Well, I've alluded to this several times over the last couple of days, and I suppose now is the appropriate time to let the cat out of the bag.
I have learned in the last five days that I have been accepted to both SMU's Cox School of Business and UTD's Naveen Jindal School of Management to pursue my master of science in accounting degree, beginning in January. I know which direction I'm leaning in right now, but I have not yet committed to one school over the other.
I also realize the potential implications for BBTiA, as a whole, and while my current intention is to keep the website going onward into next season, this is clearly going to be one of those we'll-see-if-enough-time-is-there-type deals. I am, however, going to do whatever I can to make it work. I promise.
In the meantime, throw me some congratulations or hurl pejoratives in my direction or both. I'm moving on up in the world.
Per Rangers P.R. man John Blake, the Rangers are going to roll with Dave Barnett and Tom Grieve on the television side, and Eric Nadel and Steve Busby on the radio side.
There's no immediate word as to whether Bryan Dolgin will continue to serve as an occasional color man behind Busby on the radio side, or whether he'll be sticking to pre- and post-game show duties.
This is a somewhat interesting announcement, in that there had been a lot of speculation about there being a less than amicable relationship between Grieve and Barnett, and some comments from at least one member of the DFW media -- and the BBTiA community -- that seemed to confirm that things weren't all just peaches and cream there.
There was also the very bizarre on-air incident during the waning days of the 2011 regular season, where Grieve seemed to bristle at Barnett's on-air suggestion that Mike Scioscia played a significant role in Mike Napoli being traded out of Anaheim, and then proceeded to lay out on Barnett for an extended period of time during the Rangers telecast.
Regardless, though, it appears that last season's post-Rhadigan arrangement is going to remain intact on both the radio and television sides. I'm not sure how the fan base as a whole is going to react to this news, but, well, there it is.
Both Evan Grant and Mac Engel have stories out today excoriating the individual in the Rangers' employ who leaked the audio of Ron Washington's pre-Game 7 clubhouse speech onto the internet, and defending Washington's profanity-laced comments.
If, for some reason, the speech in question has eluded your ears to this point, here's a direct link to the video in question.
There are two specific things I want to say with regard to the way this entire story has played out over the last 48-72 hours, and how this has blown up into something that has merited columns from both of the local Metroplex dailies:
(1) I have yet to come across a single Rangers fan that has genuinely been upset at the manner in which that pre-game talk was conducted. I would, in fact, suggest that virtually every Rangers fan who took the time to listen to it found that they liked Ron Washington a little bit more after listening to the speech than they did beforehand. And across baseball as a whole, most fans "get" the fact that this is nothing out of the ordinary for a clubhouse.
The only voice that I personally respect who has launched a missile or three in Washington's direction over this incident has been MGL (the creator of Ultimate Zone Rating), and judging by his comments in the (linked) thread in question, he's either being consciously influenced by his inherent dislike for Washington's game strategizing -- which has absolutely nothing to do with the clubhouse speech -- or is pulling a very well-executed curmudgeon bit.
(2) Given the volume of stories and updates and such that I've seen posted on this story over the last couple of days, there's something I have to ask: Wouldn't it be great if we could get such in-depth updates on stuff that's actually important -- stuff such as, oh, say, Michael Young's contract, which the media never has been able to reach a consensus on? Or Colby Lewis's hip? Or something about Josh Hamilton's alleged sports hernia? Or any one of a number of different things that are more relevant than an update on the Rangers successfully hunting down their clubhouse mole?
Look, I get that it shouldn't have been recorded for reasons relating to team privacy and the "inner sanctum" and so on and so forth. It shouldn't have been recorded, but it did get recorded, and I guess you'll just have to excuse me for not caring about what happens beyond the point where we listen to the audio, enjoy the audio, and then move on.
The Rangers are expected to lose their farm director Scott Servais to the Angels. He is expected to join them as assistant GM to Jerry DiPoto. The Rangers refused to comment on the situation.
"Mike is in a key role for us and has had a prominent hand in our success the past few years. But this is a unique opportunity to discuss a coveted position with two storied franchises, and we believe in allowing our people to pursue opportunities that they're interested in. It reflects well both on Mike and our organization that he's under consideration."
As others have noted in the past, this is part of the unwelcome residue of winning -- other organizations end up wanting a piece of what has made you so great. Not that that has ended up proving true with Thad Levine and A.J. Preller yet, of course (though they've both been connected to every GM vacancy out there, and probably will end up being offered steps up at some point), but Maddux's stock has definitely risen in value since he arrived in Texas before the 2009 season, as he has closely overseen the transformation of the Rangers' pitching staff from one of the game's worst (performance-wise, at least) into one of the game's best.
[Apropos of nothing: Maddux was hired three years ago today, having been convinced to leave Milwaukee after Texas laid an offer on the table that promised to make Maddux one of the game's best-compensated pitching coaches.]
I'm not sure whether the idea would be to promote from within if Maddux were to go out and pursue greener pastures, but what I can tell you is that three years ago, the four main guys in the mix for the Rangers' pitching coach gig were Maddux, interim pitching coach (and now current bullpen coach) Andy Hawkins, Mariners special assistant to the executive vice president in pitching development George Wallace, and Rick Peterson, who already came and went from Milwaukee.
Given the relatively tight integration of the Rangers' organization as a whole (that is, scouting and player development not being treated like two wholly distinct entities), and given the number of pitchers on the staff that originated from the Rangers' farm system, I suppose we can't be surprised if the Rangers opt for somebody who is already familiar with and has already bought into the Rangers' current M.O. for the handling and development of pitchers.
The Rangers have out-righted pitchers Omar Beltre, Merkin Valdez and Eric Hurley off the 40-man. They have also out-righted infielders Andres Blanco and Esteban German.
I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to get over the Rangers cutting Merkin Valdez.
If I were a betting man, I would bet on the Rangers trying to seek out a better utility option than Blanco (or German, obviously, whose defense is going to preclude him earning a legitimate opportunity at that gig) this winter.
Beltre is 30 years old, coming off a lost season torpedoed by surgery to correct spinal stenosis, and faces an uncertain future as he tries to establish himself as some kind of asset in the major league bullpen.
Hurley ... well, he's only 26, but I'm not exactly optimistic.
Lost on waivers to the Baltimore Orioles, per multiple sources. Buck Showalter gets another ex-Ranger to play with, albeit one that didn't land on the Rangers until three years after his ouster from Texas.
O'Day was something of a revelation here in his first two seasons, producing nearly 120 innings of roughly 2.00 ERA baseball out of the Texas bullpen in 2009-10 after being claimed off waivers from the Mets on April 22nd, 2009 -- a mid-afternoon transaction resulting in a memorable frenzied rush to fly O'Day up to Toronto for that night's game, which ultimately saw O'Day (donning a Kason Gabbard jersey) give up the game-winning base hit in the 11th inning after C.J. Wilson created a two-on, one-out mess.
[Two other notable things about that game: (1) Derek Holland made his major league debut that night in Toronto, spinning 2.1 scoreless innings in relief, and (2) Michael Young smashed a game-tying, two-out, ninth-inning home run to keep the Rangers alive and force the affair to the bottom of the ninth inning.]
In 2011, however, O'Day threw only 16.2 underwhelming innings after losing a couple of months to hip surgery to repair a torn labrum, and losing a couple of more weeks to shoulder inflammation in September. He found himself resigned to No. 2 on the ROOGY depth chart behind Yoshinori Tateyama, and with Tateyama's 2012 option being picked up the other day, and with Cody Eppley and (possibly) Johan Yan being on the 40-man roster, it was going to be hard for the Rangers to justify devoting 10 percent of their 40-man roster to righty specialists.
So, much love DOD. It's tough to say goodbye to players that we like, but he did just about everything that the Rangers could have reasonably asked for, and no doubt ended up being one of the better cheap Rangers acquisitions of the Jon Daniels era.
And we'll also always have moments like these, which may have signalled the beginning of the Rangers' fan base actually being able to create organized, player-specific chants out of thin air (albeit ripped off from soccer):
It's the third win of his major league career. He's also the first Ranger to bring home a Gold Glove since Michael Young won a Gold Glove at third base in 2008.
Also, Ian Kinsler lost the Gold Glove to Dustin Pedroia at second base. Clearly, his bad body language precluded him from winning this totally relevant and credible award!
To celebrate this momentous occasion, here's a brief look back at some great moments in Adrian Beltre:
During the course of KDFW's and WFAA's post-season coverage, I noticed several different instances where the reporter that happened to be on the air at the time referenced "Rangers Ballpark in Arlington" as "The Ballpark in Arlington." That name change was, of course, brought about when Tom Hicks and company severed their relationship with tanking subprime mortgage lender Ameriquest in March 2007, and decided that inserting "Rangers" in front of "Ballpark in Arlington" was a better idea from a branding standpoint than reverting to the old "The Ballpark in Arlington" moniker. I get it. Well, at least I think I get it.
There's something that I've been wondering about, though -- do Rangers people like John Blake and company bristle when the media simply calls it The Ballpark in Arlington, as opposed to its correct name of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington? And since I teased a poll in the post title, there's one other thing that I've been wondering about -- what do people actually prefer to call the stadium?
Today's track is a Flying Lotus trip-hop special called "Massage Situation" ... and if you've ever taken the time to listen to these morning tracks, you know that this track is chiller than the other side of the pillow:
● Kevin Sherrington and Barry Horn believe that C.J. Wilson is at the top of the Rangers' off-season priority list, and that the club is, in fact, intent on keeping him.
● Scoreboard Daily talked to Wilson after the conclusion of the World Series, and managed to extract this tidbit out of him:
SBD: Well, one of those factors is you. I know there’s not much you can say – or even much to know at this point, but what are the chances you’ll be back next year?
C.J.: Yeah, there’s a great chance because I like it here and I’ve won here. I’ve proved that I can be a good pitcher here. There have been a lot of people over the years that have said it’s impossible to pitch here in Texas and look what we did here on the rotation – we went out and won a bunch of games and threw a bunch of innings and did stuff that no other organization can say…not even the mighty Red Sox or Yankees. They didn’t do what we did. It’s now all about figuring out how all of the guys on the team – not just me – there’s Elvis, Nelson, Josh, Ian – a lot of guys have contractual things that are coming up. I think one thing the Rangers want me to know is what they’re planning on doing with all of these other guys in the long term. So that gives me confidence that we’re going to keep winning.
Not that this matters much if the Rangers are truly dead set against re-signing C.J., but, well, you know ...
● The Fielding Bible Awards are out, and Adrian Beltre has been conferred the title of best defensive third baseman in baseball for the 2011 season by an esteemed panel comprising the likes of Bill James, Peter Gammons, Joe Posnanski, John Dewan, and others.
● Jim Callis writes that Yu Darvish will rank as the No. 4 prospect in baseball behind Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Matt Moore once he makes the journey stateside.
● Chris Jaffe has a cool piece ranking the best post-seasons of the last 15 years.
● The Los Angeles Times reports that Frank McCourt is close to yielding to Bud Selig's desires, and is close to reaching an agreement with MLB on a bankruptcy settlement where he would agree to sell the team. It turns out that stubbornness costs a lot of money to sustain.
Sabathia's contract extension - 1-year, $25 m. for 2016, and a $5 million buyout. Total guaranteed, five years, $122 m.. $25m option '17
What this means, basically, is that the four years and $92 million remaining on Sabathia's previous deal -- which he was expected to opt out of today -- is now irrelevant, as he'll now make $122 million guaranteed from 2012-16, and potentially as much as $142 million from 2012-17, depending on whether his 2017 vesting option kicks in.
There had been some buzz a couple of weeks back (which was largely ignored in the excitement of the Rangers' post-season run) about Texas reportedly planning an attempt at moneywhipping Sabathia if he hit the open market, but that buzz was quickly refuted by other sources, and what we're left with is the outcome that was expected all along -- that is, Sabathia returning to the Yankees as an even wealthier man than he was before.
The best free-agent starting pitching options left are now C.J. Wilson, Hiroki Kuroda, Roy Oswalt, Edwin Jackson, and Mark Buehrle ... and for the more daring, well-capitalized teams, there's also Yu Darvish dangling out there.
Joey Matschulat