This is the 110th consecutive day without a Rangers game. In the meantime, the Cowboys have Zeke Suspension’d themselves into a comfy wide-screen view of the playoffs, the Stars are trying to stave off their Wild Card competition, and the Mavericks face-planted out of the gate and/but are now in danger of getting Rick Carlisle’d out of a few ping-pong balls come draft lotto time.
The Rangers, meanwhile, have been wriggling through one of the weirder offseasons in recent memory: how often does a team get the reputation of “doing nothing” in an offseason where they acquired 60% of a new rotation?
The team held another Winter Mini-Camp today, a well-attended one, at that. Of the position players expected to be on the Opening Day roster, I only missed seeing Adrian Beltre, Shin-Soo Choo, Brett Nicholas, and Jurickson Profar. We got to see infield drills, outfield drills, and wind sprints, and we talked to Delino DeShields and Joey Gallo. It’s not Pitchers and Catchers Report, but on Day #110, we’ll take it.
Listening to Gallo talk, I couldn’t help but think of this time last year, when all of the questions he faced were about his .040 batting average in 2016, and his hopes for making the Opening Day roster. 41 home runs later, Gallo sounds not only like a big-leaguer, but like a team leader. It’s remarkable the difference a year makes, isn’t it?
It’s the January 18th Upset Update!
1. Delino DeShields seems to be reading the same numbers I am. The Rangers’ projected Opening Day centerfielder says he’s planning on swinging more. He was talking about Spring Training being a time for players to sharpen their strengths while also trying out new things they have wanted to add to their game. I asked him if there was anything specific he was planning on trying out this Spring.
“Being more aggressive at the plate,” DeShields shrugged. “Picking and choosing when I want to swing at a first pitch maybe. Everyone knows I take, so I think I can use that to my advantage.” After a beat, his eyebrows raised and he added: “Every now and then. Not every time.”
Anything else?
“Delayed stealing,” he smiled. “When I get on base, everybody knows I’m running, so maybe I can catch somebody asleep. And hey—if it’s two, three bags a year?” He shrugged again with serious brow-raise. “It could be a difference-maker.”
2. Joey Gallo, Kris Bryant, and a Lyft employee get into a self-driving car…
“We were doing it on the strip (in Vegas),” Gallo explained. “People were walking across the street and it was stopping, cars would cut in front, and it would stop… it was wild. It’s a little scary at first, but after a couple of minutes, you forget that it’s driving itself.”
Well, for the most part. was one moment where things apparently got a bit dicey. “Well, there was one. A car came out of nowhere and just pulled in front of us. It takes a little bit longer to read, because it obviously doesn’t have the vision a human has, so it’s slowing down, slowly, slowly, slowly, and at the end it finally got (stopped). Even the guy (Lyft still has human operators in their driverless cars until legislation catches up to the technology) was like ‘alright, that was a little close.’ But other than that, it was a pretty clean ride. It’s pretty amazing, honestly, what they’re doing.”
3. We have some more minor-league signings to announce:
– Curt Casali, C. Casali has 161 games of big-league experience over the last four years, all with the Rays. He sports a .199 batting average over 466 plate appearances.
– Jose Cardona, OF. Cardona is a re-sign, having spent all seven of his minor league years in the Rangers’ system. He played last year primarily in Frisco, though he did get to AAA Round Rock for 4 games.
– Tayler Scott, RHP. Scott is the 25-year-old South African the Rangers acquired last year for Jeremy Jeffress (he is also a re-signing).
– Delois Guerra, RHP. Guerra has appeared in 73 MLB games, most recently with the Angels in 2017.
4. We have some minor-league awards to announce:
Tom Grieve Player of the Year: First Baseman Ronald Guzman
Nolan Ryan Pitcher of the Year: Kyle Cody
Defender of the Year: Catcher Jose Treviño
Reliever of the Year: Ricardo Rodriguez.
All four will be honored on Friday night at the awards ceremony. More on that in a minute, but first:
5. We have some minor-league hopes to stoke:
Ben Badler lists the Rangers as one of three teams in the mix for Cuban prospect Julio Pablo Martinez, who Badler says profiles as being on par with a first-round draft pick, talent-wise. The entire article is worth reading, but here’s the paragraph that outlines the Rangers’ interest:
The Rangers do have one of the top center field prospects in baseball in Leody Taveras, though Taveras is still 19. Teams can’t roll over their bonus pool money from one period to the next, so the Rangers have to use their pool space before June 15. The Rangers could opt to spread the rest of their money around to other players between now and June 15, but with a lack of obvious impact players available, it’s sensible for them to make a run at Martinez.
6. The Meet-the-Rangers portion of the offseason continues over the rest of the week/weekend:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18
Free Autograph Signing: Kroger, 945 West Lamar Blvd., Arlington (76012)…6:30-7:30 p.m.
Scheduled: Doug Fister, Matt Moore.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19
2018 Dr Pepper Texas Rangers Awards Dinner at Gilley’s Dallas, 1135 South Lamar St., Dallas (75215). (Tickets here)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20
2018 Texas Rangers Fan Fest Presented by Dasani at Globe Life Park in Arlington…9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Tickets here, or you can get them on the day of event at First Base Ticket Office.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21
Free Autograph Signing: Kroger, 4241 Capitol Avenue, Dallas (75204), 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Scheduled: Jake Diekman, Mike Minor
Free Autograph Signing: Kroger, 12600 North Beach St., Fort Worth (76177), 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Scheduled: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Cole Hamels
7. In case you missed it yesterday:
– Austin Bibens-Dirkx pitched the last two months of the season with two broken bones in his pitching hand, and it’s possible that you (or someone you know) might have been present.
– Adrian Beltre and Jon Daniels had a discussion in September about the Rangers contending in 2018. Has Jon Daniels lived up to his side of the bargain?
8. And lastly, I’d like to take a second to acknowledge some great work being done by our colleagues here in the Rangers market:
– Evan Grant interviews Rafael Palmeiro about his comeback hopes.
– T.R. Sullivan gives us the breakdown of Jon Daniels’ press conference.
– Jeff Wilson interviews Rangers’ top prospect Leody Taveras.
– Jamey Newberg talks about Calhoun and Taveras and the BP Rankings list.
– Lonestarball—despite some spam-vote hijinks—is nearing completion of their Community Prospect Ratings list.
Michael Luna says
I was half-expecting the upcoming weird Rangers injury report to include “Joey Gallo: broke arm in self-driving car accident; out 2-3 months.”
fivetoodrinker says
That’s it. I am bringing sage to burn inside the Rangers Clubhouse on Saturday because that is exactly something that would happen.
Michael Luna says
Now we’re gonna get a report of someone being escorted out of Fan Fest for starting a fire in the clubhouse….