on hold as far as analyzing it.
I still think for having a hand tied behind his back and the other in an oven mitt JD did a pretty good job with roster management this off season.
Maybe Salty can just start shot-putting the ball back to the pitcher a la Jeff Bagwell after his shoulder exploded.
Wheres the gamechat?1?!
So, like an hour or less after I wrote that about nobody in DFW writing about the yips (except Grant in chats etc) - Grant writes an article about it: http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/05/jarrod-saltalamacchia-official.html
By the way, the article deftly avoids the word, "yips", which apparently is as taboo as saying "incest" or "nut case."
Do I really have to sit through a Richard Durrett chat?
we can "chat" here if you like :)
Mr. Mason are you trying to seduce me?
m/f location??????????????????????????
Durrett has no idea how to use Cover It Live. He goes kinda commenter by commenter and so you get a flood of 7 comments from one person talking about stuff from 10 minutes ago.
I can see the Rangers trying to get a Kevin Kouzmanoff-type during the off-season....moving Young to DH...
@fulltron - I know all about Durrett.
BTW are you on Twitter?
I'm all for MY moving to DH, but as long as Vlad is here I want him in the lineup as much as possible.
@adam_fullerton
Anyone else think Kouzmaasdfaiohjsfih has a weird throwing motion?
It is amazing how a homerific blowout of the A's cures all ills in the baseball world. At least for one day.
Good to see Rangers sites filled with strong praise for Washington today for getting his team to bounce back strong after a tough loss. Nice to see that it's not just a one-way street.
@rangers100 - hard to make any kind of tough decisions when you win by 9 runs. I mean, what kind of game-changing decisions are made in a game like that?
The Rangers (seriously, the Texas Rangers) are in first place and on pace for >90 wins (with the toughest month of the first half out of the way), and people are talking about firing the manager and replacing him with a retread from the 1980s that's been out of MLB nearly a decade.
Bizarro world.
If only there were a struggling reliever that he could have used to get some work in a game without any real consequences if they got hit. If only.....
Gotta agree with Mason. It would have been hard to make a bad decision in a 9 run game. Do you want me to anyways? I would have let Mathis start the seventh and finish the game. Boom. Criticized.
I also don't think anyone is "praising" him for using his magic powers to make 5 guys go yard.
@rangers100 - hard to make any kind of tough decisions when you win by 9 runs. I mean, what kind of game-changing decisions are made in a game like that?
Oh, no doubt. It's also important to make very sure he had nothing to do with rallying his team after a tough loss. Just as he had everything to do with 2 21-year-olds blowing the 9th inning the night before. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand how this works.
I hope we win the series and go up 2 games on a pace to win 93 games, but let's also note in advance that if we rally to win the series after the tough loss, that's entirely due to the players, Nolan Ryan (first and foremost; he's gritty, tough, a good God-fearing Christian conservative man, and most importantly, well-spoken), Mike Maddux, Jon Daniels, Chuck Morgan, and Clint Hurdle. Should we lose the series, we all know whose fault it was, as always.
Whatever. I can't speak for anyone else but I'll tell you - I place the blame where I think it belongs. I blamed Ryan in March when I found out he didn't fire Washington when he had the chance. I blame Daniels for not getting a LOOGY in the bullpen before the season started, after week one and just the other day.
It's quite obvious to anyone who follows and delves into the Rangers at breakneck depth (as I do) that Ron Washington is great at boosting morale and teaching but he's horrible - insipid even - at making decisions that are even remotely complex in dealing with in-game decisions.
It's just the way I see it.
I also criticized Daniels for acquiring Garko in March.
I suggest you go back and read my comments, I think you will see I am fair in placing criticism when it belongs. I document a lot of things in April that Washington did that squarely places the blame of 8 to 10 losses on his shoulders and I dare anyone to argue with me about it.
Whatever. I can't speak for anyone else but I'll tell you - I place the blame where I think it belongs.
Do you want Ryan fired too?
-- His team did just as poorly as Washington's last year.
-- He didn't fire Washington.
-- He talked the Rangers into wasting its top draft pick on his boy, Purke.
-- His higher pitch count starters were 12th in the AL in 2009 in xFIP.
Needs to be fired too, right?
Just like: why aren't the DFW reporters digging in Ron Washington's past to see if taking coke at 57 was really his first time? When I ask them about the lack of digging, the local reporters won't even answer me.
So, I'm miffed. Must be some good old boy network with the Rangers that I am not aware of (officialy.)
Good point. Also, they should be digging heavily into Hamilton's present to see if his relapse last Spring was really the only one, right?
If we win the series, then everyone gets credit, including Washington. That means he made more good decisions than bad decisions. You don't think people blame the starters when they had a 5 something era the past few seasons? Or when the batters dont score more than a run or two... pretty sure they blame that on the hitters as well. You can find a negative in just about any game i.e. I think he should have use Mathis and saved Oday. But that's just my opinion. If we lose a series scoring 3 runs total then its the hitters fault. If we lose a series because of the starters giving up more than 5 runs per start, then its the starters fault. But if we lose a series because Washington makes what we consider a bad decision, then we have every right to blame it on him.
@rangers100 can you honestly say Washington has not been the cause of multiple loses this season?
It's the manager's responsibility to take the blame when his team loses and to step back and let his players get the credit for the wins. I will say that Wash seems to be good at getting his team to respond, but he didn't have a whole lot to do in yesterday's win. He got his team to shrug off a tough loss, but during the game, there weren't really any high leverage situations where he actually had to make a choice. The criticism surrounding Wash has always centered around his ability to make good decisions in high-leverage situation. I don't know any reader hear at BBTiA who believes Wash is bad at motivating his players.
"It's also important to make very sure he had nothing to do with rallying his team after a tough loss."
Nobody tried to make this point. Please stop reading what isn't there. The criticism of Tuesdays loss centered around poor decisions not motivation.
When Hamilton messed up last year (photos etc) he was drinking alcohol - which is legal. Maybe he shouldn't have been doing it but it's still "only " alcohol.
And yes, if you will go back to March 17-18-19 and read the comments on this board you will see how utterly unhappy I was with Ryan and I at least came close (don't remember exactly) to asking for his (Ryan's) removal.
@ James Mason
That was me who questioned Grants early use of "yips". I'm still not sure "yips" applies but I certainly have to defer those on site for the actual facts surrounding his throwing.
@ Rangers100
Seriously, give it a rest. This was hashed and re-hashed yesterday. You seem bound and determined to find something nefarious in other peoples comments. That says a hell of a lot more about your motivations than theirs.
"Yips" is really something I am not certain of (precisely) and it occurs to me that perhaps I have been using the term incorrectly. By "yips" I mean - Salty cannot throw the ball back to the mound as would be normal for 99.99% of the population. I do not mean he has some uncontrollable arm. I just mean: he has "trouble" - which by the way, is exactly what Grant wrote this afternoon.
In either case, no one (but Grant) has even mentioned it as far as I know (nat'l media) and I do try to read anything Rangers' related (using Google news.) So, what is up with that?
A Stephens: I won't ever say that I really know a thing about sports psychology, but doesn't this seems like the "yips"? He can throw out a runner; he can hit or block a ball in the dirt; he just can't get the ball back to the pitcher consistently. Isn't that the yips?
We should send this link to Salty:
http://www.yipsbegone.com/
Nobody tried to make this point. Please stop reading what isn't there. The criticism of Tuesdays loss centered around poor decisions not motivation.
Please stop pretending this is about one game.
We have a first place team on pace to win >90 games for one of the very few times in the franchise's nearly half century of baseball, and numerous people here want the manager fired.
"Everyone gets credit." Hilarious.
When Hamilton messed up last year (photos etc) he was drinking alcohol - which is legal. Maybe he shouldn't have been doing it but it's still "only " alcohol.
Sure, but relapses for him are a potentially catastrophic event for not just him but the entire team. We need reporters out there heavily digging into this to make sure he's not lying. Be consistent.
And yes, if you will go back to March 17-18-19 and read the comments on this board you will see how utterly unhappy I was with Ryan and I at least came close (don't remember exactly) to asking for his (Ryan's) removal.
But no firing. (And the only serious anger about him related to his not firing a person you've made it very clear you thoroughly despise... for some reason or other.)
Free pass for Hamilton and Ryan. Firing for Washington. Coincidence, I'm sure.
Seriously, give it a rest. This was hashed and re-hashed yesterday.
Hey, the author of the blog seriously entertained the suggestion of replacing a first place manager with Bobby Valentine... so here we are. You'll live.
After doing a bit of reading on the subject, the yips are basically the loss of fine motor-skills that seemingly have no physiological cause (such as constantly missing short putts or the inability to make a short simple throw in baseball).
@Rangers100 Why is everyone getting credit hilarious? Isn't that what you are commenting on this for? If he says they all get credit, then he probly thinks that way. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so why do you constantly try and convince everyone that their opinions are wrong?
Sure, but relapses for him are a potentially catastrophic event for not just him but the entire team. We need reporters out there heavily digging into this to make sure he's not lying. Be consistent.
Fine, check up on him.
I did write this:
1. Not my opinion of Daniels - but my opinion of Ryan has changed quite a bit and I have read many others saying the same thing. Nolan seems to have "come down" from his lofty perch in the past week and that's really disappointing.
I may have written more things about Ryan in a negative light but as of right now I can't find them.
Uh oh - I miss short putts and long putts.