Coaching changes ahead for Rangers?

The Texas Rangers have played 121 games thus far and stand with a record of 47-74, compared to the 70-51 record from just a year ago. To say this season was a failure would be an understatement, but who should take most of the blame for the failure? Now there have been a rash of injuries like never before seen on this club but injuries aside, there are two coaches who have had a negative impact on this team, Hitting Coach Dave Magadan, and First Base Coach Benjie Molina. Neither of these coaches has lived up to the expectations set by General Manager Jon Daniels and can only be viewed as failures.

 Dave Magadan was hired away from the Boston Red Sox because he preaches patience to hitters. Make the pitcher throw more pitches and be more selective as a hitter, thus leading to better pitches to hit. Magadan has to go for the simple fact that three of the Rangers major players are having career low seasons in Batting Average (AVG.), On Base Percentage (OBP.) or Home Runs, and I’m not including injured players such as Mitch Moreland and Prince Fielder. Elvis Andrus has a career low OBP and the second lowest AVG. in his 6 year career. Alex Rios has forgotten how to drive the ball having hit a career low 4 HR’s this season. The final nail in the coffin for Magadan is Shin-Soo Choo who was brought in to get on base and score runs. He has responded by posting career lows in both AVG. and OBP. And leads the Major Leagues in caught looking strikeouts with 49. Not good when you are the prototype of what the Hitting Coach supposedly preaches.

Benjie Molina was hired to help with the catchers and coach first base so Gary Pettis could go coach third base, where Dave Anderson had struggled the previous few years. While Benjie has made Robinson Chirinos one of the better defensive catchers in baseball, he was not in the plans to be the everyday backstop, that was supposed to be Geovany Soto, backed up by J.P.Arencibia. The reason I have to let Molina go is the decline in stolen bases and the huge increase in caught stealing. The Rangers have the Top 3 players in caught stealing; Elvis Andrus leads the league with 12 followed closely by teammates Leonys Martin and Alex Rios, each with 9. The Rangers has run themselves out of many scoring chances this season and much of the blame must fall on a player who has 3 stolen bases in 10 career attempts.

Maybe Bench Coach Tim Bogar can coach 3^rd Base next year and move Gary Pettis back to 1^st where he excelled. As for a hitting Coach, maybe they need to bring back their most successful Hitting Coach, Rudy Jaramillo.

The most prominent offenses in team history were under Rudy. He wanted the hitters to be aggressive and if they saw a good pitch to go hit it, not just sit and wait.

These are just suggestions from a life-long Rangers fan. If you feel the same as I do or disagree with these suggestions, give me your feedback. Leave a comment on this page or send me a message on Twitter.

Geoffrey Craig

@geoffrey_craig

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers (Part 3)

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers (Part 3)

The Texas Rangers season has gotten off to a rocky start and many fans wonder if it is time to hit the panic button yet. This three-part series gives the reasons why this season is a disaster and why it is the GM’s fault. Part One was the Bad Contracts given out, Part Two was the Trading of the Farm System for rental players, and Third is the undefined roles of pitchers and poor player management. Here is the third and final installment of “How Jon Daniels ruined the Rangers: Poor Player Management”

Part of the problem with the Rangers as of the past few seasons has been the constant tampering with the pitching staff by the General manager, Jon Daniels. In 2010 Alexi Ogando and Neftali Feliz led the back end of the Rangers bullpen. 

In 2011,  Alexi Ogando was moved to the rotation, only to be sent back to the bullpen after a stint on the DL and finished in the pen for the playoffs. The 2012 and 13 seasons were more of the same for Ogando, as he flip-flopped each season and in 2013 Daniels moved Neftali Feliz into the rotation. This didn’t work out well for Feliz when his season was ended by a torn UCL and had Tommy John surgery, which he is still recovering from.

Having learned nothing from these two mistakes JD went and did the same thing to two more productive relievers, Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross. 

Scheppers lasted four starts and had an ERA of 9.94 before going on the DL with shoulder soreness, and is expected to be back in the bullpen upon return. Robbie Ross made nine starts, but gave up 6+ runs in the last three before being moved back to bullpen. I fear Jon Daniels may have damaged two more prized arms by his constant tinkering. Only time will tell, hopefully I’m wrong, for the Rangers sake.

Until next time,

Geoff Craig

@geoffrey_craig

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers (Part 2)

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers (Part 2)

The Texas Rangers season has gotten off to a rocky start and many fans wonder if it is time to hit the panic button yet. This three-part series gives the reasons why this season is a disaster and why it is the GM’s fault. Part One was the Bad Contracts given out, Part Two is the Trading of the Farm System for rental players, and Third is the undefined roles of pitchers and poor player management.

Now it’s time for the Second installment: The Gutted Farm System.

The trade that will haunt Jon Daniels the most was the Matt Garza trade from 2013. 

Daniels sent, P Justin Grimm, P Neil Ramirez, 3B Mike Olt, and #5 prospect P C.J. Edwards to the Cubs for two months of mediocre pitching from Matt Garza. Garza bolted for Milwaukee in the off-season and now the Cubs have their starting third-baseman Mike Olt, (9 HR’s) and two relievers in Neil Ramirez (0-1 0.77 ERA) and Justin Grimm (1-2 3.00 ERA). 

The Rangers gave up four of their Top 15 prospects and now have nothing to show for it. Another trade that has flown under the radar of late was the trade of SP Robbie Erlin (3-4 4.53 ERA) to San Diego for RP Mike Adams in 2012.

Adams was the set-up man for two World Series teams but Robbie Erlin is now in his second season as a starter for the Padres. Given the injuries to Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, and Martin Perez, having another Major-League ready starter could’ve helped.

I’ll be back soon with the third installment: Poor Player Management

Geoff Craig

@geoffrey_craig

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers (Part 1)

How Jon Daniels ruined the Texas Rangers Part 1

The Texas Rangers season has gotten off to a rocky start and many fans wonder if it is time to hit the panic button yet. Well, the answer is an emphatic YES! But with the rash of injuries this team has endured, who is to blame for this bad start, Ron Washington, Jon Daniels, the Ownership Group? The manager can only field a team with the players you give him, and the owners went and spent money this off-season to bring players in, and you can’t predict injuries, but the blame has to fall on the shoulders of General Manager Jon Daniels. This three-part series gives the reasons why this season is a disaster and why it is the GM’s fault. Part One is the Bad Contracts given out, Part Two is the Trading of the Farm System for rental players, and Third is the undefined roles of pitchers and poor player management.

Let’s start with Bad Contracts

I want to start with the contract of Matt Harrison, 5-yrs $55-Million runs through 2018. This didn’t seem that bad when he signed the deal, Harry had just come off and 18-win season. The problem is the length of the contract for a guy who had double digits wins TWICE in five seasons. He rewarded the Rangers by pitching 10.2 innings last season and making $5 million.  Now he may need another back surgery (possibly career-ending) and the Rangers are still on the hook for 4 yrs and $50 Mill. 

Let’s not forget the contract given to Elvis Andrus either, 8 yrs $120 Mill running through 2023. That’s a ton for a guy who hits on average 3 HR’s/yr and bats .270 with 0 Gold Gloves.  By my math, that’s $26 Million in wasted money per year until 2018. I’m not even going to get into the Prince Fielder contract and how that could potentially cripple this franchise. The Rangers have always loved his personality and playfulness, but it seems to be wearing thin now that for the second consecutive year he has started the season slowly. JD was expecting progression, not regression. Maybe they should have traded Elvis and kept Ian Kinsler. Top prospect Jurickson Profar’s natural position is Shortstop.

I’ll be back with the second installment: "The Gutted Farm System" soon.

Geoffrey Craig
@geoffrey_craig

This Time It Counts: MLB All-Star Game Edition

The 2002 All-Star Game, held in Milwaukee, ended in controversy in the 11th inning when both teams ran out of available pitchers. Commissioner Bud Selig declared that the game would end after 11 innings, and it ended in a 7-7 tie. Because of this, the All-Star Game as we know it changed. To provide additional incentive for victory, Major League Baseball reached an agreement with the players union to award home-field advantage for the World Series to the champion of the league that won the All-Star Game. 

Contrary to the popular belief that the team with the best record had home-field advantage, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated between the two leagues each year.

The American League took advantage of the new rule in each of its first seven years: between 2003 and 2009. Even with the home-field advantage, The American League only won four series and the National League won three. 

On April 28, 2010, MLB announced several rules changes for future all-star games, effective with the 2010 edition:

• Rosters were expanded by one extra position player, to a total of 34.
• The designated hitter will be used in all games, even in National League ballparks.
• Pitchers who start on the Sunday before the game break will be replaced on the roster, but will still be recognized as All-Stars.
• Each manager may designate a position player who will be eligible for game re-entry if the last position player is injured or ejected. This is in addition to a rule that allows a player to re-enter to replace an injured or ejected catcher.

Since these changes in 2010, The National League champion has benefited, winning the last three World Series (SF in ’10 & ’12), (Stl in ’11).

Does the All-Star game even have the best players anymore? The American League had Clay Buchholtz (Bos), Yu Darvish (Tex), and Jesse Crain (Chi) who were replaced by Matt Moore (TB), Glen Perkins (Min), and Bartolo Colon (Oak). Colon was then replaced by teammate Grant Balfour. Justin Verlander (Det) and Hisashi Iwakuma (Sea), who both pitched Sunday, were replaced by Chris Tillman (Bal) and Greg Holland (KC).  Don’t get me wrong, all of these replacements are good players, but The American League All-Star Team is without two of the best pitchers in baseball in Verlander and Darvish. That would be like the NBA replacing LeBron and Kobe with Luol Deng and O.J.Mayo. 

The National League hasn’t had the same problems with injuries, losing only three players. Freddie Freeman (Atl), the Final Vote winner, was replaced by teammate Brian McCann. Mark Melancon (Pit) replaced teammate Jeff Locke, and Sergio Romo (SF) replaced Jordan Zimmerman (Was). Edward Mujica (Stl) replaces teammate Adam Wainwright, who pitched on Sunday. The National League replaced three starters with three relievers, all first time All-Stars.

And what’s the deal with teammates being replacements? I thought this was about winning home-field advantage. Since Freddie Freeman won the final vote and can’t play, shouldn’t Yasiel Puig, who finished second, get his spot over Brian McCann?

It’s worth noting that there are a record 39 first-time All-Stars following the additions of Melancon (Pit), Romo (SF), Tillman (Bal), Holland (KC), Balfour(Oak) and Mujica (Stl), that’s four more than the previous mark set two years ago in Arizona.

Maybe I’m a little biased since my team (Tex) lost The World Series two years in row, but since home-field advantage is on the line I think the All-Star Game should have the best players playing, not sitting. If it’s supposed to mean something this important the fans shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the starters. The entire process should be left to the Managers and Players, they ultimately benefit from this. Matbe we can get another tie this year and Bud Selig can make the Celebrity Softball game be the tie-breaker going forward.

Until next time…

Geoff

@geoffrey_craig