Rangers Notebook: Thanksgiving Edition

1:30 AM Update: Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Torii Hunter has signed a five year, $90 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Wow. Much more on this latest twist to the hot stove season tomorrow.

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Greetings from Round Rock, Texas - the home of Nolan Ryan's Double-A Express, Dell Incorporated and countless brand new strip malls.

The busiest travel day of the year yielded little in the way of new developments on the Torii Hunter front - the latest update from MLB.com's Scott Merkin on Tuesday evening indicated that Hunter was not going to allot much time towards answering the pressing question of where he'll be playing baseball for the five or six years until after Thanksgiving:

"Not by the end of this week. I know that for a fact," said Hunter on Tuesday, when asked for a timetable of when he may sign a new lucrative deal. "It could be the end of next week, and it's not necessarily with the White Sox.

"I'm actually trying to weigh my options and think about a couple of other things," Hunter added.

Meanwhile, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Wednesday that the Chicago White Sox were believed to be Torii's first choice, despite the fact that there are at least five teams in the running for his services (the Rangers, White Sox, Dodgers, Royals and Nationals) - and despite the fact that the Rangers are the only team among that group to have offered Hunter a six-year contract, which is believed to be worth just under $15 million per season.

Yikes.

Wittenmyer also notes that the always formidable New York Yankees could jump into the Hunter sweepstakes, should they successfully trade center fielder Melky Cabrera by early next week. But assuming that the Rangers have indeed offered Hunter something in the range of a six-year contract worth a guaranteed $87.5 million, it's beginning to appear that Texas may be in the driver's seat.

And that scares the heck out of me. But hey, T.R. Sullivan likes the idea! At least he throws an obligatory jab at the loudmouthed Dale Hansen in the process.

Finally, Texas signed infielder Ramon Vazquez to a one-year contract worth $810,000 on Wednesday afternoon, virtually assuring the 31-year-old utilityman a spot on the Rangers' 2008 squad:

"As a left-handed hitter who can play all four infield positions, Ramon is a valuable utility player," assistant general manager Thad Levine said. "Last year, he stepped up when a large void was created by [third baseman Hank Blalock's] injury."

So much for that idea of using German Duran in a utility infielder role next year, I guess. Vazquez hit .230/.300/.373 with 8 HR in 300 AB for the Rangers in 2007, with over two-thirds of those at-bats coming at third base. Not a particularly great signing, for obvious reasons, but at this late hour it's hard to say just how bad this is.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Rangers Step Up Pursuit Of Torii Hunter

For better or for worse, the Rangers' pursuit of free agent center fielder Torii Hunter is heating up.

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that Monday night's dinner meeting at the home of club owner Tom Hicks was attended by Hunter and his agent, Larry Reynolds, as well as Hicks, his two sons (Alex and Tom Jr.), general manager Jon Daniels, and manager Ron Washington:

"It was a good night -- we talked baseball and continued to get a feel for each other," Daniels said in an e-mail afterward. "I expect both sides will take some time over the holiday and revisit things afterward. In the meantime, Larry and Torii are going through their process, and we're continuing to look at all ways to improve the organization."

Although the meeting appeared to go well, there are no immediate indications that the Rangers have yet offered Hunter the five-year contract proposal that was suggested by Sullivan and the DMN's Richard Durrett last night.

Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox are also believed to be very interested in signing Hunter. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times quoted several unnamed sources from within the White Sox organization and Hunter's camp on Monday, who believe that an agreement between the two parties could be struck by the end of the week:

According to one source, Hunter had met with the Sox twice in the last two weeks, getting the financial details of what was being offered in that second meeting. While an agreement had not been reached as of Monday afternoon, the source said that �the climate�� was there for a deal to be announced soon, unless another team comes in at the last second and blows Hunter away with an offer.

Of course, Hunter has denied these reports - but could you really expect him not to? One thing does appear to be certain: this thing is going to be milked for everything it's worth by agent Larry Reynolds, who could very well talk White Sox GM Kenny Williams into giving his client the six guaranteed years he's seeking. Let's hope Texas stays away.

Sullivan also has his latest mailbag out, which consists mainly of some more vague reader-proposed trade and free agent acquisitions - such as the aging first base duo of Sean Casey and Tony Clark. There's also some additional information on Torii Hunter and free agent Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, as well as the current depth chart rankings of young hurlers Eric Hurley, Matt Harrison and Luis Mendoza. Definitely worth checking out.

The Texas Rangers added right-hander Thomas Diamond, left-hander Matt Harrison, outfielder Brandon Boggs and catcher Max Ramirez to the 40-man roster on Monday, while simultaneously designating outfielder Victor Diaz for assignment.

No real surprises there - Boggs was in danger of being passed over due to the addition of Warner Madrigal to the 40-man roster on Sunday, but he ended up making the cut. Diamond, Harrison and Ramirez were all no-brainers. As for Diaz, he may want to start looking at apartments in Japan.

On a related note, Newberg Report contributor Scott Lucas has a nice rundown of the Rule-5 Draft eligible players the organization has left exposed, and believes that right-hander Jesse Ingram, infielder Tug Hulett (or "Tuglett," as he has affectionately been called in some circles) or first baseman Nate Gold might draw some limited interest - granted, not enough interest to likely be selected.

The Rangers announced their club award winners on Monday, with shortstop Michael Young being named as the team's 2007 Player of the Year, and right-hander Joaquin Benoit snagging Pitcher of the Year honors. The entire list of award winners, as well as information on how to purchase tickets to the Rangers' Mid-Winter banquet on January 25th at Eddie Deen's Ranch in downtown Dallas, can be found here.

Triple-A Oklahoma Redhawks manager Bobby Jones, who is the all-time franchise leader in wins with 492, will return for an eighth season with the club in 2008. Pitching coach Andy Hawkins, hitting coach Randy Whisler and trainer Lee Slagle are also reported to be returning.

And finally, Ken Davidoff of Newsday say that the New York Mets are indeed back in the ring as a potential trade partner for catcher Gerald Laird. However, Davidoff also writes that Mets GM Omar Minaya is focused on conserving his trading chips for a pitching acquisition, and is not particularly interested in making a deal for a catcher - yet.

NEWSFLASH: Rangers Add Madrigal To 40-Man Roster

According to an official press release issued at 10:30 AM, the Texas Rangers have announced the signing of free agent right-hander Warner Madrigal, and have added him to the club's 40-man roster:

Madrigal, 23, has spent his first seven professional seasons in the Angels organization. He was an outfielder for the bulk of his first six pro campaigns before being converted to a pitcher late in 2006.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Madrigal is coming off his first full year on the mound. He spent all of last season with Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League, going 5-4 with 20 saves and a 2.07 ERA (61 innings, 14 earned runs) in 54 relief appearances. He had 75 strikeouts against 23 walks and held opponents to a .202 (44-218) average for the year. The .202 opponents' average was third-lowest among relievers, while his 11.07 strikeouts per nine innings was second-highest for any Midwest League relief pitcher. Madrigal ranked among league leaders this season in games (third), games finished (third, 40), and saves (fourth).

In his pitching debut in 2006, Madrigal went 2-1 with five saves and a 3.75 ERA (12 innings, five earned runs) in 12 relief appearances for the Angels' Arizona League entry. He was a career .272 hitter in the Minors before converting to a pitcher. His best season at the plate came in 2003, when he hit .369 with nine homers, 28 doubles and 51 RBIs in 70 games for Provo. That year, he led the Pioneer League in hits (103), total bases (162), slugging (.581), runs (75), extra-base hits (39) and doubles.

Madrigal has not allowed a run over his first six appearances for the Escogido Lions in the Dominican Winter League this offseason. Originally signed by the Angels on July 21, 2001, he was declared a Minor League free agent on Oct. 29.

With this signing, the Rangers now have 37 players on the club's 40-man roster.

While the Madrigal pick-up isn't overly fascinating by itself, the circumstances by how this transaction fell into place most certainly are.

Jamey Newberg wrote earlier today that while "teams generally don�t need to add minor leaguers to the roster for purposes of protection from the Rule 5 Draft until November 20 each year," potential six-year minor league free agents attain that status at the conclusion of the World Series, and thus must be added to the 40-man roster before that date to remain club property.

As fate would have it, Madrigal became a six-year minor league free agent after the Boston Red Sox completed their historic four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in the Fall Classic on October 28th. And apparently, the Angels were completely oblivious to the situation, which is further evidenced by the fact that they sent out a press release on November 6th announcing the addition of Madrigal to the 40-man roster - even though he had been a free agent for nine days by that point.

Warner's power repertoire consists of a 93-96 MPH fastball that he can reportedly ramp up to 98 MPH, as well as an above-average slider and a developing changeup. His devastating peripherals at Single-A Cedar Rapids in 2007 (11.07 K/9, 1.10 WHIP and 0.44 HR/9) would seem to suggest that he could move quickly through the organization as one of the club's premier closing prospects, though he'll need to further improve his command on the mound for that to happen.

In essence, it appears that recently appointed Angels GM Tony Reagins and company failed to do their homework on Madrigal, who still has all of his minor league options remaining. Stephen Smith of FutureAngels.com - who was set to name Warner as Anaheim's 9th best prospect in his forthcoming Top 10 Prospects list - finds these developments totally baffling, and does indeed suggest that the whole fiasco reflects poorly on Reagins and the entire front office.

And as as a result of all of this, the Rangers now have themselves a legitimate, high ceiling relief prospect. Awesome.

Well done, Jon Daniels.

Here are some Rangers-related quick hits to take us out:

• T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com and Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News both report that Daniels and Tom Hicks are likely to extend a formal five-year contract offer to free agent center fielder Torii Hunter over dinner on Monday night in the Metroplex. Blech.
• FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported early Sunday morning that the Rangers inquired about Seattle Mariners first baseman Ben Broussard at the general managers' meetings two weeks ago. However, talks failed to progress - in part because the Rangers believe that Seattle will non-tender Broussard in December. Broussard, who currently resides in Austin, will enter his final year of arbitration in 2008, and is set to earn at least $4 million.
• Also from Rosenthal: free agent center fielder Aaron Rowand is seeking five years, $60 million, according to one baseball executive. Rowand appears to the Rangers' backup plan in center field if the club fails to acquire Hunter, though both players are in very high demand league-wide right now.
• Finally, contract negotiations between free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba and the New York Mets collapsed on Saturday night, just hours after it was reported that Torrealba had agreed to a three year, $14.4 million contract with Mets GM Omar Minaya. Throw in another potential trade candidate for Gerald Laird, I guess.

Rangers Notebook: The Gambler Walks Away

Just when you thought the Kenny Rogers saga couldn't possibly get any more bizarre, Friday summoned forth another dramatic twist.

MLB.com's Jason Beck reports that Rogers has fired his agent, Scott Boras, and is now representing himself in all contract negotiations from this point forward. League-wide e-mails informing all thirty Major League teams of the news were sent through MLB and the MLBPA early Friday afternoon.

While the impact of Boras's dismissal on the talks between Rogers and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is not yet known, Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press believes Kenny's decision to terminate Boras was strongly driven by his desire to stay in Detroit. In addition, Rogers re-iterated his hopes of remaining with the Tigers organization in an e-mail to the Free Press on Friday morning:

�My opinion of the Tigers remains extremely high,� Rogers wrote on Friday morning. �My first priority has not changed. I hope to be with the Tigers in 2008.�

Yeah, that doesn't seem to bode particularly well for the Rangers' odds. Morosi goes on to say that an agreement between Rogers and the Tigers could now "come quickly" with the Boras factor gone, and mentions that Detroit's top offer currently sits somewhere in the range of one year, $8 million.

With Boras reportedly seeking a $10 million contract for his client earlier in the week, it would not appear that the two sides are very far apart financially at this point. In all likelihood, an agreement between Rogers and the Tigers will probably be reached within the next couple days. And that, my friends, will render this whole controversy moot.

Nonetheless, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News said on Friday morning that the Texas Rangers could easily beat Detroit's top offer, and put forth this suggested contract proposal:

Give Rogers $8.8 million (topping Detroit by 10 percent) for a year. Make $7 million up front (which jives with the A-Rod savings), $2 million deferred. Give him a vesting option for 2009 at $8 million that kicks in at 185 innings. If the option isn't picked up, there would be a $500,000 buyout. It amounts to $9 million guaranteed for Rogers, which trumps the Detroit offer and doesn't hurt the Rangers' 2008 payroll.

In a vacuum, that offer is more than competitive. Unfortunately, the deep rift between Rogers and owner Tom Hicks would still remain a huge obstacle to any sort of deal getting done.

Grant did go on to propose a dream plan where Hicks and Rogers sit down face to face and privately iron out their differences, with Hicks apologizing to Kenny for the front office leak early in the 2005 season that led to the nasty (and completely unsubstantiated) rumors of Rogers allegedly threatening to retire if not given a contract extension. In return, Rogers would publicly apologize to Hicks, the Rangers and their fans.

Could it happen? Sure. Will it happen? Probably not, even before Friday's latest developments. And just to further suppress the possibility of Rogers reuniting with Texas, Kenny called Hicks' demands for an apology "confusing" in his aforementioned e-mail to the Free Press:

�I have already made a sincere and public apology to the fans, my teammates and family,� Rogers wrote.

Whether or not you're in favor of the idea of bringing the Gambler back for one final stint, the chances of that scenario coming to fruition are looking less and less likely with each passing day. In fact, unless there's another dramatic turn of events on the horizon that brings a sudden and abrupt end to Kenny's relationship with the Tigers, I'm considering the whole issue dead in the water.

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com has a new piece on some of the options currently being evaluated by general manager Jon Daniels, including an investigation into the availability of potential blockbuster trade headliners such as Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera and Erik Bedard:

"It's real slow right now," Daniels said. "Until the first domino falls, it may take some time. Teams are holding on to their resources for guys at the top of the list. I don't know if any of these big names will even be moved, but I'm glad we made the decision to make our big trade at the end of July. If we had held on to Mark [Teixeira], there would be a lot of competition right now."

[...]

"For the right players we are inquiring across the board to see whether it makes sense as far as the asking price and the contract," Daniels said. "We'll make a decision on an individual basis but we're looking at all premium players."

As far as what it might take to reel in somebody like Cabrera (who wouldn't make much sense for Texas regardless, seeing as how he's a free agent after 2009), the asking price is apparently set near the level of what the Rangers obtained for Mark Teixeira in July. In other words, it ain't happening.

Sullivan also confirms the Rangers' interest into the Japanese free agent market, which includes the familiar names of right-hander Hiroki Kuroda and outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Speaking of Fukudome, Baseball Prospectus's Mike Plugh has a really good article on some of Japan's impending free agent exports, which includes this brief scouting report on Kuroda:

He's not Daisuke Matsuzaka, but Kuroda a very strong power pitcher with a low to mid-90s fastball and a wicked forkball. In addition, he features a plus shuuto, something like a screwball, as well as an effective change. Even if he only pans out as a third or fourth starter in the majors, he will give you innings, work deep into games, and he should be fairly consistent start to start.

Back in April, Plugh described Fukudome as "tailor-made for the Major Leagues," while praising his excellent outfield defense, stellar plate patience, and 20 HR/50 2B offensive potential. The prospect of landing Kuroda still doesn't particularly excite me, but I'm slowly coming around on Fukudome - especially with the news that his rehabilitation from season-ending elbow surgery went "extremely well."

Of course, free agent center fielder Torii Hunter remains the supposed top priority for Texas this winter. Although the wisdom behind targeting Hunter as the club's prime off-season target continues to be a hot topic of debate, Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News fully advocates giving Hunter a five-year contract:

Even if Hunter loses a step and can't play centerfield, there's no sign that his bat will disappear. He can move to a corner outfield spot and still be a productive player after 35. He's coming off a season in which he hit .287 with 28 homers and 107 RBIs.

Hunter hit an admittedly solid .287/.334/.505 with 28 HR in 600 AB for the Minnesota Twins in 2007, along with a .278 EqA. While that's pretty good production from a center fielder, and while he's likely to remain an above-average center fielder over the next two or three years, the real issue at hand is those latter years of a potential contract - in other words, when the Rangers are expected to be at or near the height of their competitiveness.

For his career, Torii is a .271/.324/.469 hitter with a .262 EqA. That's below-average offensive production from either corner outfield spot, and it requires you to make an important assumption: will a declining Hunter in his age 35 season, whose game is largely reliant on power over plate patience, even be that good offensively come 2011? Keeping in mind that the 2011 season would mark just the fourth year of a five year contract, the answer to that question is probably not.

So in essence, the Rangers may be looking at a situation three or four years down the road where they possess a declining player who isn't really mobile enough to play center field anymore, but at the same time, isn't really good enough offensively to be an asset as a corner outfielder. And the low cost of the services for said player? Only $16-17 million.

I'll pass.

In an update to a story originally published by Evan Grant last Thursday, negotiations between the Rangers and Ian Kinsler's agents have reportedly reached a standstill. Although both camps continue to talk about a possible five year deal for the 25-year-old second baseman, there's apparently a big gap between the sides as far as money is concerned.

Baseball America released their list of the top 20 Arizona Fall League prospects on Friday, which included catcher Taylor Teagarden (#10) and outfielder John Mayberry (#19). Although Matt Harrison didn't make the cut, Lone Star Ball's Adam Morris took BA's Chris Kline to task for his very odd exclusion of shortstop Elvis Andrus from the list.

As an aside to that, the 19-year-old Andrus received special props from T.R. Sullivan in his weekly "Friday Happy Hour" segment, with Sullivan quoting unnamed scouts who say that Andrus is "good enough defensively to play in the Major Leagues right now" and is "an extremely smart baserunner." Through 51 AB in the AFL, Elvis is hitting a stellar .353/.411/.471.

And finally, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jim Reeves isn't a big fan of Barry Bonds.

Whew. I'm exhausted.

The Kenny Rogers Imbroglio

For all the discussion and debate surrounding the possibility of Kenny Rogers returning to the Rangers for one final time, it's beginning to appear as though it may not even matter.

In an e-mail message sent to MLB.com on Thursday evening, Rogers re-iterated his desire to remain a part of the Detroit Tigers organization in 2008, and also expressed optimism that a deal would get done; however, he declined to go into specifics on the negotiating process between the Tigers and his agent, Scott Boras:

"I would prefer not to discuss negotiations publicly," Rogers wrote. "I will say that I still hope to be in a Tiger uniform in 2008. Thanks for your understanding and patience during this process."

Though the Tigers have tendered a pair of one-year contract offers in the direction of Rogers and Boras, both have been rejected thus far. Nonetheless, it definitely sounds as though the ball is firmly in the court of Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski right now: if Detroit ponies up the $10 million that Kenny is seeking, a deal will almost certainly get done.

But that all remains pure speculation at this point, which leaves the door wide open for rival clubs to jump into the fray. Sitting at the forefront of the battle for Kenny's services are the Rangers, who continue to show interest in bringing back the 43-year-old southpaw for one final stint with the club that he has invested over half of his professional career into.

However, there could be a major obstacle standing in the way of that reunion: albeit, an obstacle with a net worth of approximately $1.3 billion. Though owner Tom Hicks remains "open" to the idea of bringing back Kenny, there are certain concessions he would demand from Rogers before any kind of agreement could take place - most notably, a public apology to both the team and the fans:

"I would consider letting him sign a short-term contract with us," Hicks said. "Those certain circumstances would have to be met. He has to take care of some unfinished business."

[...]

"If you don't want to do that, play somewhere else," Hicks said.

Yeah, that last line doesn't make it sound as though Tom is particularly enthralled at the idea of the Gambler returning to Arlington. Complicating the situation even further are several stinging reminders of the nasty divorce between Rogers and the organization back in 2005, which Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has kindly provided us with:

A tumultuous season started with unsubstantiated reports Rogers threatened to retire if not given a contract extension. Rogers denied making such threats, but the relationship between him and team management grew colder as the season wore on.

After one unidentified club official suggested in a report that Rogers was "ducking" a start after injuring his hand, Rogers ended up in a confrontation in which he shoved a camera off a TV cameraman's shoulder, knocking him to the ground.

Now, is Hicks justified in his demands for an apology from Kenny? Possibly. But at the same time, it's pretty clear that the organization committed their own share of faults as an already tense situation between the two sides escalated out of control.

Regardless of whichever high-ranking members of the front office hierarchy "leaked" those aforementioned rumors (a regime that was led, of course, by the unmitigated failure known as John Hart), it would seem that the Rangers might owe Rogers an apology of their own after their internally conducted smear campaign.

And should Hicks continue to publicly grouse to the media about the subject, he may require a not-so-gentle reminder of the miserable treatment that the Rangers heaped upon poor Larry Rodriguez, the unfortunate cameraman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time on June 29th, 2005.

While there is no doubt as to the egregious and deplorable nature of Kenny's actions on that fateful day, Rogers eventually did his part in an attempt to set things right. After completing a confidential financial settlement that was believed to be in the range of $100,000 (enough to cover Rodriguez's medical bills and more), Rogers delivered an eye-to-eye, heartfelt and emotional apology to Larry and his wife, Angelita. Rodriguez accepted, and forgave Kenny.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Hicks and friends. As of March 2nd, 2006, over nine months after the original altercation took place, Rodriguez had received just one phone call from the organization: a personal phone call from Hicks six days after the incident on July 4th, 2005, in which he expressed regret and offered his apologies.

But since that day, Rodriguez had not received any further communication from Hicks or the Rangers, which generated more anger and disappointment on his part than anything else that took place throughout the entire debacle. From the outside looking in, the behavior of both Hicks and the Rangers' brass during this whole saga is a textbook example of unprofessional behavior at best, and just downright sorry at worst.

Perhaps the next time Hicks feels the urge to mouth off some more about how much Kenny owes the Rangers an apology, he should take a good, long look in the mirror first.

Since my rant on the squabble between Rogers and Hicks took up so much time, here are some of the latest Rangers-related quick hits to take us out:

• According to agent Larry Reynolds, Monday's dinner meeting between free agent center fielder Torii Hunter and the Rangers went well - granted, his interpretation of "well" probably differs from mine. Although Hunter is now reportedly seeking a mammoth seven-year contract, Texas could make their first contract offer to his camp sometime next week - one baseball executive with "some knowledge of Torii Hunter's discussions" predicts he'll sign with the Rangers for six years, $90 million. Ugh.
• Free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba has signed a three year, $14.4 million contract with the New York Mets, which probably takes them out of the running as a potential trade candidate for Gerald Laird. Nonetheless, the Red Sox will likely remain interested, and as Adam Morris wrote on Wednesday, Laird has more trade value than most of us might think.
• Reports of free agent Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome's impending journey across the Pacific may have been premature, as Fukudome received a contract offer from the Tokyo Giants on Tuesday and is still evaluating his options. In any event, he's not expected to make a decision on the matter until after Thanksgiving.
• Free agent outfielder Barry Bonds was indicted on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice by a California federal grand jury on Thursday evening, which puts baseball's all-time home run leader in quite the legal bind. Bonds faces a maximum of 30 years in prison if found guilty on all charges, and though he'll likely spend no more than perhaps six months under house arrest when it's all said and done, FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal believes his baseball career is officially over. Wow.
• Future Hall of Famer Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees have agreed to the outline of a record 10-year, $275 million contract that would reportedly allow him to earn millions more if he breaks baseball's all-time home run record - something which, with Bonds' playing career now in serious jeopardy, looks to be a fairly safe bet. As long as the Rangers are out from underneath the financial burden of their $21.3 million subsidy to the Yankees, and as long as A-Rod isn't headed to Anaheim, I have no problems whatsoever with this.
• Finally, on a related note, ESPN's Buster Olney has a scathing piece on the A-Rod saga, and Scott Boras's glaring missteps in the negotiating process. In essence, Boras completely misread the free agent market, and though Rodriguez is still poised to clean up nicely at the bank with his new contract, this could have backfired in horrific fashion on A-Rod's camp had the Yankees held to their word of not re-signing him after he exercised his opt-out clause.

Assuming that Kenny Rogers doesn't sign with somebody by Friday evening, I plan on taking a closer look at how he might fit into the Rangers' plans for 2008, and what other implications such a signing might have on various areas within the organization.

But in the meantime, all we can do is watch and wait.

Cogen Out As Rangers Team President

After serving as team president of the Texas Rangers for four years, Jeff Cogen was re-assigned by owner Tom Hicks on Tuesday morning to the role of team president for the Dallas Stars, Hicks' other Metroplex sports venture.

Cogen will replace Jim Lites, who will assume a greater role within the Hicks Sports Marketing Group and will help further promote the development of the Glorypark project between Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Apparently, the move was more about addressing the deficiencies within a suddenly turmoil ridden Stars organization than anything else. Cogen's "ticketing and marketing expertise" has been labeled as one of his greatest assets, and Hicks felt that the Stars (who are currently floundering at 7-7-4 in the NHL's Western Pacific Division, and had their general manager Doug Armstrong fired by Hicks two days ago) were in desperate need of further alterations to the face of their front office.

For what it's worth, several disturbing notes concerning Cogen and Lites have come to my attention within the last 24 hours. Lites, who served as club president of the Rangers from May 1999 to March 2002, has been identified previously as the driving force behind the "pushing out" of legendary public address announcer Chuck Morgan from the organization following the 2001 season.

Morgan returned to the Rangers after one year in Kansas City, but most would probably agree that Chuck's interim replacements weren't too great.

Cogen also came under his own fair share of scrutiny during his time with Texas, with one of the most commonly cited criticisms of his four year tenure being his relative inability to make much headway in the area of promoting the Rangers brand within the Dallas/Fort Worth region, one of the nation's largest media markets.

There have been other, less flattering adjectives used to describe Cogen that I have come across in my research on this subject, but they're probably not suitable for print here.

As far as Cogen's replacement goes, Tom Hicks remarked on Wednesday that it may be after Thanksgiving before he gets around to designating a permanent successor. Whoever eventually claims the title will be responsible for not only overseeing the regular day-to-day business operations of the club, but will also be required to work on the team's continuing involvement with the Glorypark project, as well as future renovations to RBiA.

Meanwhile, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has pinpointed some potential candidates of his own, including executive vice president of business operations Rick McLaughlin (who may be the early in-house favorite at this point), the aforementioned vice president of in-park entertainment Chuck Morgan, and recently appointed executive vice president of communications and public relations Jim Sundberg.

Among the wild cards named by Grant: Tom Hicks Jr., John Hart and George W. Bush. Bleagh.

Kenny Rogers To Return To Texas?

Well, I never thought I'd see this day.

In perhaps the biggest plot twist thus far of the young off-season, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com is reporting that the Texas Rangers are interested in bringing back veteran left-hander Kenny Rogers for a fourth stint with the club, and are preparing an offer to Rogers and his agent, Scott Boras.

As you may recall, "The Gambler's" latest departure from Texas was on less than amicable terms: Rogers provoked a nasty altercation with KDFW/FOX 4 cameraman Larry Rodriguez at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on June 29th, 2005, which led in turn to an ugly public feud between owner Tom Hicks and Rogers after Kenny later apologized for his actions, but not specifically to the organization. Rogers signed a two year, $16 million contract with the Detroit Tigers that same winter.

But according to general manager Jon Daniels, the split between Kenny and the Rangers may not be irreparable:

"We'd be open to it under the right circumstances," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "Obviously, finances would be a part of it. But I'd only want it to be a positive homecoming."

Wow. Of course, this all begs another important question: does Kenny still have it? Although Rogers was limited to just 11 starts and 63 IP in 2007 due to his battles with a blood clot in his left shoulder (which required surgery) and elbow inflammation, he still managed to put up a decent 4.43 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.

And despite the fact that he's now 43 years old, there still appears to be a reasonable chance that he can continue to provide 175 to 200 league-average innings going forward - assuming, of course, that he doesn't suffer some sort of catastrophic injury.

But do the Rangers need him? Or for that matter, will they meet his reported asking price of one year, $10 million? Those are questions that not only deserve a much closer look, but also deserve more time and attention than I can adequately provide them with at this late hour. Rest assured, I'll be returning to this topic very, very soon.

However, the great Jamey Newberg has some words worth pondering in the meantime:

I�m obviously on record as having a love-hate relationship as a Rogers fan since 2005, but there�s one thing that cannot be disputed: There�s never � never � been a pitcher who better understood how to pitch in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

If he returns and his head is right (not a given), he could be a huge benefit to this club, not only on days he pitches but also as a mentor to the young pitchers who have arrived and are on the way.

Going back to T.R.'s original story, Sullivan mentions that Torii Hunter is still at the top of the Rangers' wish list, and that Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington both had dinner with Hunter on Monday night. Sigh. In addition, Texas continues to show interest in the idea of bringing back Eric Gagne and Jamey Wright, presumably on one year commitments:

"We have not made any offers yet, but we're preparing a couple of offers to guys," Daniels said. "I don't like making widespread offers to guys and see who comes back first. We're going to be making offers to a few targeted guys."

And finally, Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a piece on the best and worst free agent signings made by the Rangers over the years.

Buckle up, folks. The fun is about to begin.

Rangers Announce Official 2008 Schedule

According to Pete Aldrich of the Dallas Morning News and T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, the Texas Rangers officially finalized their 2008 schedule on Tuesday. The full schedule, complete with accompanying game times, can be found in .pdf format over at the Dallas Morning News website by clicking here, or in regular calendar format here.

The most immediate highlight worth noting is the death of the 7:35 PM CST start time experiment. For the 2008 season, the club has decided to roll back all of their home night game start times between Memorial Day and Labor Day to 7:05 PM, a decision which has been supported by an apparently "overwhelming desire" among fans surveyed on the issue:

"The Texas Rangers conducted a survey involving an independent firm which reached across three groupings of consumers," Rangers vice president Jim Sundberg said. "That survey, which included many of our strongest fan base, concluded the desire to return to 7:05 game times. That confirmed with Major League Baseball's desire for us to go back to 7:05 games."

I'm not incredibly crazy about the switch back, but then again, I'm a bit of a night owl anyway. And with the traffic situation surrounding Rangers Ballpark in Arlington growing ever worse due to the Glorypark project (as well as other factors), wrapping those school night home games up sooner does help parents and children alike.

Texas will open the 2008 season on Monday, March 31st at Seattle with a bizarre 5:40 PM CST start time, followed by two 9:10 PM games, an off day, and a three game series at Anaheim from April 4th-6th. After that, the Rangers have yet another off day (thanks for the early season momentum, MLB!), and finally kick off the home schedule on Tuesday, April 8th at 1:05 PM against Baltimore, which marks the beginning of an eight game homestand.

Unfortunately, that home opener also denotes the start of a brutal 20-game stretch without an off day, which finds Texas battling the likes of not only Baltimore, but Toronto, Anaheim, Boston, Detroit and Minnesota. I'd love to know which idiot decided it was a good idea to give the Rangers two days off within the first week of the season, and then proceeded to pencil them in for three straight weeks of baseball immediately afterward. It just doesn't get much more asinine than that.

To make things even stranger, the Rangers will face the Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 21st at 9:05 - except that's AM, not PM. Both Patriots Day and the Boston Marathon also take place on that date, and the early start time is intended to help accommodate the schedule for the Marathon later that day. Somehow, baseball that early in the morning just doesn't fully compute.

As far as the interleague schedule goes, the Rangers will continue the tradition of facing their intrastate rival twice - once in Arlington from May 14th-16th, and once at Houston from June 24th-26th. Texas will also visit the Nationals for a three game series at their new ballpark from June 20th-22nd, which will mark the first time the Rangers have returned to Washington, D.C. since their permanent departure from the city following the 1971 season.

Texas will also make their first ever visit to Shea Stadium for a three game clash with the New York Mets from June 13th-15th, and will host the Atlanta Braves (June 17th-19th) and the Philadelphia Phillies (June 27th-29th) at home to round out the interleague schedule.

A few more noteworthy items to take us out:

• Texas will face each of their AL West divisional rivals (the Angels, Athletics and Mariners) 19 times in 2008. Good grief.

  Editor's note: Upon further review, Texas has played at least 19 games against each of their divisional rivals since 2001. Whoops. Still doesn't make it any less ridiculous, though.

• The Rangers will be out of town for Independence Day on July 4th, with the club facing the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards that afternoon at 3:35 PM CST. I'm sure Tom Hicks is thrilled at the idea of losing a guaranteed home sellout, as fireworks have always been a tremendous draw at RBiA.
• The Rangers' longest homestand of the 2008 schedule will be 11 games long, against Seattle (July 28th-31st), Toronto (Aug. 1st-3rd) and the Yankees (Aug. 4th-7th). Meanwhile, their longest road trip will be 10 games, with the club visiting Minnesota (May 19th-22nd), Cleveland (May 23rd-25th) and Tampa Bay (May 26th-28th).

Finally, Texas will wrap up their season at Anaheim from September 26th-28th. While it's highly, highly doubtful that the Rangers will be playing for anything at that point, I suppose the potential is always there for some type of magic to unfold, and for the Rangers to get the opportunity to actually play meaningful September baseball once again.

But don't count on it.

Sullivan's Latest Mailbag; Wright Files For Free Agency

As of midnight on Tuesday, November 13th, MLB's free agency period is officially underway.

May the baseball gods have mercy on us all.

Monday was another relatively quiet day as far as the Rangers were concerned, but MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan did manage to provide us with the latest edition of his weekly mailbag. And boy, oh boy, is it a doozy. Right off the bat, we have this question on the situation at third base:

Is Texas considering trading Hank Blalock and letting Travis Metcalf play third base every day? Could German Duran handle third? Or would they be trading Blalock when his value is too low?

-- Aaron R., Dallas

The Rangers are getting asked about Blalock, but you are right, his value is low right now. The Rangers still expect he'll make a complete comeback and need him to drive in 100 runs in the middle of the order.

T.R. is definitely right about one thing: dealing Hank now is essentially selling low, even when taking into account his impressive .293/.358/.543 run at the plate in 2007 - albeit, in just 208 AB. While Travis Metcalf definitely showed the Rangers something this past summer with his flashes of defensive brilliance at the hot corner, the fact remains that his offense is just not where it needs to be yet. And if there's one thing Texas can ill afford, it's to sustain another gaping hole in their already shaky projected lineup for 2008.

Furthermore, Blalock's contract situation is quite reasonable ($5.95 million in 2008, $6.2 million club option in 2009 with a $250,000 buyout), and becomes even more attractive when you consider that free agent third baseman Mike Lowell, who is nearly seven years older than Hank and has a frighteningly similar career batting line (.280/.344/.468 for Lowell, .273/.337/.462 for Blalock), is aiming for a four year contract worth at least $56 million. Yikes.

Unless Jon Daniels and company receive an absolutely overwhelming offer for Blalock, I see little logic in the Rangers trying to move him simply for the sake of moving him - or even worse, in order to make room for Metcalf. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't make sense.

Unfortunately, there are a great many things in Sullivan's latest mailbag which don't make much sense. Listed below are a few of the most cringe-worthy free agent and trade acquisitions proposed by T.R.'s readers:

If the Rangers offered Gerald Laird, Vicente Padilla, Jason Botts and Volquez to the Marlins, would they have a chance of getting Dontrelle Willis?

Even though he is old and came off a rough year, do you think the Rangers might benefit from bringing in Darin Erstad to play 1B/OF?

Is there any chance the Rangers would trade Michael Young to the White Sox for Juan Uribe and Jon Garland or Jose Contreras?

What are the chances of trading Blalock, Laird and Matt Harrison to the Mets for Carlos Beltran?

What about trading Laird, Kameron Loe and maybe a player to be named to the Pirates for Ian Snell?

You know, I fully understand that the average baseball fan holds merely a casual interest in the game, and is usually not obsessed to the degree that die-hard fans are in regard to number crunching and statistical analysis.

But seriously, Darin Erstad? The guy who's had pretty much one good offensive season in his entire career, hasn't sniffed the league average threshold since 2004, and is rapidly declining into oblivion? Give me a break. And as for the rest of these incredibly odd trade proposals, I'll let the Ticket's Norm Hitzges address those personally.

Getting back on track, Sullivan does touch on some more reasonable items of note, such as the ongoing trade saga of Coco Crisp, the possibility of a Richie Sexson-for-Padilla swap, the status of John Rheinecker's role in the bullpen (hint: he's the current #2 left-hander behind C.J. Wilson), and the scrapping of a once-proposed plan to permanently move shortstop Joaquin Arias to center field.

Right-hander Jamey Wright officially filed for free agency on Monday, as did Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. The latter comes as no real surprise, but I really did believe there was a better-than-decent chance that Texas was going to re-sign Wright before the free agency period hit. So much for that.

Baseball Prospectus's Marc Normandin has an outstanding piece on the rise and fall of Brad Wilkerson, and what kind of payday he might be in line for this winter. Wilkerson was excellent with the Montreal Expos in 2004 (.255/.374/.498 in 572 AB), and at the time of the infamous Alfonso Soriano trade on December 8th, 2005, it was pretty widely accepted that Wilkerson's poor 2005 campaign (.248/.351/.405 in 565 AB) was more of a fluke than anything.

Alas, injuries to Bad Brad's knee and hamstring took more of a toll on his body than anybody (including Jon Daniels) realized, and his power production slipped considerably as a result. As for the aftermath of the trade, this paragraph from Normandin sums things up pretty nicely:

Any progress on his command of the strike zone was lost, and his walk percentage, though still useful, lost its superhero element by dropping into the realm of merely mortal walk-drawing. The power was still there�in fact, it was just as present as in 2004�but durability and consistent contact were nowhere to be found. Wilkerson tried to play through a shoulder injury for most of 2006 before succumbing to another surgery late, and though he was more productive in 2007, he managed to land on the DL again, this time thanks to his hamstring.

If I had to guess, Wilkerson might be able to snag a two year, $12 million contract from some unsuspecting general manager. Never underestimate the Scott Boras factor.

And finally, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports that the Royals "recently held exploratory talks with [Torii] Hunter�s advisers," and are believed to be deeply involved in the running for the 32-year-old free agent center fielder's services. For what it's worth, Hunter has been expressing interest of his own toward the idea of joining Atlanta or Washington, due in large part to their heavy black populations:

�I always talk to my wife about being interested in playing in front of the African-American fans and trying to get the African-Americans back to playing the game,� he told MLB.com. �If I go to Atlanta or D.C. and make a difference that way, I would love it. Trust me � D.C. is very interesting to me as well as Atlanta.�

If the racial composition of a potential suitor's hometown is indeed playing a key role in Hunter's decision making process, it would probably be to the long-term financial benefit of Tom Hicks and the Rangers for the club to start considering a temporary relocation.

Grapevine would probably make a good choice.

Rangers Notebook: The Clock Keeps Ticking

With just under 24 hours left on the clock until the end of the 15-day filing period for eligible players to declare for free agency with the league office, all but one of the Texas Rangers' four impending free agents have obtained their walking papers.

The lone man standing? Jamey Wright. Don't be too surprised if general manager Jon Daniels and Wright's agent, Casey Close, manage to reach an agreement on a new 2008 contract for Wright within the coming hours.

Speaking of Daniels, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan discussed some more potential trade avenues for JD and friends in his Friday piece, and how the exorbitantly high prices on guys like Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand may convince the club to aggressively pursue a trade for their next center fielder, and subsequently deter them from the expensive path of free agency.

One name that did catch my eye as I perused Sullivan's fine work was that of 22-year-old outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez, who finished up the 2007 season with Triple-A Tucson of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

If the name rings a bell, that may be due to the fact that he was discussed as part of a potential trade package for first baseman Mark Teixeira back on July 30th, just hours before the eventual blockbuster deal with the Atlanta Braves was consummated.

However, the Diamondbacks waited too long to jump into the Teixeira sweepstakes, and time ran out on D'Backs GM Josh Byrnes in his quest to complete a deal before the deadline. Whether or not that was to Arizona's benefit remains to be seen, but you certainly won't find the Rangers complaining about the outcome of the situation. In any event, here's what I wrote on the night of July 30th on Gonzalez:

Carlos Gonzalez is a toolsy corner outfield prospect, who ranked 18th on Baseball America's Top 100 rankings this spring and 31st on Baseball's Prospectus's Top 100. He's been less than great this year at Double-A Mobile, batting .271/.312/.469 with 15 HR in 377 AB, but the fact that he's just 21 years old certainly plays a big factor here. John Sickels ranked him as the 3rd best prospect in the Diamondbacks organization last December, rating him a B+ and noting that "weak plate discipline prevents A- grade."

PECOTA isn't too crazy about Gonzalez, projecting him as a 25 HR type power hitter but with less than optimal walk rates, and with EqAs in the .265-.270 range over the next five seasons. His questionable plate discipline is probably the biggest knock against him at this point.

Gonzalez ended up raising his batting line at Double-A Mobile to .286/.330/.476 in 458 AB, and received a late season promotion to Tucson, where he hit .310/.396/.500 in 42 AB. He remains a very intriguing prospect, but as with so many young players who are being designated by the media as "available," I have to wonder just how "available" he is - or for that matter, what the Rangers would have to place on the bargaining table to even strike up a conversation with Arizona.

Sullivan also mentions that Texas is not especially interested in acquiring an injury-prone center fielder, which would seem to rule Tampa Bay's Rocco Baldelli out of the equation. Although the rest of the article is mostly a hodge-podge of various trade and free agent possibilities, I did find this snippet rather interesting:

Marlon Byrd and David Murphy are the obvious benchmarks. If the Rangers can't do better, then they will look at upgrading the corner outfield and see what happens.

That makes for a nice segway into Gil LeBreton's Sunday editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which touches on the subject of Texas's burgeoning interest toward the Japanese market. The Rangers have reportedly expressed interest in outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who can become a unrestricted free agent on Monday if he rejects a four year, $15 million offer from the Chunichi Dragons, and right-handed starter Hiroki Kuroda, who became a free agent last week.

The idea of bringing Kuroda aboard scares me for two big reasons: first, he'll be 33 years old on Opening Day '08, and second, he's currently being viewed as a guy that will top out as a "middle of the rotation" starter, at best. We all know how well that worked out for the last guy who carried that label with him across the Pacific. And as for Fukudome - well, I'll get back to you on that one soon.

Free agent reliever J.C. Romero re-signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, agreeing to terms on a three year, $12 million contract with a fourth year club option worth $4.75 million. This deal sets a nice precedent for ex-Ranger Ron Mahay, who has been mentioned as perhaps the premier left-handed reliever on the market this winter. Frightening, isn't it?

According to Jason Par� of Baseball Prospectus, Frank Catalanotto was the unluckiest player in all of baseball in 2007 in terms of pure batting average. Par�'s calculations reveal that after accounting for various sabermetric contingencies, Catalanotto should have hit .314 as opposed to his actual batting average of .260. Go figure.

And finally, Matt Harrison tossed four more innings of shutout baseball last Thursday against the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, bringing his overall AFL record to 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 22 IP. Harrison has now recorded 18 consecutive scoreless innings of work, a streak during which, according to Scott Lucas, he has held opposing batters to a line of .056/.150/.056.

Unbelievable. There's not much more to say.

Friday Morning Rangers Notes

Unfortunately, I'm a bit strapped for time this morning, meaning that I'll have to reduce this piece to an abbreviated "Quick Hits" edition. Of course, that's no big loss, considering that Thursday was rather quiet as far as Rangers-related news items were concerned anyway:

• Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers are aggressively pursuing a five year contract extension with second baseman Ian Kinsler, which would buy out his first year of free agency and would lock him up through the end of the 2012 season. It's an excellent idea for both sides, but after last spring's breakdown in negotiations over what would have been a similarly structured long-term deal, I refuse to get too excited just yet.
• GM Jon Daniels continues to hunt for the club's next center fielder, with Evan Grant breaking down some of the possibilities. Coco Crisp's price in the trade market already appears to be on the rise (the Rangers, Twins, Phillies and White Sox have all been confirmed as having interest), and the Red Sox may hold onto him until later into the winter, meaning that the front office may have to search for less sought-after options such as David DeJesus or Rocco Baldelli - either that, or ask owner Tom Hicks to pony up a huge chunk of change in free agency.
• Speaking of free agency, SI.com's Jon Heyman believes that Alex Rodriguez will snag a 10 year, $320 million contract this winter. Yikes. Almost as frightening are the numbers on some of the free agent center fielders the Rangers are believed to be courting, including Torii Hunter (6 years, $90 million), Andruw Jones (5 years, $80 million) and Aaron Rowand (4 years, $56 million).
• FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that the Phillies believe that Rowand will command at least four years, $52 million on the open market, and would not be surprised if he managed to grab that elusive fifth guaranteed year.
• And finally, Matt Walbeck, who was hired as the Rangers' new third base coach on Wednesday, has been named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America. I certainly don't consider it a stretch at this point to think that two years from now, Walbeck's name might arise as a serious candidate in the Rangers' next managerial search.

You can interpret that last sentence however you'd like.

Are Trade Winds Swirling In Arlington?

As Major League Baseball's general manager meetings enter their final day in Orlando, Florida, Jon Daniels and the Texas Rangers are finding themselves right in the thick of things.

Somehow, I'm not surprised.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning reported on Wednesday afternoon that Daniels had received "multiple inquiries about the Texas Rangers' depth at catcher," as well as the availability of third baseman Hank Blalock.

The club doesn't seem particularly interested in discussing a Blalock trade at this point, but Daniels acknowledged that "there is a pretty good demand for catching out there." Go figure.

To add even more fuel to the fire, the Red Sox are apparently one of the clubs that has inquired about the Rangers' catching situation. The emergence of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury in Boston has made Coco Crisp's presence somewhat redundant, and while Theo Epstein is desperately trying to convince us otherwise, it's probably a foregone conclusion that Crisp will be dealt at some point this winter.

Crisp's offense may be rather suspect, but he's an excellent defensive center fielder - and with his relatively flexible contract situation ($4.75 million in 2008, $5.75 million in 2009 and an $8 million club option in 2010 with a $500,000 buyout), he's a fiscally attractive alternative to the idea of haphazardly throwing $75+ million in the general direction of Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand.

If there's a reasonable deal to be made here, such as Gerald Laird and a B-level prospect for Crisp, that's something I would think long and hard about if I were Jon Daniels. Of course, the fact that there are several other teams involved in the hunt for Crisp's services will undoubtedly jack the price up, and it's anybody's guess as to what Crisp will eventually get dealt for in the end.

All that being said, I have to wonder if much of the interest league-wide towards the "Rangers' depth at catcher" is aimed specifically at Jarrod Saltalamacchia. I'm still very, very strongly opposed to the idea of trading him, and while I suppose the right deal could theoretically come along, it would take a serious haul coming back in the Rangers' direction for me to alter my stance in any way.

Meanwhile, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan focused heavily on the center field situation in his Wednesday piece, while openly stating that Torii Hunter is at the top of the Rangers' wish list. Ugh. As a special added bonus, we also have Ron Washington putting on his general manager's mask, despite the fact that Halloween was a week ago:

"We're trying to find a center fielder, and we hope it's Torii," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We might find out during the process that somebody will come in and pay more than we're willing to pay and we lose out. You never know. We certainly have interest in a number of guys, but Torii is No. 1."

[...]

Hunter told MLB.com last week that he is in no hurry to get something done with anybody. Hunter made it clear that he was looking for a five- to six-year contract, but he said that money wasn't the No. 1 issue. Winning tops that list.

Alright, enough of this; I think I'm gonna be sick. Beyond the nauseating lovefest for Hunter, there's the usual mentions of the fallback options in center field such as Aaron Rowand and Mike Cameron - in other words, nothing we haven't already known about for weeks. However, Sullivan does note that the Rangers are expressing interest in retaining Jamey Wright in a relief role, while the club is likely to let Jerry Hairston and Brad Wilkerson hit the pavement.

Evan Grant's latest "Inside the Rangers" newsletter is online over at the DMN website, which leads with a brief, well reasoned explanation as to why the Rangers don't need to go out and immediately blow the $21.3 million they recouped from the Alex Rodriguez opt-out fiasco on a high-priced acquisition. Nothing wrong with that line of thought.

There's also discussion on whether Sammy Sosa might still return to Texas in 2008, whether the Rangers might try and bring back Eric Gagne on another one year deal, and the usual barrage of questions on who the Rangers might attempt to sign or trade for this winter. As always, great stuff from Evan and friends.

Right-hander Akinori Otsuka has resumed his throwing program after resting his arm for nearly two months, and has yet to experience any setbacks in his latest rehabilitation effort:

"It's been encouraging," Daniels said. "Everything has been going well. Really, since mid-September, it's all been positive. It was just so late in the season that we wanted to be extra cautious."

Although things are progressing well for Otsuka at the moment, the ominous mention of Tommy John surgery continues to swirl around his name, and just one setback could do him in.

Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't run into any significant problems over the next several months; it's one thing for a pitcher in his early 20's to bounce back from Tommy John surgery in slightly over 12 months, but asking a 35-year-old to do the same - or to even make it back to the majors at all - is another matter entirely. Best of luck, Aki.

The Rangers are indeed off the hook for the $21.3 million they would have owed to the Yankees had A-Rod not opted out of his contract, but T.R. Sullivan reports that the club is still on the hook for the $9 million in deferred payments from the original 10-year, $252 million contract. Texas deferred that $9 million from his salary during the period spanning from 2001 to 2003, before his trade to New York in February 2004.

Right-hander Jacob Brigham, who was selected by the Rangers during the 6th round of the 2006 MLB Draft, is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery that will land him on the disabled list for the entirety of 2008. The 19-year-old Brigham went 5-4 with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 77 IP for the Single-A Spokane Indians of the short-season Northwest League during the 2007 season.

In Baseball Prospectus's latest "Transaction Analysis" column on Wednesday, Christina Kahrl touched on the Rangers' decision to claim outfielder Nick Gorneault off waivers from the Angels back on October 29th. Needless to say, she's not impressed:

Gorneault seems like a pretty odd add-on�what do the Rangers want with yet another strong-armed right-handed corner outfielder with OBP problems? He's older than Nelson Cruz, older than Victor Diaz, and somebody who hits .261/.346/.437 overall while calling Salt Lake home (and .249/.323/.405 in the PCL parks outside of Utah) had better play a great center�and Gorneault doesn't. A decidedly strange pickup, and one that might be wiped away this month when teams set up their 40-man rosters.

Both Evan Grant and Tim Cowlishaw have articles up discussing this week's developments on the controversial topic of instant replay in baseball, which came to the forefront after a 25-5 vote by the league's general managers in favor of its limited use during this week's GM meetings in Orlando. After witnessing the shoddy umpiring job performed by Bud Selig's playoff crew throughout this year's post-season, I can't say it's a bad idea.

And finally, at the tail end of Grant's original piece from the top of this article, there's this amusing little snippet:

Daniels said he's not shopping RHP Vicente Padilla in an effort to move a bad contract, but he is open to listening to potential deals. Padilla went 6-10 with a 5.76 ERA in the first year of a three-year, $33.75 million deal. "I think he's going to have a better year next year than this year," Daniels said. "He's had 200-inning seasons, and he's had a better-than-league-average ERA in the past."

I can think of at least one regular reader here at BTiA who will probably choke heartily upon catching sight of this.

NEWSFLASH: Rangers Hire Walbeck

The final piece of the Texas Rangers' 2008 coaching staff has fallen into place.

According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, the Rangers have hired former Major League catcher Matt Walbeck as their new third base coach. Walbeck will take the place of Don Wakamatsu, who departed on amicable terms from the organization back on October 23rd, and was hired the same day as the new third base coach of the Oakland Athletics.

General manager Jon Daniels reportedly offered the position to the 38-year-old Walbeck late Tuesday night, which came on the heels of a three hour interview between the two last Friday. Financial terms of the contract have not yet been disclosed, but considering that virtually every member of the present front office and coaching staff is signed through 2009, there's no reason to believe that the club would deviate from that plan now.

Not surprisingly, Daniels had plenty of good things to say about Walbeck on Wednesday, who beat out stiff competition from fellow ex-catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. and former A's coach Brad Fischer during the hiring process:

"He had a presence in the interview with us," GM Jon Daniels said. "He's organized and he's a winner. All of the people that we had see his team play this year came back and said his teams played with a purpose and an energy and I think that will help our catchers and will blend well with our staff and our entire team."

In addition to coaching third base, Walbeck will serve as the club's catching instructor and will help coordinate spring training in conjunction with the rest of the coaching staff. He hit .233/.280/.315 with 28 HR in 2109 AB over the course of his 11-year Major League career, which included stops in the north side of Chicago (1993), Minnesota (1994-1996), Detroit (1997), Anaheim (1998-2000), Philadelphia (2001) and Detroit again (2002-2003).

Most notably, Walbeck occupied the role of catcher during 651 of his 682 career games in the majors. As previously mentioned by Daniels, that heaping dose of experience behind the plate will serve him well as he attempts to tutor the Rangers' young, promising crop of catchers over the coming years, which includes the likes of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden and Max Ramirez.

Walbeck guided the Double-A Erie SeaWolves of the Eastern League to a 81-57 record in 2007, earning his club their first division title since 2001 and their first playoff berth since 2004 - and garnering him Manager of the Year honors. Before his promotion to that role, Walbeck had a successful three year run as the manager of the Single-A Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League, winning league championships in 2004 and 2006 and making the playoffs all three seasons.

On a somewhat related topic, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers also named Rich Rice as their new senior director of baseball media relations on Wednesday. Grant says that the Rangers have hired "one of the rising stars in the media relations business," and also notes that Rice was once mentored by former public relations "legend" John Blake.

As you may recall, Blake was allegedly run out of town several years ago by the John Hart and Buck Showalter regime for presumably being - in the words of SI.com's Jon Heyman - "too honest." If nothing else, it appears that those dark days of unaccountability within the Rangers front office are finished.

And as for the hiring of Walbeck?

I love it.

Sullivan's Latest Mailbag; Rangers Pursuing Wood, Fukudome?

First Johan Santana, then Miguel Cabrera, and now Scott Kazmir? At this rate, there won't be a single "untouchable" player left in baseball by the end of November.

MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan has his latest mailbag out, which leads off with a very interesting question and follow-up response:

I think it would be a great idea to sign Kerry Wood and make him closer. What do you think?

-- Cory F., Longview, Texas

The Rangers have expressed interest in Wood and have him on their list. General manager Jon Daniels said the Rangers want to add a veteran reliever to the bullpen and Wood could be the perfect guy, either as a closer or a setup reliever with the eventual possibility of going back into the rotation. He is also from Irving/Grand Prairie, Texas, so it would seem likely that owner Tom Hicks would be extra aggressive. The downside is a history of injuries.

Yeah, "a history of injuries" is a bit of an understatement. Nonetheless, Wood's pretty intriguing: he recorded a 3.33 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 24 K in 24.1 IP out of the Cubs bullpen during the final two months of the 2007 season, and his once devastating fastball was reportedly clocked at 98 MPH during one late September appearance. With his health showing signs of stability for the first time in years, Wood could make for a dangerous late inning weapon out of some team's bullpen.

That being said, the Rangers are most certainly not alone in their growing interest towards Wood. In his October 31st article, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune listed the Yankees, Astros, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Dodgers and Reds as other potential suitors for the 30-year-old right-hander's services.

Given the relative weakness of this year's pitching market, you can bet that one of the above teams will probably offer Kerry a multi-year deal - and although his health does finally appear to be on the mend, that's still a very risky proposition at this stage.

However, if there's a way to bring Wood aboard with a low-risk, Eric Gagne type contract (i.e. one year, $6-7 million with heavy incentives and potentially a club option for '08), that's something I'd definitely want to investigate further if I were Jon Daniels. Perhaps that's just me, though.

Sullivan also addresses the possibility of Texas going after Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome (an idea which Evan Grant is strongly advocating), a plethora of odd reader-submitted trade proposals (Padilla, Botts and Littleton for Freddy Sanchez? What?), and the even odder idea of bringing Francisco Cordero back in 2008. Yeah, because that worked out so well for him the last time he rolled through Arlington.

Mike Hindman has started up his prospect previews over at "Rangers Farm Report," a detailed series of player capsules that I always enjoyed reading during Hindman's duration as part of the Newberg Report. Part 1 touches on the 25th through the 21st best pitching prospects in the Texas organization (in Hindman's estimation), while Part 2 covers #20 through #16. Brilliant work as always from Hindman, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Scout.com's Jason Cole has an excellent (and lengthy) interview out with Rangers minor league hitting coordinator, Mike Boulanger, which you can check out here. Boulanger touches extensively on several prominent young prospects coming through the farm system, including Chris Davis, German Duran, Taylor Teagarden and John Mayberry, among others. Really, really great stuff.

According to Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald, veteran right-hander Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox are reportedly close to an agreement on a new one year deal. This puts an end to that pipe dream scenario where Tom Hicks moneywhips Schilling into joining the Rangers for one season, I guess.

And finally, Baseball Prospectus�s Kevin Goldstein has some praise for Matt Harrison's fine work in the Arizona Fall League, where he has compiled a superb 1.50 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 18 IP:

Harrison entered the year as the top pitching prospect in the Braves system. He was pitching well but below expectations at Double-A before being shut down with some shoulder problems, and after the Rangers acquired him as part of the Mark Teixeira deal, he remained shut down until the Arizona Fall League kicked off. Now he�s back to looking like an upper-echelon prospect, and the bounty Texas received looks a little more bounteous.

[...]

Harrison has size and stuff, and will quickly be considered among the top pitching prospects in his new organization very soon, if not already.

In his most recent outing against the Mesa Solar Sox last Friday, Harrison surrendered just one walk and struck out four during the course of four brilliant no-hit innings. In his last three starts combined, the 6'5" southpaw has allowed just one base hit and a pair of walks over the course of 11 shutout innings.

Get ready, folks. He's coming.

Rangers Notebook: Hot Stove Season Edition

Major League Baseball's general manager meetings begin on Monday in Orlando, Florida. Let the chaos officially commence.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News touched extensively on the Rangers' off-season plans in his Sunday column, and how the club's philosophies in that department have changed from years past. Not surprisingly, there's plenty of talk about the Rangers' pressing need for improvements to the outfield:

"We have other needs, but the priority is the outfield and center field," general manager Jon Daniels said. "We're going to take inventory of what's available. If young upper-level pitching becomes available, we'll show we're available, but other than that, we're looking to improve the outfield first."

There's the usual mentions of Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand, Andruw Jones, and Mike Cameron involved, but things get a bit more interesting as Grant elaborates on some potential trade avenues:

Boston almost certainly will seek to move Coco Crisp to make room for Jacoby Ellsbury. Kansas City may consider dealing David DeJesus, and Oakland might look to move Ron Washington-favorite Mark Kotsay. Even the New York Mets' Carlos Beltran might be available, especially if the Mets get involved with mega-free agent Alex Rodriguez.

Coco Crisp is rather intriguing, mainly because of his excellent defensive prowess in center field and the solid back-to-back seasons he had offensively in 2004 and 2005. But with so many teams apparently targeting Crisp as a relatively cheap backup plan for their center field woes, there's little doubt in my mind that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein will find a way to extract quite a bit of value for him when it's all said and done.

Remember, all it takes is two teams competing against each other to jack up the price - or in the case of the Rangers, one stupid owner bidding against himself. But, I digress.

David DeJesus is interesting for the same reasons as Crisp (good defense, down year offensively), though I question just how willing the Royals are to relinquish his services. Mark Kotsay does very little for me, and while the thought of Carlos Beltran becoming available is indeed pretty exciting (a possibility that our friend Adam Morris thoroughly discussed on Sunday), I seriously doubt that Mets GM Omar Minaya will even shop him around this winter.

Evan also talks about how the Rangers are considering pursuing some of the available free agent first basemen and veteran relievers, though their relatively scarcity means that Texas may wait until after they've gone through the strenuous process of acquiring a center fielder before exploring those options further. As a sidenote, Grant also mentions that the club has "touched base" with Mike Lamb's agent, and could "look into acquiring Kevin Millar."

Grant wraps things up with a look at five Rangers who could get dealt this winter, which are listed below. (Note: the percentage in parenthesis listed after each player's name denotes my somewhat random guess as to the likelihood that particular player is dealt this winter):

• Gerald Laird (60%) - Lousy in his first full season starting behind the plate, and has his head firmly planted on the trading block as a result. I'm thinking there's a better than 50% chance he's dealt this winter.
• Vicente Padilla (10%) - Miserable 2007 campaign on the mound, but his contract ($24.75 million over the next two years, or $35 million over three years if his club option is exercised) renders him nearly immovable. Grant thinks there might be legs to a deal if another bad contract is involved (i.e. Richie Sexson, Jason Giambi or Adam Eaton), but in reality there's probably a less than 20% chance he's traded.
• Joaquin Arias (25%) - Missed nearly the entire season due to various injuries (including arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder), and never particularly inspired me even when he was healthy. With Elvis Andrus now in the fold, Joaquin's one-time status as a top prospect in the organization has faded. Texas will likely hang on to Arias for now, but seeing him traded as part of a package deal wouldn't surprise me in the least.
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia (10%) - He's gonna be a freakin' stud, but he's also got a ton of value in the open trade market. I'm pretty well opposed to the idea of dealing Salty at this point, but I suppose he might be expendable if the right deal came along.
• Nelson Cruz (30%) - Cruz hit two home runs in my most recent game of MVP Baseball 2005, so at least his digital counterpart doesn't suck. All kidding aside, Nelson's running out of time and opportunities in Texas, and his shaky options situation could push him out of the equation before spring training even rolls around.

Finally, Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a nice Sunday piece on the return of Rudy Jaramillo, and how the club is counting on him to begin preaching the importance of better plate discipline to the Rangers' young hitters. Texas drew just 503 walks in 2007, which ranked 10th out of 14 in the AL and 23rd out of 30 in MLB.

For what it's worth, I still have my doubts about how well Rudy's teachings mesh with Ron Washington's own offensive philosophies, given their radically different mindsets in that area. However, since Jaramillo is now returning for two more seasons, I don't imagine that Ron put up an especially fierce resistence to the idea of bringing him back as the team's hitting coach.

But even if he did, does anybody honestly think for one second that the Rangers would make that sort of thing public?